Is anyone not doing BLW?

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

I read the books on it and before we started it made perfect sense to me and that's what I was planning on doing. Then came DS. He gags on everything and is sick at least once while eating. He looks bloody uncomfortable to poor thing. I put bits of food in front of him and he ignores it completely. I hand it to him and tries to shove it in his mouth but generally misses and then gets annoyed. I have to admit I am not great with mess either so that is a bit of a problem.

Then I started to think about it more. He's just wee and has no teeth, a strong gag reflex, not a great grip so why is BLW so great? I have seen and admired it in practice in other babies but surely it can't work for every baby?

We are currently eating purees and I am still offering finger foods alongside that and seeing how it goes but I do feel in the minority now when everyone seems to be merrily BLW and doing really well at it.

[ihearttc]

Im not either! I really wanted to as well but DS was born at 32 weeks so although is actually 6 months developmentally wise he's more like a 4 month old. He'll happily eat stuff (well suck it!) if I hold it for him but he cannot sit unaided yet and can't pick things up.

Consultant has said he needs to be weaned now as prem babies lose their iron stores even quicker than full term babies so we're attempting purees but thats not going great either tbh! He's either not lost his tongue thrust or has a very very strong tongue cause most of it just comes back out again...but if I hold it for him he'll happily take some pear,carrot etc. Very strange lol!

So no you're not alone!

[RitaMorgan]

I didn't really do BLW. I took lots of ideas from the book though - like giving him lots of opportunity to feed himself, eating at the table as a family, giving him real food rather than baby food. For us it pretty much worked out half and half ds feeding himself, and me mashing things to spoonfeed or spoonfeeding stuff like yogurt/porridge/soup.

DS didn't get teeth til quite late though, around 9 months, but was fine biting and chewing without them.

[CocoPopsAddict]

No, I'm not doing BLW either.

In my opinion, it is a fashionable theory without enough research behind it.

But I'm not up for a fight so anyone who disagrees with me... fine, we'll agree to differ!

[Makinglists]

No not doing BLW here either - however have read the books and and its encouraged me to let DS2 play with food and have a lot more finger foods etc etc. Its also helped me see that babies need suitable foods but necessary baby foods and they can eat from the start almost what we have. Like most parenting things I'm not a purist just take the good bits and find my own way if that makes sense.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

We aren't but I think, like all new-fangled theories, take what you want from it and leave the rest. DD is starting with baby cereal, bit of pureed fruit or veg but no reason why she can't have a bit of mango or peach if I have some. When she is a bit bigger, she will no doubt grab some food carpet fluff and birthday cards and shove it in her mouth. I'm not going to stop her (well maybe the fluff and cards).

[Cattleprod]

I didn't. DS didn't have any teeth until he was 11 months, and had no interest in putting stuff in his mouth - not toys, not his fingers, not food. We found it much easier to start with the purees and move to finger foods later.

[MollyMurphy]

We are not BLW and I don't feel bad about it at all. I'm sick to death of all the pressure and snobbishness about it TBH. You have to do what your comfortable with as a parent. We puree, mash, dice, slice, shred and offer a variety of finger foods for our son and he is doing just grand. I think what is most important that your exposing them to a wide range of healthy foods a variety of textures and that your encouraging them to practice with their own spoon and self-feed with finger foods as they are able.

[partyhats]

I'm not doing it either, agree seems to be a bit of a fad atm. Babies were born with mums for a reason, so they can puree and mash the food and put it in their mouths for them! Its not a fashionable viewpoint but it has worked for my 3 dcs. Agree with MollyMurphy.

[HappyAsASandboy]

We're not either. We have purée and finger food, though not generally at the same time as it gets too messy.

A normal day's food might be porridge with mashed/pureed fruit for breakfast, an organix fruit pot thing or some yogurt and a mini rice cake for a snack, then veg/breadsticks/meat/cheese to play with eat with hands just before dinner, rice and veg and meat purée followed by fruit purée or yogurt for dinner, then maybe an organix mini gingerbread man if they have dinner early enough to fit it in before bed.

My twins are 7 months. I'm not giving them lunch yet because when I do, they don't bf during the day. I think it is better for them to have mill than another meal at this age.

Both if mine enjoy 'eating' their finger foods, but they enjoy being spoonfef too. I hope that as they get better at feeding themselves, I'll be able to increase the finger foods and reduce the purees. Can't see myself stopping spoon-feeding porridge and yogurt anytime soon though!

Having said purée the whole way through this post, I actually mean 'mush'. I don't blend til smooth as DD sucks very smooth things off the spoon, which I thinking a bad habit to get into in case she starts inhaling lumps! So we've always left food lumpy ...

[diggingintheribs]

I was going to and then older child had scary choking incident just before DD hit 6 months and I couldn't face it

I give her some bits to eat (cheese stick, toast, veg sticks etc) and then she has a mashed up meal. She has a huge appetite so I think it is a good compromise between the two as she gets to practice feeding herself but also ends up with a full tummy!

I didn't BLW DS at all and he has no problems at all with food so I don't feel bad about not BLWing DD!

[ChunkyPickle]

We're not - no purees though either. Started off with mashed whatever, then very quickly went onto lumps.

Now he does feed himself fruit/veg these days, but doesn't stand a hope of eating something runny like yogurt or porridge without me spooning it in.

I think my problem with the purist approach is that it's such an arbitrary line: A baby can only eat what they can manouver into their mouth themselves. Why draw the line there? It seems only marginally less mean than saying that they can only eat what they can drag out of the fridge themselves.

[SJisontheway]

It also relies on the theory that babies are ready for solids when their fine motor skills are sufficient to feed themselves. While I believe this may be true on average, I'd imagine many children with delayed motor skills may well be ready earlier. Unless there's some research out there that has found a strong correlation between gut development and fine motor skills (doubtful)

[Woodlands]

i really wanted to do blw but ds got so frustrated at not being able to pick up food properly - banana slipped through his fingers constantly etc. he would sit there with mouth open like a baby bird and wait for me to put food in his mouth. so we ended up doing a mixture of finger foods and mashed stuff. i've never pureed anything though he has had baby food quite often, although he's now onto stage 3 stuff anyway. now at 10 months i don't bother mashing food, i just put stuff on his high chair tray and he picks it up and eats it, eg pasta and sauce, peas or whatever, he's very adept now. he doesn't like being spoonfed much any more. so we have arrived at BLW, but not by the 'correct' route.

[chipmonkey]

To me, if you're going to be led by your baby, that should also hold true if your baby doesn't get on with solid food, tends to gag or doesn't "get it". I want my child to enjoy his food and mine did always love their mush!

[splatt]

We are doing BLW but are the only people that we know doing so. I think perhaps it is fashionable on forums such as this but not in the real world.

I think you do what suits you and more importantly your baby, we're all different. DD could sit independently at 5 months. At 23 weeks she took my bread from my plate and started eating it, so we started offering her bits of food. Now at 7 and 1/2 months she's properly got to grips and is eating loads of anything and everything. But we have many friends whose babies aren't at that point with their motor skills. Also th parents have to be a bit more laid back and not panicing about choking or how much DC is actually eating. It suits some but not all.

[Jojosan]

Last time I weaned a baby was seven years ago. Now my next baby is about 2 months away and I thought I would try to refresh my memory so started searching around the internet for recipes etc. Never ever heard of BLW until I started this "refresh" - last time I weaned it was all about mashing and pureing. Not sure I am keen on this BLW stuff - I think I will stick with what went well last time. My 7.5 year old eats everything with good apetite and I fed him the "traditional" way ....

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

we don't BLW. dd2 is 7mo, and i offer the same food as we eat, but in an easy to manage way, whatever that may be. eg tonight we had cassoulet and french bread. I mashed the cassoulet with a a fork and spoonfed it and offered bits of french bread as finger food. dd2 is not sufficiently dexterous to satisfy her appetite on finger foods alone, and also seems to have a much stronger gag reflex than dd1 did.

and TBH "Pure" BLW would mean a lot of adapting what we eat into finger food friendly meals, and frankly i can't be arsed.

[Paschaelina]

My son is a spoon refuser so I suppose we do finger feeding really, though I would hesitate to use the term BLW because he is crap at getting it in by himself and about halfway through a meal I end up putting it in his mouth myself.

The spoon just gets a and head turned away though.

I have never pureed anything, light mashing does the trick if its a bit tough, though with 4 teeth he can actually chomp his way through pretty much anything barring meat, which he has real difficulty with.

[cardamomginger]

We didn't. Started with purees and then moved to mashed with lumps in (DD is 8 months). We combine with some finger food, which she is interested in, but at the moment seems to be more enthusiastic about it as something to help with teething, rather than something to actually eat IYSWIM. She is a big baby (75th centile) and has quite an appetite on her. I think if I had insisted on BLW then she would have got frustrated and been hungry and she would not have had the dexterity and enthusiasm (and I doubt I would have had the time or the patience) to eat as much as her appetite demands. I also think that we are designed to and have evolved to use tools, including spoons. So what's the problem??

[sedgiebaby]

I was serious about starting with BLW but as it turns out, I'm leading to purees/mashed but have finger foods at every meal to help with motor skills etc. She is managing to pick up quarters of blueberries so doing well with this! But saying that, she can't get enough down her and tires/gets frustrated with just the finger foods. She's got a really good appetite and weaning is going brilliantly we are on 3 meals a day at 8 months and she's cutting out milk feeds now and looking the picture of health.

I imagine in more primitive times mums will have chewed up food and then fed it to baby rather than let them totally fend for themselves until they managed it better themselves - not that it matters our approach could hardly be working better for our family, I think we may have the best of both worldds.

[sneezecakesmum]

In many primitive societies mums still masticate foods and then feed the babies. Not many puree machines in the amazon jungle. Other obvious reasons too why this is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard.

The majority of babies are happy to take pureed food in the early months and move on to finger foods, self feeding etc. in time with no long term feeding issues.

Why on earth would a mum want to fanny around with baby sized soft finger foods for a 6 month old who can barely hold the food steadily I can't imagine. They should give themselves a break and use a bit of common sense - its nothing but unscientific, fashionable twaddle wrapped up in psuedo psychological claptrap.

Reminds me of that Tesco mobile ad!

[GooGooMuck]

We're not.

DD gets finger food and I'll spoon in some mush in between.

I was going to use the 'tribes masticate the food for babies' line too.

I can't see what's wrong with purees TBH.

The finger food makes a god awful mess, but she loves it

[lurcherlover]

I went into weaning fully intending to do BLW, and I still like it as a theory - but DS' appetite/tastebuds are ahead of his manual dexterity, and he gets frustrated. Watching a 7 month old desperately trying to get a pasta spiral in his mouth and getting upset as it slips down again and again is a bit cruel, I think. So we have reached a compromise, which is that I still give him what we're having, and I don't really mash it up (he's fine chewing, it's just getting it to his mouth that's the problem) - but I put some on his highchair to play with and hold some for him and he eats out of my hand. He loves yoghurt and that comes off a spoon I hold. He's much happier this way, and so am I. You know your baby and have to do what's best, don't you?

[ipredicttrouble]

Nope didn't do it as such. Too messy for me. DD will learn to feed herself when she's older (she is starting to do more finger food now though at 11mo).