Now that the boob machine is 6 months old, it’s time to start feeding her “real” food, I guess. Not that I’m excited to jump into that. It’s a mess, the diapers are a mess, the dishes are a mess. It’s all way more work than I’m looking forward to. But, I suppose the girl can not grow up on breastmilk alone. Not to mention, she needs something else to teeth on. My nipples are getting sore.
I cooked up some homemade teething biscuits this week, I had no idea they were so easy to make! I actually didn’t follow any of the recipes very closely. Instead, I took the general idea and worked with what I had. I wound up with this:
1 cup baby oatmeal
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup molasses
Mix together, roll out into 1/4 inch thick sheet, cut into squares. Cook at 425 for 15 minutes.
They should dry out and be pretty hardy a few minutes out of the oven. They’re a little messy after some time in a slobbery mouth, but I don’t think they’re nearly as bad as anything we’ve purchased from the store. Best of all, since I didn’t have to buy anything to make them, they’re CHEAP! And I know exactly what’s in them.
As for the rest of the baby food experience, so far we’ve just done coursely mashed bananas and avocados. I’ll probably add sweet potatoes sometime this weekend.
I’m also researching a little more into baby led weaning after so many Twitter followers raved about it last night. I’ll admit, though, the idea of giving my baby a whole hunk of food makes me have a bit of a panic attack. So, please do chime in with your baby led weaning stories. If you’ve tried it, do you love it or does it scare you, too? I think we tried it, to a degree, with Kendall, but I just couldn’t get on board last time around.
Kendall is 3 years 2 months and Leyna is 6 months old
As for Pinterest, I think I fell behind on some invites the last couple weeks because I’m still fighting off the plague (or probably just an ear infection that I need to see the Dr for). If you would like an invite, leave your email below. If you’re still waiting on one from me, I’m so sorry! I’ll try to keep up with them in this post, so please repost here. Thanks!
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43 comments
Can’t wait to try that recipe. I actually like James’ dipes better now that he has poop balls instead of pure breastfed poop. Easier to wash!
We did baby led weaning with K, who’s 2 3/4. It was no big deal. The premise is that a kid is not going to move food to the back of their mouth until they are developmentally able to. i.e 6+ months old, sitting up unassisted, etc. We waited until 7 months, and we only put in ONE meal at a time. At first, it was dinner, but we fed her ‘whatever’, banana split down the natural seam into 3 pieces, a spear of sweet potato, etc. If they can’t force it back to the back of their mouths with their tongue, it will just fall back out, unlike spoon feeding where you shove it in. They learn to take manageable bites and mouth them around and then either swallow or spit them back out. They taste a lot of things without having to do a bunch of extra work or buy a bunch of jars. Skip the pureeing and extra dishes, and just roast yourself some sweet potato spears go to with your chicken. Toss it all in the oven and forget it. Nothing extra. We still don’t force our girl to use a utensil 100% of the time, although she’s had access to one for a long time, the fact that she’s eating is more important than proper fork use. Shrug. She eats more foods better than most kids, doesn’t crave mc’d’s and wants to help cook. More than I can say for most kids.
I did straight purees with my twins until they hit one and with my 11 month old i did cereal for about 6 seconds before I just gave in and lopped a piece of steak on his tray and said go for it. It’s been BLW all the time here and we haven’t had an issue yet. I think the hardest thing for people to get over is the thought of a baby choking, an infants gag reflex is much further up, so it’s not as much of a hazard as you might think. You also don’t chop things up into tiny pieces, you give them a big hunk of whatever you are eating and let them gnaw and chew and suck on it. Some BLW babies take awhile to actually eat the foods, doing more gnawing and sucking than actual chewing and eating, and that is fine- totally part of it. My BLW baby? He’s an eater. then again he had 4 teeth by 6 months, so there is that. I write with other moms over at http://www.babyledweaningblog.com lots of info and experiences there!
Thanks for the awesome resource!
I am only 1 day in, and I love BLW! Check out Gail Rapley’s book- I am almost finished with it and it is really straightforward and great. I offered peppers, apple slices and snap peas from my mom’s garden last night and it was so much fun to watch him just pick up a pepper and gnaw on it! I already know I’m going to be a huge advocate. Check out the video I took of him doing it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpsQ0F51ps&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1310152495
Oh my gosh, the cute! 1. I am adding peppers to the grocery list now and 2. I am dying at the Celine soundtrack.
We did BLW with my son, who is 16 months old now. He took to it like a champ, and I loved how simple it was! I just made sure we always had something for him to gnaw on early on – usually steamed veggies. We added in meat after a few weeks (mostly chicken), and just kept going from there. He’s always been a great eater, and not very messy either. I can’t rave enough about our BLW experience.
We did BLW with my daughter who is almost 2. No choking and she will eat just about anything. It was sooo much easier and cheaper than the jarred or even homemade pureed route. We did that with my son…I wish I had known about BLW for him! Added bonus, it forced us to eat well balanced, nutritious meals.
We did baby led weaning with DD who is now almost 2 years old. I can tell you that it was SOOO much easier than the whole puree business. I’m not sure if it’s just my daughter’s temperment or not, but she eats such a bigger variety of foods than her puree fed friends do. It has also let me be so much more relaxed with meal times. No begging my child to please eat one more bite, or fretting that she’s only had blueberries for the last three days. I know that she’ll eat when she’s hungry and stop when she’s full. My job is to offer her lots of healthy food and she’ll take care of the rest.
I would definitely recommend reading the book if you’re nervous about it. We only once had to do a swipe on her. I think it’s key to know the difference between gagging and choking. Gagging = good. Your baby is doing what she is supposed to do, and try your best not to intervene. Choking is an emergency. We never once experienced choking. Also, doing BLW doesn’t mean plopping anything in front of your child. You still need to avoid whole grapes, uncooked carrots, etc. But on the whole, it just makes life so much easier, and gives you so much more faith in your child.
I had many relatives who looked at me like I had 6 heads when we told them that we were giving DD real food. Three months later they were bragging to their friends about it! They just needed to see it in action for themselves.
I did BLW and I’m a lot better at manipulating food in my mouth than my friends even now – mostly Mommy’s just lazy, but I never had purees!
We did BLW with Evan, but I have no advice since he hated food (ALL FOOD) until the cake on his first birthday. I just got tired of making baby food he rejected, so after the 3rd batch I started just handing him whatever we were eating.
We’re doing it again with Caroline because she is the world’s most independent 6 month old and won’t eat ANYTHING she doesn’t feed herself. You just keep the baby in the high chair, near where you are (I drag mine over next to where I use the laptop) and keep one eye on their mouth. We’ve had maybe one incident that required intervention, but even then it was just a clean-up after she spit something out.
Which is why I am totally making those teething biscuits. Thank you so much for the link!
I didn’t do BLW with my daughter but I wish I would have!
Can I get a Pintrest invite? PLEASE?!
jenschlabach@gmail.com
Sent invite 🙂
Thanks Meredith!
Baby led weaning is awesome. My baby is 11 months old now and will eat everything, broccoli, tomatoes, everthing. She is way ahead of all the other babies her age at daycare. Which is amazing since she has no teeth. The other moms at daycare are amazed by remie’s food skills.
It’s also easier because you can give them anything you eat. But I would suggest reading the book, it will help explain and quell your concerns. My husband thought I was crazy till he read the book and got tips on how to implement.
I’d like an invite please 🙂
burkekerry@hotmail.com
Sent you an invite
We’ve been doing BLW since Hugo turned 6 months 3 weeks ago. It is so much fun. I have a couple of videos up, here’s sweet potato fries http://youtu.be/Kof13Q0Vu_o and a blog post http://longlivego.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/fistfuls-of-food-learning-to-eat-the-baby-led-weaning-way/. Good luck and enjoy!
Awesome! Thank you!
BLW is definitely not something I could have done with my first, way too paranoid. But with my daughter I loved it and I will never do anything different. You have to be okay with gagging, not choking, gagging. They will gag, but that’s okay, and it is WAY easier, especially with two, way too much work to make several varities of the same foods. I say give it a try. By a year my daughter could just grab an apple and eat it. 😀
I worked with infants for 20 yrs and I usually tell my parents to start with what they are comfortable with. One of the babies in my room is eating everything in small pieces and she started at Leyna’s age and another baby is having a harder time with texture. They are both 9 month old now. If she is doing well with the food you are giving her keep going with the led. Also could you please send me a pinterest invite. Thank you. Ecmurf@att.net
Invite sent
Can you please send me an invitation to pinterest too?
Thanks!
Birgit
Sent!
I’d like to check out pinterest!
h_deibel@hotmail.com
Thanks!!
Invite sent 🙂
Reading the book is great for worries! I was forced to do BLW because my daughter refused pureeds, simply pushed away the spoon and shut her mouth! She is messy and determined, I think, no I know I clean the floor, chair, table 3x a day! I got creative in the beginning ( smearing tofu and homemade lentil soup on toast, cut into strips). It saves money and is easier in the long run! Watching the gag reflex is tough and scary at first, but they learn ( the book really helps explain it).
You are probably thinking “when in the he’ll do I have time to read a book” it’s an easy fast read!!! If that helps!
Good luck
Naomi
Definitely going to try those biscuits! Thanks!
Can you send me an invite? I’d appreciate it. 🙂
acmcconville@hotmail.com
Sent you one!
Definitely interested in BLW for the next one…can’t imagine I’ll have time to puree like I did with the first anyway!! What is the title of the book everyone is talking about? Thanks!
The title of the book is “Baby Led Weaning: helping your baby to love good food” by Gill Rapley
I’d love an invite too!
tristi.kriegler@sbcglobal.net
Thanks!
Done 🙂
Could I please have a pinterest invite also?
Forgot email:
asn_80@hotmail.com
We’ve done BLW with Amber (now 12,5 months OMG). Everyone’s already given you some great resources, so I’ll just add one more thought: Your baby will tell you she wants to eat like this, or not. Some kids don’t like it, have trouble, etc. Yet other kids – like mine – will have it no. other. way. You know your baby best, her temperament, her choices. I partly chose BLW because we have eating disorder issues in the family and I loved the whole aspect of her feeding herself, being able to learn her own taste and boundaries as soon as possible.
Two more thoughts: you can always try it and decide it’s not for you. You can always do a combo: either some finger foods & some purees, or if you’re really too nervous then you can still apply the principles of BLW when feeding purees (taking the time to let her experience the food, not doing that constant push spoon in mouth/wipe food in mouth/scrape excess food off chin/wipe in mouth, watch for her cues that she’s done, don’t focus on the amounts she’s eating or finishing her plate).
Thank you for this! I think we’re going to do more of a hybrid approach. I feel like we never forced purees on Kendall, and he’s always been a great eater, open to a huge variety of foods, no real issues with him. I actually like making purees, so that’s not a big deal for us. My H is really skeptical about giving her big chunks of food. We gave her a cantaloupe the other day and she gagged/nearly choked on it. It was scary, not going to lie. I don’t think I want feeding my baby to be a scary endeavor.
I have to admit, I’d never heard the term Baby Led Weaning until reading this post. My third baby is 9 months old! I guess I did a modified version of this with my second, and now with my third.
We’ll never know if it was because I did only baby food with the first (and then “kid” meals, instead of whateve we were eating for dinner, who knows why?!), but my first is super-picky. My middle son will eat pretty much anything. He eats steamed broccoli before the mac n cheese on his plate, and asks FOR MORE.. Go figure.
I’m hoping my little girl will be as flexible. I fed her steamed grean beans today, and she ate them like a champ. I steamed them fairly well (not as mushy as canned, blech!), and cut them into very small bite sized pieces. She also loves banana pieces, and avocado. I’ve just started pieces of chicken and turkey. So far she loves it all.
Great post, I learned a lot, thanks! 🙂
did yours seriously turn out this light in color, or was this a picture from somewhere else? mine are super dark from the molasses. they also seem to need a little more than 15 minutes as they’re almost cool and still a little rubbery-feeling. i’m giving them another 10 or so, and hopefully they will harden up. thanks for the recipe.
I just started BLW with my little man about 5 weeks ago. I was nervous the first few times, but he LOVES feeding himself, and we’ve never had any choking and barely any gagging. If you’re nervous, the Baby-Led Weaning book has great information and ideas for getting started. I think you would love it, and it’s so much fun to watch them explore “real” food!
BLW is actually a really awesome experience for you and baby. The main thing is to know the difference between gagging and choking. They will gag, it’s a part of the learning process, and you just have to let them do it. Obviously you don’t want them choking, however, so pay close attention. Let them go through the gagging part, but if you’re unsure, it’s better to assume they are choking and take care of it, then the other way around. That’s the only real concern with day to day eating for me and my family. Plus, you have to be ok with wasting food. It will pretty much all go to the floor at first, just straight down. Then, as your little one gets more and more confident and skilled with their hands, less will end up on the floor. We started about a month ago and have yet to have an experience where she actually throws the food, she just drops it. And today she tried some sun-dried apricots and she LOVED them.It’s just really fun getting to watch baby eat as an experience. Like Tanya said in the other comment, get the book. There’s a lot of cool facts about the history of feeding babies (about the last hundred years or so) and it will give you all the information you need, which will give you lots of confidence.
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