Baby led weaning

[Pickle]

Littlest Pickle will be 6 months old next week, very very scary.

I'm keen to do BLW this time round but need a bit of advice. For the last week or so I've been putting bits of food in front of her to play with. A couple of times she managed to pick things up and lick them but generally didn't seem fussed.

All of a sudden a few days ago she managed to get a piece of pear to her mouth and her face lit up, cue lots of happy slurping and munching. Since then she has been really interested in everything I put in front of her (generally at dinner time, so veges off my plate and fruit that the others are eating), but while she does sometimes manage to pick things up she then struggles to keep them near her mouth.

... and my usually chilled little girl becomes a little red ball of RAGE! If I then help her (to pick the food up again and hold it near her mouth) calm is restored and back come the smiles.

Those of you who have used this approach from day 1 of weaning, did you really honestly do as the book says and leave them to get mad battling against slippery drooly pieces of food?

[simonethebeaver]

I think I was lucky, Pickle! My daughter was two weeks overdue so, going on gestational age (and because I was so keen!), I decided to experiment when she was just over five months and handed her some broccoli. I expected her to play with it and not to really start eating much for a few weeks. The florets disappeared instantly into her mouth with gusto. Since then, she has somehow managed to eat whatever she's been given, with the exception of the things she has decided she dislikes. Methods have included eating like a dog from the table, before her pincer grip allowed her to pick up shepherd's pie etc., allowing a spoon for the rare thing like yoghurt that she realised she couldn't do quickly enough herself - grabbing the spoon mid-mouthful though, as well as straightforward holding.

I would say, you're only a few days in. She's still learning very fast what to do. Some babies will find holding food easier than others. If it weren't for the RAGE, I'd say just to leave her to experiment and work it out for herself! Is the RAGE so bad that she gets upset? Is it worth letting her get cross but working it out herself? I don't think holding food out to her is a sin, but I suppose she will also need to work out for herself how that food gets into her mouth. Probably she'll start to work it out anyway.

[Pickle]

Thanks for your reply. She will learn, hopefully quickly. The rage is bad, to the extent that my other two were really confused about the noise that they were hearing from their usually placid little sister. If she could speak I fear it would be profanities ;-)

Other than that it's been fun just putting things in front of her and letting her get on with it, I feel so much more relaxed about weaning than I did with the others.

[Jo'sEnglish]

The first couple of weeks I did wobble with the baby-led weaning. He managed quite well but gagged a lot and I wondered if I was doing the right thing (particularly as Mum, friends, etc were all very sceptical). But I'm so glad we persevered as the gagging soon went away and he improved so quickly!!!

But, I am not a purist, I don't really agree with following what any book says to the letter as I think you have to watch your own baby. I did pass him things if he was struggling, particularly slippery things. Maybe it is worth thinking about what you give her for now? For example, things like pears he struggled with (as they just slipped out of his hands), things like carrot, pasta, broccolli, etc he could manage a bit better.

Also, we do spoonfeed him a yoghurt every night which I am sure means people will tell me I'm not actually doing baby led weaning at all (bah!). I've tried handing him a loaded spoon but he gets so excited he bangs it on the table and yoghurt flies all across the room/furniture/cat. I'm not prepared to go this far with letting him get on with it! And he LOVES yoghurt so is really quite happy to be fed it. I did sometimes give him some mashed potato on a spoon at first, but now at 10 months he just scoops it up.

Perhaps help her a bit when you first give her some food so she doesn't get too upset and then leave her some things to practice with? Really though, you'll be suprised how quickly she improves. I think it is normal just to get things almost in their mouth and then miss at the last minute and the fact she is so keen means she'll be very determined to do it!

Good luck!

[Saffron]

Yes, we did help Little Saff with her food on occasion. It doesn't "ruin" your BLW, imho. Also you can make some types of slippery food easier to hold by coating them in bread crumbs or baby rice. With foods like firm pair and apple that can be slippery and hard to chew, I used a peeler to shave off long strips. These were easier for Little Saff to hold. She'd gum the end of strip until all the juice was gone, then spit out the pulp. Happy Weaning! xx

[Pickle]

Thank you, very reassuring replies. I'm not a purist by any stretch of the imagination and agree with a spoon for yoghurt, my mess tolerance isn't quite that high! I can see already that my main problem is going to be the other two, "but K is allowed to use her fingers and make a big mess, why aren't we?"

[bluesuperted]

I had an experimenter rather than an eater for many weeks and months so no experience with rage! But I also coated slippery things in porridge oats! Made it much easier for him to grip bits of mango, pear etc although sure it tasted a bit odd!

[bluesuperted]

Re: yoghurt, I did stick to 'pure' BLW but just loaded the spoon - still messy but a good compromise. Pretty sure he wouldn't have countenanced being fed by that point anyway!

[KatDew]

definitely a little assistance at first. Not to mention some things benefit from being patted down with some kitchen towel to make them a little less slippery at first.

There are some fabulous ideas out there do a google search for 100 best baby led weaning recipes. My favourites are the savoury flapjacks, cheesey vegetable nuggets, and lentil cheese wedges. All were very easy to make and froze well for easy quick dinners when required

[Audrey]

Try leaving a bit of the skin on a wedge of mango/pear/melon/slippier foods as a grip. The more you leave her to it the faster she will learn! I also did the pre loaded spoon left in front of M, where the problem was getting back the spoon. 6 months later she sometimes turns the spoon around to hand it back to me handle first! Rice is still very tricky (unless risotto), but I saw the other day that she was using her spare hand to keep the "bowl" end of the spoon steady so it didn't lose it's load before getting to her mouth. So it's still a work in progress....

[Saffron]

I add a little plain yogurt to cooked rice to help Little Saff eat it. It sounds messy, but it actually works well to help the rice clump.

[etta166]

I think that most points have already been covered, but I've got a couple of things to add.

My little ones both found it easier to pick up a whole pear than a slice. I would just take a bite out of opposite sides of a peeled pear to make it easy to hold and then stand by and watch the mess... and crinckle cutting slippery foods in a zigzag shape makes them easier to grip.

With things like porridge and yoghurt, I did wait a bit until they had the co-ordination to dip a spoon and put it in their mouth, and also spoon fed them if they got too frustrated with feeding themselves. I'm definitely not one for slavishly following a book and ignoring my own instincts and opinions.