I was just reading back the emails that I have missed in the past 2 weeks from the BLW Yahoo Group, and looks like the long-awaited baby-led weaning DVD is now available for anyone to purchase!

I would heartily recommend it to all health visitors as well as new mothers considering starting the weaning of their little one. Here's information about the DVD from Gill Rapley herself:

A 17-minute DVD/video about baby-led weaning will be available from 1st November. It explains what BLW is, why it is a sensible and logical way to approach weaning, how to go about it, and the benefits it brings. The cost of the DVD/video is £25 (GBP) plus postage and packing, which will normally be about £2.50 for a single copy in the UK. For the USA, the cost is approx $45 (US dollars), plus overseas carriage.

It is available from Mark-It TV. To order a copy, simply phone, fax or email your requirements (number required, in which format – DVD or PAL video) to Mark-It Television, at:

Mark-It Television
7 Quarry Way
Stapleton
Bristol
BS16 1UP
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (117) 939 1117
Fax: +44 (117) 939 1118
Email: sales@markittelevision.co.uk

You can read more about the baby-led weaning DVD from the company's web site, and they have it available on video too. More information about ordering copies of the film can be found on the order page on the company's website.

I'm going to get the DVD for myself just for future reference, even thought I'm already a full converted and somewhat experienced BLW mum myself. I'm planning to spread some more BLW love overseas, since some Irish and Finnish mums might be interested in it too.

It's been awfully quiet, if not dead here all month! I've been taking part in the NaBloPoMo challege with my two other blogs, so I've had no time left to update the baby-led weaning blog. I still think it's a very important and interesting subject though, but in the last few weeks my interest has been directed towards toddler breastfeeding issues, breastfeeding in public and lactivism in general.

During the last month I realised that I might have taken a bit too much upon myself, thinking that I could maintain a portal of 5 blogs, write thorough articles about baby nutrition and everything else related to BLW. As much as I would love to dedicate more time for promoting BLW, I need to stay rational and split my time evenly between this and my other projects. Otherwise I'll end up abandoning the whole blog for good!

I have split the links-blog into a few separate posts, and the link from the top menu will show you all the links categories. The blw photo blog has been scrapped, because all the photos and lots more can be found in the Flickr Baby-led weaning photo pool for your viewing pleasure!

I have also had to close down the Information-section, because I just don't have the time or the resources to write full articles right now. If I write up any articles, I will publish them here instead. I'm hoping to swap over the Blogger Beta someday, so that I can add categories in the blog to make the navigating easier for you (imaginary) readers.

Smelly_pugsley wrote a post in the Yahoo B-LW group about mixed feeding (partly spoon-feeding, partly finger food), that got me thinking about out current arrangement. Basically, her daughter goes to daycare and to reach a compromise with the daycare staff, they allow her to have food spoon-fed to her while in daycare. She was just very interested in spoons, which resulted to her eating too much low-calorie food (as opposed to breastmilk), and she suffered from tummy aches and made lots of dirty nappies.

Lukas has been pooing incredible amounts for the last couple of months. He sleeps really well in our bed, but recently he had been waking up 2-3 times in the 2 hours between when he goes to bed and when we go to bed. He's been eating his porridge, mixed with 1/2 a banana and a little dollop of yogurt with a great appetite, but for some reason I was suspicious. His stools often smell of yogurty porridge, and after reading smelly's post I decided we'd leave the evening porridge out unless Lukas insisted on having it (which of course he wouldn't).

We've gone without the evening porridge, and with minimal morning porridge, for 4 days now. Every one of these nights he hasn't really woken up at all (except once last night, when someone banged a door), there's a been a lot less straining and he seems happy as ever. His stools seems to arrive in more reasonable intervals, and he has started to eat more during his dinners.

This just goes to show that every weaning experience (not just baby-led weaning) is a case of trial and error. There is no one way of doing it right. Rather than developing a comfortable routine and sticking to it, it's much more important to constantly observe your baby and his or her signals. The baby's development is constant, so what works for him this week, mightn't be welcome at all in two week's time.

I have done the rounds in the blogosphere this morning again, and I found a few new posts/blogs and threads about the subject of baby-led weaning:

Blogposts:

Blogging history day at What we did on our Holy days
Baby-led weaning at big saucer
Baby-led weaning now with added mess at miniTwig Land of Wonder
Tommy Tipped Out and Pears beware at Roryworld
8-14 October 2006 at Mummy and Daddy Clark

Threads:

Baby-led weaning - Rapley - anyone done it?
Baby-led introduction to solids?

I have been thinking about the subject of handling criticism for our parenting choices lately. Baby-led weaning included, we seem to have made a few decisions that aren't quite mainstream and since I have no peer support network to discuss them, I've been searching the internet for any sort of advice on the subject. Today I finally came across a useful-looking article on the website of Dr. Sears. I know it's written in relation to fussy (high maintenance) babies, but many of the suggested advise made sense in from our pov as well.

Handling criticism at askdrsears.com

Lukas is nearly 10 months and still in the stage where broccoli and cauliflower are the biggest hits. Other favourites include rye bread, avocado, parsnip (nice and sweet), salmon, slices of homemade pork patties, cottage cheese, plums, nectarines, pears and banana. His appetite seems to have gone down during the last month, but his food preferences still remain the same, with a few added things, such as the meats.

If he seems uninterested in something I offer him, I tend to give him a little bit of something he likes (only a little, to "get him going") and after that he will accept foods that he was just throwing about earlier. Sometimes I think his dislikes have more to do with texture rather than the taste. He clearly thinks raw bell peppers are ace, but after the first taste he soon loses interest in them, because they're a bit too much work for his 6 front teeth. I still boil all the vegetables, but I try to make them al dente rather than total mush.

I often offer new foods as snacks first, because he seems to be more adventurous in a less formal feeding situation. I make a plate of snacks for him and leave it within his reach, or offer more messy stuff on my hand. New tastes seem to be easier to handle when he's a bit distracted, and when he he's gotten used to them I can introduce them as a part of his meal. This has so far worked with all the meats and cheeses he's ever had (although he still doesn't like cheese very much but I don't even offer very often) and rye bread.

The best new thing this month were definitely raspberries, but unfortunately after a few portions he got a little bit of rash on his face where the raspberry juice went. I suspected he might've had some oral allergy from it as well, and we had to leave them for the time being. He loved them though, but as you know, without added sugar raspberries often give your mouth this sour sting before the nice taste arrives, and we had lots of fun watching his expressions when he was stuffing his face with them. After every raspberry he made this face as if he was screaming from the top of his lungs, but made no sound. Soon, the nice taste would kick in and a wide smile would spread across his face.