https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:54:00 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-215062 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:52:18 +0000 Rubies 215062@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wasn't exactly sure what BLW weaning was because I did the puree-thing but based on what PP are saying, it looks as though I might be doing it without knowing! At mealtimes, I lay out on LO's tray a variety of things: cut up grapes/blueberries/other fruit, Cheerios, roasted/steamed veggies, steamed rice, etc. and she'll pick it up and eat it all. In between bites, I will spoon-feed her porridge/risotto/etc., which she loves. She opens her mouth and waits for the spoon so at least I know she wants it.</p> <p>There is a book called "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" that I referred to when I started solids with LO. Very interesting read. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-215052 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:45:55 +0000 LivsMama 215052@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Liv is about to be a year old, and we started BLW at 6.5 months. She LOVES FOOD. It was absolutely the best fit for us as she had great hand eye coordination and an early pincer grasp, so she wanted nothing to do with purees at all. I was afraid of choking too, still am. I just made sure it was cut up small enough for her. I used to slice blueberries about halfway through before she ate them so they squished easier in her mouth and we didnt risk it, like, richocheting off her gums down her throat. Be careful with string beans. I used to give those to liv whole bc she would take bites, but the other day she tried to eat one whole and I had to yank it out of her mouth, Just realize that at that age they have a very sensitive gag reflex, and its closer to the front of their mouths than ours is. So there WILL be gagging, Give it a second, as they usually get it situated quickly.</p> <p>I didnt read books, but did a lot of research on the choking hazards and risks involved and decided it was the best route to take (and Liv wouldnt touch a puree anyhow) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-215044 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:35:14 +0000 Mrs. Bee 215044@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Teachermama: since charlie didn't have any allergies (we followed the 3 day rule with him and did purees), i didn't think olive would have any allergies. </p> <p>i always ate what my parents ate (my mom fed me peanut butter almost every day from 7 months on!), so i didn't really worry about doing blw with olive since that's pretty much what they do everywhere around the world. i just didn't really know about blw with charlie.</p> <p>the only thing i avoid is peanuts and honey. last night olive had meatballs -- well more like ground meatballs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214953 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 07:08:40 +0000 T.H.O.U. 214953@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>As a working mom I kinda had to let daycare just do purees and then we did BLW at home for dinner. She still caught on really quickly and did great! Now that shes a bit more advanced and can actually eat the food (10 months) we send finger foods to daycare with her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214907 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 02:43:18 +0000 Boogs 214907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>After failing miserably with puréed foods, we just let our LO eat whatever we ate. He was sooo much happier and so were we. I wished I had tried it sooner, but we didn't until more like the 9 or 10 month mark. As far as food allergies, we just kept an eye on him, but definitely didn't feed him the exact same things for a week straight. We've given him everything we eat other than shellfish and peanut butter. He's 14 months now and we've been lucky to not discover any allergies and he will eat anything you give him (most days anyway, he did go through a food protest when he started walking, but he's getting better again). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214903 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 02:21:49 +0000 Teachermama 214903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Bee: what about food allergies? My dr said when we introduce foods, do one item each week before adding more in case baby has a reaction, you know what food it's from. Do you give steamed carrot for 1 week, and then steamed broccoli for 1 week, or do you do a variety of foods throughout the week.</p> <p>My dr advised me to not do blw, I'm curious as to why they want the babies to eat pre made store bought stuff? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214721 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:02:17 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 214721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did this with Lala. At first we tried cut up sweet potatoes and healthy stuff, but she decided food was not something she was interested in... The few things she would pick up and eat before the age of 1 were french toast or waffle strips and fruit... so we went with it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214702 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:49:28 +0000 prettylizy 214702@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm excited for all this bow love! We plan to follow blw and my family just doesn't get it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214660 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:30:08 +0000 Mrs. Bee 214660@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pointybird: we did blueberries in the mesh feeder at first. at 9 months her pincer grip is still so poor she can't feed herself small pieces of food. today she ate: eggs, mushrooms, roast chicken, and some pasta for breakfast and lunch. she loves chicken and vegetables (mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini), and strangely she doesn't really like fruit! </p> <p>i try to give her most of what we eat for instance curry, split pea soup, ground turkey... so a lot of cooked foods rather than foods prepared for her like small pieces of cheese, sweet potato, apple, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214657 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:09:12 +0000 brownie 214657@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did baby led weaning with lots of pears, turkey, bacon, chicken, avocado and sweet potatoes. We just did spears until he got teeth and a good pincher grip. Then we added frozen peas, blueberries, etc. We would cut the blueberries into quarters for him to eat. We also eat a ton of freeze dried fruit. It mostly dissolves in the mouth like melts. We like the costco apples and we get mangos, etc from whole foods. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214654 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:01:27 +0000 Mrs. Superhero 214654@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did a lot of eggs for breakfast. Make a scrambled egg pancake and cut it into strips, not too messy! That with whatever was in season for fruit,<br /> or else some banana or steamed apple slices.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-214636 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:18:28 +0000 plaidpants 214636@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO tried pear today and it was a big hit! I cut it into spears and steamed them in the microwave for a couple minutes so they were pretty mushy. She loved it! It's definitely the most food she's put in her mouth so far. She did cough a couple times and she threw up a bit at the end, which the Rapley book says is normal. She seemed totally unaffected by it and was ready to keep eating.</p> <p>I think we'll do sweet potato and broccoli next. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202238 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:09:09 +0000 T.H.O.U. 202238@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pointybird: We did VERY small pieces of meat and honestly a juicy steak was good to start with because she kinda just sucked on it at first. For some reason she also likes some of the packaged chicken better then homemade grilled/baked chicken because its less "stringy" (not sure if that makes sense). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202191 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:39:19 +0000 owlmom 202191@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm always worried about choking the first time I give LO a new food, but she always seems to figure it out. She'll occasionally cram a too-big piece of food in her mouth and will gag/cough a little and manages it without help. I'm always ready to finger sweep, though :) At 8 months, LO pretty much likes everything she tries, except porridge fingers, which were my first attempt at cooking something specifically for her. So we just give her some of what we're eating and lots of soft cooked fruits and veggies.</p> <p>ETA: we started meat a couple weeks ago, and she has no problem with small pieces of chicken and turkey. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202182 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:30:37 +0000 plaidpants 202182@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Thehistoryofus: Thank you! These are some great suggestions. I hadn't thought of asparagus - it's perfect because it's long enough for her to hold and still eat (she's not good at opening her hand to release the food yet) and it's not as slippery as avocado. </p> <p>We eat a lot of chicken, so I'm interested to see how that will go over. If you eat meat, have you introduced that to your LO yet? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202171 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:22:55 +0000 T.H.O.U. 202171@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started with avocado around 4 months but she didn't really like it. We then went to some rice cereal just in the evenings. </p> <p>It was around 6 months that she kinda got the hang of eating the rice cereal so we started other foods. At daycare they don't really like BLW so we just sent purees to daycare and did finger foods at night. It was totally worth it because now at 10 months she can eat anything and we are sending finger foods to daycare. </p> <p>Also, the only time she has ever gagged was on avocado. I then let her have more and she actually gagged and threw up. We haven't done much avocado since but she eats everything else like a champ. </p> <p>Our favorites:<br /> - Frozen slice of red/yellow/green bell pepper<br /> - Carrot stick or cucumber slice<br /> - frozen peas, cubes of carrots and sliced blueberries<br /> - peaches and pears from a can cut smaller<br /> - baked pear and apple<br /> - Cut up banana chunks and spears<br /> - Mango and kiwi slices<br /> - Asparagus (oddly she liked this more raw then cooked)</p> <p>Let me know if there are other questions, I would love to hear more about what others are doing and any more ideas for more finger foods. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202083 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:25:36 +0000 enjollah 202083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@autumnlove: @pointybird: My LO had his 4 month checkup 1 week ago and the doctor told me to that I needed to start the rice cereal right away because my LO was probably hungry. (how she got to that conclusion..I have no idea!). I tried rice cereal twice...both times fail. LO kept giving me looks , "what the heck are you doing?!?!" and "what the crap is this?!?!". I'm planning to wait until 6 months and start with veggies and fruit </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202068 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:13:50 +0000 plaidpants 202068@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@autumnlove: Seriously! What is up with them pushing the rice cereal? There was a section in the Rapley book about how babies are actually more likely to choke when being spoon fed, and pointing out how scary it would be to have someone forcing food into your mouth if you don't want it or don't know what it is. For some reason that just really resonated with me! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202061 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:07:43 +0000 autumnlove 202061@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pointybird: We have our 6 month checkup on Friday, I don't know how my Dr will react because she has been pushing the rice cereal since 4 months.<br /> I need to start cracking and finish that book, so glad you liked it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202057 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:05:57 +0000 plaidpants 202057@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Bee, how does Olive do with smaller things like berries once they are in her mouth? Right now I'm so paranoid about choking, I'm steering clear of anything little, but I know I have to try at some point. Last night my LO got a couple good chunks of avocado in her mouth and I had to sit on my hands to resist sticking my finger in her mouth and immediately scooping them out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202041 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:57:52 +0000 plaidpants 202041@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yay@autumnlove! I am so excited to really get into it. We waited until her 6 month check-up, because I wanted to ask her pediatrician what her thought. He was totally unhelpful. He did not seem to understand what BLW was. When I told him, he was like, "That's great! Now you'll need to start with cereal so she gets used to the spoon. Then you can try veggie purees." I was like, "Okay, thanks! I guess we are going to hide this from you!"</p> <p>It was SO cute watching my LO try to figure out what the avocado was and then struggle to get it into her mouth. At first she kept touching it, then moving her hand away with this horrified look on her face. I think it was the slimiest thing she'd ever touched! She had no idea what to make of it. But after giving it to her just three times, she was grabbing it and getting it into her mouth. It's crazy how quickly she's learning! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202039 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:56:42 +0000 Mrs. Bee 202039@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yes we have been doing it, but olive's hand control is pretty poor so we still feed her small chunks of food. she feeds herself bigger things like bread, bananas, etc. </p> <p>in fact olive hates purees and will turn her head away if you try to feed her with a spoon. she knows that spoon = puree.</p> <p>we feed her a little bit of whatever we're eating so a lot of korean food. a lot of our food has garlic and sesame oil in it, which she loves. she really loves chicken. we've given berries, french toast, cheese... but i do end up making things specifically for her because our food is either too salty/spicy.</p> <p>I'm actually working on a post on finger foods... hope to finish it this week! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202025 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:47:03 +0000 autumnlove 202025@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Bookmarking this thread! We are going to officially start next week! Well, my MIL gave LO watermelon a few days ago and LO was over the moon!<br /> Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-led-weaning-support#post-202001 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:30:53 +0000 plaidpants 202001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Calling all BLW bees! My LO is six months old and we just started baby-led weaning. I read the Rapley book and it was very helpful and empowering. </p> <p>My daughter has had avocado a few times and I think some of it is actually making it into her mouth. Hooray! We are going to try steamed broccoli tomorrow.</p> <p>I have seen a couple great posts on the HB blog about BLW, but I wanted to reach out and see if anyone else is doing it, has done it, or is thinking about doing it. I'd love to trade ideas for new foods to try and just get some general support. </p> <p>One thing I'm struggling with is that I am totally afraid she's going to choke. Also, I'm a working mom and I'm having a hard time finding time to eat with her in the morning, especially because she pretty much needs a bath after every meal!</p> <p>Has anyone tried BLW? Tell me about it! </p>