to not BLW because of the mess?

[Catslikehats]

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

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?

We BLW and haven't really noticed any mess. We have a very cheap high chair from Argos with a detachable tray which goes in with the washing up. We've had a few bits dropped on the floor but nothing major, and certainly never any head-to-toe bolognese disasters. I guess some babies are naturally messy and some aren't. We've had to wash the chair twice in a year, so that gives you some idea of lack of mess. Usually a quick once-over with a baby wipe is all that is needed.

Weird I had a deja vu at the whole post! P

Honestly, I am going to say YABU (a little) if you are going to avoid BLW because you don't want mess. Babies are messy anyway! And BLW is a lot less work for you in the long run.

Cleaning up is not so bad if you take it in steps -

1. Remove tray from highchair. Wipe child's hands and face, then get majority of food off into the caddy/bin/etc.

1. Using dishwashing brush, washing up liquid and hot running water, wash the tray.

1. Either sweep floor under highchair with dustpan and brush OR enlist help of obliging dog OR lift up carefully placed old shower curtain and shake into bin (throwing in wash if necessary).

See? Easy enough.

Also, the Dept of Health is now recommending you start finger foods at 6 months anyway. And the earlier they start the less messy they will be later on.

DS started on purees and hated it (was prem so didn't have the motor skills to feed himself at 5.5 months and took another couple of months to be able to put things in his mouth. At about 7 months I put some broccoli on his tray and he never looked back. I looked forward to eating out with him as we could actually enjoy our food while he enjoyed his! DD was full term and literally snatched a banana and gummed it to death at about 24 weeks. She has always been a natural eater and just got on with it at the dining table as we did .

So, it's worked for us really well. And there are ways to deal with the mess.

It is messy. So are purees but you are not being unreasonable. There is nothing wrong with doing a bit of both. If I can get some mush into DD's mouth I give that a go otherwise I just let her feed herself. She is a picky bugger darling and generally point blank refuses the spoon unless it is yoghurt. I use the Ikea chair. Bowls of food are a massive fail as she just picks them up and dumps it on the floor. I therefore plonk food (stew, pasta whatever) on the tray and once she is done she uses the whole of her arm to swipe the remaining food on to the floor! I uses these under the chair which I do reuse as they are expensive but I guess newspaper would do fine. For me it is not so much the mess but it is the time she takes to eat as she is still learning. I have a 2 year old too and often I am rushing to get somewhere but meal times take about an hour so I need to start early and be prepared. If I could shovel food into her it would be quicker however spoon feeding tends to be more stressful (think gob firmly shut and wails - hers not mine).

I find if you put stuff directly on the tray (as others have said) and just give it a bit at a time then you don't get a whole plate dumped over the side and you can just feed until the baby is full or bored without having too much thrown around.

It can be pretty annoying! I have a tiled floor and I seem to have the mop out constantly. My DS is fairly pig-like (in a nice way) and so I'm fortunate that if I don't have time or courage to face another food storm I can just bung him a jar and he's pretty happy to eat up. You can always do a spoon-fed main and self-eating pudding of fruit or cake or something.

The things we like best about DS feeding himself is that he can take ages to eat so will sit at the table for an adult length of time without getting bored so we can eat properly. It tires him out so more naps! He eats all kinds of mad things and eats what we eat. I feel that he has better hand/eye coordination and motor skills from picking up peas and rice and different textures - this may or may not be true...

Sorry if I'm being harsh - really - sorry - but having brought three kids up now, i realise I managed to avoid all that time worrying about utter bollocks stuff like this.

I TOTALLY endorse the previous poster who said 'somebody wrote a book about this and is making loads of money out of it'.

It's such shit. Really - think of all the many many children who got dragged up on purees, sticks, chewy stuff when they were ready - and have made it to adulthood in a totally healthy manner.

BLW? Spare me.

(sorry - I appear to have turned into a grumpy old woman without realising it.)

YAB a bit U - from what I remember weaning is messy however you do it!

I did purees with my first two, but this was back when it was OK to wean before 6 months, and a younger baby doesn't have the control yet to do finger foods. I still have items of kitchen equipment which are dyed orange from pureed carrots, and my eldest is almost 9. With DD (now 5) I planned to do purees, but she had no interest in solids at all until she was about 7 months old. I then saw something online about this great new invention called BLW (which I'd just called finger food with the first 2) and decided to give it a go. She took to it, problem solved. She was still spoon fed a few things (eg yoghurt!) but wasn't actually keen on being fed - she is still an independent little madam.

But I remember hating the weaning stage with all 3 TBH, regardless of whether it was the handfulls of squished banana through the hair or the spoonfulls of orange gloop catapulted at the nearest walls. It is just messy.

I never had to put blw DS's Ikea highchair in the shower. It is extremely easy to wipe clean. My great-niece was weaned on purees and her fancypants Mamas 'n' Papas highchair was disgusting, and very difficult to clean.

I put a tablecloth under DS so that any dropped food could be handed back to him or collected up and thrown away. Took no time at all to clean up after mealtimes.

The only horrible thing I remember from when he was first weaning was when he had been eating salmon his hair would stink from where he would run his hands through it.