Our 1st Month of BLW

Our first month of BLW has been a huge success. From baby's first meal to her first time eating in a restaurant, she's learned so much, so quickly and has blown us away.

The pictures below document everything our girl ate in her first month of BLW, I post them daily on Instagram. There were (and still are) a few days when she only has one or two meals due to sleeping through meal times or through us being out and about. Most days we try for three meals and she eats as much, or as little, as she wants to.

For interest, I'll list her meals after the images.

Obviously some meals fit more than one category, I've tried to be as clear as possible! :D

GRAINS
Weetbix
Whole grain toast (plain, vegemite and peanut butter)
Crumpets
Banana muffins
Porridge
Baked Porridge finger
Cheese Pizza
Naan bread
Pasta
Pikelets
Yorkshire pudding
Stuffing


FRUIT

Banana
Strawberry
Pear
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Mango
Pineapple
Orange
Grapefruit
Peach



VEGETABLES
Green onions
Cucumber
Tomato
Potato
Celery
Red Capsicum
Cos lettuce stalks
Butternut Pumpkin
Brown onion
Broccoli
Carrot
Snow Peas
Zucchini
Sweetcorn
Green Beans
Cauliflower
Peas
Spinach

DAIRY & EGGS

Eggy Banana Bread
Greek Yoghurt
Scrambled Eggs
Cheesy Omelette
Cheddar
Cream cheese
Quiche

MEAT & FISH
Bacon
Steak
Minced Beef
Tuna
Hoki

7 month update!

If I don't get this done now she'll be 8 months before I know it!

Our girl is coming on in leaps and bounds. She babbles away almost non-stop and is so curious and interested in everything around her. She loves being outside and we have started to play in the backyard as the weather warms up - well, it's not raining at least!

She has a fairly set routine that she has worked herself into, sleeping 8-8.30 and waking only once or twice to feed. She has two naps and the 2-3-4 routine seems to work for her, although its more like 2-2.5-3.5 most of the time!

A lot of nap time is made up of meal prep at the moment, I am still cooking two different meals, one for me and baby, and one for dad. He's slowly starting to be a little more adventurous with his eating and I have managed to introduce a couple of new meals to his rotation! I am trying to set a routine for myself of household chores during her morning nap and "me" time during the afternoon. Planning anything at all for the afternoon nap seems to be a surefire way to guarantee she'll only sleep for 30 minutes!

Playgroup and story time (the photo above is from Story time at the library last week) are going really well and she loves interacting with the other little ones. It's good for me too, a chance to catch up with some new friends and a regular opportunity to get out of the house.

We had lunch at a restaurant for my uncle's 60th and it was her first time eating out. I ordered a chicken burger and veggies and we shared. She did so well and I was so proud of her sitting feeding herself. I am planning to post a bit about the different meals she's been eating, so keep an eye out for that in the near future!

Hulk Muffins (a BLW favourite!)

 

If you have ever read anything about Baby Led Weaning, then you have probably seen a reference to "Hulk" Muffins - so called for their bright green colouring. There are many recipes about, and many that I have seen call for honey, which is a strict no no for under 1s, and often salt which should also be limited. The fact that these muffins are PACKED with spinach which is great for getting in the extra iron that baby needs meant that I needed to improvise a little. After looking at a quite a few recipes (including many shared on Baby Led Weaning for Beginners) here's what I came up with.

Honey Free Hulk Muffins

Makes approx 12

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour plus 2 tsp baking powder OR 2 cups whole wheat Self Raising flour

1-2 tsp cinnamon (I like a little extra!)

3/4 cup full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract or essence

1/2 cup golden syrup (in place of honey - you could use honey if your little is over 1 year old)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

1 large banana

180g baby or regular spinach (as close to this as possible - some bags I have seen are only 160g)

Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 170C and prepare your muffin pans. You can use liners or spray with cooking oil. Next time I make these I'll prepare a few mini muffin size as well!

Step 2

Combine flour (and baking powder if needed) and cinnamon in a bowl.

Step 3

Blend all the remaining ingredients together until completely mixed. You may have to stop to scrape down the sides occasionally.

Step 4

Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and fold together until just combined.

Step 5

Spoon batter into the muffin pans, filling about 3/4 full. 

Step 6

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until muffins are firm when pressed on top. If you choose mini muffins, check them regularly. Mine did start to brown slightly as I left them a little too long!

Step 7

Cool on a tray before serving

or not! we shared one still warm with melted butter!

My little girl loves these. I am considering a savory version too, somehow working a little cheese into the mix and omitting the syrup. But for now, if you try these, let me know what you think!