Solids for 7 month old - BLW or purees?

[PGTB]

We started our almost 7 month old DS on solids about 2 weeks ago. So far it has been primarily oatmeal with a bit of avocado. DS seems to like oatmeal but not avocado too much. Oatmeal has been very easy for us to manage, we just add some warm EBM, put it into Boon Squirt spoon or feed from the regular tea spoon (DS sucks it off) and this seems to work. Avocado hasn’t been easy unless we turn it into puree form. I am not against purees, but I wanted to try BLW (Baby Lead Weaning) approach to solids. I am reading the book on BLW, not through with it yet.

BLW is supposed to make things easier, but now I am wondering if it will be so for us. It suggests the baby should eat with the parents and that baby learns by observing parents eat. I agree with that, seeing how our DS is so curious about everything we are doing and grabbing everything from the table. He is difficult to spoon feed because he insists on grabbing the spoon, so that is why I thought the BLW would work with him. However, sitting down for meals with DS is not really possible as we both work and get home no earlier than 6pm, which is a bit late for DS to eat dinner and we are not there for lunch. Another issue is that we hardly eat wholesome home cooked meals, we don't cook. We eat take out…and most of it is various ethnic food. I can't really let DS try anything on our table because all of it is complex foods, we aren't really fans of simply boiled, steamed or bakes veggies. We also don't eat much finger foods like crackers, toasts, etc at all. So, if we sit down to eat as a family we must prepare separate meal for DS anyway, in which case BLW won't be that much easier.

Organic over the counter purees would be easiest for us to do, but I wonder if we would be depriving DS of the valuable nutrients of unprocessed steamed veggies and from the entire experience of learning food textures and tastes on his own by handling his own food. I don't want to continue feeding him oatmeal only or force feeding avocado, I am tempted to get some of the different stage 1 purees. We are very lazy people who don't cook at all… Poor DS...

[BabyBearsMom]

I think that either option is a valid and healthy way to go, you should do whatever works best for you and your family. Don't worry too much about the nutrients. Your DS should still be getting all of the nutrients he needs through breast milk/formula (which ever you do), the solids are just for practice.

We started DD with organic purees, but now we also do finger food (which she loves). Things that I have found easy to give as finger foods:

Peas (I just by frozen, microwave them and then cool them to room temperature)
Puffs/Cheerios
Noodles (when I am making pasta, I just pull out a few plain ones for her)
Ground beef (when I am making meat sauce, I pull a little out for her before I season)
Tiny cut up pieces of chicken or turkey
Green Beans (I just take the canned ones that are pre-cut, perfect temperature and they are soft)
Carrots (I get the steamer bags from my freezer section, then cut the disks into quarters or smaller for her)
Bread (ripped into small pieces)

I would just add that introducing your baby to solids should be fun, so don't stress yourself into thinking that you absolutely need to do it one way or the other. Do what works for you and your LO and you will be fine.

[PGTB]

I think that either option is a valid and healthy way to go, you should do whatever works best for you and your family. Don't worry too much about the nutrients. Your DS should still be getting all of the nutrients he needs through breast milk/formula (which ever you do), the solids are just for practice.

We started DD with organic purees, but now we also do finger food (which she loves). Things that I have found easy to give as finger foods:

Peas (I just by frozen, microwave them and then cool them to room temperature)
Puffs/Cheerios
Noodles (when I am making pasta, I just pull out a few plain ones for her)
Ground beef (when I am making meat sauce, I pull a little out for her before I season)
Tiny cut up pieces of chicken or turkey
Green Beans (I just take the canned ones that are pre-cut, perfect temperature and they are soft)
Carrots (I get the steamer bags from my freezer section, then cut the disks into quarters or smaller for her)
Bread (ripped into small pieces)

I would just add that introducing your baby to solids should be fun, so don't stress yourself into thinking that you absolutely need to do it one way or the other. Do what works for you and your LO and you will be fine.

Thank you, this sounds encouraging :D The list of finger foods is not hard to manage, the main concern I have is choking and when to introduce meat and stuff like this since DS doesn't have teeth yet. How old is your LO?

DS skills to chew and munch seem still so immature, he has a hard time with anything that is not smooth consistency and it triggers his gag reflex. It almost like he doesn't know yet how to deal with the more solid food in his mouth. We tried to give him a piece of bread once, he bites pieces of it and just keeps them in his mouth until he gags. Then DH and I freak out and fish the pieces out of DS's mouth with our fingers. :oops:

[BabyBearsMom]

Thank you, this sounds encouraging :D The list of finger foods is not hard to manage, the main concern I have is choking and when to introduce meat and stuff like this since DS doesn't have teeth yet. How old is your LO?

DS skills to chew and munch seem still so immature, he has a hard time with anything that is not smooth consistency and it triggers his gag reflex. It almost like he doesn't know yet how to deal with the more solid food in his mouth. We tried to give him a piece of bread once, he bites pieces of it and just keeps them in his mouth until he gags. Then DH and I freak out and fish the pieces out of DS's mouth with our fingers. :oops:

DD is 7 months old. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but she does have one that has just broken the gum. To avoid choking, I just give her everything in really tiny pieces and only a few pieces at a time so she can't pack her cheeks. The first few weeks of solids with DD, she would take it into her mouth but didn't know how to swallow it so she would just drool it all out. We just kept trying and she figured it out. The first finger foods we gave her were puffs, which are nice because they dissolved in her mouth so no worries about choking. Then once she was used to that I added peas which are so small that I don't worry about her choking (you will however get peas out the other end). Another good one is tiny pieces of banana. DD does make a gagging noise once in a while but she usually worked it down immediately.

[BabbyO]

It seems like you kinda answer your own question here. I've done BLW...its what worked for our situation but I'm sure it doesn't for everyone. Don't be afraid to try either, both or a combination of purees and BLW. The important part is that introducing solids shouldn't be stressful. It should work with your life-style.

That said, if you're reading BLW, you may know that may people have found that this is a great opportunity (and just the incentive they need) to get the whole family eating more nutritionally.

FWIW, DH and I both work as well and we get home about 6 pm. Our key has been cooking larger portions (or extra meals) on the weekend that can easily be reheated in the microwave. We also use a lot of frozen veggies that can be steamed or boiled in minutes. We get home, put DS in the high chair, reheat food, and eat dinner together. However, our situation is a bit different in that DS has food allergies that prevent us from getting many prepared or take-out foods anyway.

I guess my point is if you want to do BLW its possible, but it does take some work.

Regardless, I'll reiterate, introducing solids should NOT be stressful. Do what works for your family and enjoy this time of discovery for your LO.

[YouAreTheFocus]

I agree with what everyone has said here, you have to do what works best for your family, and don't stress too much about it. And remember, this period only lasts a couple months.

We were in somewhat of a similar situation to you. The three of us all get home around 6, and the baby has dinner around 6:30. There's no way dinner for all three of us is going to happen by then, and we're just not the cook in advance (or even plan in advance) sorts. Also, the food we eat isn't necessarily what I want my baby to be eating.

For us, the organic purees provided ease, best nutrition, and widest variety. It gave me peace of mind to have a pantry full of organic fruits & veggies all ready to go--we never had to worry about what he was having. And the baby got to try way more things by having the jars (I think it would be nearly impossible to buy all those foods fresh & organic & in small quantities!).

Personally, I would feed him the purees/oatmeal for the "bulk" of his meals, and give him some cheerios or bits of whatever to practice picking up and eating. And then over time you can increase the amount and variety of the finger stuff. FWIW, we did primarily purees until 10 or 11 mos, then at his 1st bday he had a samosa, mac & cheese, a bbq chicken leg, and cake :) --so it's not like there was a big transition from one way of eating to the other.

PS-Giving him a spoon to hold while you feed him will do wonders!

[PGTB]

I agree with what everyone has said here, you have to do what works best for your family, and don't stress too much about it. And remember, this period only lasts a couple months.

We were in somewhat of a similar situation to you. The three of us all get home around 6, and the baby has dinner around 6:30. There's no way dinner for all three of us is going to happen by then, and we're just not the cook in advance (or even plan in advance) sorts. Also, the food we eat isn't necessarily what I want my baby to be eating.

For us, the organic purees provided ease, best nutrition, and widest variety. It gave me peace of mind to have a pantry full of organic fruits & veggies all ready to go--we never had to worry about what he was having. And the baby got to try way more things by having the jars (I think it would be nearly impossible to buy all those foods fresh & organic & in small quantities!).

Personally, I would feed him the purees/oatmeal for the "bulk" of his meals, and give him some cheerios or bits of whatever to practice picking up and eating. And then over time you can increase the amount and variety of the finger stuff. FWIW, we did primarily purees until 10 or 11 mos, then at his 1st bday he had a samosa, mac & cheese, a bbq chicken leg, and cake :) --so it's not like there was a big transition from one way of eating to the other.

PS-Giving him a spoon to hold while you feed him will do wonders!

We have discovered this recently and have been giving him plastic/silicone tip spoon to hold while he is eating his meals. He loves to play with it and chew on it. Even though we are packing Boon Squeeze spoon for our Thanksgiving trip, we are taking a couple of baby spoons for him to play with :D

Like you I consider the jarred organic purees a godsend. It made it very easy for us to add different foods to DS's menu in addition to the good old oatmeal. Otherwise, I think it would have been a much slower process introducing different flavors.

We find it challenging at this stage to share meals with DS. Timing is not the only issue. I agree that most of the foods we eat are not something we want our baby to eat at this age. The problem is that we like our foods heavily seasoned and with strong flavors (like Indian and Asian foods). Putting steamed veggies on our table means that we did this primarily for DS and most likely won't eat this ourselves unless a savory dip is provided ;) I sometimes wonder what do they do in cultures where most foods are heavily seasoned. Is it ok to feed the baby curried veggies and buttery naan? The BLW book says use as little salt as possible and lists very plain foods.

[mikala]

I sometimes wonder what do they do in cultures where most foods are heavily seasoned. Is it ok to feed the baby curried veggies and buttery naan? The BLW book says use as little salt as possible and lists very plain foods.

Everyone has different feelings on this but we went with the approach that seasoning is part of life around the world and isn't something to fuss too much about. We introduced a few plain foods like the avocado, pasta, etc. and started feeding it to DS with seasoning added pretty early on. I don't remember his exact age but probably by 8 mo. He was fine with garlic, rosemary, cinnamon, small amounts of chili powder, basil etc. and generally likes things spiced about the way we do. We do try to avoid unnecessary sodium, corn syrup and other things that don't really add to the flavor of food.

It took a little thinking at the beginning but after a few months feeding DS this way was easier than purees. He'll happily eat whatever we're having when I cook or at restaurants. If our meal isn't nutritionally complete we'll often add a side or two and kid friendly items like fresh fruit or microwaved/steamed frozen veggies. We've definitely improved our own eating habits as we feed him and go through a lot more fruits and veggies than we used to.