BLW, The Long Game

It's been some time since I've written a BLW post and you may wonder why I am doing so now as, at 29 months, we are a couple of years past the weaning stage. However, the route we take continues on through their years and, probably, right into adulthood. I still remind myself of the key principles of following BLW and I still see evidence of the benefits of the path we took. 

Things I notice 2 years on are the peaks and troughs of appetite along with fads in what she eats. It is these things that many mistake for fussiness and the parents start pushing their child to eat to which all they achieve is a lot of stress and the risk of giving the child a reason not to eat said food. 

Believe me, I'm no saint and, even though we took a BLW route with Callum, we often forgot what we didn't want to do and got worried when he stopped eating vegetables. There were dinners full of snot and tears.

I've trusted Millie's instinct more than I did for Callum and, as a result, can see patterns in her 'fussiness' and/or causes for it. 

For example, she'll favour fruit and vegetables when she is teething or tired, cheese and yogurt when under the weather (no idea why as this feels wrong to me) and meat, pasta and eggs when on a growth spurt. 

She'll typically feast for breakfast, have an average lunch then pick at dinner. 

One week she'll eat a type of food, then she will shun it for a couple of weeks, then she will scoff it again. Her favourite foods at home will not be touched at nursery and then they will tell me how well she ate something like a roast dinner at nursery which she rarely eats at home.Cucumber is one of her hit or miss foods and it was fascinating to watch her, recently, nibble at the inside first and then coming back for the skin after. Sometimes she leaves the green.  

Rather than get stressed and worried about whether she will eat, I'm more relaxed knowing she will eat what and when she needs. I trust that she instinctively knows what she is doing. 

The only pain is eating out and knowing what to order her. Where possible we will try to get her what Callum has or, if really not sure, we will just get her an empty plate then share what the rest of us are eating.

She does have a sweet tooth unfortunately so we do have to stop her snacking on chocolate. But, in a house of chocoholics, it's no real surprise and all of us could try harder there. 

Along with her eating habits and tastes, I have noticed her recently try harder to use cutlery in both hands. She isn't so good at cutting though likes to practice cutting bananas, but what she is trying hard to do is use a second piece of cutlery to push food onto the first piece. In fact,  even Callum struggles with that now so good on her for giving it a go, I'm sure she will master it soon enough. 

BLW: Master of the Spoon

It has been a while and, as I was observing Millie eating at the weekend, I thought it was time for an update on BLW progress. Millie is 15.5 months now.

I was observing Millie eat as I had noticed that her spoon control had not only improved significantly in the last couple of months but she can now correct a spoon if not in a good feeding/handling position and can recognise when it has food on he underneath. She will usually try hard to use her spoon in the first instance and will only resort to using her fingers after several failed attempts. The spoon is still her preferred utensil as forks and knives are more for bashing and playing with. Haha, how does that sound? I let my child play with knives!

Actually, on that topic, I kind of do. Well, I’m not so strict about the ‘no licking the knife’ rule that most people have. I will teach her what is a sharp knife and it will be some time before I let her use a sharp knife. It is impossible for her to cut herself on the usual dinner knives. I wonder whether this rule came about in days where it was all sharp knives cutting through hunks of meat? I know it isn’t polite table manners but she’ll learn those in time as she develops in her feeding/eating skills like Callum has learnt his table manners. In fact, shhhh don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I lick the knife too! I know, shocking!

I’m much more relaxed about her eating what she instinctively chooses from the plates I’m offering rather than pushing certain foods on her and stressing. With Callum, shortly after he started nursery we started to mistrust his instincts and worried about how little vegetables he was getting but much of that was down to the repetitive and not particularly nutritional meals he was given at nursery. And, as has been said of children’s ‘natural’ eating habits, when left to their own choices, foods go in and out of favour quite frequently.  You’ve just got to keep offering them – especially while they are still quite young. Also, doing so positively so as not to draw attention to some foods as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

When we first started weaning Millie, peppers and cherry tomatoes were her favourite. She would also love chomping on a roasted carrot. Over time, she has discarded (quite literally, on the floor) these previous favourites and peas and sweetcorn became her preferred choice of vegetable. Then, at the weekend, when faced with a plate containing cabbage, peas and carrots, it was the peas she was spitting out and the carrot she picked up and happily munched through. She has often turned her nose up at mashed potato but couldn’t get enough of it on Sunday.

Another firm favourite was Weetabix but nursery have said she is no longer so keen – however, that’s understandable if she has it day in, day out. Although, what I did find funny was how the manager came up to me all proud and said

"I’ve found a way to get her to eat her breakfast…letting her feed herself!”

“Exactly!” I said, “That is because we followed the BLW approach when we weaned her, she has been feeding herself from the start!”

I had explained this to her key worker when she started and emphasised it on a couple of occasions but the manager is not her keyworker and she covers in the baby room when they haven’t enough staff or to cover shift changes.

At least this nursery provide a varied and nutritional menu – I’m often quite jealous of the meals they have!

Strangely, Millie definitely seems slower with her spoon control than Callum was but she probably has a much wider variety of flavours.

BLW: More Mess But Less Stressed

Thought, as some time had past since my last BLW post, I’d provide an update, especially since Millie has turned one.

Like anything there are highs and lows to to Baby-Led Weaning. The low being the purposefully throwing food on the floor…timed perfectly with the learning to talk so the throwing of food on the floor becomes a game so Millie can wag her finger and say “No!”.

But it also serves as a reminder to not overload her plate. Millie will only start throwing food on the floor if there is too much choice or if it is something she doesn’t care for. If she starts throwing food on the floor, the easiest thing to do is to take it all away and just offer her one thing at a time. She’ll either discard it or eat it but overall will eat a lot more than if she had a full plate to look at.

The throwing on floor thing did start to get me down but I took a look down memory lane and saw I was getting frustrated at just the same thing when Callum was the same age so decided to ride with it instead of fighting it.

Millie has been slower than Callum to grasp the spoon and feed herself but she is getting there now. Her first instinct is to try to use a spoon and only resorting to fingers if she struggles or she’ll grunt and hand me the spoon to load it for her.

In terms of what she eats, it changes daily. The favourites at the beginning are now discarded as new and more interesting foods have come along. No more are the cherry tomatoes, red peppers or roasted carrot but butternut squash, peas and sweetcorn? More of them please Mummy!

I’m definitely more relaxed than I was with Callum about what Millie chooses to eat as I remember, by now, I was definitely getting more frustrated with what Callum ate (or didn’t eat as was more likely the case). I’ve learnt my lessons and, with Callum having just this evening scoffed a roast dinner of roast belly pork, roast potato, sweet potato, parsnips and carrots, brussel sprouts (Yes! a kid that likes and eats brussel sprouts!) and roast butternut squash mash without a whine or murmur, I think that lesson is let them be, keep offering and they’ll discover the new flavours in time.

I know personally, the more you fight them the bigger the wall of rebellion will climb, as that is what I was like as a fussy eating child and what I’m still like now if someone tries to false me to eat something I really don’t want. Instead, encourage them to try but if they don’t like it, that’s fine, they may do eventually, especially if they see you enjoying whatever food it is.

Millie likes different things to what Callum liked and is less a fan of meat but will eat it and eats lots of other food too. Nursery love her because she will eat pretty much whatever is served up to her.

Both children have always loved their fruit and it has been more of a challenge to stop them eating too much fruit!

I’m also a lot more relaxed with Millie during times when she goes off her food – due to teething, illness etc. I know she’ll be fine, I know that the next week she’ll eat twice as much as she ate before she stopped eating, I know it’s normal. With Callum, I couldn’t help but worry a little, as I think it’s human nature to worry whether our little ones are eating enough, we want them to thrive! But, like with the food wars, I’ve learnt that she wont starve herself and that she’ll start eating again when she is ready.

Right! Best go clean the dinner off the ceiling again! That girl can flick!

Feeding Time at the Zoo!

Making & then the eating of dinner in our house is quite a stressful part of the day for me – it’s one of the reasons I took the BLW approach as puréeing and spoonfeeding, for me, would have added to that stress tenfold. But on days like today, the BLW approach isn’t much less stressful!

It’s not that I can’t cook or don’t enjoy it (as long as it’s savoury not dessert!), I can and I do but it is at that 4pm time when the “I’m hungry” cries, start ramping up a notch from Callum (Callum is always hungry!) and the “Mmmmmm, mmmmmmm” grunts start to get more insistent and my feet & legs get battered by Millie in the walker! It’s like she thinks, if she runs me over I might start cooking faster!

Most nights I cook for the children then eat later with Stuart but if Stuart is out/away I prefer to eat with the children to encourage them to eat & so I only have to cook one meal & get more of the evening to myself.

Tonight’s dinner time went a bit like this (with only some tiny elaborations):

4:00pm: Ooh got to get dinner on,  switch oven on & pull ingredients out of fridge

4:05pm: Notice the lemonade (which is laying down) is dripping as the lid hasn’t been done up tight enough by someone (again!), pull out salad draw and find a lemonade lake! Start drying up the lake.

4:10pm: Start preparing veg. I ask Callum if he wants to shell the peas – he says no & goes upstairs to play.

4:15pm: Remember that Millie is still napping & it’s gone past the dreaded 4pm cut off time which means she’ll not go to sleep until 1-1.5 hours after her bedtime (how do those maths work?)

4:16pm: Crash! Something has broken upstairs – I suspect the tea set.

4.18pm: I can confirm it was the tea set! The one from when I was a little girl that I gave Callum to play with. Fortunately, it’s not the first time parts of it have flown across the room (either accidentally as this time was or on purpose as happened when I first entrusted him with it!) so I’m a little less heartbroken than I would’ve been. I gather up the broken bits & put to one side to attempt to glue later.

4:23pm: Get Millie out of bed (bedtime is going to be hell!)

4:25pm: Feed Millie & put her down next to lots of toys

4:30pm: Get back to cooking dinner

4:34pm: Grunts & cries from Millie – I move her to her walker

4:36pm: I get back to cooking dinner

4:45pm: Grunts & cries from Millie – I move her to her booster seat in the kitchen with me.

4:55pm: Millie has kept up some grunts but less insistent but now, every time I move a piece of food she stretches out her arm to reach for it & grunts.

5:08pm: Dish up dinner & sit down to eat. Let out a big sigh but admire my lovely looking dinner of pork fillet medallions with a cheesey mushroom sauce, hasselback potatoes and Chantilly carrots (plus home-grown peas for the kids).

5:12pm: Pick up a carrot from floor

5:13pm: Pick up a fork

5:14pm: Pick up a piece of pork (this is not me with dyspraxia, this is Millie throwing stuff she doesn’t want – typical BLW behaviour)

5:15pm: I notice Millie is trying to use her fork properly & try to help her stab a piece of pork to keep her occupied so I can enjoy a bit of my dinner

5:16pm: Get Callum a different knife

5:17pm: Save the big piece of pork from flying across the kitchen & cut it up smaller.

5:18pm: Pick up a carrot, a potato and a piece of pork from the floor

5:20pm: Pour myself some wine!

5:23pm: Duck a piece of potato, get hit by a carrot

5:25pm: Get up to get Millie a drink

5:26pm: Scrape….crash! I was too slow to react as Millie pulled her plate across the breakfast bar, it falls to the floor & does not bounce (this time). They are square plates & two of the corners have flown to different sides of the kitchen.

5:27pm: I bend down to pick up the broken bits of plate & get pieces of pork rained down on me from Millie above accompanied by hysterical Millie giggles.

5:29: While clearing up plate & food mess there is a chorus of “I’ve finished my dinner & haven’t had puuuuudiiiiiing! I’ve finished my diiinner & haven’t had puuuuudiiiiiing!” from Callum. I politely beg ask Callum to be patient while I clean up the mess.

5:31pm: I notice the pool of meat juices around the bottom of the bin & have no idea how it got there. Assuming the bin bag has split, I now empty the bin to outside bin but find all is well with the bag. It’s a mystery! Callum pipes up again “I’m not talking to you, I’m singing to myself, [sings] Iiiiiiii’ve noooot had puuuuuddddiiiiiiiiing!” (I don’t even give them pudding every night!)

5:36pm: Get a fruit pot for Callum & a yogurt for Millie and wonder why I ever decided to eat dinner with the kids – I may have even got to taste it if I had eaten separately and neither of them appreciated it!

(my only elaboration was ducking the potato to get hit by a carrot! They went straight on the floor! Everything else was as it happened!)

(an hour & a half past Millie’s bedtime & I’ve just had to go into her to find her kneeling up in bed holding onto cot sides & waving at me – I can still hear her awake on the monitor)

BLW: Baby led weaning versus puree feeding: My experience of both–Guest Post by Karen at Tales of a Twin Mum

 

The final post in my series of guest posts on BLW is from Karen. Karen is married with three children – twin boys T1 and T2, who are 3 and a half, and an 8 month old daughter E. Karen is a freelance copywriter and regular friendly face in the blogging community and Twitter. She is also one of the few whom I’ve had the pleasure to meet in person when I first moved to Bournemouth at my first ever Tweetup! After taking a very short break from blogging to landscape their garden (which I can’t wait to see photos of) I really appreciate Karen taking the time away from her busy return to blogging schedule for Tales of a Twin Mum to contribute to my guest post series with her own experience comparing the traditional purée weaning to that of baby-led. For those of you thinking of starting BLW, Karen has also written her own great post on her own blog, including some ideas for first foods to try, which can be found here. Thank you Karen.

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When my twin boys were four months old, our health visitor advised me to start weaning because T2 was being sick all the time and she was convinced it was reflux and would improve with real food. It wasn’t and it didn’t, but that’s a whole other story. Because they were so little, I had to begin with baby rice and purees. I found it exciting buying a hand blender and making up ice cube trays of foods for the freezer as I couldn’t wait for my boys to move on to the next stage of their development. The only problem was that half of the things we ate for dinner didn’t work as a puree (chicken salad, fajitas, pork chops…the list goes on), so it wasn’t long before the excitement wore off and I started getting stressed that I didn’t have the time to make them separate meals to us.

As they got bigger I struggled to get them to take lumpy food, as they preferred it smooth. They’d often gag and be sick because of eating tiny lumps. I was terrified of the idea of giving them toast or sandwiches as I didn’t think they’d be able to cope with them. By the time they were about nine or ten months they started to turn their noses up at foods, especially if it was something homemade rather than a jar of baby food. As the months passed and they became more independent I was happy letting them self-feed but they were still very picky. If I made them chicken sandwiches T1 would eat the meat and pass his bread to T2, and T2 would eat the bread and pass his meat to T1. If I gave them hard boiled eggs T1 would eat the egg white and T2 the yolk, so at least food didn’t go to waste but it meant they were both missing out on the things they were avoiding. Their eating has gradually got worse, and now at three and a half they are both super picky. I can usually get them to eat things with hidden veg in the sauce like spaghetti bolognaise or homemade pizza, but every meal is hard work. We have to use pudding as a bribe EVERY DAY – if you don’t eat X amount of this you won’t get that. I never thought I’d be that sort of strict parent but if we didn’t do it they would literally survive on fruit, yoghurt and biscuits. I don’t let it stress me out; I know they’ll eat if they’re hungry and they have plenty of energy but it does get exhausting beginning every meal with them refusing to taste the food. If it’s something they’ve never tried before they will not taste it, no matter how much bribery I use.

T1                                               T2

With E I wanted to do everything possible to a) make weaning easy b) make her an adventurous eater and c) get her eating what we eat right away. We decided to wait until she was six months and try baby led weaning. It has worked amazingly well. She eats noodles, sandwiches, pasta, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, beans, carrots, stir fry – literally everything we put in front of her. The only thing she hasn’t liked so far is melon, but I’m going to give that another go and see how we get on. I know that she’s eating (or sucking on) things off our plates that the boys never did (garlic bread or slices of olive, for instance) so I’m hoping with all hope that she stays on this path. So far so good. I’ll have to report back in six months or so to let you know how we get on, but I *think* this time we have a real eater rather than somebody who eats the breadcrumbs off a fishfinger and leaves the lump of soggy fish behind (yes that refers to you, T2). Keep your fingers crossed for us!

E

Sleep! Oh How I’ve Missed You!

It has taken 8.5 months, 2.5 months longer than her brother, but I can now confidently say (*bites lip & frantically searches for wood*) that Millie is sleeping through the night! For the past week, Millie has slept through from about 6.15-6.30 until between 6.15-7am every single night with just one stir around our bedtime for her dummy…in fact, she stirred last night then settled herself back to sleep without the dummy!

WOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOO! I FEEL HUMAN AGAIN!!!!!!

Forgive me but I feel that deserved to be shouted from the rooftops! With my search for work having begun, I was nervous about struggling to get up at the crack of dawn for work while still getting up in the night!

Strangely, it is now like my body has gone into catch up drive! Wanting to catch up on all that missed sleep from the last 9 months. I struggle to wake up and then feel exhaustingly tired around mid-afternoon! I can even go back to sleep if I wake up early – I never used to be able to do this; once I was awake, I was awake for the day.

Dreams are also on catch up. Not sure if you know this but when you don’t sleep much, you have less REM sleep (which is when we dream). Dreaming is our minds way of processing what has happened during the day and storing new things we have learnt etc. It is important for us to dream. So when we do get a good solid night of sleep, we tend to dream more to make up for the lost dream time before. So I have been dreaming lots of weird and wonderful things but nothing of interest to blog about (you really don’t want to know about how I couldn’t shake poo off my hand do you?!).

Anyway, back to Millie! Other than the sleep, not much else is new. She is eating with vigour, trying everything (EVERYTHING!!!) in site…well as far as she can bend in double & stretch to reach. Still no moving by way of roll, crawl, bum shuffle or commando crawl! Apart from the odd occasion when she rolls back to front in her cot & then complains because she is stuck! For the time being, I am enjoying being able to plonk her somewhere and for her to stay there so, although I don’t want to hinder her moving progress, I am happy for her to do it in her own time.

We have 2 teeth! Two teeny weeny but very sharp little bottom teeth! This is already making a difference with her eating. She actually uses the teeth to rip food off a bigger piece now.

            

Her babbling has a range of dadadadanananananalalalalalagagagagaga now and sometimes she sounds like she is trying to sing or have a conversation with you. So cute!

I feel she is on the verge of clapping. She loves watching what you do with your hands and occasionally brings them together but that’s as far as it goes.

She is at that age where everyone wants to talk to her! Supermarket shopping can double in time as we get stopped by every other person who wants to talk to her. I love it and feel so proud but it does make shopping to a restricted time-limit rather challenging!

Callum is lovely with her and apart from wanting to take ownership of all of Millie’s toys but not so keen to return the favour with his own, he really does love her and looks after her. I really hope (and I can see that it might) that stays with them throughout their lives as they grow up. Seeing them together I know we made the right choice of trying for a 4 year age gap.

I feel so very blessed!…and human!

BLW: Guest Post by Kaajal, aka @Mrskpnut

Another great contribution to my series of guest posts on Baby-Led Weaning. This week we have Kaajal, a Mum of 2 who had her daughter about a week after I had Millie. Both the girls have been so similar right from the start so its been lovely to share our experiences as our daughters have been going through phases at the same time. Although this is Kaajal’s second child this is her first experience of BLW and rather than a wholly BLW approach she is combining it with the occasional spoonfeed for softer meals like porridge.  Not already a blogger but considering venturing into this amazing world and I feel privileged that her first dip of the toe is a guest post on my humble blog. Thank you so much Kaajal and good luck if you do decide to continue blogging.

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Our family consists of dad, mum (me), a 7 year old boy (D) and a soon to be 9 month old girl (J). I can't claim that we're fully BLW, but we are doing some!

Life pre-number 2 was pretty easy. My son was old enough that he ate what we had (without any chillies) and at most, if we were going out, just grabbing a bottle of water was sufficient. Gone were the days of carrying around a huge bag for him!

Along came number 2 and the age gap of over 6 years meant that weaning D felt a bit of a distant memory. I'd previously gone with the traditional route of first tastes and puréed mush with huge success actually. D eats pretty much everything. He's not so keen on boiled cauliflower, preferring to eat it raw, but I can't really blame him for that. 

The main thing that I felt D didn't do though was chew. He seemed to be quick to shovel food in and swallow it as quickly as possible. Some of this I now attribute to him being a mouth breather, but he does seem to have grown out of it now. When he was at nursery you could literally tell what he'd eaten that day by the contents of his nappy (sorry TMI!) and I wanted to avoid this.... Leading me to consider BLW. 

Another consideration for BLW was purely related to the (lack of) effort involved. I'm breast feeding J so know that if she's not eaten much, I'm always there to top it up - making it even less to consider when feeding her out and about. 

Although there were many 'for' points, the main one what I battled with in my head, and still do, was the mess. With D spoon feeding had been pretty clean; probably due to him being so open to new foods and chilled enough to open his mouth whenever a spoon was in sight! 

One thing that really helped was ditching the old highchair - a fully padded, reclining, height adjustable all-singing, all-dancing thing for the basic ANTILOP from IKEA - so easy to clean! (Although avoid until baby is sitting very stably). 

Our journey with BLW started with a few bits of steamed vegetables. Broccoli was a no-no. Asparagus a hit. Green beans were chucked off the highchair and promptly consumed by her big brother!  

Undeterred, the next day I offered J a banana. Things started off pretty well and soon went downhill from there. J has always had a very hard suck. It seems that this power also equated to a very good bite. Once she's got bite of something it's very difficult to get her to give it it up! She managed to take a huge chunk of banana into her mouth, gag on it and then proceeded to cry for the next 5 minutes - especially when she caught sight of the banana. 

I don't know when we reached the turning point. J has really got the hang of finger foods like rice cakes, biscuits etc.  

 

Her pincer grip seems to have developed overnight and happily chases raisins around her highchair too. Breakfast has mostly become a time for spoon feeding. I give J porridge. She happily eats it. Lunch time can be anything really - we like BLW pancakes and banana muffins.

Out and about, depending on where we're going I've made food for J to hold and eat or just let her have what we are. The Tiny Dining mat (I bought mine from John Lewis) has been put to some use and gives me comfort about whether an area is clean or not. 

There's been days where J blankly looks at the food in front of her but if I feed her bits of it she'll happily eat - hopefully not a sign of future laziness as it's at times I know she's hungry! 

The grandparents still continuously nag me about her choking and have helpfully brought round boxes of Farleys Rusks to get some 'proper food' into her; they've been dumped on a shelf in the utility room, and will be disposed of gradually. 

There's no conclusion to this story yet. I still need to be more adventurous (and brave?) to just let her get on with messy foods. We're getting there slowly and seem to be enjoying the journey so far!

BLW: Guest post by Sarah at Adventures as a Mum

Its Week 2 of my guest posts and my third contributor is Sarah. 

Sarah is a full-time SAHM to her 6 month old Son, The Boy and has a couple of cats. Like all my guest postees, Sarah is one of the many mums I met on Twitter. We became mutual 'followers' around the same as I was expecting Millie, or was it on the #Nightfeed!?! It has been great to share experiences and challenges we face with our Little Ones and not to mention have someone to chat to in those early hours when it can feel very lonely. I was thrilled when Sarah agreed to share her own experience of BLW on my blog, especially as she has only just started out in the world of Baby-Led Weaning after her son turned 6 months at the end of last month. Thank you Sarah!

Sarah also blogs at Adventures as a Mum, writes book reviews at A Kindle & Kittens and has just started a business selling her crafts at The Crafty Octopus - wow that girl is busy!

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My little man turned six months on 24 April, and one of the things my husband and I were keen to do was to introduce a wide variety of foods to him.

As he was born early, I wasn’t sure if he would take to BLW bang on six months, he has been around four weeks behind his peers in terms of development (eg smiling etc). However he really surprised me and with great gusto enjoyed his first bit of food last Wednesday -  a slice of toast.

For us, taking a BLW approach seemed logical. It seems much easier than pureeing food, and I’m also keen to ensure that he doesn’t grow up to be a fussy eater like me! Even to this day I can’t eat soup and yoghurt with bits in. Ridiculous I know.

In some ways, BLW is hard – for me it is most noticeable when talking to mum friends - I am the only one of my mum friends taking this approach and many started weaning their baby’s before the six month mark and I hear all about the (purreed) meals their children are enjoying. However, we are trusting the BLW method and I have to say that, one week in, we’re really impressed.

In a short space of time Daniel has already learnt the difference between holding a slice of banana, potato cake and melon – he knows that if he grips the banana too tightly it squishes (but he also learnt he can lick his hand!!) and he soon learnt that melon is slippy. It is amazing to watch as he tackles each new thing placed in front of him, and watching his reaction as he tastes it. I can honestly say there has been only one thing he hasn’t liked, and that was avocado. He even enjoyed some spicy home made falafel last week – I was really surprised as it was super spicy but he seemed to enjoy it.

So far he has had:

Carrot, hummus, cucumber, melon, banana, toast, crumpet, boiled potato, pasta (was a bit tired so didn’t really play with this), yoghurt, falafel, potato cake and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten

It is hard in some ways, as Daniel isn’t actually taking much of the food in, but already in a week he is learning new skills in terms of his hand co-ordination and he knows when I am eating too. He is taking as much of his milk feeds as ever, but I am positive he is enjoying the experience.

Another by product has been that I am more conscious about what I am eating – I try to eat on the basis that if Daniel wants some of what I am eating then he can. So crisps and chocolate are out, and fruit and veg in. It’s really nice in the morning to share breakfast together and to not have to worry about getting stuff pureed and mixed for him.

Yesterday, I gave Daniel a yoghurt. I pre-loaded the spoon and he reached for it, and straight into the mouth,. He very quickly learnt that once the spoon was emptied if he handed back to me, it was loaded up again. I did try to get him to load it himself, but we are some way off that skill yet. However – the pictures below show a very happy boy!

BLW is really easy and seems, to us, to be the best approach. Daniel is eating foods that his peers are months away from trying and he is visibly excited when each new thing is presented to him. Today I am off for lunch with a friend, and Daniel will try whatever I order. I can’t wait to see where he is at in a months time.

BLW: On Reflection - Guest Post by Mushypea of Mushypea, Sprout et al

My second guest post on the baby-led weaning theme is from Mushypea. Mushypea is soon to be married to Sprout (how exciting!) and is a full time working Mum to their 19 month old son, Munch. 

Straight away you can see Mushypea is passionate about food so it is no surprise she wanted to instill this passion in her son which is a great reason in itself to try BLW.

Mushypea writes beautifully in her own blog about her family life and her own personal life adventures so please have a read over at Mushypea, Sprout et al. Thank you, Mushypea, for sharing your experiences here, it is a privilege to have you guest post on my blog. 

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On Reflection

The light of our lives that is the little boy we affectionately call Munch loves food.  It’s not surprising considering that both his parents, Sprout (the other half) and myself, Mushypea, adore food.   From the sheer pleasure of tantalising those  taste buds with explosions of flavours to the satisfaction of creating something ourselves – we love food.

Munch’s food journey began with breastmilk  right up until we hit the six month mark.  We’d begun to include him at the dining table a couple months beforehand so that he could watch us eat – sounds a little cruel when it’s put like that doesn’t it?  We put bits of veg in front him a couple weeks before his six months arrived so that he could touch said bits of veg if the desire arose.  Sometimes he would just look at it in wonder and other times he would attempt to pick things up.

Why BLW?  It seemed logical to us in that not only was it a fun introduction to food but also the development of motor skills, learning to use his tongue and mouth to manipulate and move food around, the different textures that we could introduce and the simple pleasure of sharing mealtimes together eating the same food.  In hindsight I would like to add that actually it was the lazier option when faced with the decision to BLW or puree.  Even now I cannot imagine where I would have found the time to puree anything. Hats off to those that go down the puree route but it wasn’t for us at all. The ease of being able to share our food straight off our plates was a huge draw.

First finger of toast

Munch’s first foods were fingers of toast, vegetables and fruit.  The first few weeks were filled with those moments where he would attempt to pick things up and transfer them to his mouth.  Then there were the times he would gag because he had misjudged the quantity or length of the item he was trying to gum.  The gag reflex is located further forward in a babies mouth than in an adult so that knowledge gave us more confidence in BLW as the first gagging experience is scary!  Choking we were prepared for; if there is one thing I strongly suggest it is to make sure that all involved are confident of what it is you need to do should choking ever happen. 

BLW took us all on a discovery of food, it encouraged us to try new things as we wanted Munch to try anything and everything. The fun in learning how grabbing at all foods in the same manner doesn’t always work was a joy to watch.  His learning of how to eat different foods was and still is fun.  No longer do we have a little boy who ends up with yoghurt all over his face and food in his hair.  Munch is now a skilled user of the spoon and fork but will still resort to using his hands at times because it is far quicker.  We adapted and changed our ways as more and more new foods were introduced and at 19 months Munch loves his food. 

BLW?  Yes, it gets messy and yes it may seem as though they are not ‘eating’.  I would say relax, enjoy the mess, be amazed at how quickly they learn.  The mess doesn’t last forever so make sure you take photos that will make you smile in years to come!

BLW: Guest Post by Karen at Woman, Wife and Mum

First in my series of guest posts on the Baby-Led Weaning theme is by Karen. Karen has three children: Samuel (10); Oliver (3) and Isabella (nearly 2). As if her gorgeous children don't keep her busy enough, her eldest son has Chromosome 22q11 Deletion Syndrome, her husband has chronic arthritis and is waiting for a hip replacement and she is desperately trying to find her family a new home before they become homeless next month. Despite all this, Karen always seems to have a smile on her face and she still finds time to blog which is why I am flattered she spared some of that time to write this post for me. Thank you Karen. Please check out her blog after at Woman, Wife and Mum.

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BLW: Guest Posts

You all know how enthusiastic & passionate I am about Baby-Led Weaning but am I alone in this? Is it just a new parenting buzz word! Will there be a new weaning fad along next week?

Well firstly, its not new really. Many parents were doing BLW with their kids years before I came along (especially any children that came after the first) but no one had particularly coined a name for it back then. Even when I weaned Callum following BLW it was 4 years ago. Its just so great that so many more parents are seeing the results and are enjoying the same approach today.

Secondly, I wanted an opportunity to share with you some of these other parent’s experiences.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be publishing a number of guest posts from some very lovely Mummies (would be lovely to have a Daddy in there too if anyone wants to join in, it’s not too late) who have kindly blogged their own experience of Baby-Led Weaning. There are some just starting off, some who have older children now so can look back at their experience and there are some who can compare between different styles of weaning having tried both purées and BLW. The aim is to publish one or two a week until the end of May.

I’m very excited to be sharing these with you and would like to thank all the contributors for taking the time and effort of writing your guest posts for me.

So, starting this week, probably around Tuesday, look out for the first guest post from Karen at Woman, Wife and Mum and then the others will follow thereafter.

As always, please feel free to comment and/or ask any questions of me or the posters who are taking part.

BLW: Learning the Pincer Grasp

One of the reasons I love BLW is that I am absolutely fascinated watching Millie’s learning and improving dexterity.

For example, she’ll be holding a piece of food, like a bread stick, in her fist and has finished eating the bit that sticks out the top of her hand but can’t get to the piece that’s still in her fist. Originally, when she couldn’t get to that food, she would just open her fist, drop it and move to the next food item. Now, she will place it down on the table and pick it up slightly different, sometimes using her other hand to help her.

The other fascinating development is watching her slowly master the ‘pincer grasp’ which is where we use our thumb and forefinger to pick up small objects. Knowing that babies when you first start to wean them (at 6 months) can’t pick up food items such as peas and dry cheerios (or the Aldi Harvestmoon equivalent in our house – Multigrain Hoops!) it can be easy to just avoid offering them until much later but I have offered these items to Millie from the start. Yes, she used to struggle to pick them up and then give in. Then she could pick them up in her fist then drop them when she couldn’t get to the food. Now, however, she has progressed to using a sort of side grasp. Its not a clear pincer grasp yet but certainly a pre-curser to it and I would say she is not far off fully mastering it.

To show her progress, I’ve taken a video of her eating the above mentioned Harvestmoon Multigrain Hoops. She has picked up food with a better grasp than in the video but not when I’ve had my phone/camera to hand but you get the idea.

The video also shows how she is using both hands in co-ordination to help her get food to her mouth and passing from one hand to the other.

Keep watching for the very cute (in my biased opinion) hoop wave at the end!

BLW: Top Tips

Things are going well for Millie – we are at 8 months now and, aside from yogurt which is more miss than hit, Millie is loving anything I’m throwing at her (clearly not throwing).

What I thought might be really helpful to others is if I compiled a top tips page of things I’ve discovered or even to reinforce things I’ve read in the book which have helped me too.

I’ll keep coming back to this page and adding tips to it as I discover or remember them. If you have any you have discovered then please do share them in the comments and I’ll add them in – all tips welcome.

So here goes (in no particular order – bullets are purely for ease of reading)!

• Set expectations: Expect Mess! - Its gonna happen and if you are prepared for it you are a lot less likely to be concerned by it. Expect waste! – This is the thing I find hardest to deal with. The waste! But its a bit like the mess issue – expecting it makes it easier to accept. Also, in the beginning if they are eating with you and what you are eating or what someone else is eating (for me its often just Callum and Millie eating) then its less of an issue as you just share a little bit of what you have. There’s no need to make too much extra, if its pasta you are talking about 3 pasta shapes maybe, quarter of a slice of bread for toast, half or even quarter of a wheatabix, Keep it spall to begin with and you’ll waste a lot less. When they start to eat properly, then you can make more of a portion but this is going to take some time – their tummies are still very small (size of their fist). If you do make too much, just give a little bit at a time then save the rest for another meal. Got 6 carrot sticks, give 2 then add more if they need/want them – the others can always be put in the fridge for later if not wanted. If you keep the floor beneath them clean then I’ve nothing against picking up food Millie has dropped and giving it back to her (again, if we are at home).
• Old sheet/disposable plastic table cloth (or the like) – If you have a carpet where the food play is going to happen, put one of these down first. An old sheet can be thrown in the washing machine and a wipeable tablecloth or playmat can be wiped clean after meal times.
• Wear an apron – I read this in the book and find it a great idea. If we are eating at home (less acceptable in public) and Millie is either on my lap or I’m loading spoons of soft food for her, I wear an apron – much easier than having to keep changing my clothes. Especially for me with the soft food – Millie doesn’t like soft food and will bash the spoon until it is thrown across the room, at the floor or at me!
• Food on table/surface or large mat – To start with, put food straight onto the table top if possible or, if not, a large mat. If a mat, preferably a heavy one or one that sticks. Bowls and plates will be as much a fascination as the food itself (remember its ALL new to your baby) so WILL be played with, turned upside down, dropped, eaten! I’ve not avoided bowls as Millie has to get used to them to be able to move on from playing with them but I might put the food in them for a bit then when she starts to play with the bowl I tip out the food and let her play.

  
  Plain surfaces work best!

• Use plain bowls and plates – If you have to use a bowl or plate – lets face it, soggy wheatabix, soup etc does not work  well on flat surfaces – then stick to plain ones. Your baby may not tell the difference between 2D & 3D things yet (I’ve tried to research this but haven’t found anything useful) and may try to pick up the ‘pictures’ which then leads to picking up the whole bowl plate. I’ve found Millie shows a lot less interest in the bowl or plate if I use a plain one. Also, I actually find the ceramic plates better than plastic ones as they are heavier & harder to pick up but, obviously, you’ve got the breakable risk there.
• Put new foods on your plate not theirs – Something we discovered with Callum, as they start to get older and a bit pickier and more suspicious of new foods, don’t put it on their plate, put it on yours and talk about it with the rest of the family/eaters (“mmmm, this courgette is nice”). Immediate intrigue! Next may follow “can I try it” or if not speaking a grab for your plate. If not, you could just casually ask if they want to try it or offer it. We found Callum was much more likely to try and like more foods like this. These days, now he is 4, if I want him to try something new I include him with the food prep and get him to try the food both cold and hot and compare. This is why eating as a family or eating your meals with your baby works the best when blw because they see you eating so are reassured its safe and want to copy. They learn from you!
• Don’t hold back – Remember, the early days are the best times to try as much variety of food as possible! Try it all. Don’t hold back because ‘most babies’ don’t like that flavour (Callum & Millie have often preferred stronger flavours to mild ones and think about lemon – both kids love sucking a lemon!!!! I can’t stand it!). Some babies have even enjoyed eating actual chilli peppers – raw! Personally, I’d avoid going straight in there with a vindaloo but start with mild spice (like a mildly spiced chilli & rice) and if they don’t recoil from the spice or cry (like Callum first did) then try something spicier. I’m not talking hold a “How much spice is too spicy!” contest but if you like making curries at home then give it a go! Same with mushy food and small food – if they don’t get to play with it then it will take them longer to learn how to do it. I love watching Millie now use her pincer grip to pick up foods and have loved watching how she has learnt to do it. Same as when she picks up food in her fist and can’t get to it with her mouth, I’m itching to help her but all by herself she has learnt to put it down and pick it up differently allowing her mouth to get to the food.

Smoked Salmon & Asparagus are big hits

• Keep trying – linked to the above, if you offer them food and they pull a face and throw it on the floor, don’t give up, keep trying. I think someone once told me you have to offer them the same food and let them reject it 13 times before you accept that they don’t like that food. Remember, they are in control of what they eat and what they need so they 1) might not need that food that day; 2) be taken by surprise by the taste and need to get used to it; 3) just be more interested in one of the other flavours on offer that day; 4) just not like a slight variation in that brand, i.e. yogurt – you get lots of different flavours and different styles, try them all. With yogurt we first tried Millie on one of those tube style yogurts and flicked it all over the kitchen, tried a bit more, flicked it over the kitchen, then again. Next time I tried the same yogurt but different flavour and she loved it (though I pre-loaded the spoon as she struggled with the tube). Tried a yogurt pot yesterday and today (different flavours) and she pulled a face and dismissed both.

Yogurt was more successful second try

• Go straight to booster – I’ve said this in an earlier blog but can recommend avoiding the highchair altogether and going straight for a booster. They really can then be included with the family mealtimes then and are much easier to transport if needed – even if just between rooms. We have a booster that works at the kitchen breakfast bar and at the dining room table. Very easy to keep clean too!
• Two spoons – If you are pre-loading spoons for them to take, while they have one, just as it looks like they are finished with it (not before) then load the next one. They should see the new spoon and think its something knew and go for it – but be quick and ready to catch because the other spoon will be discarded with a quick drop/throw. If you load too soon then they may discard what they are eating immediately. I love watching Millie eating say a carrot with another identical carrot in front of her, she sees the other carrot and drops the one she is eating for the one on the table. I place the discarded one back on the table and immediately she wants to swap again no matter how recently she just picked up the last one! If you just have the one spoon, you may find yourself wrestling with them for it even if the food on it has gone.
• Its bananas! – Keep the bananas small then once you’ve peeled back the skin to halfway, trim it. Keep half of it peeled so they have something to hold on to and then trim it so the skin doesn’t get in their way (think that one is in the book but its a good one!). Another good tip for all kids – frozen bananas! Especially if the skin has started to go a little (very) black and noses are starting to turn up. Peel them, if you wish you can slice them in half longways, place on a baking sheet or something similar then pop in the freezer. Once frozen, you can pop them in a food bag and then the kids (or you) can eat them like ice pops!
• Food overload! – Remember not to overload your baby’s plate. It can be tempting to put a wide variety of different foods on their ‘plate’ all at once so they can choose what they want to eat but they can get quite easily overwhelmed and not want any of it. Both Callum & Millie, in the early days, would just sit there or complain if there was too much in front of them but if we just put a couple of bits down and add pieces as they were eaten, dropped or discarded then they would happily explore each piece. Although, as mentioned above, if you put something new down while they have something already in their hand, it will be too interesting to resist and they will drop what they are eating to investigate even if it is exactly the same as what they have in their hands.

(The book I refer to is ‘Baby-Led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to To Love Good Food’ by Gill Rapley & Tracey Murkett)

BLW: Chairs and Chomping

I really feel like Millie has made a bit of a leap forward with the baby-lead weaning in the past week. She is gagging less and less, she hasn’t lost any enthusiasm with trying new foods, if anything, she is even more enthusiastic and enjoying foods she has previously dismissed. As I type she is happily sucking the life out of a rehydrated apricot – her first try of this.

Her nappies are turning from a bright yellow to a woody brown colour with added lumps! (gross I know, sorry!) This tells me she is definitely swallowing some of what goes into her mouth! Whoever knew nappy watch could be so exciting (its not – I’ve not seeped that low…yet!).

Although we haven ‘t tried her on anything particularly spicy yet, if something has a tiny bit of heat (like a mild chilli) she hasn’t refused it…or burst into tears like Callum did making me feel just awful! She is another lemon lover though! No idea where either child gets that from but certainly not me! I hate lemon…even as a slice in a drink!

Her dexterity progress is slow. She still can’t really control a cup of water (with or without a sippy lid) and spoons, unsurprisingly, are still pre-loaded…and often whacked on the table top or chair until topping is removed!

I did have a lightbulb moment yesterday with medicine. Why, if I’m encouraging Millie to take a spoon in her own hand and eat off it, am I surprised when she gets upset or rejects medicine when I spoonfeed her it or inject it into her mouth with a syringe? Instead, I tried filling half the 5ml side of a medicine spoon (2.5ml being the correct dose for her age) and then carefully handing the spoon to her. It worked, she was much more agreeable to it though did get a little excited and flicked the last bit off the spoon at my mum & her glasses. I’d still call it a success!

We have had to get used to feeling like a celebrity when we are eating out with Millie as she gets lots of attention. Obviously, for being so goddam cute (in my unbiased opinion) but also because they are so surprised to see a baby her age eating proper solid food. Most of the attention is from grandparent aged people “wow, look at her chomping into that piece of celery – my grandson is older than her and he isn’t on that sort of solids yet and he is such a fussy eater!” was one amazed exclamation. Its not uncommon, these days, for parents who start weaning their children to also offer finger foods from 6 months (whether they started weaning at 6 months or before) so it surprises me that they are so amazed – perhaps its because she is a petite baby too so looks even more surprising. Or perhaps even when parents offer finger food when out it is less obvious.

I think we have won over my parents more this time than we did with Callum. Though think Mum disapproves of our reluctance to offer chocolate until Millie is 1 year old. She even bought her a chocolate Easter pressie, I think intended to sway us, but I’m staying strong. I’m not mean but while she doesn’t know what it is, I’m hesitant to introduce her. I’m not restricting her from anything else – if I was eating a bit of cake and, although I wouldn’t necessarily offer it, if she went for it I’d let her have some. I do believe no food should be taboo as it just creates a bigger attraction to it but I don’t want foods like chocolate to replace nutritious food while she is eating such little amounts of actual food (as opposed to milk). By 1 she should be on 3 meals a day so the occasional chocolate treat wont then be a big deal. The rest of us all eat far more chocolate than perhaps we should so there’s no harm in delaying her chocolate addiction! I think that’s it – we eat cake occasionally but chocolate frequently. While she is meant to be eating what we eat, cake is less of a frequent issue.

Once more (as with Callum) we have gone for the booster seat over high chair route. Mainly because we wanted something Millie could use both at the breakfast bar and at the dinner table. The only high chair that gets to both heights is gorgeous but also £400!!!!! But, to be fair, the booster seat is completely adequate as she is over 6 months and sitting up strong and we would want her pushed up to the table rather than using the tray anyway. We’ve gone with a cheapy, easy to clean, £15 booster from Mothercare. If your baby is over 6 months I’d actually recommend it over a space-taking cumbersome, sometimes expensive (unless from Ikea) highchair – it will last them right until they are ready to sit on a normal chair too! My sister said, after having 3 children, if there was one thing she would have changed for number 1 it would’ve been to not bother at all with a highchair – she only used it for consecutive children because she already bought it for her first. I’m inclined to agree with her having not bought a highchair for either Callum or Millie.

Here is the seat we bought.

Here is Millie enjoying a Hot Cross Bun & some cucumber on her chair at the kitchen breakfast bar.

I really like these too and because my parents kindly gave us some money towards a highchair, I’m going to get one as they are really handy to put in the car to take to restaurants and for when you visit family or friends without children/with older children.

One thing was for sure, Millie had definitely outgrown the Bumbo and it really wasn’t safe for her to remain on top of the breakfast bar or table instead of on a chair.

My Dad loved seeing her joining in as part of the family pushed up against the table while we were enjoying our Sunday roast. I think Millie rather likes it too!

Wake Up Millie, I Think I’ve Got Some Food to Give to You

We are now well into weaning and its so great to see Millie’s enthusiasm for trying new foods. Dare you try have something that she’s not allowed and she looks most perturbed at your cheek!

One of the problems I am finding though, and I think I remember this with Callum too, is trying to provide the opportunities for Millie to try things. I get so excited when I buy a food ingredient or make something Millie hasn’t tried yet – I’m being brave and looking for foods I wouldn’t normally buy. Its a great opportunity for us all to try something new, including Callum. So I’ll plan a meal or keep it waiting for the right time to try.

To increase the chances of BLW being successful your baby should eat when you are eating or at least with someone else other than them eating. In this day and age, its not always easy to eat dinners as a family and Stuart and I do like to eat together in the evening so I like Millie to eat when Callum eats for her ‘evening’ meal. Then during the day, I usually eat my breakfast and lunch at the same time as Callum and Millie.

However, it is typical that as we approach lunch or evening meal time for Callum, it will coincide with Millie’s nap time. Millie doesn’t have a routine for napping, it suits us better that she wakes when she wants and then naps when she wants and where-ever is convenient. Millie wakes at a different time each day and her naps last different amounts of times. She will wake between 6.30 and 7.30am. She is awake for between 1.5-2 hours and then will sleep from anywhere between 45minutes to 2.5 hours. Because her nap routine is unpredictable, it isn’t easy for me to plan a dinner time. I try to keep Callum’s dinner time the same time each evening (between 4.30 and 5) and hope that Millie is able to join in at some point. He takes so long to eat that sometimes it works for Callum to start dinner & Millie to join when she wakes up.

Then  on Thursdays and Fridays, Callum has dinner at nursery so she often doesn’t get a dinner on those days.

At the moment, as far as Millie is concerned, she is just playing and not actually consuming food. She does not yet know that real food can satisfy her hunger and milk is the main source of food for her. Therefore, it doesn’t matter in the early days if she misses meals. But, to give her the most opportunities to learn about food and how to eat, the more she joins us when eating the better. As I’ve said before, Millie is much more interested in the food when it is on my plate rather than presented to her.

Despite all this, we’ve tried lots more new foods this past week.

Strawberries – liked
Raspberries – didn’t like and I amazing managed to salvage her top & trousers which I thought were destroyed with juice stains. Vanish soap I love you!
Parsnip – liked
Beef – liked
Smoked Salmon – tried a couple of times but pulled disgusted face & discarded
Avocado – liked
Lasagne – I preloaded the spoon for her but let her play with her hands too. She was keen to start with but then was more interested in the bowl
Spaghetti Bolognese – played with but didn’t get much to her mouth
Pitta bread – liked
Apple rice cakes – liked
Cabbage – liked
Asparagus – loved
Carrot Stick crisp – liked
Bread dipped in tomato & basil soup – didn’t like

We had tried mash before but without much luck. Millie seems to prefer the solid food to the mush. Its probably nicer on her teething gums. However, I tried mash again and she showed more interest this time…until she just wanted her spoon back minus the mash and did this to dispatch of the mash.

In terms of progress, nappy watch is still on and there are still flecks of toast and wheatabix and evidence of the odd thing getting through…like asparagus – that was a pleasant nappy!!!

But the majority of food still gets gagged and coughed out of her mouth. Even the stuff she likes above she still loses interest in pretty quickly so she’ll suck on a rice cake until about a quarter of it has dissolved then will discard it.

She will often prefer the hard plastic lids, bowls, spoons to the actual food if they are within reach.

                

She is getting better at getting food and even loaded spoons to her mouth but there is still a lot of room for improvement. She will often study what is on a spoon and grab at the contents with her fingers. We’re in no hurry, she’ll get there in the end and in the meantime we are having fun with it! Which is the important thing!

BLW: Trust Your Baby, Gag vs Choke

Its been over 2 weeks now since we started BLW and progress is slow but there definitely is progress.

One of the things it is difficult to get used to in the early days of BLW is trusting your child & your child’s body to do what’s right. By this, I’m talking about the risk of choking. They say as long as your baby is sitting upright and their necks are strong enough, their gag reflex should do all the work and the risk of choking is, theoretically, lower than spoon-feeding.

Being as this is my second child, it is much easier this time, reassured by the fact that Callum never choked. It was frightening the first day I gave Callum toast for breakfast. It was one of his first introductions to food and he really gagged on it and threw up an entire bottle of milk with milk coming through his nose. I fought the urge to run to him and pick him up etc, I just put on a smile said “oh dear” and…..er….took a photo! (Only after I knew he was ok! You’re saved, I’ve not got the photo which came after on this computer but below is the one just before!!)

                     
     Callum eating toast                                                                                 Millie eating toast

I was a little hesitant to offer Millie toast at first, but she gagged and puked on banana and other stuff so I plucked up the courage to offer it to her and she was absolutely fine, no puke! In fact, its one of her favourite foods that she’ll happily gum for ages. There is even evidence in that fabulous game we now play “Identify that Food in the Poop” (yes, we know how to have fun in this house!) that she has swallowed some of the toast – tell tale black/brown flecks.

If you do trust your little ones and they are safely positioned, it is highly probable that they will gag in the first few days/weeks. Their gag reflexes are so sensitive and they also have a tongue-thrust reflex which pushes objects to the front of their mouth. Amazing what our human bodies do and that babies are born with these reflexes to protect them from choking. As babies learn to have more control over their tongue, the tongue-thrust reflex will relax, soften, whatever the correct terminology is. I’m already witnessing an improvement with Millie’s tongue control skills. She wont always just let the food fall out of her mouth or her tongue doesn’t always push it out, sometimes she manages to purposefully control her tongue to push the food back and swallow. There may be a bit of a tongue-food tussle first but, occasionally, Millie will win.

It really helped to be told that gagging is a natural reflex action to having food in their mouth….and therefore it is also natural for them to be sick. Also that if they are coughing, they are breathing and therefore they are NOT choking. If they are coughing or gagging, do not pick them up and hit them on the back, let their mouths and bodies clear the food on its own. If you are unsure, Google the difference between gagging and choking. There are some YouTube vids of babies gagging to show you what’s ok. This site was also quite helpful.

This all said, I would also advise any parent, when they are approaching the weaning stage, to do a child’s First Aid course or to remind themselves of what action to take if you’ve already done one, just for peace of mind, whether you are puréeing or doing BLW. Saying they are unlikely to choke is different to saying they wont choke and it is better to be safe and to know what to do just in case. It will also help you to relax about it and just trust them to get on with it.

Now back to Millie – strangely, she does seem to be a bit slower to grasp feeding/weaning/eating than Callum. Callum was able to use his doidy cup a lot earlier than Millie – Millie’s hand control is still a bit erratic so she just throws the water over herself. Same with a shot glass (so wrong but works….don’t worry, it only contains water!!). Even in her TommieTippee Cup she picks it up sideways and bites the edge. She does love water though. The first few times she was offered water, it cascaded out of her mouth in a waterfall affect but she’d grab for more and more. Now she manages to swallow.

This week, new stuff I’ve tried:

Butternut Squash Risotto – great fun to play with but not much consuming
Houmous – not really a fan and doesn’t understand dipping yet
Chips – I know, naughty, but once in a while wont hurt. Unsurprisingly she liked it!
Celery – had a really good suck on that
Prawn – ignored
Roast carrot (may have tried that last week) – not fussed
Roast onion – thought she liked it at first but then couldn’t get it out of her mouth quick enough
Yorkshire Pud – liked

A firm favourite which she had previously tried is definitely red pepper.

One thing I’m really enjoying is my renewed enthusiasm to cook real homemade meals again for Callum (and Millie). I had got a bit lazy with my having to cook 2 meals a day firstly for Callum and then for Stuart and I later. But now I’m making homemade versions of the favourites like chicken nuggets (and homemade chips) and also things like vegetable croquettes, the butternut squash risotto, beef casseroles. I’ve a fish pie pack in the freezer at the ready and looking forward to making fish fingers and/or fish cakes again. So easy to make but haven’t really done it since Callum was little (well, a baby/toddler, he is still little).

I did make lots of dinners from scratch and we did eat fresh food regularly but where I’d sometimes reach for the premade frozen fish fingers or nuggets, I’m now making my own and trying new recipes again.

This has stretched to when we have guests come and stay too, I’m wanting to cook new things rather than stick to the old faithfuls, shop bought or take-away.

Now to finish on a couple more photos of Millie for you:

1. Pear; 2a. Bite; 2b. Spit out; 2c. Bite

3. Enjoying a Red Pepper from a prawn salad

4. Mmmm like this asparagus in my roast dinner