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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not BLW because of the mess?

33 replies

Catslikehats · 04/08/2011 07:40

So DC4 is 5mths and I'm starting to think about introducing solids.

Last time I was at this stage I don't think BLW had been invented Wink

Anyway I have never been one to faff with purees for too long and the sooner DC4 can eat with the rest of us the better IMO but the part on the BLW website which tells me that an ikea high chair is perfect because it fits in the shower has put me right off.

I get the principle but it all just sounds a bit grubby AIBU?

OP posts:
hobnobsaremyfavourite · 04/08/2011 07:43

It's not compulsory you know.

exoticfruits · 04/08/2011 07:48

You do whatever you like! The baby will be much happier with a happier mother. Go with what comes naturally to you and not what comes naturally to someone who has written a book and is making lots of money from it!

HarrietJones · 04/08/2011 07:52

Have I read your post before? The bit about the highchair & shower sounds familiar

TheCountessOlenska · 04/08/2011 07:54

Oh I really wanted to be BLW but I had to admit in the end that it just didn't suit me. I started a thread on here admitting that I couldn't cope with the mess and everyone told me to get a grip!

I did give finger foods from 6 months and couldn't be arsed doing much pureeing so dd had a mixture of finger foods, jars of baby food and mashed up versions of adult food (fed to her on a nice spoon!)

Sirzy · 04/08/2011 07:56

It doesn't have to be an either or thing. There is no reason you can't do purees with a generous helping of finger foods thrown in along the way.

Ds started on purees but - due to him being an easy weaner - he was on normal food by 7-8 months anyway.

altinkum · 04/08/2011 07:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

InFlames · 04/08/2011 08:01

Baby led weaning had been invented hadn't it... It is, to me, finger food. Feed your baby whatever you want - though purée MacDonalds might raise a few eyebrows - and however you want.

As a slight aside, I have no idea where the rush to turn babies into children as quick as possible comes from- my HV suggested DS needs to now have his milk from a sippy cup bot a bottle, and to get rid of dummy, and looked horrified when I said I quite liked feeding him, with a spoon-he also has lots of fruit etc as finger food. DS is 7.5 months...

biddysmama · 04/08/2011 08:08

i blw my now 9 year old before it had a name, ive done it 3 times now and its not that messy and what mess their is doesnt last long, they all have to learn to feed them selves eventually so theres always going to be some mess anyway

Original poster
Catslikehats · 04/08/2011 08:10

Harrietjones never posted about BLW before but the highchair in the shower advice is lifted straight off the BLW site - I have to admit the thought made me feel a bit sick...

alitkum the rest of us are having curry tonight so that would best suite me but probably not best for her first ever taste of food Grin

OP posts:
ILovePonyo · 04/08/2011 08:10

I've just started weaning and found that feeding purees from a spoon is just as messy as finger food, dd seems to like grabbing spoon and generally spreading puree everywhere Hmm

Agree that there will always be some mess whatever you do :)

biddysmama · 04/08/2011 08:18

my friend did purees and her little one grabbed the spoon and managed to shoot a line of puree across the ceiling.... none of my blw babies have ever managed to get any on the ceiling Grin ive also never had to shower my highchair Hmm

ddubsgirl · 04/08/2011 08:21

ok mine are a bit older now but doesnt whatever you feed a baby make a mess?why do you need to put a highchair in the shower?just wipe it over

bigkidsdidit · 04/08/2011 08:21

Don't most people just do a mix anyway? And probably always have done. My nearly 7mo DS had fish pie last night, which he was fed, and sticks of courgette and carrot which he fed himself. Much simpler.

I don't really understand how it is much simpler to blw - I you're chopping up and steaming veg already, how does giving it a quick mash with a fork add to your work load?

hazeyjane · 04/08/2011 08:22

ds has purees, and easy to dissolve finger foods, and by the end of eating the whole kitchen needs to be put in the shower!

Very glad I clicked on your thread as it had never occurred to me to stick it in the shower before, I may even keep ds in it!

cjbartlett · 04/08/2011 08:25

Babies are messy you should know if he's your fourth!!

I'd feed in the garden in the summer ( when it stops raining)

ddubsgirl · 04/08/2011 08:26

come to think of it maybe someone should have told my sil to shower it,use to feel sick when i saw the highchair,she would clean the tray but nothing else,old dry crusty food :(

Shutupanddrive · 04/08/2011 08:28

A small dog is also handy to eat all the bits of the floor afterwards! Smile

biddysmama · 04/08/2011 08:29

ddubsgirl my husband never sees the rest of the food either, only cleans the tray Hmm and blw is easier because you just feed them what you are eating and they do it themselves so you can get on with eating your own food while its still warm

SabrinaMulhollandJones · 04/08/2011 08:32

Oh I would share your fears of mess! I hadn't even heard of BLW when I was weaning my youngest - but we called it 'finger food'. Finger food needn't be messy - toast, apple, breadsticks etc.

But 100% BLW? I don't think I could ever have just put a bowl of spagbol down and let my 8mth old attack it. I have seen many a 'weaning photo' with a baby literally covered from head to toe in spagbol, mess all over highchair/floor/walls and frankly they make me shudder a bit.

I don't think a wee bit of spoon feeding causes any harm!

ddubsgirl · 04/08/2011 08:34

oh yes the orange face!loved it!
was finger foods when my kids were tiny but they had puree foods too,which i use to make from our own meals just blended it up.

Squitten · 04/08/2011 08:39

It's just a different kind of mess really. DS1 had purees and I used a fortune in babywipes scrubbing it off him, the chair, etc. DS2 does BLW (too lazy to puree but will spoon-feed appropriate stuff) and he tends to mostly drop chunks of stuff that I can pick up or hoover. I won't lie though - give him some spaghetti and it's carnage! Good fun though

HerdOfTinyElephants · 04/08/2011 08:39

Do what suits you. But puree-fed DS managed to make just as much mess as BLWed DD1, IIRC (and more of it was bright purple). I certainly had my first "why didn't I buy a highchair I could just hose down" moment when he was a baby, before I'd even heard of BLW.

(DD1 did get herself messier than DS did, that's true. But babies can be put in the shower whether or not they come from IKEA)

ddubsgirl · 04/08/2011 08:42

babies come from ikea?bugger i knew i went wrong somewhere! lol

HerdOfTinyElephants · 04/08/2011 08:43

The ones from IKEA do come with silly names, though, so you have to bear that in mind...

nenevomito · 04/08/2011 08:45

I puréed first time, BLW'd the second time. They're about as messy as each other tbh, just differently messy.
As someone else said, its not compulsory to BLW if its not for you, but if I had my time again with DS1, I'd blw him as I found Purées a complete faff.

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