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?

weren't you supplementing iron? that's what i had to do with dd2, filthy stuff.
thank god she started self feeding at about 5 months actual/7mos corrected took all the stress of knowing when to do it.

I, or rather my DS, is a big fan of BLW. I've not much to add to what other BLWners have said, except to say I know one purees-all-the-way new mum who's proud of her forcefeeding technique - something to do with pressure under the jaw I believe. Meanwhile, my jaw was dropping.

My MIL was similarly about BLW until she spent Christmas with us and saw how much he enjoys getting stuck into allsorts. Now it's just another reason the sun shines out of his dimply bum :)

No wasn't supplemented iron for either of mine, although ds2 was only 5 weeks early

Ah the good ol' Abidec and Sytron! My eldest shocked every dr/nurse she met by guzzling the stuff

I've honestly never heard of that advice, I was told to wean by CGA by the community neonatal team at the specialist high risk hospital I'm under. My earliest baby was 31 weeks so I know that they aren't born with the same stores but they get enough from milk (despite them putting all babies on Sytron, they told me this time that it's only really babies going onto formula that need it). My 35 week IUGR was EBF until 10 months AA and then barely touched food for another year.

What do you mean by they don't correct age now? Do you mean at all or at 10 months? The new Red Books are showing how to correct for size and saying to go beyond 1 year, which was when they stopped with my other two (had a massive discussion with HV when she was concerned #2 had lost %iles "but if you corrected her she'd be exactly where she was a few weeks ago before she turned one and you were correcting her!" "But we don't correct after one and I'm concerned about this %ile drop!" duuuhhh).

They correct for weight but they told me not for weaning , I expressed with ds3 and was discharged from the nn team when he was 10 days old but was refered back when he was 4.5 months old for advice on weaning

Ah I see what you mean. Interesting we were told different things. The Infant Feeding Coordinator at the hospital is a very AP type person (maybe because she's an NCT BFC) and she's who I learnt about BLW from and she also supported me through doing it, all the staff are quite obviously trained by her when you start talking to them about BF and BLW so I guess that's part of the difference. As I say, they're a specialist high risk hospital and take babies younger than most, from all over the country so it's not a case of just saying whatever, they're fantastic on feeding.

Only one of my babies was out at 10 days, six weeks is my record. CNN were coming out until 6lb which was a long time for my first two, baby is a bruiser so only under them for two weeks.

I think we were lucky, I was expecting him to be in longer, he was in high dependency for 2 days then low dependency for 2 days then moved him onto the ward with me on a heat matteress which he was on for 5 days and we were home 24 hours after he came off it, he was 4lb 4 born and just over 4lb when we took him home, the hospital takes babys from 23 weeks.

My gp didn't have a clue what to do with the weight chart in his red book, I tried telling him you plot it on the preterm page that goes on gestation as if you are still pregnant but he didn't get it at all, just kept saying no that's for when your pregnant. The hv couldn't believe it

ah well that would explain it, our docs weren't worried about iron because of supplementation. i variously was told that i should correct and not, which would have changed dates by 7 weeks, so when dd did it for herself at the half-way point (she is an excellent diplomat) i was relieved not to have intervened.

Op lots of countries dont use tools to eat they use their hands and their babies eat , although if you think the baby isnt get the right food then thats different , but i think if babies are stil getting milk then BLw is fine , I have worked with families where they think a chicken breaded in crumbs is high quality food it sounds like your friend is trying a different approach ,

I don't understand the concept of BLW. Surely they're all BL unless you force feed them? When the baby's had enough they'll refuse more spoon fulls won't they? The only problem I can see with spoon feeding is that the baby can pack away a lot of food quickly and therefore not have time to register the signals they're getting from their tummy to tell them they're full. Is that the main point of BLW? Confused.......

Oops sorry missed an explanation of BLW. I wish someone would offer me a selection of foods from which to choose. Does the idea of wasted food figure at all?

Every child/baby/toddler is different.

My DS could hold a spoon and wave it around in the air but couldn't actually get it too his mouth whilst it still had food on it.

He had finger foods and and what we had softened down, he had a spoon and took food off me from a spoon. For example if we had roast he had roast potatoes, brocolli, carrots on his tray and I would puree some meat and he could try and feed him self and I would offer it to him on a spoon.

Mealtimes were never a stressful event, and due to his dad working shifts at times he would eat when we weren't and we would just enjoy the time together.

I don't however agree that children don't need any solids before a year. Only have my exprience but DS did need the food, very early physically and very active. The fact he walked before he had teeth is maybe why he liked me to spoonfeed him at times? He needed the food/energy and couldn't do soft stuff himself and was limited to what finger foods he actually ingested instead of just chewed.

DS has always and does now eat pretty much everything.

There is a really good description of how to do it in there - you have to wonder how clever you have to be to qualify as a doctor sometimes!

I am sure that if he was hungry he'd let your friend know. However, we went slowly into BLW - DD now has some food spoonfed (she isn't too good at spoonfeeding herself - getting mush all over the floor, chair, carpet & cats, yes) and the rest is a selection of chunks of things she can feed herself.
Today's lunch was some vegetable puree with lumps of broccoli, potato and quorn in it, and she had a selection of chunks of vegetable to chew/mangle/play with/rub into things. Dessert was a yoghurt with some crunch biscuits for her to nibble on.
Your friends baby is hopefully taking in a lot of milk but lowra has some very good suggestions.

Have not read the whole thread but am a perfectly sane blw-er. I think you have misunderstood blw as others have pointed out. My DC had normal family food - stews, bolognese, baked potatoes, porridge etc they just fed themselves those things (with a bit of spoon loading from me from time to time). Messy as hell but they are all fantastic eaters now and friends ask what my secret is.

Personally I think madness are the 4 year olds starting school unable to use a knife and fork, but that is a whole other thread!!

That's what I thought confuddled it's simple says infants born less than 37 weeks gestation.plot on chart untill two weeks after due date (42 weeks) gestation from 32 -42 weeks , from 42 weeks plot on the 0-1 year chart.

He insisted on plotting on the 0-1 chart

zest my DS couldn't use a knife and fork properly when he started school (4.03yo). Not through lack of oppotunity etc he just couldn't. At 5 yo and year 1, during term 1 the dinner ladies really helped him and got a large tin of chocs and biscuits for christmas with a thankyou card.

DD aged 2 years 8 months can manage a knife and fork. She is good at drawing and jigsaws However coordination varies considerably between children. Some children walk at 9 months and other children walk at 18 months.

Many four year olds (including my son when he was four) have very poor fine motor skills. Its nothing to do with parenting as the parenting of my two children has been similar. My son had a lot of finger foods as well.

There is a huge difference between a young four year old and a rising five.