Blogs — Weaning

Big brother has swimming every week and we decided to have an impromptu make our own lunch out.  I forgot about food for the baby! I need to start planning food for LO when we're out.  I stopped taking food out for big brother when he was 2 years old and let him eat the healthiest option I could find. I've gotten out of the habit of it.  Oops.  So we bought ingredients to make a ham, cheese and avocado baguette.  The only thing I felt comfortable giving LO was the avocado. I love avocados. They're like a banana but even healthier - it's actually a superfood - high in fibre, low in carbohydrate and full of healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. I've read that you can leave the skin on so LO can grip the slippery avocado but I found the skin would come off when I peeled some of back anyway.  LO soon got to grips with it - even though he resembled a greens lime monster when he was finished.

Menu

Day 8: avocado slices for lunch, carrot batons, cucumber sticks and rice for dinner

Onco baby bamboo bowl

Baby Led Weaning Diary

Day 6: A visit to grandparents'  to celebrate Uncle moving into his new house meant a celebratory dinner was cooked by grandad.  In the midst of the chaos we realised LO was hungry however grandad likes salt in his food and the meal was definitely unsuitable for a baby - even a baby on baby led weaning.  Too much salt creates a taste for salt that babies don’t need, and it could affect their blood pressure.  So avoid giving baby processed foods or fast food and, when cooking, omit all added salt. You can always sprinkle some onto your own food if necessary.  

So a hunt in grandma's fridge we found a cucumber and Auntie Connie said that these would be perfect as LO has been drooling loads recently due to his teething.  The cool cucumber would be a natural teether.  I cut them chunky so he could just gnaw on them without them falling to bits easily.  He sat gnawing on them throughout our meal.

Lessons learned

Cucumber sticks make great teethers 

Menu

Day 6: cucumber sticks

Day 7: carrot batons

 Onco 2 in 1 Placemat and Bowl

Baby Led Weaning Diary

So... I had planned to start LO on baby led weaning on his 6 month birthday but as daddy had just reconverted big brother's high chair ready to start his BLW journey and daddy was around to witness the event - we started early.

Day 1 - It was all very last minute and as we were having carrots as part of our family dinner we steamed some carrot batons.  Big brother wanted LO to be sat right next to him.  Not just near but side by side - with no gap in between. So sweet you might think but we forgot big brother loves carrots. I was busy filming the big moment whilst telling big brother to stop stealing his brother's carrots. Poor baby didn't have a chance.  He grabbed and ate at least half the sticks.  Daddy suggested to put a carrot stick in LO's mouth! I had to explain the concept of BLW.  In all this commotion no wonder LO got frustrated.  He didn't manage to grab any carrots let alone taste anything.

For day 2 - dinner was rather rushed as we got back home late.  Daddy prepared carrot slices.  He thought LO could work on his pincer grip.... I politely told him it was a little too early as LO has yet to learn to grip with his hands let alone his finger tips - lol.  and yup - daddy still hasn't had time to read anything on BLW.

 Day 3 - big brother was at nursery and daddy was at work. I wanted a late morning snack and grabbed a banana. LO looked really interested so I put a few pieces onto his mat.  Best try yet!  He managed to grab a piece a few times and nicely smeared it over the mat and almost got to taste it too!

 Day 4 - I thought we should try something different just in case LO wasn't keen on carrots. Daddy was off again and I think he had his selective hearing switched on again and steamed carrot batons were back on the menu.  When asked whether the carrots were cool enough for baby daddy replied 'I think so - here have a feel'.  The carrots were still crunchy!  I had to explain that they should be soft enough so it can be squished (otherwise there's a choking hazard).  As the carrots had to go back in the steamer there was time to dish up everybody's dinner.  LO seemed much less frustrated and was able to pick at his carrots for the duration of our meal.  It all seemed a lot calmer and he seemed to enjoy playing with his food.  It may be because this time we all sat down to dinner at the same time.  Big brother still managed to steal some carrots but without disturbing baby too much. Perhaps giving him too much attention on the first few occasions was too much for LO especially considering most of the time our attention is on big brother trying to keep him from jumping on baby!

Lessons learned: 

-plan the time of day you're going to feed baby

-quiet environment without older siblings around

-give daddy some articles to read on baby led weaning

Menu:

Day 1&2: steamed carrots

Day 3: banana pieces

Day 4&5: steamed carrots

Onco Baby Bamboo Bowl and Spoon Set

Useful links:

What I gave daddy to read

Perfect carrot sticks

So Day 1 of baby led weaning journey is looming and I need to decide on baby's food.  It's meant to be easy and baby eats what you eat.  From what I've read first food suggestions are steamed carrots, cut up cucumber, toast fingers, crinkle-cut bits of mango or even spaghetti bolognaise or mashed potato if that's what the family is having.  As long as you're not adding salt and it’s soft and/or crumbly, cut into small, manageable pieces (baby fist-size) and not on the list of foods that pose a choking risk, it’s on the baby-led weaning menu.

As big brother had a reaction with eggs when he was 7 months old I'm very reluctant to give LO a combination of foods in case of allergies.  So....let's see what I have in the fridge for Day 1! No preparation required.