I started weaning my daughter at 5 months. The HV had said I should start at 4 months. I did query this at the time and pointed out to ther that the current guidlines said 6 months. She however told me to start at 4 months so that my daughter would get used to using her cheeks and mouth! Personally I thought she had been doing this because at the time I was bf! However, I did not start at 4 months, I started at 4 months. I started with baby rice, purees etc. She took to it well however in the last 5-6 weeks she has hated being fed with a spoon - more so for the savoury stuff.
I had never heard of BLW before, but came across it on another forum (ok ok, so I am a demom for the forums at the mo!!)
Started it about 4 weeks ago and I have to say, what a difference!! She has tried loads of new stuff, which she can hold. Mostly she chews it, sucks it but does enjoy it. I have to help her a bit and break off little bits for her to ensure that she is actually eating something! We have been out as a family four or five times to restaurants and have taken her with us. I always go prepared and take a few finger foods with me. She has even had food off our plates and last Sunday had a roast dinner!!
My main question with it though (and I am hoping somebody can help here!!) is that I am not sure if she is really eating enough if you know what I mean. Is it the case that if she was really hungry then she would eat more or is it too difficult for her to feed herself? She seems to love it so have no major concerns at the moment. I know that she is still getting a lot of nutrional value from her milk. Will she just eat more as she gets older??
CM - you alwyas have all the scientific stuff - is this the way to go????
Karen - am interesting question as I too have done a similar thing following CM's post on a different thread. My baby took to mush on a spoon well then has completely gon off it. He sits there with his mouth shut and smiles! But if you give him something to chew on he likes it. However you are right - should they be eating more than this just a nibble here and there?
My gut feel on it is that as they are both under a year old, milk is still their main source of food - I am still bf'ing and I just feed when he wants it. The health visitors tell you to start to go to just two bottles of formula a day from 9 months which doesn;t seem enough to me. My 8m old is still haveing about 4 milk feed a day and then one or two in the night. But like you I feel the pressure from everyone else and am wondering if he should be eating more solids? I think CM (BLW guru!) will say that this is the natural way they are supposed to eat and actually three meals of mush a day is too much anyway - they will get what they need and develop tastes gradually rather than bing fed too much mush that stretches their stomachs. Your stomach is the size of your fist which is quite small really - especially since a baby fist is very titchy!
From my pwn experience, my baby is still gaining weight (I don;t go to the HV's as our approachs are poles apart and I can;t be bothered with the hassle!) and he lets me know if he is hungry but milk still seems to saitfy him so I am quite happy.
Hi, thanks for replying. I have to say that I cannot remember a thread from CM on this topic but then we have been too busy arguing on other issues!!
I too have stopped going to the HV as I can't be bothered with charts, what she should be doing at this stage etc. On the occassions that I have been I have felt really sorry for first time mums who sit and discuss what the HV has said and are worrying and anxious! It seems like being a parent is hard enough without the added stress! I have the advantage of being a second time mum now and did not even go to a ante-natal class!!
Instincts play the biggest part (IMO) and even though I have a routine etc in place, my insticts are always foremost.
My daughter still guzzles all her milk and is on 4 bottles a day so I suppose I should just go with the flow and let her dictate to me when and how much she wants to eat!!
I must say that BLW is much more fun for everyone....I hated feeding from a spoon because I always felt that I was shovelling it in and that she wasn't getting anything from it! Now, she sits in her high chair and it's almost as if she is saying "ok mum, what tasty treats am I getting today??"
LOL I am a huge fan of baby led weaning, and it's so much easier than mashing and spooning!! Like you KAren I did the mashing and spooning with DD1 and didn't really like it, but DD2 has been on finger foods from the word go and loves to eat and will try pretty much anything. As you say, eating out is so much easier as she will just have what ever I am having, including steak when she was 7 or 8 months old! (and she only started cutting teeth when she was 13 months, so you don't need to worry about how many teeth they have for chewing and biting)
As far as quantity is concerned, your baby will eat until it's no longer hungry. One of the "advantages" of baby led weaning is it allows the baby to control it's appetite and intake, so doesn't cause over feeding and constipation.
These two articles are good at explaining the thinking behind the practice;
Milk is the main source of calories for babies until they are at least 12 months old. We have a misguided idea that once they are 4 or 6 months they should be eating tonnes of solids and drinking small amounts of milk, when in fact the opposite is true. My youngest is 17 months and I would estimate that 50-75% of her nutrition is derived from (breast) milk, but she is a big chunky healthy baby, so by no means underfed or underweight!
Sadly the cr*p your HV told you about starting at 4 months or she'd not learn how to "handle" solids is all too often spouted, and it is completely untrue(this ties in with what I said about it taking years for new guidelines to filter down etc). Babies go through very definate developmental stages, the tongue thrust is the one which tells you when your baby is truely ready for food. If they push foods/solid things out of thier mouths with thier tongues, they are not ready for food (of course a spoon full of mush can be pushed past this reaction, as we saw on BUB when the CV couple were feeding 10 wk old Mia as she lay flat on her back....) but if the baby takes the food into thier mouth and moves it around without gagging then they are ready for solids. You will have a few gagging/semi-choking incidents where your little piggy will be over-enthusiastic and litterally bite off more than they can chew, but as long as they are watched there is virtually no danger of baby truely choking.
Brocolli is a good one to start with, or any food cut into "chip" shapes, baby will grab the food and bite chunks off, using a fist hold to begin with, dropping the stalk and picking the next thing up, but once they get a pincer hold they will start to put things in thier mouths and let go, so you can give them smaller things like raisins, sweetcorn and peas.
It's a really easy way to give a baby solids, so much less intensive and stressful than feeding with spoons, all you do is sit baby in a high chair with a selection of finger fods on the tray and they join in with the family meal.
Enjoy!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nestle boycotting,nappy washing, co-sleeping, baby wearing, home birthing, tandem nursing Momma
Routines are for dancers, shedules are for trains
Attachment Parenting; the radical notion that babies and children are people too!!
Yes I do agree that baby will give signs as and when they are ready for food (e.g. taking an interest in what you eat,wanting to take what you eating, tummy rumbling etc). I weaned Katie at 4 months on the advice of my father in law who is a GP, he said that it might improve her colic to introduce a little baby rice which it did, also i think that she was starting to grow out of it too.
Every baby is different, some need to be weaned at 4 months some don't. My sister in law, her little boy was weaned at 4 months, however he was 9.11lb when born, at 4 months had the size and build of a 7-8 month old baby, at 9 months he had the size and build of a 2 year old child(serious), so needed to be weaned early in order to provide him with his energy needs. His tummy was rumbling on an only milk diet!
When Katie was teething(she is 8.5) months, for a few days she would eat nothing but milk(5-6 feeds a day 7foz each feed). without solid food she was very pale, not enough energy to do her normal bouncing around and very listless. When her appititie picked up she was her normal bouncing and happy self.
The point i am trying to make is that milk is not always enough for a baby over six months especially when they are more active and use more energy. You recieve cues from your child. I was miffed when my HV told me to cut milk from 3 times a day to just 2, i thought that the main source of nourishment for babies was milk! Is this not dangerous. These HV do not always know best! I will not be taking her often to be weighed as she is putting on weight, but in her own pace.
You just have to trust your instincts, and your baby will give cues too. HV and Midwives info on height and weight are based on out of date charts of ff babies so not always accurate for bf babies who tend to be smaller. i have an article about this. If i had known this i would have been more confident that my baby was getting enough from me bf, but when the health professionals tell you that your baby is loosing weight, and hungry you would do anything to make it better.
I will not bore you enough with my rambling, gosh arn't these forums cathartic!
Just wanted to warn people about peas.... an 8 month old baby was brought in to the emergency department at work the other day. He choked on a pea and died, they couldn't rescucitate him. Just be aware of this when reading CMs advice about the pincer grasp developing.
Thanks for the advice Chermy. I have to say however that my daughter has been eating peas, raisins, sweetcorn etc for months. Its not only eating small things that develop the pincer grip. As with anything, proper supervision is key.
I am very sorry to hear about the little boy. How tragic.....its such sad news. Are you a doctor/nurse? I only ask because I sometimes wonder how common these types of incidents are? Do you see a lot of this? Its always such a worry when babies are starting to eat solids..
