Baby Led Weaning Help!

[NE90]

Hi Everyone,

I started my son off with purees and as he was doing so well on them I also wanted to start including finger foods. He's 8 months old now (nearly 9) and although he can grasp foods in his hand and comfortably get them to his mouth, he struggles to really eat much of it! I've been at this blw stuff for 3-4 weeks or so now and I find if I just give him finger foods and no puree he barely eats anything! Can you advise if this is just something that will take time? I've looked online for recipes specifically targeted at 7-8 month old babies... like cooked chicken strips or pasta but as much as he grasps the strips/pasta and puts to his mouth... he may chomp a small bit off and then take forever to chew it! Atm I just feel like I'm wasting my time with preparing foods that I know he will only eat a small amount of. The only things he eats well are melty veg crisps you find in the baby isle of shops and he likes to chomp on a cucumber stick or a piece of banana which is obviously mushy already. He doesn't have any teeth yet!

Maybe some of you can suggest other foods to try? Am I still ok to keep giving him thick/lumpy puree? I just feel like if i dont then although hes experimented with finger foods, he will have barely eaten anything at that meal time.

Thank you xx

[Winter_Girl]

Hello. I used to do a combination of spoon feeding and BLW. Whenever I spoon fed I just always ensured my little girl had something to hold and eat herself.

At 8 months I would start giving him lumpier textures so he can get used to it and, of course, learn to chew. You can mash his food with a fork rather than puree it, and eventually give him bigger lumps. He is probably taking in more than you think, but BLW does make mealtimes take forever! 😂 He will get there if you keep letting him try.

I really liked the recipes in Annabel Karmel's weaning book- and my little girl enjoyed them too. I still use some of the recipes now!

My little girl didn't get her first tooth until 11.5 months and it has never stopped her from eating everything!

It sounds like you're doing a great job xx

[Winter_Girl in reply to Winter_Girl]

I should add, around a year old we mostly did baby led and, at 15 months, she feeds herself entirely either with a spoon or using her hands! You always worry whether or not they are eating enough in the beginning, but milk is still the main source of nutrition (though food is very important) so he is unlikely to go hungry. X

[MissEd]

Do both? Thats what i did, and still do at 14 months!

[mariyas]

To be honest, I didn't follow this thing because as you said baby can hardly eat anything my baby will try to put food in his mouth but it doesn't go in his mouth he will drop it before that so make sure you are giving him/her enough food like mashed food or puree whatever he likes to eat. Dont worry about finger food as yet. Give him proper meal and just give something in his hand for practice.

[Seb9]

We do a bit of both, some puree/mashed food but she loves to attack Broccoli heads, cucumber and Avocado too, we find a lot of it misses target though! We've started just to mash up some of our dinner for her to try so last night she has cauliflower cheese, peas and mashed potatoe, she seems to like that more than purees.

She is also enjoying water, we find that after a few mouthfuls of food she'll take some sips of water and then want more food.