to think it's mental to religiously stick to baby-led weaning (finger foods only)?

[Ficuslover]

I think finger foods are fine, but isn't it weird to favour them exclusively? My friend's baby is under the 10th percentile at 8 months and can't get enough in his mouth! She won't give him anything with a spoon and his breakfast is a weetabix biscuit with a splash of milk on it. Yum. Surely it's not bad to give then some sloppy foods now and again? Why do some people have to take things so literally?

I don't think it's 'mental' no, and you don't sound like a very nice friend

Won't give anything on spoon?

scratches head

I think a sensible mix of foods is the way to go, personally. DD started off straight away on finger food but she also ate Weetablx with milk and porridge and yogurt etc etc, all pretty impossible to eat with your fingers although God knows she tried.

There is a difference between sloppy food and puree. I can't see much point in puree but sloppy food is a different kettle of fish and part of a balanced diet (soup, sauces, aforementioned breakfasts, custard etc)

It's personal choice, surely?

You do realise that being under the 10th centile doesn't mean they are underweight? I sometime think people don't understand this.

And BLW does not preclude 'sloppy food' - yoghurt, soup, custard etc are all pretty sloppy and contain a lot more calories than pureed veg.

Babyledweaning isn't just "finger foods", there's a cookbook for it with loads of recipes, including bolognaise, lasagne, porridge etc. it's about cooking one family meal, that you can make thick enough for the baby/toddler to pick up clumps of and eat with their hands. Messy but def not just finger food.

Each to their own, bloody bonkers if you ask me though. I want to down a pint of water at the thought of chowing down on a almost dry weetabix in the morning. I hope the kid grows up to refuse all foods but soup not really although it would be slightly amusing...

Oh for God's sake. BLW doesn't mean no spoons. It means you load the spoon and hand it to them. Until they can load thr spoon themselves.

I don't think YABU to think that but what they do is up to them. As long as her baby's healthy. If he's suddenly dropped to the low percentile from much higher then I think there may be a cause for concern but he may have always just been on the low side. Do you know which is the case?

Dd was blw, it takes a little while for them to get going but they do get there. They get the majority of calories from milk until around a year anyway.

I would help her pre load spoons and she would feed herself.

Is your friend large? how about her family - and the dad?

uhuh...

i see - so you would say your friend is small?

maybe even in the 10th centile for adults?

my dd is on the 2nd centile. because me and her dad are shorties.

YABU and it's none of your business.

Percentile says nothing, it's the growth line that's important. Weight in relation to height, short and fat is not a good thing at any age.

Some people are small, some babies are small, some children are small. As long as the child is healthy and growing rather than falling down the centiles there is NO problem.

Well I don't thinks it's very nice to let your child go hungry because you've decided to unbendingly follow a prescribed set of unproven rules about how to feed said child.

But how do you know he is hungry? I presume he still has milk of some form?

is your 'riend' giving her baby milk?
I doubt very much that the baby is going hungry.

Perhaps if you are so worried you could push her aside and force some mush down the baby's throat, or call social services?

how do you know the child is hungry?
surely it will just take more milk (i assume she's not limiting milk feeds)...

But is the child hungry? sounds like its eating every day, at 8 months old i wouldn't expect a child to be eating ful roasts every day. as long as there is plenty of milk, it matters very little if they only eat weetabix for the 1st year of life.

chill out - get your nose out. the mother will know if something is 'wrong', and the HV would pick up on it at way ins.

"his breakfast is a weetabix biscuit with a splash of milk on it. Yum"

erm, yes... yum.

what's your problem? What did you give your baby?

weigh ins, that is. don't shoot me.

Who says a self-feeding child is going hungry? Mine certainly never did, friends DCs don't seem to have either. Milk should be the main source of calories before the first birthday in any case.

Blw does not mean leaving the baby hungry, as they also get as much milk as they want.

YABU, judgemental and not very nice.

'cant get enough in his mouth' so sounds like he is feeding himself just fine then!

It doesn't mean letting a child go hungry. And if it does, it's not being done right. It's about letting them feed themselves - including from a preloaded spoon - and not restricting their milk intake to allow total calorie requirement to be met however best suits the baby.

I take you point about 'unproven rules' (in that I am not sure how much long term, peer reviewed, research has been done into BLW), but did you read a whole load of peer reviewed research on conventional weaning (actually not that conventional - it's a fairly recent phenomena all told)?

YANBU

DD (9mo) has alot of finger food, and we are very much in favour of BLW. We believed this method was better for her development, reduced the choking risk, and allowed her to get used to food in a more fun and interesting way.

When she first started weaning and was still mainly on milk, most of her food was finger food - toast, veg, pasta etc.

However as we cut down her milk feeds we have found that in order to get a full mix of all the different food types we need to give her a mix of finger food and spoon fed food. Not everything can be eaten with fingers, stews, cottage pie, risottos, porridge for example.

If my baby was under the 10th percentile I'd be rethinking my feeding methods if I was your friend.

I think a lot of things that people think are BLW, really aren't, and maybe this makes it sound more mental.

For example it sounds pretty bonkers to me to have babies eat porridge with their hands, when adults eat porridge with spoons. But as someone said above, usually with BLW you would give them pre-loaded spoons, which makes more sense.

But overall I don't really get it myself. We started DS on purees and spoon fed him, introduced finger foods when he was ready, he started feeding himself at a normal age. I don't like dogmas that say 'no purees' or at the other end 'no finger food', I think just feed your baby how he seems to like it.