Firstly, thanks for the commenty reassurance on our last post. We’ve ordered a new grobag, and are sure they’re the way forward! Existere, we tried your idea, but our little Houdini managed to bust out within about 2 seconds. Now, he is asleep in his grobag, snoring loudly.
NO, WE DON’T UNDERSTAND IT EITHER. BUT WE ARE HAPPY!
Moving onto food, the Baby Led Weaning way. I’m not sure where to start! Maybe with the fear? Choking. As Whozat said, “Gagging is how they learn NOT to choke. It’s scary at first (and second, and…) but they’re in no danger.”
I suppose when you get used to it, it gets a lot easier. The first couple of times BB gagged were a bit scary, but when we learned that he could sort himself out (and if we decided to interfere by sticking our fingers in his mouth, that would NOT HELP because we would push stuff to the back of his throat or something), we kind of decided to trust him. It got easier from then on. Along the way, someone said, “Trust your child. They know what they’re doing.” At first, that seemed insane… then we realised it was true. If we look freaked out when BB’s gagging, he’ll think there’s something to worry about, and then HE will freak out too. So, we just grin inanely while saying silent prayers. And it works.
The difference between gagging and choking? When babies gag, it’s obvious – they cough and you can see they’re having trouble with something in their mouth. When they choke, though, they go quiet, with a panicked expression. Kids of any age can gag or choke anyway so it’s important not to leave them alone when they’re eating. We’ve also got a kids’ first aid book and have looked up choking, just to be on the safe side.
As for allergies, part of the point of BLW is that you start at 6 months, when the risk of allergies has gone down. The whole allergy alert thing was designed for people who feed their babies at 4 months – by the time they’re 6 months old, their digestive tracts should be developed, so if there are no history of allergies in their families, you don’t need to worry.
Before I start to sound like some kind of goverrnmental health campaigner, I’ll move on to food..!
As we found out this week, polenta is a perfect BLW food. I made some polenta fritters and cut one into long sticks for BB, which he relished, and there were definitely no choking worries because it was just made of cornmeal. Woo! Cucumber is also another good one – easy to cut into sticks and good for teething gums (I read that somewhere), as is cooked courgette (zucchini) – both of which BB loves. In fact, I don’t think there’s much we wouldn’t try giving BB. I’m convinced that his shocked reaction to stuff with chill in it has been down to the “Surprise! It’s Spicy!” factor- how do you explain to a baby that his food will make his tongue tingle? You can’t, but when they get used to it, it’s fine.
It’s brilliant to see him enjoying his food, sitting at the table with us. Sometimes he really goes for it, and tries everything indiscriminately. Yeah, it’s messy, but if you embrace the mess, you’re OK.
It’s also amazing how strong his gums are! No teeth, no problem. Seriously, if we take a bite out of an apple or a pear, he’ll get real excited and gum the rest down to pulp. It’s fascinating!
One of the other best things about BLW is that it EASY. We don’t have to rely on it because BB’s still having all of his milk feeds as usual, so if he’s grumpy and throws his food on the floor, no problem. Also, we just give him food when we’re eating (off our plates if we’re eating out, or out of our pans if we’re at home) and keep BB-friendly snacks in the fridge. We don’t need to puree, so if we cook a bit of extra roasted veg – cut into sticks – for example, we can throw them in the fridge and bring them out the next day.
We’re not the world’s healthiest eaters, but we do cook mostly from scratch and BB can eat most of what we have (admittedly, his diet is healtheir than ours!)… except chocolate. I’m sure he wonders why his mums keep eating that brown stuff and not offering him any. We’re enjoying it until he starts demanding SAME AS MUMMIES!
So, hooray for BLW!
xx jay
