new to blw / self-feeding. a couple of questions

[bunnyhunny]

You guys are so great at giving advice, so I'm here to pick your brains again

Basically my 9 1/2 mo ds1 became very hard to spoon feed. so we guessed he wants to self feed, which he does. I think it's fab, and so does he, but I do have a couple of concerns.

1. he is eating MUCH less than when spoon fed. I would say that (apart from sunday lunch yesterday, which he stuffed) if I serve a normal amount that I would expect him to finish if spoon fed, he eats perhaps 1/4 - 1/3 of it. I am topping up with milk, which I had previously cut out. I know milk is supposed to provide all of his calories etc til 1 year, but he is not demand bf, but routine ff. So will he get enough to eat if allowed to self feed?
   
   
2. does it get any faster? meal times are taking about an hour at the mo! as he gets better at getting the food in his mouth, does it get quicker?!
   
   thanks!

[ruddynorah]

if he's self feeding then it's upto him how much he eats. as longer as you offer milk as well regularly then he won't go hungry. as his need for food increases his ability to eat it will get better. he isn't able to eat faster or eat a larger amount because his body doesn't need more. you are used to spoon feeding. spoon feeding makes it easy for him to eat more, he is able to take in more than his body needs because you're doing it for him. does that make sense?

[AitchTwoOh]

it does get quicker, yes, don't worry. to be honest your baby is dictating that he doesn't want to be spoon fed so you don't really have any choice in the matter, lol, so there's not much poiint in worrying about anything really.

i would say, though, that demand feeding of milk is pretty important. i was ffing by six months, but always on a demand basis (although of course by then we'd settled into something of a routine). just offer more milk, see what happens. it's not strictly BLW that you're doing, of course, because he's already built up an appetite that will as yet outstrip his ability to feed himself, so making sure those lost calories are available through milk while he gets up to speed is important.

sometimes when dd was taking too long to eat i'd just parcel her food into a bit of tupperware and give it to her in the buggy or we'd have a leftovers picnic in the park, so you could try that. no point in being stuck in the house if you don't have to be.

[bunnyhunny]

ruddy - yes that does make sense. so in effect, he was eating too much solids (as well as replacing milk) when spoon feeding.

you are right aitch - there isn't much I can do about it!
I am concerned his diet isn't as balanced as it was, but I guess top-ups will become the norm then..
I like the buggy / tupperware idea. I can just imagine the trail of food that has been dropped over the side of the buggy as I walk down town

[ruddynorah]

in effect yes. so, as aitch says, it is important to keep offering milk. have a look at babyledweaning.com for tons of info.