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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think I can't be the only one who has never 'fed' their dc?

91 replies

Memoo · 27/04/2012 17:33

A conversation at the children's centre turned to talk of weaning (yawn) I mentioned that I'd never fed dd with a spoon as she had always just fed herself.

I was told that I must have fed her with a spoon at first and when I insisted I didn't they just didn't believe me. The sure start worker (HV?) even said she was sure I must be getting "confused" patronising cow as dd wouldn't have been getting adequate amounts of food by feeding herself.

I'm not the only one am I?

OP posts:
Popoozle · 27/04/2012 21:16

OK, I have to ask - what's BLW?

My DD - 8 months - also prefers to feed herself. She makes a mess but that's all part of being a baby isn't it?

PigeonPie · 27/04/2012 21:19

Don't tend to have carpet in the kitchen NowThen. Just as easy to sweep up what they drop and actually at that age most fell into their bibs which you could scoop up and put back on their plates!

DS2 is a bit of a food refuser even now at 4, but I figure that he will eat when he's hungry and if he refuses one meal because he's belligerent he'll eat at the next!

NowThenWreck · 27/04/2012 21:19

Here's how it went for me:
mash up some of my food, put it on spoon, ds opens mouth, deposit mushy food in mouth. Repeat.
I don't know why the smuggery about Baby Led wearning (I only leaned of this phrase via mumsnet Popoozle, long after ds was a baby).
As long as they gets fed, who cares.
Having aid that, the only person I know who did BLW, seems to feed her kids entirely on pizza crusts and yogurt.

Popoozle · 27/04/2012 21:19

NowThen. I have a high chair mat. A big wipe clean thing that covers the floor.

Popoozle · 27/04/2012 21:25

Thank you NowThen. I don't think we do BLW on purpose then. We just let her hold the spoon (or give finger foods) because she gets more eaten that way.

With both DSs we did the "spoon to mouth, spoon to mouth" type feeding. They were both perfectly happy with it. Whatever suits you best I'd say.

Frikadellen · 27/04/2012 21:27

2 babies who were BLW here didnt ever scoop slosh into their mouth they got what their older siblings got. In fact I would get a copy of G

NowThenWreck · 27/04/2012 21:28

What is slosh?

Frikadellen · 27/04/2012 21:29

(posted to soon for some reason) I would get a copy of Gill Rapley's Baby lead weaning and suggest the "HCP" reads it to me it is appalling she didn't know about it. here

Frikadellen · 27/04/2012 21:31

What is slosh?

Sorry I should not have used that word but it means wet sloppy spoon food that babies are meant to like.

PestoPenguin · 27/04/2012 21:36

Nope, never fed any of my three. Not planning on bothering with number 4 either. Just let them get on with it Smile.

Popoozle · 27/04/2012 21:38

DS1 is autistic - he had huge problems with lumpy food and textures when weaning. If it wasn't for "slosh" he wouldn't have eaten anything.

lattelov3r · 27/04/2012 21:48

ds1 was purely purees from jars, ds2 is weaning now and i had intended to do blw but then discovered he wasnt getting it and was dropping milk and not eating etc so what im doing now is offering finger foods with every meal but also giving something off a spoon too so he has something going in, no puree though just lightly mashed or chopped small he eats what we eat just made managable for a spoon i dont feed anything i wouldnt eat myself, works for now

NowThenWreck · 27/04/2012 21:54

I don't get why spoon feeding is supposed to be bad now?
I mean, it seems really odd,and I can't understand why it would be, but that is the impression I am getting from this thread..

SeventhEverything · 27/04/2012 21:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WestYorkshirePudding · 27/04/2012 21:56

Mine were both spoon fed, I cannot think of anything worse than letting a child "take the lead" - the mess, the messing about with food, the faff of it...

Like Now Then says, put the food on the spoon, put the spoon in baby's mouth and mealtimes are done and dusted in 5-10 minutes.

And don't get me started on the phrase BLW...

SeventhEverything · 27/04/2012 21:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PigeonPie · 27/04/2012 21:59

For those who spoon fed - have you tried doing it to yourselves? Getting your OH to spoon feed you? We tried it once - it was horrible, horrid not to control how you were eating and what you were eating. We chose a different way for our children.

slowestwildebeast · 27/04/2012 22:04

BLW! oh for the love of god, my parents put food on a plate and I ate it, I find it amusing that my parents were so cutting edge that they did BLW when they just thought that they were feeding their children.

WestYorkshirePudding · 27/04/2012 22:07

FGS we're talking of babies, i.e. 6-9 month olds! Mine were spoon fed mush (for want of a better word) for the first few months then spoon fed everything we had after that. It's hardly the same as an adult feeding another adult.

Seventh when mine were babies, then their mealtimes were often at completely different times to ours so finishing in 5-10 minutes was fine. I didn't really fancy eating my tea at 4pm.

slowestwildebeast · 27/04/2012 22:08

oh ffs "I'm so controlled, stop force feeding me, what's this spoon coming towards my face!"

will I get DP to feed me, yeah I might, grapes, peeled!

JollySergeantJackrum · 27/04/2012 22:15

DS is now 12 months. We have occasionally spoon fed him things like yoghurt (until he learned how to work the pouches by himself). Or sometimes his appetite has been ahead of his ability and he's got frustrated by trying to pick up sweetcorn before he's been full and I've filled spoons for him then.

He didn't much like preloaded spoons though as he always turns the spoon upside down to go in his mouth, so it's an issue if it's something that doesn't stick to the spoon. He prefers these to be fed to him. Over the past couple of weeks he's been making a concerted effort to use the spoon himself though and he's beginning to realise that it's better not to filp the spoon - hallelujah!

He's been eating what we eat, the texture that we have it since 6 months though. I have a video of him eating brocolli at his first meal.

On folk talking about negative aspects of BLW. Here's how it's gone for us, positive and negative:

  • There has been lots of mess. A ridiculous amount. Every meal requires a significant clean up. However, we have a glass table, a Stokke Tripp Trapp High chair and a splash mat on the floor. Now DS is one the splash mat rarely gets used until he gets bored and throws food on the floor.
  • There was very little gagging. I wasn't panicked about this anyway but I understand a lot of folk are. He soon learned what he could and couldn't fit in and once he got teeth he managed to use them to good effect fairly quickly.
  • Meal times take up to an hour. Pretty much every lunch or tea time takes around 45 minutes. Breakfast is usually much quicker as it's just one course. The lengthy meal time allows me to eat mine, load/unload the dishwasher, prepare the next meal or whatever. I often have time for coffee too.
  • We all eat healthier food now. We don't have anything out of jars as the salt content is too high. About once a month DH and I will eat tea after DS is in bed and have a chippy or something. I'm also becoming a better cook and we only have to cook one thing that we all eat.
  • We sit down for meals together. It's family time that happens every evening. We don't ever sit in front of the TV to eat.
  • DS has continued to put on weight at a healthy rate and has dropped BFs at a sensible pace.
  • Other people have increased the amount of finger foods they offer their child after seeing DS eat.

The idea behind BLW is that your baby eats what they need. I have certainly noticed that some days DS will go straight for the veg and some days he will go straight for the meat. Bairns will, apparently, eat a healthy and balanced diet of their own accord if you provide them with the choice to do so.

NowThenWreck · 27/04/2012 22:18

I dont recall ever pureeing a casserole. I mashed up separate things: potato, white fish etc. I would give ds a broccoli flore to chew on, or a bit of bread as well.
I dont agree that they can get over fed if you spoon feed. When they have had enough, they just clamp shut and turn away, and you know.
FWIW, ds is a great eater now, and has excellent table manners. Grin

Francagoestohollywood · 27/04/2012 22:20

FWIW I don't actually fancy my dh to wash my bum, but I did wipe my babies bum...

I did both, spoon feeding, and throwing food in the direction of a hungry baby.

happy2bhomely · 27/04/2012 22:22

pigeonpie I was a volunteer feeding elderly people in hospital. We had to feed each other as part of our training and it was very uncomfortable. It was not nice to not be able to control the pace or the amount on the spoon.

I prefer self feeding, but can appreciate there are times when spoon feeding is more convienient or beneficial to some babies.

2shoes · 27/04/2012 22:24

yabu
don't get threads like this tbh
wtf is wrong with using a spoon
my son is 20, I spoon fed him
he is absolutely fine.
it si no big deal

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