Ggggr - MIL just does not get that I want to do BLW

[bizziebee]

All set to do BLW with dd - she is six months this week! LEft her with MIL this morning after spending the weekend trying to explain the concept of BLW to her. At lunchtime she announced that dd had a few spoonfuls of baby rice this morning all "lovely and smooth so no gagging like when you give her that lumpy banana". She also said that she held her arms so she couldn't get her fingers in bowl. How far from BLW can you get??? Not really annoyed as I don;t suppose it matters in the long run - but think it is going to be an uphill struggle.

[morocco]

sounds annoying and mil is lucky you are chilled out. does she often look after your dd?

[bizziebee]

no - she lives 200 miles away so comes up about once a month for a weekend. She is quite full on - but i understand cos she doesn't see her often. First grandchild as well!

[ProjectIcarus]

holding her arms? that would have had me a bit mad tbh.

[bizziebee]

hmmm - sounds worse than it was now i read it back! She wasn't restraining her - just keeping her arms out of the way. Not a straitjacket!

[Aitch]

keeping her arms out of the way...

comfort yourself with the fact that it's only once a month, but tbh i think it's a bit sodding much that she gave the baby some rice if you'd told her you didn't want to. never mind, in a month's time the baby will be eating so impressively MiL will not want to bother with rice again.

[ProjectIcarus]

it is not the way or strength(lol) required to hold her arms out of the way really. It is the non-interactive way she is having calories delivered. No blardy idea what is like until it is already in her mouth. To save on mess presumably.

Did/do you breastfeed? I found my mil was desperate to feed my dd's because mine didn't have bottles ever.

[theUrbanDryad]

my MIL doesn't get it either, FWIW. she's paranoid that ds is going to choke! mind you, i'd be really cross if she gave him baby rice! you sound a bit more chilled than me though!

[bizziebee]

yes - am breastfeeding as well. She does have occassional bottles. MIL away now - and dd doing very well with toast and lumpy banana! Seem people of that generation just can not comprehend the concept of BLW - my mum is the same - she is convinced that dd will choke. Am desperate to get her sorted before mum's next visit!

[jojosmaman]

For about the 100th time, last night my MIL asked me "have you given him (ds) any rusk yet" and I replied, for the 100th time and with a smile masking my bemusement, "no, I am going to follow BLW with him so he won't be having any solid food until he's nearer 6 mths" (he is 4 1/2mths at mo). I can tell from her face though, she just doesnt get it. She always says things like "he's hungry, he needs baby rice now" (which she has said since he was 4 weeks old) but at the same time if she has not seen him for a few days she will say "oooh look at his chubby legs he's getting too fat!" (he's not he is bang on his weight gain line thingy!).

I think I would have been a little annoyed if he had rice when I had said not to so well done for keeping the peace, I don't think I could have!

[bizziebee]

I think there should be bulletin sent out to all new grandparents explaining BLW and that most babies only need milk for the first six months!!!!

[terramum]

Oh I sooo remember this when DS (now 35 months) started blw. My Mum wasn't too bad (she knows better than to cross me )...but MIL was very vocal about it. Bearing in mind that she has been a childminder (& a bloody good one at that!) to literally hundreds of babies & children for the past 33 years I guess she thought she had seen it all . "Ive never seen a baby weaned like that" she said every time we visited - which as we went every Saturday got a bit grating after a while . She knew never to offer anything I wasn't happy with or before checking with me first, but tbh I think that's got more to do with her childminding mentality of not doing anything the parent wasn't happy with than anything else....FIL on the other hand has never understood & has offered things without checking with me first ....but a few loud shouts of "No!" & running to intercept foods before they reach DSs mouth & lots of talk about allergies soon does the trick of making him realise just how important it is to me & DH

I should add as well that they have had to totally eat their words now as they have seen just how easy it was to BLW & just how well DS eats now

[Aitch]

i just appealed to my mother's vanity adn poiinted out that her own children (all four of us) were all self-feeding at six months, having started at three so why would dgd be any different? the only diff was the 6 month thing, not the ability to eat.
and lol at 'needs baby rice at 4 weeks' yep, got that too... and my mum's really sensible normally.