What can I give him? Baby getting frustrated with BLW

[sunnymommy]

My son just turned 7 mo old yesterday. He is super excited to eat. If we are eating he wants to be eating, too. The last couple weeks we have given solids a shot a few times. He has had a few bites on a spoon of mashed bananas, mashed avocado, and homemade fruit smoothie. He Loved it and gets so excited when he sees the little spoon. But, I wanted to try BLW (I requested the book at the library but haven't got it yet; just read some on here). So I have tried giving him banana with the peel still on part of it, avocado slice with the peel still on, and I forget what else. But, he gets frustrated because he can't pick them up! The banana and avocado both came right out of the peel. Do you stick to fruits/veggies first with this method like with purees? Or do you do breads/meat, too? Like can he have a pizza crust to gnaw on which isn't slippery like fruit? He is just not very good yet at picking things up in general like with his toys, too. So does that mean he isn't ready? He can't sit up by himself yet either but he is straight upright when in his high chair; it keeps him in the proper position. I don't want him to be frustrated with this. But, he wants so badly to eat.

[smom050811]

Just keep trying! He'll get the hang of it. Try maybe a little more peel? Or cutting into small squares he can smoosh into his mouth? That's what helped my DS, and he's 7.5 months. He really got into textures and grabbing stuff once I started giving him little pieces, and now he can grab a banana like the best of 'em!

[SamanthaSews]

I read somewhere to coat the banana & other fruits/vegs in baby cereal or cheerio powder so it isn't too slippery to get a grip on

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[DottieHarley]

sometimes the slippery peel winds up making it harder, I think. Try firmer stuff like toast soldiers that won't slide around. We've been doing BLW for about 2 mos now and DD gets whatever we get. Last night - after she was in bed - DH and I made hamburgers, so we made a couple teeny little patties, grilled them thoroughly, and she's getting them, with some toast soldiers and cucumber sticks, for lunch today. If you're up for the mess, pre-load a baby spoon (short one, the long ones are really hard to handle) with applesauce, mashed stuff etc and hand the spoon to the baby!

[colin-mylilguy]

You could also do things like celery which you can put a little applesauce on it and let baby suck it off and chew on the celery. A cold stick of celery from the fridge is great for teething, too! Carrot sticks are great to dip in homemade baby food purees and then hand to baby to lick, suck, chew, whatever. Pizza crust, bagels, toast crust, salt-less saltine crackers, are all good ones to try. The saltines seem hard but they turn soft with a small amount of slobber. I cut almost everything into long sticks... watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew with the rind on the end works well. My LO is 9 mo now, but I've been giving him "sticks" of strawberries to gum since he was 7 mo. He also likes my oatmeal in the morning. Apple slices are great for teething. Any food can fall apart easily and make a big chunk. Most of the time if that happens, they will gag and spit it out. Just watch to make sure it either goes down or comes out.

Just experiment and have fun with it!

[colin-mylilguy]

Originally Posted by sunnymommy My son just turned 7 mo old yesterday. He is super excited to eat. If we are eating he wants to be eating, too. The last couple weeks we have given solids a shot a few times. He has had a few bites on a spoon of mashed bananas, mashed avocado, and homemade fruit smoothie. He Loved it and gets so excited when he sees the little spoon. But, I wanted to try BLW (I requested the book at the library but haven't got it yet; just read some on here). So I have tried giving him banana with the peel still on part of it, avocado slice with the peel still on, and I forget what else. But, he gets frustrated because he can't pick them up! The banana and avocado both came right out of the peel. Do you stick to fruits/veggies first with this method like with purees? Or do you do breads/meat, too? Like can he have a pizza crust to gnaw on which isn't slippery like fruit? He is just not very good yet at picking things up in general like with his toys, too. So does that mean he isn't ready? He can't sit up by himself yet either but he is straight upright when in his high chair; it keeps him in the proper position. I don't want him to be frustrated with this. But, he wants so badly to eat.

P.S. They learn fast so today he may be frustrated but next week he may be the master of holding slippery fruits - haha. The more they practice the easier it gets. He might get a little frustrated, but if he seems overwhelmed, take a break from whatever is overwhelming him and try something else. He'll get it, though.

[Greenwife]

We've been doing BLW for the last few months and it took a little bit for her to figure it out, but DD is awesome with solids now and eats pretty much anything we offer. Here are some things we did early on:

-take a bite out of a soft fruit and hand him the whole thing - our DD would scrape at it with her 2 teeth or just suck on it, but she could hold it with both hands - things like a peach, nectarine, plum, even an apple (she couldn't bite a chunk off...just got the juice) and it kept her busy for a while working at it
-bake apple in the oven and offer slices
-we grilled a lot in the summer - slices of grilled zucchini, onion, sweet peppers are all really soft and juicy
-corn on the cob! we also grill this and cut a 1-2" piece and hand her the piece
-steam carrot sticks, broccoli pieces, etc and put a couple on the tray

DD often eats all around the peel and spits out the pieces of peel. She gagged quite a bit the first couple of weeks, but never choked. And now people are really surprised to watch her eat and to hear what she eats.

[willownz]

If he can't pick it up and hold it without dropping it he is not ready. Keep trying though. They pick it up really fast. You don't have to do slippery fruit first. You can do roast chicken legs (drumsticks), bone and all, it's big they can't choke on it. Steamed broccoli florets have a natural handle. Toast fingers, crackers, baked root vegetable wedges (pumpkin, potato, swede, parsnip, carrot) all easy to handle. You want thick rectangle shaped pieces as long as your finger.

[Goodchild]

What is BLW (in a nutshell)?

[PurpleRina]

It's ok if it slips out! The point of BLW isn't really for him to get a bunch of food into his mouth, but to experience food fully....that include texture and slip factor. Sounds like you are doing great! But if he get frustrated with that process, I second the ideas of celery, carrots, apple slices, broccoli. I always found that raw foods were easier for DD to hold onto than cooked. And YES to dips. We did LOTS of carrots and hummus....very little carrot got eaten and the babe, chair, floor got bathed in hummus. But she learned and it was FUN! I also introduced corn early, because the individual kernels are too small to really obstruct the wind pipe, but are great for practicing pincer grasp. I also have to admit to starting grains in the form of crackers at about 10 months or so....Pop Chips are great....dissolve very easily in the mouth and have a great shape for grabbing.