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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Baby Led Weaning for Idiots
Does anyone do this?
We're thinking about trying baby led weaning starting in a week or two.
Baby is sitting up great and is super interested in our food.
I gave her a long squishy roasted carrot the other day and she LOVED it - brought it right to her mouth and ate quite a lot of it.
I'd like to start in earnest soon, but I am no chef and need a dummies guide to work out what to do.
How long do you bake carrots for? Do you chop sweet potato into sections and then roast it, or roast it and then cut it up? How do you know it's sort enough?
Which foods would you recommend trying out?
Any other tips/ comments?
Re: Baby Led Weaning for Idiots
We started with BLW and it worked out really well.
The BLW cookbook offers good tips on how to prepare certain things. This early, you just want large pieces of soft food that they can grab (a quarter of banana, big slice of avocado, big slice of roasted sweet potato, etc). If you roast or steam veggies, I'd suggest cutting them up first. You can also put a big dollop of things like hummus, mashed avocado, mashed sweet potato,etc on the tray and let them grab it. Or put it on a 'dipper' like a wedge of cucumber and let them slurp it off They don't have their pincher grasp yet so anything she can grab with her palm is great. You could give her a big chunk of softer cheese (like from a block of cheddar) and let her gnaw on it. How about a big wedge of tomato (with skin peeled off)? Make a sticky beans and rice concoction that she could palm? You could try a big slice of beef from a steak too and let her slurp the juices (to get the iron) but the texture will be tough enough that she won't be able to break a piece off. Geez, I'm drawing a blank at other foods. Don't hesitate to add a bit of seasoning like garlic or other herbs.
It's really messy but fun. Jack's first meal was sliced avocado, sliced banana and sweet potato. We always gave him a taste of pretty much anything.
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD
Thanks so much for this!!
how old was he when you started?
I'm just so scared that she'll either choke or it will mess with her tummy and/ or reflux, but I think she's ready. Just need to take the plunge!
We started m around six months. We did one meal a day until 9 or 10 months. Then I added another and by a year we did three meals a day.
I just made him at first whatever. Veggie we ate that night
He was a week or two past 6 months. I definitely waited for him to be sitting up fully and he was really good about bringing things to his mouth.
Re: choking. Remember, gagging is ok. They are going to do it often as they learn to move food around in their mouth. Their gag reflex is very far in the front of their mouth but as they get a little older, it moves back. Just keep an eye on them at all times and try to resist the urge to stick your finger in their mouth - you could end up pushing the food farther back.
Jack had reflux and was on Zantac and it didn't seem to mess with him a bit. Also, TMI but it was funny to watch what would come out solid out of the 'other end'.
Lastly, remember, solids are just for fun for the first year so don't feel bad about how much she's taking in. And if she seems like she's having a difficult time and really gagging a lot or doesn't seem interested in food, back off for a week or two. No one says solids are required right now.
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD
I just started feeding her stuff one day when she seemed to show interest in food and grab at my plate/table.
I started with cheerios and moved on to fruits and vegetables in a random array depending on what looked good at the store that week. I tried to keep only a couple items in rotation at a time in case she'd show an allergy. I also did whatever seemed logical to get the fruit/veg to a soft state so bananas were squished or cut a little, sweet potatoes were baked and mashed or pureed, carrots were steamed and pureed etc. I just kind of winged it (wung it?). I usually did a batch of an item and froze it in the baby food ice cube trays and we'd try it over and over again until the tray was empty--luckily she liked most things so it wasnt agonizing for her.
I used the rule of no choking hazards (ie hot dogs, raisins etc), no honey, and nothing that is a "common" allergy like nuts, seafood, eggs etc until later. I also limited dairy and meat just because they seem harder to digest than fruits and veg but thats just my unfounded assumption! That being said, yogurt is a great food to give when LO is ready to try utensils.
As for softness, I started with a lumpy mashed potato consistency and dime or nickel sized pieces of things like banana that are already soft and as she got more teeth and more adept at eating I made it more and more solid and larger so she could take bites. Our pedi said that their gums are really hard so they can have meat and other food that youd think require teeth even without teeth.
Which is good because DD didnt get her first tooth until 10 months so there was a lot of toothless eating going on.
Pressed for time so didn't read the other responses yet, JenD may have already suggested it but the course on BLW at BRC in Abington is super helpful. $10 for the hour and you get the entire gist of the book and the chance to ask questions! The FB page is also helpful (make sure you get the right one - there are a few).
Just last night we (I dragged DH) took another/different class at BRC and there were some moms of younger babes lamenting that their kids won't eat any rice cereal or baby food, etc. When we got home, I asked DH what he thought of BLW looking back and he said "I think it was awesome."
Mr. D says the same thing. Selfishly, it's also nice for all of us to be able to sit down together and eat a hot meal because he can feed himself.
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD