Changing to BLW at 7.5 months

[milkymilky]

I must admit the subject of weaning has been one of constant confusion. I have always liked the idea of BLW, but never thought I would be any good with the messiness of it. DD is now 7.5 months and has done well on purees and a mixture of finger food, but I have struggled with knowing how much she should have. Recently, she has been really off of her milk feeds as she has increased her food intake so I am worried I have been overfeeding her. Hence my thoughts have gone back to BLW and let her decide what she wants and how much?

Is it possible to go down the BLW route now or have i left it too late? If I can switch to BLW, does anyone have any advice?

[RitaMorgan]

I think the problem you could run into is that she is now used to eating a larger amount of food than she can feed herself, especially at first. Is she breast or bottle fed?

[milkymilky]

She is breastfed still.

[Albrecht]

According to the book you can start it at any age. You could try sloppy food like pasta sauce, stew, lentil soup that you can spoon a bit if she seems to be getting frustrated. A lot of people think blw means no spoons allowed but its not the case, especially for foods that adults might tackle with a spoon.

Plus its about what suits your family.

Re mess, get a tablecloth or shower curtain for under the highchair. Machine wash or wipe down with a muslin and fold up between meals so you can offer back food that's been dropped and save your floor from tomato stains. Even newspaper you can bin / compost.

[thepriviledge]

Albrecht - that's really interesting. I thought it was no spoons and I've only just started BLW but I had no clue how to give sloppier foods. Any advice? Yoghurt, for example, should I give on a spoon?

[RitaMorgan]

It doesn't mean no spoons, it just means you let the baby feed themselves - with yoghurt you can dip/load the spoon and hand it to the baby or put it on the table for them to pick up. Or you can give them things to use as dippers - slices of pear to dip in yoghurt, breadsticks to dip in hummus etc. Or they just stick their fingers in!