Is this how BLW is supposed to go?

[corinne76]

DS made 6 months on the 5th. He's been interested in food for awhile.
Last week I gave him a banana and he picked it up and shoved it in his mouth. He took a small bite and made a face. and that was the end of that. He was no longer interested.
Today I gave him a piece of carrot (steamed) and a sweet potato. He picked up the carrot and tried to shove it through his cheek. Then he proceeded to smash it around the table.
Is this how it's supposed to go?
How often am I supposed to be offering him food? I have the book and it says to eat with him, though its hard cause he tends to nap during our normal meal times.

[CWHmama]

Yep, that's exactly how it goes! Give him a food, larger, stick shaped things are best so he can hold it, and let him do what he wants. Let him explore the texture, temperature, and taste at his own speed. It can take many attempts before he gets much in his mouth, but it's so worth it when they go at their own speed and develop their own preferences. Once he gets going, be prepared for lots of mess though!

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[CWHmama]

And I started with just dinner for a while. When their naps changed, and they showed interest, I added breakfast then lunch. And I didn't make them special foods either, they got whatever the rest of us were eating. DDs first food was tomato, avocado and bananas, DS1 started on broccoli and spaghetti, ds2 had baked chicken, broccoli and cheesy rice.

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[corinne76]

thanks!
i tried giving him some pureed carrots just to see and he made the weirdest face. he didnt seem to like it much. I put a piece of sweet potato on his tray and he took a bite of that and he smiled.
I guess he does like eating real food more. I'll keep on trying. He's eaten a piece of apple but I think he was more grinding his teething gums on it than eating it.

[Buena]

okay maybe i am too frugal....but isnt this wasting alot of food? DD is 5 months so....time is aproaching

[newtwinmom]

Originally Posted by Buena okay maybe i am too frugal....but isnt this wasting alot of food? DD is 5 months so....time is aproaching

An unfortunate truth. Last night for instance, I made my best pot roast ever. Mashed up some of the potato chunks and shredded some of the roast for each kiddo. One never touched his except to drool all over it and the other painted his tray, took two bites, then started whaling. I grinder my teeth as I dumped such yumminess!

[anj]

I know there are people who will say you don't have to waste much food, but I disagree. If you choose BLW, there will be food on the floor, mashed all over the tray, etc. I eat some of my daughter's less used leftovers. We also have chickens, so some of the waste goes to them, the rest gets composted. For us, the benefits outweigh the waste.

Originally Posted by Buena okay maybe i am too frugal....but isnt this wasting alot of food? DD is 5 months so....time is aproaching

[colin-mylilguy]

Usually, I just eat whatever he doesn't. Like, today LO (8 mo) had a slice of dried mango. He sucked on it for a while and then put it down on his tray and slapped it around like it was a dead fish. After a few minutes, I picked it up and ate it. He watched intently, probably thinking "ahhh.... so that's what you do with that!" lol

Otherwise, the dog gets a "bonus treat". We also only do small, small portions so not much gets wasted. If he wants more, we give a tiny bit more, but usually what he has is all he wants.

[Nerissa]

I give very small portions at first, if they eat that then give more.

Our dog usually ends up with exta supper for a while during the learning phase.

[dirtmagnets]

We also started with tiny portions, adding more if he acts like he wants more, to avoid having a lot of waste. (We do the same with our special-needs 6 yo, too, because he absolutely will not eat anything if he thinks that his plate looks like it might have too much on it).
At 10 months, having been BLWing since he started solids at 6 months, I have a good idea of how much he'll truly eat, and generally estimate it well enough that all that's left after a meal is a few tiny crumb-sized bits on his tray and a couple of pieces that he's managed to drop down into the pocket of his bib (and those are becoming less and less, too, as he's figuring out how to get food back out of the pocket and refining his pincher grasp well enough to pick up the tiniest bits of food).