I haven't been able to write for what seems like ages, I've been having terrible internet problems recently, so I'm sorry it's been such a long time since my last post.

Rhys has had loads of new food recently, sweet potato mash, which he really doesn't seem too impressed with, I was dead surprised as I think it's lovely, but he's the boss so what can you do?  I tried him again with it today, he seemed slightly more keen, but not a lot.  He also had green beans and a tiny bit of roast garlic.  Now these he seemed to really really really enjoy, especially the garlic, can't blame him, it is lovely and sweet (if you've never had roast garlic and think it sounds too scary, try it, it's anything but scary, it's fab!), but it seemed to affect his belly quite badly.  It could have been a coincidence but he slept terribly the night after. 

I later checked the BLW food list (which, by the way seems to have disappeared, my OH luckily printed it off a couple of weeks ago, so if needed I can type it up again to go on the info pages), and couldn't find garlic on it, but did find that onions aren't supposed to be given until 18 months, so I think we'll give garlic a miss too for a while yet, maybe it was just too early for his digestive system.

I also came across a packet of baby food in my cupboards, I have no idea where it came from, I think either with one of those free kits you get when you're expecting, or else I sent away for a free sample aaaaaaaaaages ago, I think when I was still pregnant!  Anyway, after much umming and aahing I decided 'waste not want not', so I decided to give it to Rhys.  I was all ready for him to dislike it and for me to be all smug because my baby likes 'proper' food better than baby slop.  Alas, he loved every extremely messy self-fed spoonful. PMSL.  I had a taste myself, and have to admit that it was pretty yummy LOL.  However, I will NOT be buying any of that, it's sooooooooo expensive!

I decided a couple of days ago to try Rhys with a spoon to see how he got on.  He had some yoghurt and as always it went down a treat.  He managed so well with the spoon, he's great at getting it into his mouth (and eyes and hair LOL), obviously needs help getting food onto it from his bowl, but I was dead chuffed with him :D 
Also tried him with some baby sweetcorn this week too.  I think he liked the flavour, but was a bit confused by the feel of little corn bits that he bit off.

Rhys had his 7 month vaccinations this week too (OMG is he really 7 months old?!)  My GP was asking whether he's on solids yet.  I explained BLW, and went into more detail this time than I did with the OT at the hospital.  My GP's great, very realistic and down to earth and friendly, I was with him for my maternity care and even though we now live about 10 miles away I still go to him for all our non-emergency things.  When I'd explained BLW his opinion was along the lines of 'bloody right too!', he's of the opinion that the whole babyfeeding things is just an industry and there's no need for it at all.  I feel so much better now having the approval of 2 medical professionals, not that I ever doubted I was doing the right thing, but as said I've said in the past, my HV has her doubts, and I feel empowered, if that's the right word, to stand up to her about it next time I see her!

An interesting development over the last few days, Rhys has started to actually WANT food.  Up until now he's just had food when me or DP give it to him, usually between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, but the last few days he's actually started to get cranky around that time, even though he can't possibly be hungry for a bottle.  It's obvious that he's looking for real food, because as soon as he gets it he settles immediately.  So we now have a proper meal time :).  I think I'll start giving him another meal too, probably breakfast.

Rhys had his first taste of avocado a couple of days ago, what a lovely slimy fun mess that was!  I wasn't sure how it would go down as in my opinion it's an acquired taste, I never liked it until recently, but he really seems to.  LOL I'm sure I say this in every post nearly but it's so great to see him enjoying so many new flavours!

I've been trying to think of new things to give Rhys and being cautious (and I suppose thinking like a spoonfeeder) I was trying up until now to be pretty gentle with the flavours I chose.  But in my quest for inspiration I was reading down BB's early days and saw that really early on she had orange, so I thought 'hey ho, why not'  I'd bought some satsuma type oranges so I gave him a segment and he started sucking on it and really enjoyed it. 

I sat watching him eat his really tangy juicy lovely orange and I just thought 'Wow, this is amazing, can you imagine a spoonfed baby willingly accepting so readily, and loving, something as strong tasting and different to anything he's ever tried.' 

I was in awe of my little fella and his daring little attitude :D LOL that might sound really over the top and mad, after all it's only food, but this BLW lark is having results so different to anything I've ever seen before.  It's fantastic!

I found a real bargain when I was out shopping over the weekend, a great book of recipes for children, Good Food for Kids by Dr Penny Stanway.  It's possibly a little advanced for Rhys just now, but it has great salt-free recipes for kids, with adaptations to suit all the way from 4 months (not that we'd be feeding that young).  Admittedly it does say for under ones mostly to puree or mash everything, but if you just ignore that then there's a lot of good stuff in it if you're like me and not very adventurous in the kitchen.

With regards to new foods, I've found that Rhys LOVES smoothies and yoghurt.  I've been thinking about bread, pasta and the like, but I don't know whether he's still too little to cope with that kind of thing, maybe I should stick with veggies and fruit (including the beloved melon) for a while longer.  I suppose I know the answer to this myself really....try him and see how he goes, after all this is Rhys led!

We had a hospital appointment this morning.  Rhys has a problem with his hands, the tendons in his fingers are very tight, meaning that he can't open his hands properly.  The appointment this morning was with his occupational therapist, just a quick check up.  During the check up we were discussing his progress (which is going very well) and I mentioned to her very briefly about the BLW and finger foods.  She thought it was a very good idea and will be great therapy for him and will help his development.  Great to have some back up from professionals!  If only my health visitor was as pro!

Haven't posted in a few days, been very busy with Mother's Day and all. 

We've had a very successful few days, no more forgetting how to eat LOL!  We've tried a few different foods, melon, cucumber and steamed apple which he LOVED, and some others not yet tried, like sweet potato and banana.  Melon is a definite favourite as is apple, cucumber not so much, like his daddy he seems to think it tastes of nothing.  Very unimpressed LOL.

We had our first gag with a piece of melon too, quite scary at first, but I realised that if I stay calm he does too.  Luckily the info from Hannah has been good to explain what is actually choking and what's not.  Pretty scary the first time you see your baby gag though.

Choke Vs Gag

Very quick post today.  We gave Rhys some more steamed veg at dinner time, it seems that he's forgotten everything about food.  Picking bits up randomly and bashing them vaguely at his closed mouth (strange baby).  I dunno, I just let him get on with it, maybe it was some kind of very highly scientific baby experiment that he was researching?!

Well our first 'proper' meal went quite well, much messier than the biccie!!  Little fella had some steamed carrot, cauli and brocolli while me and daddy had lasagne (think he's a wee bit young for lasagne yet).  He seemed to quite enjoy it, but I had to keep stopping DP from 'helping' put bits in his mouth (naughty daddy).  The veg was from a prechopped bag and I think the carrot sticks were a bit to skinny for him.  I'll be chopping my own from now on.  Carrot was a definite fave although very little of any of the veg actually made it beyond his mouth, most got tested and pushed out, this became clear later (possible TMI warning LOL).
As this whole weaning thing was kind of spur of the moment I hadn't thought ahead and bought a highchair, so snacks yesterday and lunch today were in the comfort of his pushchair, so in the afternoon I took a trip out to get him a proper highchair, so now he has a tray to mess about on.  He joined us at the dinner table last night while we had our tea, he sat and played with his whoozit.  I think he liked to be part of the action.  Up until now at mealtimes he's been on the floor in his beanbag, much better to be up with us.
We also gave him a drink in his sippy cup while he was in his chair.  He's actually quite good at getting the spout to his mouth and everything, but gets bored with that part of it quite quickly.  So after a few sips he thoroughly enjoyed slamming the cup off the tray with showers of juice everywhere! (I'm sure very soon a bit of juice will be the last of my worries LOL)


Anyway, back to the TMI: after his biccie and his veggie dinner we eventually had a dirty nappy.  I'd been dreading the weaning nappies, but actually was pleasantly surprised!  It was quite like a normal formula nappy if a little stickier (I told you it was TMI).  No nasty smell or anything.  As said before though I have a feeling this mostly consisted of biscuit and no veg really got through, I'm sure I'll soon be reporting much yuckier things.

A quick introduction first I think. I'm Mareth, my son Rhys is 5 and a half months old.

I first heard about baby-led weaning from the forum at www.clothnappytree.com, before that I just assumed that puree was the only way. As soon as I read the basics I just thought what a brilliant and so obvious idea. I explained it to my other half who agreed that it sounded great and we decided that we'd go with it. We've never been of the mindset to force targets or timescales onto Rhys anyway, so it fitted perfectly with that.

Despite my health visitor trying to convince me that I needed to start spoonfeeding him at 4 months (apparently the recommended age for formula fed babies here) and that if I waited for him to want it and be able to feed himself, he'd not start until he was over a year old and would end up malnourished (he's anything but! He's a good 18lb and healthy as anything!), I wasn't planning on starting to wean until Rhys was at least 6 months old but he's been showing a definite interest recently. He's been interested in what we put in our mouths and actually getting a bit grumpy if we're eating and he is having to watch.

So yesterday we decided to go for it!

Not the most healthy of starts possibly, but I picked up some Heinz organic biscotti in the shop and once we were home, gave one to Rhys to play with just to see what would happen. He immediately stuck it in his mouth and seemed to really enjoy it, he ate almost the whole thing, resorting even to sucking on his fist to get the bits that were stuck inside his hand. I freaked out a little at one point when he bit off a big chunk, and I stuck my finger in his mouth and dug it all back out, but then I thought, 'Nah he'll let me know if he needs me', so I let him work away with the rest of it. He did bite off big bits, but managed perfectly with it all, only one tiny bit came back out which I was amazed at! I was assuming that
very first time eating anything he'd mainly be testing the texture and very little would actually get eaten.

Over all, very good start though I think, I'm so proud of him!! (very smug mammy :D )

Morning!!

Well my posts are getting few and far between what with my doula training and now my up and coming wedding! Lots of fun planning it but not a lot of time. I do keep the site as up-to-date with the most recent BLW articles and information out there but would like to focus on the admin side now that BB is almost 21 months <shocked face>

I do have a list of many blogs on the BLW bloggers page but would like to recruit someone to blog specifically for the baby banana site.

Someone who is (preferably) starting out so baby around 6 months! A good rambler (like me haha) and with time to update with their baby led weaning journey. I would love to keep the Diary "alive" so if you think you would like to do it then please drop me an email at mail@babybanana.biz or use the contact form

I look forward to hearing from you! If you could give me an intro and some blurb on the email that would be fab :)

So then, BB loves colouring and painting, sticking all that jazz.

I was chatting with MIL about how great she was at it (BB not MIL)  A smarty pants of an 18 months old (even if I do say so myself!!) but honestly watching her hold a crayon or paintbrush is fascinating. She holds them properly, not in a clenched fist like most at this age. We (that be me and the MIL) have come to the conclusion that BB's early use of fine motor skills through Baby Led Weaning has lead her to become very well talented in the dexterity of her hands.

After discovering her love of stickers, I couldn't resist buying some pretty ones in Tesco yesterday. We sat and created some works of art! I peeled each sticker (some being very small stars) and she would take them from me, get them the right way round (sticky side down and everything) and place them delicately on her masterpeice!

She has always held a crayon well and after a lot more observation it is apparent the baby led weaning is a great platform for fine motor skill development.

So ladies keep up the good work letting your babies take the lead... it is very rewarding in more ways then you think when you first set out.

Here she is with full on "concentration pout" having a wee scribble....

Look what I found today, thought it may interest a few of you!

Nice little chat with Gill Rapley on there too.

www.theweaningroom.com

I'll add it to the list of links too.

Coleslaw! Yep you read it right. BB can't get enough of the stuff. You know when you have one of those moments... the one where you let them have something off your plate because you're pretty sure they won't like it, and then they might let you eat  your own lunch in peace.

Didn't work!

So has your little one eaten anything weird today?

Well I'm not sure what's happened but I've blinked and someone swapped my baby for a little girl!

She had recently got into having lunch with me at the table. She was  quite distracted with playing for this one meal a day and she could climb up and down to have a munch of her own accord. Fine with breakfast and dinner though!

Anyway, the last couple of weeks it became apparent that she didn't want to sit in her highchair anymore and wanted to be a big girl. So  I got myself on ebay.... really fancied a Handysitt but my god they're not cheap lol.... and I bought a booster seat so she could sit right up  to the table like it is in a highchair.

She loves it! So much so that when she's finished eating she wants it taken off the chair and she sits on it like a little chair on the floor!!

I got her some flat plates too as she seemed to like eating off mine and Dady's more than her own... I know, I know, it taste better of our plates lol

A friend of mine on Cloth Nappy Tree has just drawn my attention to this rather amusing article.
Zoe Williams on Breastfeeding
So I thought I'd share it too!
Sometimes, when he's feeding, T clutches his head with his open hand, like he has left his briefcase in a taxi; it's one of a gallery of dinky poses of which I should dearly love a photographic record, but if anyone can come up with a way to get a picture of a breastfeeding baby without getting a great big breast in the way, then I will find a way to give that person a Nobel prize. I never went to any breastfeeding classes because three years ago, by chance, I met my best friend on her way out of one, and she was fuming. She had been stuck in a room, sucking her thumb in an exercise of studied irrelevance, from 10am until 4.30pm. She said that to warrant going on for that long, they'd have had to teach her how to make it banana-flavoured. She is a swot and a perfectionist, whereas I am lazy and sloppy; imagine how much more bored I would have been.

But don't get me wrong, I am very pro-breast. Everyone is pro-breastfeeding; to be anti is the same as being anti-baby. But when people talk about the issue of breastfeeding - which, lest we forget, is easily the best nutrition for baby, protecting him or her from everything apart from lions, tigers and bears - they often do so as if discussing two facing mountains. Ranged along one are the right-thinking, who only want the best for baby; ranged along the other are Big Business (insert developing-world-hating profit monkeys of your choice), and mothers themselves, who are all secretly gagging to get the baby on powder so they can squidge back into boob tubes and leave junior in creche while they go clubbing.

Before I tried feeding an infant using nothing but ingenuity and my own fat stores, I assumed that the mothers who didn't breast-feed were, as they are portrayed, feckless; I assumed that mothers who mixed breast milk with formula were also feckless, only less so. When friends told me sheepishly that they used formula for one feed a day, but hid it when the health visitor came round, I thought (honestly), "I'm not surprised you're ashamed, you lazy, feckless individual who happens to be my friend."

And now I think this: breast-feeding, when it works, is the best thing in the world. It smells so good, for one thing, that fertility experts believe it makes other women want to have sex (not with you, mind - just generally). But seriously, just imagine it: you have this creature that you love a thousand times more than life, and there's only one thing it wants, and by fantastic good fortune, you, and you alone, can deliver it. What a brilliant feeling. That's the kind of fulfilment people write songs about. Well, they don't, but they could. But when it doesn't work, when maybe the baby itself isn't that straightforward, or maybe your tits have got out of bed the wrong side, and don't look bountiful so much as banana-in-a-Waitrose-bag, or you're on antibiotics, then it is easily the worst thing in the world. It feels like starving a baby to death, through your own inadequacy. It is nerve-shredding.

And anyway, the whole business is like a conversation between your body and your baby - he establishes demand, breasts figure out supply, brain is at no stage informed - so for ages you don't really know what's going on. Sometimes everything is so abundant it's like a scene from the Bible. At other times the baby might feed solidly for six hours, and it's inconceivable to you that he is getting anything out of it beyond some topical body heat around his nose.

Factor in, here, that the signs of baby-dehydration are not straightforward. You can't just feel his nose; you could feel his fontanelle, but you're not exactly sure where it is or what it's supposed to feel like. You have to figure out whether or not he's listless. Well, he's asleep ... is that the same as being listless? Do I wake him up and see how listless he is? But what if he wakes up hungry? I don't have any more milk! There are scores of conditions under which a regular, unfeckless person, who doesn't even own a boob tube, might get up and go to the all-night supermarket for formula. Sometimes it's enough just to know it exists. Formula has saved a lot of lives, you know. It's not the devil's own protein powder it's made out to be.

I haven't used any, mind. My milk supply is suddenly brilliant. I could do the baby on one side and the dog on the other. Don't tell the health visitor. Or the RSPCA.

Ok, so at the start I was worried that maybe BLW would set me up for an unruly bad, table mannered toddler, that would be eating with her hands until she was 3.

However I am pleasantly surprised!!

We started to introduce spoons for messier foods like mash potato around 10 months. I never forced her to use it nor did I "help" the food in. It was there if she wanted it. Knowing that babies learn the most through imitation we just carried on as normal eating our own meals. She would probably start with the spoon then finish with her hands.

Anyway, i'm not sure exactly when it happened but it has lol! She now eats every meal with cutlery (16 months old) I remember her getting very good at it at about 13 months and we started giving her cereal every day with a spoon rather than the bite size shredded wheat things that are easy to pick up!

Now I have passed the stage of wonder and have seen it happen I can safely say that baby led weaning HELPS your child learn how to use cutlery. Because they are using their own hands from the start their dexterity develops early on. Their hand eye co-odination is better and so on.  As opposed to a child who has been fed by a parent with a spoon or even "helped" with finger foods, it would take a bit longer for them to get to grips (scuse the pun) with cutlery.

I was actually quite shocked when I heard some people say that they still feed their toddlers!

If you haven't seen it already  Click Here

I was contacted a while back by a lovely independent journalist Una Rice. We had a fantastic talk about baby led weaning and she wrote it up in her feature in Mother and Baby.

A well balanced piece on baby led weaning and why we love it!

Mother's Instinct.... I hear this come up a lot of the time when talking about starting solids on parenting sites or with other mums etc A lot of women say "he was ready" or "she started feeding every 3 hours instead of four" the best is... "my health visitor told me to start solids"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

When we diet we eat fruit and veg and avoid cream, milk etc

So weaning a 3 month old baby on veg purees is NOT going to satisfy it's hunger needs. It NEEDS more milk. who says they have to go 4 hours between feeds?!?!

Milk is the most calorfic and nutrient filled source for a baby. Weaning is an introduction to solids... as in tasting and learning texture not filling them up, that's the milk's job in the first 12 months. Which is why milk is the main source of nutrition for a baby.

One of the best ways to see if your baby is ready is going the baby led weaning (BLW) route. A babies development on the outside coincides with her development on the inside, so once you baby can pick up food and put it to their mouths, sit up in a highchair etc then she is ready.

Unfortunately there is so much conflicting advice when it comes to professionals as some are still giving out old advice. I think most mums don't follow their gut instinct, I think they follow the pressure around them, which unfortunately is to wean early, mothers and MIL's say they did it at 3 months, friends are already doing it and the manufacturers of baby food say it's ok from 4 months too. Whereas if we actually did follow the TRUE signals from our babies, it would be a whole different story.

I don't know where this four hour obsession has come from, even a dr should know a baby has a tiny stomach and can only hold so much milk. Also that rice is just filling their stomach for longer and not actually giving the nutrients that milk does. So yes a baby may go longer between feeds but they're not getting what they need, which is milk.

I was having a discussion today on a forum and one lady said it wasn't normal for a 3 month old to feed 8oz 3 hourly... that's perfectly normal (if there is such a word when it comes to babies) Babies have growth spurts and feed lots and more often, that's how they grow.

Why is it people are quick to say, the baby wanted food, look she is telling me, if she wants it I'm going to give it to her, yet when they start to feed on more milk more frequently we can't follow their lead because it's not every four hours. nuts if you ask me!

So on reflection I sat and pondered, do mother's really follow their instincts these days? This is not me saying they are doing bad jobs at all. What I mean is we are so influenced by the things around us these days clever marketing is a major player. Who else always fancies a Vanilla Panna Cotta dribbled with fresh wild berries, when we hear the woman with the husky voice on the marks and spencer's adverts??? ME I DO!!!

As mum's we're put under a lot of pressure and scrutinised by everyone around us.  Some mum's don't even want to cuddle their baby in case they are "spoiling it"  I think it's about time we started truly listening to our instinct and following our babies lead more.

Think it was possibley the first time I have beamed and smiled on proudly at my tantruming daughter as we stood in the shop today.

We had wandered round and picked up several pieces for lunch and my chocolate craving desires (oops naughty) We got to the counter and BB was having a right moment pointing at the shopping and going bananas.

The shop assistant look on knowingly and went to pass BB the packet of milky bar buttons (which were actually for me haha) at which point BB let out a shriek of frustration. I kindly asked her to put them in the carrier bag and  passed BB the apple she was actually longing for!!

She had pointed and asked for it when we passed the fruit and veg section. I knew we had some at home so just popped one in a bag for our walk home.

One satisfied BB, apple in hand and one very bemused shop assitant!

Friendly Baby, a website for real nappies, natural and eco baby products is holding a competition this month where you can be in for a chance to win the Gill Rapley BLW DVD worth £25!! There are 3 dvd's to be won.

Get your reviewing caps on ladies and take a look at the Friendly Baby September Competition

Good luck!!

We went to a friends for a BBQ yesterday and although I'm feeling quite the baby led weaning veteran what with BB growing up so fast, it never ceases to amaze and delight me watching my child eat!

She LOVES her food and enjoys it so much. She knows what she wants and when she wants it, she has led her way to a fighting fit well balanced toddler <sighs in disbelief at how quick it goes>. She doesn't over feed and when she's had enough, that's it no more and on the other hand if she hasn't had enough she asks for more (be it grunts, sign language or outright tantrum!).

She ate most of her dinner then when she was supposed to be having her bedtime bottle she started on mine!

Anyway, I watch on and smile to myself proudly....

Roll up, roll up!

OK I know I am a little slow on the admin side sometimes but entertaining an 8 year old and 15 month old over the "summer" (pah) holidays has been quite some mission lol! Thankfully we've had a little sunshine but it is always quite short lived!!

However, I am looking for more blogs to add to the blw blog section. I have recently added a few of you (thanks for emailing) but if anymore of you would like to spread your blw experience some more then reply in the comment to this post or email me at mail@babybanana.biz and I'll get them up on my next admin extravaganza!

It's lovely to have a look at all the different stages of blw and it certainly brings back some memories!! We've been on such a fab food journey in the banana household but I want to keep spreading the word at every opportunity... woman on a mission!!

Right as you may have guessed I am rather annoyed at the poor effort to give a balanced view on weaning that PP has done in this months (Sept07) issue.

I was contacted a few weeks back and asked a fair few questions on BLW and why I chose it, why it suits us and so on and then they print this rubbish!

The editor says "There's a new food fight in the world of parenting" It's not a fight, it's narrow minded people getting shirty because they don't like the idea that there is another way to wean, they hate change and stupidly take the concept of blw as an insult to their own parenting. Pah!

There also seems to be a very high focus on the risk factor of choking!!! argh!! How come it is seen as such a choking risk, yet health visitors, parents and "weaning gurus" across the UK fully advocat feeding a child under 6 months puree, that cannot sit up and therefore lay back whilst being spoon-fed? Think I'd choke if someone did that to me... where is the sense in that!

Oh and the "My Daughter Choked" clip-it is amusing, this woman is too scared to try blw because her daughter choked on a grape when she was 12 months old (please note age here!!!) Surely a baby that has been fed nothing but jarred food is going to struggle eating grapes, might have been better to start on soft roasted carrot sticks like the rest of us! Babies and children can choke but by one year old babies would probably be eating grapes whether they started on puree or not at 6 months. The issue here is that this lady didn't let her daughter learn how to eat properly and went from pureed baby food jars to a grape! go figure!

Also no-one has pointed out that fact the puree and baby rice years ago started being offered at around 3 months or maybe even before in some cases. Babies then progressed to normal "chunky" and finger foods around 6 months anyway. Therefore, now the guidelines have changed to start weaning at 6 months why is it suddenly a choking hazard? We now know babies are capable of eating at 6 months back then and now, so what's the issue here guys?????

The media have taken words and twisted them to make them sound like outlandish statements, like the statement that BLW stops your child being a fussy eater or that puree causes fussy eaters. Let's face it, it was probably said somewhere that blw can help make less fessy eaters, we all know how hard that transition stage is from puree to lumps. Nothing is set in stone or a guarantee, all Gill Rapley has done has offered another way to wean and so far I haven't seen one bad experience of it so why are the press so against it?

Here's a thought... anyone see the 6 page weaning special written by Annabel Karmel in the very same issue of PP as this puree or not article???? pretty frigging ironic eh?

So, is anyone actually going to publish a good article about blw?

Sorry but I couldn't help but laugh at this (yes I'm still on about the practical parenting magazine) I thought I'd browse round the 6 page weaning guide by Annabel Karmel and came across her top tips.

Tip number one just made me chuckle: "Sucking is a natural reflex, but swallowing solids is something babies need to learn. When a baby sucks, she pushes her tongue forward, so it's normal for food to be spat out."

It's called a TONGUE THRUST REFLEX!!!! Here is the explanation of TTR taken from Askdears "why wait"  section:

2. Young babies have a tongue-thrust reflex . In the first four months the tongue thrust reflex protects the infant against choking. When any unusual substance is placed on the tongue, it automatically protrudes outward rather than back. Between four and six months this reflex gradually diminishes, giving the glob of cereal a fighting chance of making it from the tongue to the tummy. Not only is the mouth-end of baby's digestive tract not ready for early solids, neither is the lower end.

So there we have it, if they spit the food out they're not ready, watch the signs and listen to your baby peeps!

A friend was given advise on the milk equivalent of foods such as yoghurt, cheese, etc. She gave me the following info, which some of you might also find interesting:

Up to the age of 12mths, babies need 525mg calcium, provided by approx 15oz/450ml milk.
As toddlers they need 350 - 550mg calcium, provided by 10 - 15oz / 300 - 450ml milk.

Now, I'm afraid from this point on you'll need to do the sums, but the following list tells you how much calcium there is in each of the foods. From that you can work out whether your baby is getting enough calcium taking into account how much or how little milk they have:

Milk - 7oz/200ml - 240mg calcium
Cheddar - 1oz/25g - 180mg
Edam - 1oz/25g - 190mg
Plain cottage cheese - small tub (125g) - 110mg calcium
Yoghurt - small pot (150g) - 150mg calcium

Sardines - half small tin (100g) - 500mg calcium
Salmon - 100g cooked - 95mg calcium
White bread - 1 large slice - 35mg calcium
Wholemeal bread - 1 large slice - 20mg calcium
Baked beans - small can (200g) - 110 mg calcium
Brocolli - small portion (2oz/60g) - 30mg calcium
Cabbage - small portion (2oz/60g) - 25mg calcium
Oranges - 1 whole - 75mg calcium
Eggs - 2 cooked eggs - 60mg calcium

I will add this as a permanent article when I am next doing some site admin but thought I'd pop it on here first :o)

I have been collecting together some mum's views on why BLW is better for them then puree.

http://www.babybanana.biz/page41.htm The site gets a lot of mums who are toying with the idea of starting baby led weaning so I thought it'd be nice if they could read about all of your reasons for loving it!

You can add your thoughts as a comment here or email me at mail@babybanana.biz

Well I am still doing the mid-morning banana and drink of milk.

Today I thought I'd try and capture the moment as it really is quite incredible.

However by the time I'd grabbed the camera and turned it on she'd already munched 3/4's of it! pmsl!

I did take a few shots still though and they have really made me giggle! Yes naughtily she is sat on the sofae but I figured it wasn't worth putting her in her highchair for a snack. PLUS she eats it too fast anyway!!

Need to get her some more of the organix biscuits as she loves those and I don't really want to give her a banana everyday although I'm sure she wouldn't complain! But also she has lots of fruit with her lunch too.

I challenge anyone to beat her in an eating race... I dare you haha! Look at it all stuffed in her cheeks little porker! pmsl!

BB's Molars have been making a very rude entrance! Sleep has been a nightmare! I was up pretty much from 1am til 4.30am this morning as well as several other days/nights over the last few weeks!!

Anyway, yesterday she really wasn't interested in eating and threw some cracking little paddies! Therefore, today I decided to feed her little and often instead. So far today she has had raisin wheat and milk for breakfast, a banana and milk around 9.30am then for lunch 2 babybels, a chicken and stuffing sandwich and an entire pear! I couldn't quite believe she ate that much but I am hoping it will help her sleep better tonight as yesterday she barely ate at all.

Oh and she ate her mid-morning-nana in about 30 seconds flat! haha!

BB has now decided she'd much rather graze then sit and eat her meals.

She is eating about half of her lunch and then getting bored. I take her out of her highchair and then as I go to get a cloth to wipe it down she reaches the tray and grabs bits of sandwich/apple/cheese anything and wanders about or reads a book etc

Clearly she has too much to do to sit still longer than 10 minutes haha!

Well after the specialist told me that cows milk will be fine for BB I have decided to change back to it. So far no complaints!

I am still steering clear of tomatoes as he agreed this is the best idea. Anyone know of any low salt stock cube and gravy? I need to find more ideas to make sauces!

Wow is all I can say. I really wasn't expecting an entire page but there it is in all it's glory!

Fantastic article (thank you Nicola) and lovely to see the NCT taking it seriously! I had noticed they were now selling the Rapley BLW DVD.

I will try and add a "In the News" section to the site so it is easier to read easier but this is an ickle piccy for you.

Wow! I really wasn't expecting to get such a quick response but I did!

I have just been on the phone for 30 minutes or so to the lovely Nicola Shaw at Northants News. Had a nice lengthy chat about baby led weaning and why it IS good!

She is going to put it in the paper tomorrow and I couldn't be more pleased. I was so pleased when I read the first article about baby led weaning the beginning of this week, then it was crapped on by the BBC news. Here's to some good press and spreading the word!!

Woohoo!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH How annoyed am I at the crap interpretation baby led weaning just got on the breakfast news.

Who were those women anyway? One stated "babies need more than milk before 6 months" erm scuse me... do you not know the current recommendations? have you not heard of the WHO?

Also they made it sound like a silly theory because babies will choke!!! Then Sian went on to say about how she used to fish food back out her babies mouth! gah! I bet she doesn't know the difference between choke and gag does she lol!

Anyway I have emailed the BBC and ITV and also some press! I really was upset that it wasn't taken seriously. It is such a fantastic way to wean and they clearly hadn't researched or looked into it even a little bit before talking about it. I have told them they need to give a balanced view, not the one-sided trash I witnessed this morning! ARGH!

Well I thought I best update after our appointment with the skin specialist on wednesday last week.

The best thing is Erin doesn't have food allergies. As suspected Erin's eczema is affected by contact and irritation. Massive relief and great to have my instincts confirmed!

I have been given some different creams for different times of her flare ups etc. However I haven't needed them as yet!! Her skin seems to be clearing brilliantly at the moment. I did use one of the weaker ones twice but that's it since. I have just stuck with the moisturiser the doctor last prescribed.

We have a follow on appoinment in 2 months time. This was a pleasant surprise as I didn't think they'd be that on the ball! The specialist we had was fantastic, understanding yet to the point. It was a very draining week and I did lots of crying when I thought about it.

It's been such a battle the last few months (hence my absense on here) but right now it's good so I need to saver it. I even found a soft patch of skin on her leg yesterday as opposed to her usual sandpaper feeling legs.

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and advice, I do appreciate any that is offered to me and take everything on board. I realised that I needed somewhere of support and for other mums in my situation to share experiences etc so I asked Babycentre to add a Skin Complaints forum to their ever expanding list. It went live about a week ago and so far has been a greta haven for us all! So if you are in a similar situation then come take a look:

Hello all! Yes I have been lame <hangs head in shame> but I am hoping my information and articles have still been of use to you all even if my blog has slacked somewhat!

I have just added a new and very interesting article link to the site. It is from the Observer newspaper:

It can also be found under "What is Baby Led Weaning?" Page if the blog gets to busy lol!

Well I've not written for a while as have been having lots of problems with Erin's eczema which has gone from bad to worse.

She definitely had a reaction to washing powder but her face is also still reacting to food. I have been keeping a food diary but somedays she'll eat something and it will be fine and then other days it won't so I'm left very confused!

Anyway I went to the doctors and asked for a referral and an allergy test. He pretty much said no to the allergy test as it's like finding a needle in a hay stack!

The annoying thing is in desperation I gave Erin some piriton as her skin was so bad. By the time I got to the doctors on the monday it was 10 x better so as per usual the doctor thinks I'm an overprotective mother gggrrrrrr! Anyway I had to push him for the referal and am now seeing the skin specialist on 13th June which to me is no where near soon enough!

I'm not keeping my hopes up but really do just need someone to help me with some preventative measure rather than just giving me cream.... which incidently doesn't bloody work! I have eventually found some that does off my own back and from help from friends on here. This has calmed it down a lot.

The doctor told me to continue with the piriton at night as it will stop her scratching and give her skin a chance to heal. Trouble is I have been giving it for about 2 or 3 weeks now and on the nights I don't she wakes up screaming and scratching. I really thought after a week or so it would be ok to stop giving it.

It's so heartbreaking and I guess that's why I haven't been about much as people ask you how your baby is and you just want to cry! Dry skin aside Erin looks like a self harmer from her scratching it's awful. I am keeping her nails so short yet she still manages to do it. I tried socks on her hands one night and she went crazy! I think it's made worse byt the lack of support from the health professionals I have received.

So for now I have been sticking to much more basic food. She crys at me when I tell her not to scratch. I just wish my baby's skin was like baby's skin again.

Nice and simple tuna pasta with spinach and yellow pepper chunks.

Don't forget tuna is fine just don't give it too much due to mecury.

She does love tuna pasta, but I must admit I dodge her open-mouthed slimer kisses after that... poooey fish breath!

Sunny days are a definite Al-Fresco must me thinks!

I'll be honest I took lots of photos but haven't caught up in ages on here. So I can see BB had pancakes and raisins and I know she would have had more but I can't remember what else lol!

She loves it so much outside, I'm so pleased because I am a real outdoors person (not in winter though brrrrr)

It's from a forum I have been a member of for yonkies now and our birthclub had a big meet up! There were around 20 babies plus siblings and a few Daddies too!

A fun day was had by all! It was so lovely to see all the babies. It was also quite funny to see the totseats coming out! haha!

BB munched away on as much food as she could from mini sausages to cheese sandwiches, quiches, organix crisps and grapes. Then when that was done and she was wandering about she ate anything that crossed her path!

Someone gave me some of those Organix crisp things to try with BB. They have no junk in them at all apparently! lol

BB didn't seem all that impressed though which i found strange... i tried one and they weren't that bad... actually did taste like sweetcorn!

She loves melon though so I think that made up for putting the rubbish crisps on her tray. Maybe I won't bother with them until she is old enough to ask for crisps and then I'll get the organix!

Well the old tesco value malt loaf is going down a treat lol!

Have a look at my this link about finding things with the least salt and sugar in. Some good tips on there through one of the links.

I think BB may be going off avocado! lol! She didn't seem that fond of it today.

She did eat some of the crackers but ignored the avocado chunks. Then promptly stuffed down the cheese chunks and cucumber!

Found the crackers yummy myself. So maybe there is something she doesn't like! lol it's a first if she doesn't.

It's that Bogey Mash again! lol! Seems a firm favourite with the whole family! I forgot the onions in the gravy for us adults though... bugger!

BB had sausages yesterday at a BBQ so I didn't give them again today. However she did enjoy tucking into the roasted courgette, carrot and parsnip and some little trees!

The spoon came out again as she seems to be getting quite good at it. However I do have to load it for her most of the time and then she nicks it (i have to be quick lol) and feeds herself with it.

Any ideas on how to encourage her to load the spoon herself? maybe she will just start doing it? who knows! lol!

Bit boring but that was breakfast today.

Daddy kindly did some shopping but got the wrong cereals and a crap pack of bananas that most needed throwing away! ho hum! lol

She did enjoy some raisins too :o)

Well because BB can't have tomato but spag bol is her big brother's favourite we made it but seperated the mince before adding the tomato for BB.

It didn't look too appealing so added some extra veg for her too.

Daddy was cooking and her burnt it a bit lol!

Yummy yummy!

BB couldn't get enough of this! she ate the lot... as in clear tray! There was a generous portion too, she just kept shovelling it in.

I did courgette, yellow pepper, broccoli, red onion all fryed up with some herbs and garlic served with noodles.

She is definitely getting the hang of the noodles. I found she could eat it easier if I cut them up a bit. Saying that though I did see her doing the old cartoon type trick of sucking in a piece of noodle!

I think her big brother was having more trouble eating them then she did!

I honestly wasn't expecting her to eat it all. I always serve up more than she can eat as I don't want her to go hungry and some end up on the floor (not as much as it used to mind) So was amazed when she just kept going lol

Well it'd have been rude not to with the glorious sunshine wouldn't it?

I'm a very outdoors person. Thankfully BB seems to love exploring the great outdoors too!

We lugged the highchair outside and she happily sat and chatted to us while eating some hard boiled egg, toast soldiers, melon and grapes.

I later decided to properly clean the highchair... as in a good soapy scrub in the garden, all the frame work and nooks and crannies.

However later that day we had a BBQ and after it dried in the lovely sunshine it promptly got showered in soot... nice one daddy! Had to clean it again!

BB had a sneaky burger at the BBQ accompanied with french stick, pasta and other bits and pieces.

OK I know BB had prunes but I am seriously considering not giving oatibix anymore. With or without prunes they seem to make her poo very sticky and cement like and a little bit sloppy! It is only when she has oatibix... fine with raisin wheats.

Thing is they are really messy nappies and what with her nearing 1 year old I was hoping for less poo! haha! the mornings she has it i can do like 3 poo nappies before lunch!

Check out her face though she can get through prunes quicker than you can say jumping jack flash!

BB still insists on planting her cracker on her face (butter side lol) to lick off all the hummus before proceeding to eat the actual cracker!

Although the cracker didn't get much of a look in once the melon appeared! This bubs loves her melon!

Today BB had a cheese and cracker plater! lol

It consisted of some lovely seedless red grapes (chopped in half with fully vigilant surveillance) Some slabs of cheddar cheese, cucumber slices and some jacobs crackers topped with the old favourite... yep you've guessed it! Philly! haha!

Oh I think a couple of raisins may have snuck on there too!

Having got loads of yummy party left overs, BB had a selection of egg fried rice, pasta, red and orange pepper sticks and some chicken.

My sister had given me some funny angled plastic cutlery so let her go nuts check this out...

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k218/craziie-banana/?action=view&current=06a9f5a0.pbr