Do any blw babies develop any eating problems at all?

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Oh definitely, you have to continue to offer healthy choices. And if they won't eat what you made that night, offer healthy alternatives. Like I offer plain beans and broccoli instead of beans and broccoli in a soup if Joe refuses the soup. Joe won't eat a lot of veggies, but he will eat carrots and broccoli, so I offer those a lot. Because he won't even touch any other veggies. But then he'll totally surprise me and eat miso soup with seaweed. So you have to keep offering the green stuff!! I rarely make a separate meal for Joe (I will pull out some plain beans, etc., before spicing and put them aside in case Joe won't eat the final product).

[@llli*djs.mom]

I came back to say you can't control quantity. You can't control HOW MUCH they eat. If they only eat a small amount they only eat a small amount. But you can and DO control QUALITY. I will make veggie Substitutions but I would never make him a whole nother meal. [I]will always let him eat things plain.DJ doesn't ate any kind of sauce or gravy. Or Mayo or Ketchup. I allow that.

[@llli*mommal]

I did BLS with both my girls, and they are both good eaters. Not perfect, and they definitely go through picky stages. But they eat just about everything.

[@llli*lasbi.modeu]

I did BLS with DD2 and DD3, not with DD1, they are all good eaters (I don't force them to eat if they are not hungry but offer healthy choices) I believe it's not about the way you introduce solids to them but the attitude you have as a family towards food. I've been watching my friends, who force their kids to finish their veggies or they get no dessert and they're all picky eaters. We eat together at meal time, especially dinner and we all eat the same food, there's no special food for baby or older kids. We all eat what's served or we go to sleep empty stomach. My 3 yo eats salads with me, DD1 doesn't like it, it's ok too. Different children, different personalities

[@llli*lllkaren]

I did BLS with both my babies --

1) DD ate green beans instead of cake on her 2nd birthday. At 4 the easiest way to get her to try something new was to tell her it was nutritious. At 14 she likes to have a wide variety of nutritious foods, dislikes junk food, prefers fresh fruit to refined sweets, is grossed out by artificial flavors and dyes, eats when she's hungry and doesn't eat when she's not hungry.

2) DS would like to live on Goldfish and Fanta. Or else just go hungry. I think he ate a couple of leaves of spinach for dinner last night though.

I think biggest factor is just the personality of the child. Or how they process sensory input. Textures are a major issue for my son and they were for me as a kid too -- I was just as picky an eater as he is.

[@llli*mommal]

eats when she's hungry and doesn't eat when she's not hungry.

This has been a huge revelation to me, with my kids. That they will actually stop eating- even if the thing they are eating is cake or candy- when they are full. It's something I have struggled with, my whole life. I think it's because my parents were so strict about sweets that when I got some candy, I went on an immediate binge. My mindset was "eat it all before mom finds out and takes it away!"

[@llli*auderey]

I think it's because my parents were so strict about sweets that when I got some candy, I went on an immediate binge. My mindset was "eat it all before mom finds out and takes it away!"

this is why i really dislike the current movement toward kids trading in their halloween candy the next day. i suppose if they're old enough to understand the trade they're making, it's ok, but i just remember my childhood friends whose mom flushed all their candy 24 hours after trick or treating. and so they gorged for those 24 hours. i don't get how that's a healthy attitude toward food.

and also, djs.mom, why is it bad for a kid to eat only apples? my kid - 16 months - goes through crazy phases where for 3 weeks he wants only bananas, then overnight switches to only grapes. ( the bananas phase was a lot cheaper ...)

[@llli*pianosinger]

We followed a more "main-stream" approach with DS1, feeding cereals and purees. His whole life, he has been a terrific eater. Of course he has foods that he doesn't like, but not many that we eat on a regular basis. He would be a happy vegetarian.

With DS2, I was convinced to follow BLS. He is a terribly picky eater! And he's even started picking out foods that he USED to love that he will no longer eat

So I definitely think personality has a lot to do with it. With DS2, I suspect a good deal of it is texture related.

[@llli*Samiha]

I agree with the others that it's personality. We actually went to BLS with DS2 because he didn't want to eat from a spoon. We did BLS from there and wasn't really interested at all until 9 or 10 months. By the same age DS1 was eating 3 meals a day of table foods. DS1 is not picky at all, and DS2 is picky. I do think it's just the way they were born.

We do what some others said and just give DS2 more of the food he will eat that IS healthy. He rarely will touch what the rest of us eat for dinner, but it's not a battle I want to fight, so he eats hummus and whole wheat crackers almost every night for dinner.

[@llli*filmmommy]

My DD had mostly purees and mashed foods in the beginning. We early on started giving her some finger foods, as well, so she'd get used to both. She seemed a lot less picky with the purees -- and I was able to give her a better variety. But a month or two ago she hated being spoon fed (except for breakfast) so we stopped trying with that. Now she throws most everything on the floor and goes through the usual phases babies have: can't get enough squash for a week then hates it, then loves it again. So I don't think BLW causes problems, I think babies can be picky. But for us, it's a little tougher now to get her to eat what we're eating. She loved lentils pureed with vegetables and yogurt, for example. But now I've been making lentil burgers for the family, hoping it would work for her, and won't eat them. I usually give her three foods (the last option usually crackers or puffs), and if each one ends up on the floor, she's done.