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Paleo baby-led weaning


upsidedawn

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Hi! I'm looking to start BLW with my six-month-old baby. I've seen that Chris Kresser recommends pastured egg yolk and chicken liver as first foods, but will those work in bigger chunks for BLW? I feel like hard-ish boiled egg yolks and cooked liver are kind of crumbly for finger foods. Any suggestions, or other first food recommendations? Thanks!

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we did avocado, banana, scrambled egg yolks/while eggs, and liver pate.  however my daughter has a big affinity for softer foods when teeth are coming in (she's 14 months) so don't discount puree type foods altogether.  don't forget that hunter gather mothers would pre-chew some foods(much like other mammals) and offer that to their babies, so it's a bit more like a "puree" than you'd think lol.

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My son just turned 11 months and I "puree" his meats myself.  His first tooth is just now coming in but we started soft solids months ago.  Sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas etc.  Pre-chewing the meat may seem gross, but (for us) it's been successful.  Good luck!

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I did baby led weaning with my three and until they were one year old the mantra I used is "until they are one it is just for fun". At that stage they are still having a lot of milk (and if you are BF that's all paleo!) which is where most of their nutrition comes from. My guys ate lots of roasted veggies in "chip" shapes (thick rectangles) ... but their favourite favourite favourite was a pear, with stalk still on, cut about half way down. Hand them the bit with the stalk on, stalk facing down. Easy to hold, easy to chew. I gave my son a raw stick of celery when he was six months old and he really liked it on his gum (he's 6 now and won't touch celery, but that's another story). All of my kids ate a really wide variety of vegetable and fruit ... just chop and shape the right way. Give them protein to "gum" off your plate (so if you are having chicken, given them quite a big piece ...). They will suck it and taste it, but it doesn't really matter if they don't eat it. (Remember, most of their nutrition comes from milk). Good luck! BLW is messy, but for me, it was the only way (especially when I had twins and a two-year old ... meant I didn't have to feed them myself!). I never did purees of any sort.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did BLW for my youngest and have had the most success with solids with her than I did for her older sister(we did traditional purée with her, didn't go well).

At 6 months old I was offering her large chunks of meat, steamed vegetables with a handle and sliced fruit. She was chewing and swallowing within 2 weeks, steak, chicken, pork....they typically gum and suck the juices out and will get little pieces off. I recommend the Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley, it helped me so much. Just remember food has to be large enough for them to hold in their hands. Lots of wedges or fry shaped.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm on this bandwagon!! 9 month old DD is still mostly nursing, and isn't super into food (except bread, but I've been cautious, and there aint none of that 'round here no more!)  ;)

However, I gave her some of my pastured egg yolk from my eggs this morning, and some of my mushrooms cooked in coconut oil/ghee, and she really showed strong interest, and ate a bunch of it. I'd given her steel cut oats/raisins (from my older DD's breakfast) and she hadn't really been interested.

 

Smart baby!

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I did a lot of steamed veggies, sweet potatoes, strawberries and bananas. At the time we weren't eating paleo, but I did it because it made sense. 

 

Also, I read a study somewhere (I wonder if I can track it down again.. that was 3-1/2 years ago) that mentions kids who are led-weaned are less likely to choke because they learn to chew their food rather than slurp it down. Not sure how true that is but I thought that was interesting. 

 

My son is 4 now, and I will admit that opening up his food choices like that has made him so much less picky (it could be their personalities as well) compared to my first son who was fed baby food from the store. He also loved capers and still does. 

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Lacey -- all three of mine were BLW and ate the widest variety of food as babies and then they hit 13 months and refused nearly everything and became super picky and are still (at 6 and 4) the pickiest children I know. To be fair, they won't eat junk, either (horray), but there's very little they will eat. My main motivation for doing BLW in the first place was because I didn't want picky children having seen how RIDICULOUSLY picky one of my sister's daughters is ... ha ha the joke is on me as I still got really picky children and I got three out of three picky children, as opposed to her one out of three. It does run in my family though ... I was ridiculously picky until I was 20 (and in truth, still am ... what is paleo if not SUPER picky about what you eat???!). Just sayin'. BLW is no guarantee of no pickiness. You feel super smug when your baby is sitting there scoffing asparagus and broccoli, but it doesn't necessarily last ...

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so true Semolina!  my girl used to love anything green, but now she's more into a meat eating phase, and before that it was mostly fruit!  i'm fine with all that because we're still nursing at 16 months and figure she's eating what her body is telling her to prioritize right now.  now saying that if you offer her something sweet she'll nealy always take that!

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Semolina, mine did the same but now that the youngest are ten, they have suddenly widened their choices.  My older ones all now eat a fabulous range of food and lots of lovely spices.

 

BLW was a saviour for me and my twins.  :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm intrigued!  I'm mom to a 2y/o and 7 mo old twins and ALL for tricks to make life and dinner time easier.  Our babies are eating pureed food now.  Any tips for starting this method of feeding?  What foods should I give them?  How do I avoid them choking?  Does it matter that they are still going to get pureed food at daycare?

 

Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I cute my sons into tiny chunks. The big chunks don't work for us, becuase he seems to gag and choke a lot.

I cut blueberries into quarters, and small chunks of strawberries, melon, chicken, green beans. He is now preferring foods rather than purees at this point, but will eat anything that has banana in it. I like the ellas kitchen and similiar organic packs.

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I mainly paleo BLW both my daughters long before I did whole 30 which I think really prevented them from being picky eaters on the 'beige' diet like most young children are. I did mostly tiny pieces, I only did puree if it was something an adult would eat pureed (squash, ect) and give them a spoon. First foods were veggies but I moved on to meat very soon. Lots of slow cooked whole chicken.

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I do a mix BLW and purees. My son loved BLW and feeding himself, my daughter likes it for a much shorter time and really loves the purees.

Good ideas for first finger foods / BLW include avocado, banana, cooked apple slices, somewhat over cooked (for my tastes!) veggies - carrot, broccoli, zucchini, squash... Later, eggs (but scrambled I couldn't see how it would work with a hard boiled yolk at this age!)

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I did a lot of scrambled egg/plain omelets during BLWing. You cook the eggs so they are flat and can cut them into wide strips. Both of my kids (one now super picky and one not) loved egg strips.

Oh, old post I guess but in case anyone else is wondering. :)

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 "until they are one it is just for fun"

So true.  If you're breastfeeding there is no need to worry about their solid food intake from a nutrition standpoint (until after 12 months).  

 

I started "the fun" with bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes. And then added other things.  I would cook up a batch of chicken soup weekly and give the soft veggies and chicken.

 

My daughter learned that if she smashed her hands into the food it would stick to her hands and she would lick it off rather trying to pick things up.  That always made me giggle.

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