Crumpet and jam -

More fromage frais -

I didn't have any fruit handy to give Olivia to go with the fromage frais as I had planned but she discovered a new way to eat it -



... she was licking it straight from the pot! I did then give her the spoon with some on as she seemed like she was hungry rather than just playing.

You can see from these photos just how much she enjoyed it! Messy, but lots of fun :)

Bread (and toast) and cheese, crumpets and jam -

Nice and quick breakfast/lunch/snacks! Olivia is having about 5 'meals' a day at the moment. Every time one of us sits down to eat, I sit her with us to join in so these are perfect when I want to give her something easy.

Pear!

I love this set of photos as they show really well how Olivia approaches a new food. This was the first time she has had pear and she spent a long time just playing with it, you can see how it was laid skin side down in the first photo - she was just gently pushing it to make it rock, totally fascinated. Next, she picked it up and looked at it for a bit (not long, admittedly!) before finally trying it.

I left the skin on to make it a bit easier for her to hold - you can see in the last photo that she ate quite a bit from the top end of it, and looked very pleased with herself.

BLW website -

I would recommend that anybody who is interested in BLW reads Gill Rapley's website, http://www.baby-led.com particularly the booklet which you can download from the front page but the whole site is really interesting. The booklet gives great advice on how to make BLW a fun and safe experience and explains how and why it works so well :)

I also found the guidelines which Gill has published on her other site http://www.rapleyweaning.com/assets/blw_guidelines.pdf very helpful. They explain in more detail the principles behind BLW and give dos and don'ts of putting it into practice.

Fromage frais -

... was a bit of a compromise - Olivia-led-with-a-bit-of-help-from-Mummy weaning! I put the fromage frais on the spoon then passed it to Olivia. I think next time I'll give her some apple pieces with it to see if she can dip them.

Cheese on toast -

Was a hit! More the cheese, which was peeled off first, than the toast, but Olivia still ate a bit of that too.

Playing with pasta:

This pasta is perfect for Olivia - it's big enough she can hold it and get it into her mouth (too small pieces are difficult as they get stuck in their fists and are a choking hazard) and it's fun to play with!

Out for lunch:

An impromptu lunch out is much more fun when you're using baby led weaning rather than conventional mush!

Olivia really enjoyed her first Chinese meal of prawn toast, spring rolls and onion rings: (No idea why onion rings were at a Chinese buffet but they looked fun so I gave her one!)








(Should also add that I seem to remember reading something somewhere about not introducing prawns until after a year or something - but this could have all changed a million times since then - so check the guidelines if you're worried about things like that!)

Broccoli and plates!

This is the first time Olivia tried broccoli:









I'm not sure why I left it on the plate, just habit of handing the boys their plates I think. Anyway, it perfectly demonstrates why I usually just put the food straight onto the highchair tray. Olivia started off more interested in eating the plate but did eventually figure out that the broccoli tasted better. I love watching her reactions as she tries something new; from looking at it then picking it up to trying it - sometimes she even licks things first but I've yet to catch that on camera!

Apple for breakfast -

This shows how Olivia manages a chunk of apple - I leave the skin on so it makes it easier to hold and she scrapes the other side on her teeth. (Babies without teeth can manage in exactly the same way, they can chew just as well with gums!)

Likes and dislikes -

Olivia has had cooked carrot before now, but never raw like this. She spent a while just looking at it before deciding she wanted to try it.





I love how Olivia recognises things she has eaten before, getting excited about things she knows she likes - something she wouldn't be able to do if everything was all pureed up.

One of her current favourites is scotch pancakes for breakfast:



Shrove Tuesday pancakes, however, were less popular! :

Teeth!

Olivia enjoying cleaning her teeth in the bath:

Other first foods -

Carrot puffs, rice cake and banana!

Starting out -

I started offering Olivia food when she was just under 6 months old. She had been joining in mealtimes for a few weeks before this, since she was able to sit comfortably in her high chair - just watching us and playing with her toys but when she started grabbing for our food I decided to offer her some of her own.

We started with a choice of steamed carrots and mini corn on the cob, for no other reason than they were what I was cooking for the boys! Straight away, Olivia seemed to know what to do - she looked like she really enjoyed chewing and sucking on the food :)