BLW is an alternative method that supports the self-feeding of the baby. BLW will make a great contribution to the fun continuation of the transition process to supplementary food. With the BLW I have prepared, the guide to switching to additional food can be a good source for you.
With BLW, the baby will be fed with real food, not purees, by learning healthy family meals by tasting, testing and self-eating with adults. And being able to do this will happen when the baby is about 6 months old.
Babies are 6 months old to be able to blw and must sit without support. Especially in the first year, when there is an oral period, the baby is curious, and the sense of touch is developed, we will see that the baby has the ability to eat on its own.
Blw within the parents will proceed as a natural process without running after the baby with a plate, having fun.
Blw how should we start?
When your pediatrician says that you can now start supplementary food, you can now start tasting days. Start the trials when your baby is neither too hungry nor too full. For example; about 1.5-2 hours after breastfeeding. You can plan this according to your baby’s rhythm.
When serving food to babies, we should also pay attention to cooking techniques.
Stewing
Boiling
We can use methods such as baking. Frying in plenty of oil should not be done.
When you first start, they eat very little and often play games. In the first weeks, you can see what you give on the floor, on the chair. They can also remove what the mouths take from the mouth without swallowing. He may lose interest in food in the early days, or he may eat too little. It has very little space and can play games. It is quite normal for babies between 6-8 months to taste the nutrients and gradually it becomes clear that they like and dislike them. In this process, breast milk is still the main meal.
My advice is to start with vegetables as the first try. You can start trials with the least allergic of the seasonal vegetables.
As a first attempt; you can try broccoli, carrots and zucchini. These can be boiled or steamed. Place your baby in the high chair and put these nutrients on the tray in the form of sticks with an average length of 5 cm. With these, your baby can play a little and throw it on the ground. Keep the backups with you and put them in front of you a few times as you throw them away.
Do not put a variety of dishes in front of it during the trials. Boil it in small amounts, increasing the amount over time. Because too much variety will confuse the baby. Your baby may be surprised, focusing on just one and throwing the others away. Add as you eat enough sheep in front of it. This will develop a sense of achievement in your baby.
In the first attempts, sometimes babies may keep food in their mouths or residues may remain between the palate and cheek. Since he does not yet know how to clean the crumbs with his tongue, it is useful to check. Forcing your baby’s mouth open can be very challenging. For this reason, play the game of “Who will open his/her mouth wide”, you will see that he/she will open his/her mouth before you.
When trying vegetables, add a new vegetable every 2-3 days. In this way, you can also follow up in terms of allergies. You can start fruit trials 10 days after you start vegetables. Try to give vegetables at noon, fruits at mid-morning or mid-afternoon. If it is too hard when you give the fruits; you can steam cinnamon in the oven and soften it.
When it comes to 6.5 months, it is better to start red meat. Red meat is very important for iron for babies. Therefore, red meat should be started immediately after vegetable trials. It starts with lamb as red meat, then you can switch to beef if you want. Lamb is the least allergenic. When giving the meat to your baby, you may prefer boiling rather than baking. It may be hard on your baby when you bake. You can crush the meat in front of the baby. You can also give chicken meat after red meat. Babies can eat more comfortably because chicken meat is soft. When you prepare it in the form of drumsticks, it can grasp very easily and try to eat.
You can slowly switch to a waste breakfast towards the seventh month. In this process, your baby will have learned to grasp more comfortably and eat on his/her own.
For breakfast, you can use whole wheat bread, rye bread, and wheat bread. If you are going to use sliced bread; when the bread is too soft, your baby will grasp it but cannot break it. Then the bread will be a little steeper when you heat it slightly in the toaster. In this way, the baby can both grasp and eat more easily.
When choosing cheese, you can choose it with medium fat and no salt. When you put the medium-fat feta cheese in the evening and change the water 2 times, it will be salt-free and soft in the morning. You can use this cheese. You can also use unsalted string cheese, unsalted mozzarella, and unsalted twisted cheese. Unsalted curd cheese, which you make at home, can also be an alternative.
Eggs are a good source of protein. We do not use white in the first year because it will be very allergenic. ;You can boil the egg in the first attempts. Make sure there are no purple rings around the yolk when you boil it. On the first try, give a small piece and watch for allergies. If there is no problem, increase it every day so that 1 egg yolk can be eaten. Since you have tried many vegetables so far, you can make omelets with various vegetables and cheese.
You can also prepare various toasts for breakfast. Pan cakes are alternative breakfasts in pancakes.
You can start giving fish around the ninth month. Try not to prefer bottom fish, especially since they contain heavy metals. Anchovies and horse mackerel are beautiful fish. Alternatively, salmon is a beautiful fish if you have difficulty because it is mink and bony. While cooking the fish, you can bake it and prepare it in the form of steaming. Fish soups and meatballs prepared from fish meat can also be your alternative. You can serve baked fish with steamed vegetables.
By the 10th month, you can start to give your baby dinner. 10-12 Between the months, your baby will gradually start to feed in the form of meals. At the age of 1, she will be able to eat everything on her own, sitting at the same table as you.