I am ready, the baby is ready, what should i do?

A lot of mommy who wanted to start their baby on BLW will ask me how should i offer the food? what kinda food is good? Well food like broccoli, cucumber, carrot, avocado, pumpkin, sweet potato, banana, papaya, pear, plum are just example of good food starter. But dont limit yourself. Do explore as long as there's no family history of allergy. Make sure its the correct size for the first timer baby to hold. At 6mos they have not master their pincer grip yet. So food offer in stick shape about 5cm long will be ideal. The baby will be able to pick them up and there's the additional sticking out for the baby to munch on. Broccoli is in ideal shape too where the baby can pick up the stem and munch on the head (or vice versa :D). 

Veges like pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli, carrot, cucumber and the likes can be lightly steam or bake. Make sure you do not over cooked them else it will become to soft and too mushy for the baby to pick up. Fruits like banana, papaya, avocado, plum can just give direct. 

Do remember baby will gag when they are trying to swallow. But this is perfectly normal as its their reflex preventing them from swallowing to big piece of food to prevent them from choking. If the baby gags just smile and tell them its alright as they will be looking at you for your reaction. If you are panic they will be panic too! Usually it affects the adults (emotionally) but did not affect the baby at all. Do not leave your baby unattended at any time. Make sure there's always someone beside her to supervise/monitor. The gagging reflex will improve over time. And in no time your baby will be eating like a pro without gagging. The earlier (6mo) you start the better for them to prevent themselves from choking from their gagging experience. Having said that if you are still worried you can take infant CPR course to equip yourself in case of emergency. Locally KPJ Damansara do offer the course at RM30 for 2 hours. Or you can check out the IBU group. They organise the class once every month.

Do avoid honey, salt, sugar, processed food and nuts or dried food at the moment. Smaller food like grapes olives and cherry tomatoes, can cut it into half or lightly pressed them out so that it doesn't have the round shape to prevent them from choking. 

Most importantly, trust your baby to be capable of feeding herself. And mommy and baby should have lots of fun and lots of MESS too! The mess is the fun part of BLW isnt it? :D 

Some example for the shapes of food to offer: