To really not understand baby led weaning?

I made things like porridge, pasta (with smaller pasta shapes for babies) cottage pie, fish pie etc.. all things I could spoon feed but also sit with my baby and eat myself. Real food not from a jar, but spoonable. Then gave the odd finger foods as well like chopped banana and toast. Spoon fed yoghurt. I was also worried about choking.

He's 7 now and eats well. In hindsight I think I could have given a few more veggies on thier own, rather than cooked into sauces as he doesn't eat all vegetables, but happy to eat certain ones. For example he eats broccoli but not cauliflower, but as a baby he only really had it in cauliflower cheese or fish pie.

Cut it into strips, give her one at a time so if she drops it on the floor you can give her a new one. She might just suck it a bit and only actually swallow a tiny amount, but that’s still learning.

I’ve just caught up with your previous posts and can see you’re thinking of putting it on hold for a couple of months, can totally sense your frustration and understand your reasoning, but if you stick with it but try to take the pressure off how much she’s actually eating then she’ll be much further ahead at nine months than she is now. It’s much easier said than done though I know, and I do agree fitting it into the day seems hard work at first, especially with an older DC.

Personally I think it can be done without all the gagging. If they're ready and you take it slow. It doesn't happen at all.

From my personal experience anyway.

If she’s not even seven months yet I really wouldn’t worry! The gagging etc is her learning how to eat. The more exposure she has to solid foods, the quicker she’ll get the hang of it. As other PPs have said, it’s not actually about how much food she’s consuming right now, it’s literally just her learning to eat. Then once she’s learned how to eat she will start actually eating more. You could always do one meal of solid food and one meal of something soft so you cover both angles, it doesn’t need to be one or the other.

Other finger food ideas aside from vegetables - crumpets with cream cheese, scrambled egg, fluffy pancakes (sugar free), frittata / quiche (watch for salt content). Plot a banana in three by putting your finger in the top, perfect food to hold on to and suck. But toast is honestly the best, so many different toppings you can use to get some nutrition in them and easy for them to eat.

Hi OP, I am currently weaning a 7 month old too. We have an amazing thing called the catchy which goes under the high chair and catches dropped food so you can just put it back on the tray again. It has saved so much food from going to waste - that was the thing I detested about weaning my eldest.

BLW is just not spoon feeding. That's the only difference. I put smooth things like yogurt or mushed veg on the spoon and my baby then picks up the spoon herself. Yes it sometimes goes on her forehead or her face, but she's getting better.

It's a pain and my kid isn't getting a lot in either. But she'll get there. Hang in there OP! And get a catchy 😉

It’s also to do with allergies. My friend was told to start weaning her prem baby at 6 months despite her only being 3.5 corrected because of the higher risk of allergies the later you start

Also I think some babies just take better to food than others. I thought I was a weaning genius first time around as my baby would eat anything, now he’s a standard fussy toddler. So while I’m pleased my second baby has weaned well, I’m not expecting it to last.

I liked the Purple Ella’s Kitchen book for weaning, purées to start off with and then recipes for different ages and ideas for finger foods etc. Also recommend solid starts.

How old is she? My baby has no teeth but has been BLW from the start and has no issues. They really don’t need teeth, he eats strips of meat, watermelon, pasta, anything really.

He struggled a bit the first couple of weeks so we took it really slow. Toast is a great one as it goes soggy while they chew. Gagging is normal. To be honest I just found you just have to trust that their body will respond in the way it’s supposed to (I.E not let them choke) and also I know first aid which is helpful. I recommend Solid Starts too, they also have a free first aid guide.

This is really good advice.

You can give her bits of what you are eating as long as it's not honey or too salty.

As first foods I found carrot batons, penne pasta or toast cut into soldiers easier to pick up.

We started with resistive food teethers, great for taste and practicing chewing but no risk of choking. It’s a great way for babies to learn to eat - https://solidstarts.com/why-we-love-resistive-sticks-of-foods-for-babies-starting-solids/

Also Solid Starts free app is absolutely excellent if you are feeding solids or purées.

Instead of feeding her the porridge, try to preload it and let her play/attempt to put it in. BlW is about leaving them to their own devices.

Check out Slatter's division of responsibility: The caregiver is responsible for determining what, when, and where the meal takes place, while the child is responsible for deciding if and how much they eat.

That really helped me with my perspective on BLW.

Check out Katie Ferraro on Instagram- babyledweanteam. Also she has a podcast with episodes on absolutely everything you could want to know.

Oh, Also, the baby is 7 months old. Give her a minute to get used to it. I think mine just played and made a huge mess at that point.

Milk is the thing that is sustaining them still at this point. Don't drop any feeds or anything yet.

I did BLW 16 years ago.

In the 1970s, babies were weaned at 3 months, moving to 4 months in the 1980s, but Government advice changed in 2003 to recommend exclusive breastfeeding for a full 6 months before solids should be introduced alongside breastmilk. A 3 month old can't hold their head up, can't sit up, can't pick up things up. They have a very strong gag reflex. The only way for them to 'eat' something other than breastmilk is to have smooth purees spoon fed into them.

All that BLW does is miss out the first two to three months of smooth puree so we can start introducing finger foods at the same age that our mothers did.

I think @Leavetowean you're just getting a bit anxious. You started weaning 3 weeks ago with purees and your DD wasn't interested and so you swapped to finger food (how many days ago?) and she's gagged and vomited.

Take a step back, keep on giving her milk on demand and pick a time (after a feed) each day for messy fun with food. Give her a few bits of banana (You know how it splits into 3 lengthways, a few sticks of those will be sufficient) or a rice cake (this has the advantage of being relatively clean) or a stick of cheese (not too often since this is high in salt but also has the advantage of being high in protein) or whichever part of the food you are eating that day is easiest to make baby friendly and put that on a clean surface in front of her and let her play. It's all about exploration initially, not about what goes in their mouth. Some DC will take to it immediately and enthusiastically (DD1), some will slowly and gradually increase what they eat (DD2) and some will show little to no interest for a month or longer then have an epiphany and suddenly get interested (DS).

Your little one sounds like my second. I cldnt wait to wean as she was terrible at feeding in general so I hoped she wld like food as she wasn't keen on milk. She didn't want that either. I gave up weaning after a couple of weeks tried again about 7.5-8 months. It was still slow and stressful but we had to start somewhere.

Baby led is a massive pain in the arse coz they create all masses of mess and in my experience hardly eat anything! I was forced into it as she wldnt take Purees. I think if I had another baby I wld try a bit of both though.

It is scary and she used to gag but they progress so much quicker with eating when it's done this way. I can't say I'm a fan as the floor, walls, her and everywhere just seemed covered in food. I cld never tell how much had actually gone in her tummy!

We started out on these foods:

Smashed avocado on toast fingers
Corn on the cob (she wld suck on it mainly but as she got bigger cld properly eat it)
Any pasta (I used to get the fear with this)
Yoghurt, she had to feed herself (the mess was stressful)
Banana
Houmus with Ella's kitchen melty sticks
Biscotti baby biscuits
Scrambled eggs
Garlic bread (she wld suck until it went soggy so she cld swallow it)
Cooked carrots (very soft sticks)
Cereal soaked in milk (so shreddies put in some milk then left for a minute, put in her tray so she cld pick it up)

By age 1 she was pretty much eating what we were or a variation of it. Shes 4 now and still doesn't eat a lot. Weaning is hard work so u have my sympathy hope it improves soon.

You say if she holds food she doesn't try to eat it, so how is it getting into her mouth? For BLW, it's important that they put it in their own mouths as that is how they learn to control where in their mouth it goes.

Purées are not expensive. Just mash up the food you're cooking anyway! Those packs and jars are expensive, but that's just clever marketing

Just do what feels comfortable to you, the end result is the same. I am a big believer in the variety of food being more important than the method you choose to feed it.

But definitely don’t worry about a lack of teeth. I baby led weaned with two of mine, neither had any teeth until they were over one year but both could eat just fine, my youngest used to love meatballs in tomato sauce from about 7 months., they learn how to break food down and chew with gums.

Also - what we call ‘traditional weaning’ is very much the fad. We’ve only had 100 ish years of special baby purées. Babies have always just been given appropriate family food, this is still the case in most of the world too. Purees are an invention of industry. ‘Inventing Baby Food’ by Amy Bentley is worth a read if you’re interested

Personally l don't agree with it.
My child was EBF until eight months..( no water no food just breast milk). First food she had was mashed banana with breast milk on it..
Then Cauliflower mashed with breast milk..
My neice had to do turn her son over and slap him with trying baby led ...from choking.
Your child .. you do whatever you think is best.

Food is for fun until they're one
Is what I was told when mine were that age! I'd largely agree. I did BLW altho I didn't know it was called that until no.2. Life is too short to spend pureeing things and freezing in little ice cube trays.

Take a step back from stressing about it and try again in a couple of weeks. If you eat bananas or toast or steamed veg such as carrots just let baby pick it off your plate - if they're not helping themselves to your food yet (to gum and play with, you already know solids are not for nutrition at this stage) then they're not ready to BLW. Spitting out porridge / rice / yoghurt is absolutely normal when you first start, can feel frustrating but is absolutely as it should be. Vomit is not a regular part of the weaning experience, no wonder you're not impressed - could just be coincidence that it happend at that moment.
A lot of parents find BLW easier as you're not preparing special food for baby and it involves less hassle and 'stuff', but if you find that method stresses you out more then stick with purees as they work just as well (no need to purchase ready made, just mush up whatever veg etc you're eating so long as it's not salty), you just just have to go through the 'introducing lumps ' phase later on which some babies struggle with but others don't mind at all.
I BLW my three; eldest has always eaten everything, middle child a bit more reserved but wide range and was lazy baby who preferred spoonfeeding if offered, youngest loved BLW and ate everything, by 2 years suddenly was VERY fussy and now severely limits the range of foods. The method of weaning in my experience did not determine how fussy or not the child ended up being about food further down the line.

Good luck OP.