BLW: Just not common sense.

[PrincessChick]

Oh dear. My Dad was pretty vocal in his disapproval of BLW last night at his house. Basically saying, my DGD is a tiny baby and giving her huge chunks of food isn't just a nonsense but dangerous and that he won't tolerate it in his house. In any case, it's not common sense and why don't we feed her properly ie with a spoon.

Now DD is 22 weeks and has been grabbing out at food for 2 weeks. She can sit unaided, she has teeth, she can easily put food into her mouth. We haven't pushed and I was actually quite alarmed that she is doing this all so far before the 26 week mark. She screams Zander cries if we don't give her food.

So, we've been giving her bits of veg or fruit to suck / play with. She bf's the same, so I didn't really see the harm in letting her have a play if she wants to. Especially as she can sit so well. She chews, sucks, tastes and inspects food. Yesterday she was scooping handfuls of porridge (my mum made her some) quite manically! However, last night she choked on some potato. She was over enthusiastic and I think it was too crumbly and broke up in her mouth. I wouldn't have given her potato at home, just roasted or raw things like parsnip or banana. I've been staying with mum and dad for a few days and mum has tried so hard to accommodate us and is really impressed with DD. After potato-gate dad went bright red, was really upset (my DH, DM, me and DD were all fine) and went off on one. His line of argument was tantamount to me killing his GD with irresponsible new fangled nonsense :(

I cried in bed last night and feel like a huge failure (long line of criticism for many years). Besides all this happening before she's 26 weeks, I don't see what I've done wrong. I've tried to get him to read the gill rapley book (one persons opinion according to him), explain the nhs advice I had on the baby and me course (not common sense).

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance really as feel like shit. Also I'm taking them out for dinner to say thanks for having us and can't bear the the thought of a public stand off.

Any advice?

[ginmakesitallok]

Your baby, your choice.

[Pennythedog]

I thought you weren't supposed to do BLW until they turned 6 months? He probably just got a fright with the choking.

[KatAndKit]

Buy one of those mesh feeders. Obviously don't use it unless he is about. By 8 months even babies who have puree are expected to also eat with their hands so this should be short lived anyway.
i am in favour of blw myself but i would have some reservations at 22 weeks. I know all babies are different, but i would be making sure finger foods were very soft indeed, and possibly using puree for early weaning. Take a banana with you when eating out to avoid potato gate round two or give her some mash to lick off her fingers. At the end of the day she is your baby and your dad is overstepping the mark. Is he critical of your parenting in other respects?

[blackteaplease]

Oh poor you. That must have been horrible, sounds like you all got a fright. Can you leave it a few days and Talk to your dad when he is calmer?

Penny you can wean once your baby can sit up unaided, and has lost the tongue thrust reflex. This is normally around 26 weeks.

[RevengeWiggle]

Everyone has different ideas on what is right and wrong with every single aspect of parenting, even your own family. Consider his opinions but ultimately you do whatever you feel is right for your baby. As long as you are watching her like a hawk, not giving foods that she is more likely to choke on (such as whole grapes) and know how to deal with a choking baby.

[PrincessChick]

I know the 6 mo thing. Maybe this is the problem and we should just eat separately / whilst she's asleep for the next 4 weeks.

I know she's my baby. And I will parent her how I want. He made me feel like a shit mum. It's knocked my confidence and I wonder if I'm doing things wrong.

[KatAndKit]

You can also teach her to feed herself with a spoon that you have loaded up. That is also baby led as you are not putting it in her mouth, just handing her the spoon. Great for yoghurt which also has no choking risk, and handy for those times when a finger food meal isn't practical and you need to use ready made baby food. My Ds could get a spoon in his mouth when i weaned at 24 weeks.

[PrincessChick]

Good advice: thanks guys.
As I said in my op, I'm alarmed at how much she wants food! I didn't expect or want this! But she sits, she can chew and she's inconsolable if she isn't given something to suck on if she's at the table with us. She's handling food (apart from potato) very well. Always heavily supervised etc
DH and I discussed it and we'll only be giving her banana, parsnip, chunks of soft steamed stuff.
I guess by the next time we see them she'll be older. DM said I has finger foods from 6 mo and isn't phased by what we're doing at all.
No, he isn't critical of other parenting stuff. But always critical of other choices I've made in life.

[LeBFG]

Weaning is not something you want to get stressed about or lose sleep over. Do what feels right: don't feel you have to do one sort of weaning if that upsets you or baby, and don't feel like a failure if you try one method and it isn't right for you and then have to try another.

I take exception to you can wean once your baby can sit up unaided, and has lost the tongue thrust reflex. This is normally around 26 weeks. for several reasons: first, my DD was at this stage at 22 weeks - second, some babies are not at this stage until 7 months +: how can these physical characteristics give us a good idea of how the digestive tract works? Surely these things are just guides and not rules set in stone? Also, both my two were like OP's baby at 5 months even though one sat unaided and the other couldn't. These are surely good signs that baby wants to eat and enjoy eating?

[nextphase]

My Mum was horrified by what we were doing with BLW - the mess, mainly.
However she (thank-fully) didn't say too much, til much later on, when she admitted she's have massive doubts about what we were doing, but having seen him eating at 12-18 mths everything and anything, and (reasonably) neetly, while all her other gran mates were saying their grandkids didn't eat properly, she thinks the initial pain was worth the gain.
Many, many kids gag - and that was probably all she was doing, blw or not. Choking is seriously scary, but if they sort it themselves ina few seconds, they are fine (but its scary).
Put it this way, what are you most likly to deal with well, something strange being stuffed in your mouth, or being able to hold, and explore before trying?

The loaded spoon might be a good compromise for your Dad - sticky porridge, and thick yoghurt work well - put the stuff on the spoon, let her get the spoon to her mouth.

[RevengeWiggle]

My 23 week old is the same OP, she will take food out of my hands if she's on my lap, and she knows what she's doing as her mouth opens in anticipation as she brings the food to it, she gums at it and enjoys it in her mouth. 26 weeks is only a guideline, some babies will be ready a few weeks early, some a few weeks later.

[PrincessChick]

LeBFG, confidence knock aside, I'm another firm believer in guidelines are just that. My baby books have said that teeth come at around 6 mo and that baby's sit unaided from 6 mo. The second tooth cut this weekend and the first cut at 19 weeks. She's been sitting up for 4 weeks now. I've been following my instincts so far, watching her and following her cues.

We've been having a lovely time together so far. Being a mum is the first thing I thought I was doing well at for once. I feel like I've failed at most other things. Although it's confusing to know what to do ahead of guidelines. In that, do you really follow your instincts or are you being irresponsible and judging things badly. I don't want to feed her with a spoon. It doesn't "feel" right to me, at the moment. I don't see how she would benefit. It would only be for my dad's benefit. She's bfing loads and I think she just wants to join in at mealtimes and not be left out. She doesn't need feeding with purée and I guess that's why I'm frustrated: yes, she wants food but no: I don't think she needs it shovelling down her. I guess I was just a bit that it wasn't a gentle " I don't agree, carry on" type comment, it was an out and out telling off, like I was a teen again "not under my roof" tirade.

I think we'll go the banana, pre-loaded spoon route to keep the peace when dad's around. His stress and disapproval is just to much for me.

[RevengeWiggle]

Maybe you need to stand up to him and tell him you're not his baby anymore and he needs to respect your choices and decisions as he would with any other adult

[PrincessChick]

Revenge, I'm pretty feisty (not coming over that way here, good face and all in such situations esp with my family) and I told him what I thought last night. He would be like this with any other adult. I guess I needed reassurance that I'm not being a dumb ass and doing everything wrong. I will continue to stick up to him. Thank you for the rallying though, I think I needed it this morning

[PrincessChick]

next thanks for the success story. Glad to hear your mum was supportive eventually :)

[CornishYarg]

I've recently found out that my parents were anti-BLW when I started. They never mentioned it to me (they always say they'll never tell me how to parent unless I ask them or I'm doing something dangerous ). But they both felt it was some new-age nonsense and DS would never manage to eat what I gave him.

We went away with them when DS was 7 months so they saw lots of mealtimes and were completely converted! They now tell all their friends about it. So I would just give it time and maybe avoid meals with them in the early weeks when gagging is most likely.

[RevengeWiggle]

I think most of us worry we are doing everything wrong whether people tell us we are or not, it's difficult this baby stuff! Sounds like you're doing just fine to me.

[Pennythedog]

That's interesting. My baby-led weaning book said not to start before 6 months even though I think if you are doing purees then you can start earlier. The guidelines change so much though.

When my daughter was 10 months old I gave her a bowl of cut up sausage and my aunt became upset and asked me to give her something else. It turned out when my aunt worked with elderly people she had seen a woman choke to death on a sausage. I just gave her something else as I didn't want to upset my aunt any further, it wasn't a big deal for me.

My dad also became upset once when my son ran off from him. It turned out when he was a boy, he had been walking to school along that bit of road when a school friend ran across the road and was hit and killed by a truck right in front of him.

Perhaps your dad has good reason to feel upset at the sight of your daughter choking. It might be a sensitive issue for him.

[MummyPigsFatTummy]

I think the whole 6 month thing for BLW is because of whether a baby can sit unaided or not. You don't want them laying back when they are eating chucky food because of the increaed risk of choking. So if your DD is sitting up then I would have thought it is fine.

Your Dad was probably just scared by her choking so it might be a good idea to avoid feeding her round him for a bit, as you say. Then when you do, avoid the choky sort of food - apple pieces (our DD's nemesis), whole grapes and, it would seem, potatoes.

Big cucumber sticks are good I seem to remember and also sweet potato and butternut squash cut into sticks and roasted - yum! (DD didn't get too many of those as I had a tendency to scoff them first).

Broccoli florets are good too and great fun for them feel-wise - DD still loves broccoli three years on.

Yogurt on a spoon is excellent and is great for teaching them early coordination which is no bad thing. It is the messiest activity though and, as DD had loads of hair from birth, we ended up putting her in a bandana at meal times so she could aim the spoon wherever she liked without needing a hair wash each time.

I have to say BLW makes some children brilliant eaters. We found DD is in the middle - she does eat vegetables but not all types - and she still has her likes and dislikes. But then we may not have exposed her to enough variety. If you do that, you may have more luck.

What I loved about it was we got over the choking thing so early and quickly I was always much less afraid to give DD the types of chunky food other parents sometimes worry about for quite a long time.

Also I loved that I didn't have to spend hours pureeing everything . I am glad your mother is onside - that will be a big help hopefully. My mother was totally converted by reading Gill Rapley's book but other relatives thought it was the devil's work, particularly when we had an Indian takeaway at a large family gathering and 8 month old DD tucked into chicken tikka and pieces of naan bread which she dipped in korma sauce (I am not sure whether that is recommended practise but she loved it).

[FetchezLaVache]

Get the Gill Rapley book- it really makes the argument for BLW well! For instance, most people crap on about choking, but BLW actually reduces the risk of choking- the book explains why in great detail.

You sound like a fab mum, OP!

[LeBFG]

Don't be afraid of the spoon!! No, seriously, do what feels right. Your dad is probably worried for the right reasons but it's your child and you have to make the decisions.

I suppose all I want to add is BLW won't make your baby any more/less fussy, better/worse eater, more likely to choke/less likely to choke. Purees and finger food or BLW, it's all the same in the end.

[gwenniebee]

My dad said he thought BLW was "ridiculous" too - but mainly because he was insistent that dd "couldn't do it" (she was struggling to pick up something slippery as she was only just learning!). I didn't wean before 6mo so didn't have the experience you're feeling of doing it before the guidelines and maybe being wrong, however, I did have enormous anxieties about it. I had intended to do BLW but when it came to it I had a massive fear of dd choking, so in the end we did a traditional mix of finger foods and purees. What I really wanted to say was, it sounds like you have been doing a great job so far by sticking to your instincts. Like you, I felt being a mum was the first thing in my life I was really, and naturally, quite reasonable at - but when we got to weaning I felt completely out of my comfort zone and it knocked my confidence as a mother all round. Hand on heart, looking back, that phase lasted about four weeks... after that dd got the hang of the finger foods, I realised not everything she put in her mouth was going to choke her and we all got on fine from there! It felt like a long time to be so nervous, but it soon passes and you will wonder what all the fuss was about :)

(Dd is just sixteen months btw and happily eats anything and everything with a mix of being fed from a spoon/feeding herself from a spoon/getting stuck in with the hands.)

[tweetytwat]

look at the difference between choking and gagging
do a children's first aid course
carry on as you are, you sound very sensible
smile and nod when your dad gives you advice. I would bet he has never weaned a child himself.
do you live with him?

[tweetytwat]

and there's no rule against spoons if you are blw. yoghurt is pretty tricky finger food. And I am a die hard blwer

[PrincessChick]

Thank you all. DD does have a spoon... I'm going to give it to her pre-loaded with yoghurt (when we get home) to see how we get on. Maybe I'm being too dogmatic about "the spoon", more so than I thought, after reading the gill rapley book. I just didn't see the point at this stage when she isn't even supposed to be eating yet!

No, we don't live with my parents, just staying here for a few days. No, he didn't wean us (he didn't even live at home when I was a baby) and yes, as a toddler I choked on an apricot stone... Perhaps there's something there...

I have been thinking about a child's first aid course. I'm going to look into that this morning.