Baby lead weaning terrifies me.. anyone else?

With my three*

I never did it my three. Such a mess

@MarketValveForks BLW wasn't like that for me, although I did breastfeed both of mine for 18 months ish (not really extended bf but longer than average I guess). I wasn't a SAHP, cleaning was quick and easy and there wasn't infinite food waste. The key to minimising waste is not to put too much out to begin with, as you can always put out more if needed. Both of mine were also very against wastage and happily shoved most of everything in!

I had a busy day, with work, nursery and all the rest. Didn't find it incompatible at all.

I never bothered and just stuck to purees. They both ate well and got all their vitamins so I didn't see the need to do anything else.

Baby led weaning is part and parcel of a particular brand of parenting that also encompasses extended breastfeeding and mum being a SAHP for several years, plus having infinite budget for food waste and infinite time for cleaning. It comes with mottoes like "before they are one, food is just fun" because there's no need to care how much food is actually going in or hoe long it takes. It's very lovely in theory but totally incompatible with the kind of lifestyle where you have a limited time to get your baby fed, clean and delivered to nursery before getting to work on time, or collected from nursery and fed quickly before he gets too tired and grumpy to focus and you have to start the bed time routine.

No. BLW is a valid choice.

@MumofHennHals

it can be scary, but it's far less so when you actually understand why it's the optimal way to go about things& how to help then & not confuse them.

No. Weaning bored and frustrated me mostly so I was happy to do whatever was easiest. Which was sharing our food whenever possible with some pouches here and there when we were out.

The "best" way is not to be wedded to any particular way

I did BLW with my 1st. Traumatised after it, to the point she is now 2 years old and I stare at her eating, convinced she is going to choke on every bite.

My 7 month old has only had purees I make myself. Not even so much as a gag out of him and it's so much more relaxing.

If it’s a fear of choking then I’d say do a first aid course regardless of whether you do purées or not - not doing BLW doesn’t eliminate the risk of choking!

FWIW I was far too lazy to puree anything and never used pouches/jars, I knew the difference between gagging and choking and both kids weaned great and it was very uneventful.

I suppose we did baby led weaning (don't give them lead though, that's bad for them). We didn't make a big thing of it though, just gave them a few suitable bits of what we were having to play with/squish/fling and occasionally actually put in their mouths.

I agree with other posters about doing a first aid course or similar. The Solid Starts app/website also has a lot of information on how best to prepare different foods for different ages.

3 children and I've hated weaning with all of them - and I am a HCP. Choking is one of my biggest fears. My first was on mostly pureed food until a year old, the second wouldn't take purée so was BLW and the third was a bit of both. They all took to textures and taste differently. Maybe speak to your health visitor and ask about any courses they are aware of for weaning? This could help you feel more confident; recognising the gag reflex is normal etc?

We did BLW with some purees when introducing important foods like peanuts (peanut butter).
They don’t actually ‘eat’ much to start with, they kind of gum it and suck a bit, spit lots out. Choking more commonly occurs when the pieces of food are too small. Bigger is better. And veg should be soft enough to mush between fingers. They are very good at gagging!

DD's first food was a roast potato stolen from her dad's plate when she was 6 months old. So BLW worked for us!

I did puree and then finger food with my son. But with my daughter from 4 months, she had both

Go with your gut. If it feels really uncomfortable don't. I BLW with first and had no issues..but not with second as he seemed to really struggle and I had really bad feeling with it. He has a lot of stomach issues so whether that's why he struggled..

But just go by your baby and how you can enjoy it together. If your stressed it won't be enjoyable for either of you.

I didn’t do it. Too scary. Started on homemade purées and the carrot dissolving crisps to build up to holding and chewing things. Not a fussy eater and likes veg so it worked itself out in the long run.

I had some pna and couldn't handle baby led weaning. So I didn't put myself through it. My two children were pureed fed, built up to finger foods then started serving cut up portions of our own meals until they got used to the chunkier texture. They're now 4 and 2 and are both very good eaters. So just do what's right for you.

I know you don't but I find it best

It terrified me I didn’t do it, did purées etc.

DC is now 6 and a good eater

You don't have to start with puree

BLW worked well for us but nothing wrong with traditional weaning either. Our baby who ate everything is now a fussy pre schooler.

Purees for dc1, but homemade, so never really that smooth. I bf both until about 1, so food was only ever to dabble with anyway.

Blw with no 2. Can't even remember why. Probably because she was an awkward madam and it was easier. Think it may have been on here I got the idea for porridge fingers. Game changer in terms of having to get out to work in the morning.

Dc1 is my fussy child, but dc2 is vegetable averse. I like to show her pictures of her stuffing broccoli florets into her mouth with her first.

Yes I hated it but I worked my way up. I did a mixture of purées and finger food. I started off with easy finger food (baby wotsits that dissolve easily) to build myself up

I was a bit nervous about it, but did plenty of reading around the subject. All went well with both my children. I would say though, it's just a method of weaning. There are no guarantees. My eldest (now 16) ended up eating pretty much everything, with just the odd perfectly normal dislike. His brother turned into the faddiest eater alive and wouldn't even look at a vegetable, despite wolfing everything down during weaning.