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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find blw wasteful?

87 replies

susannahmoodie · 02/05/2014 15:44

So I read up on it and get the idea but after lunch today when sweeping up fingers of melon and mango from under my 8mo's high chair, I've decided I can't afford for food to just be thrown away like this, especially when it could have been enjoyed by me my 3yo.

I would say 80% of what I give him ends up licked once then on the floor. Am I doing it wrong?

OP posts:

WillYouDoTheFandango · 04/05/2014 19:43

I just pick up what's dropped (as long as it's not been minimally chewed) and eat it myself. My floors aren't that dirty and I'm a greedy pig.

MrsKoala · 04/05/2014 19:47

I never did it as I couldn't ensure that ds would get all his nutritional needs. He was/is a milk refuser so had to have sloppy milky dinners from 4 mo. my friends did it and it always looked like a pita messy waste to me!

Lambzig · 04/05/2014 19:51

Not as wasteful as the hundreds of purées I cooked and threw in the bin as DD wouldn't touch it. I learned my lesson for DS. Agree that a clean floor lets you put it back and just a few things.

I am sure it's a coincidence but DD is the worlds fussiest eater and drives me to distraction at 4 and DS eats everything.

dannydyerismydad · 04/05/2014 19:52

I kept the floor clean, and ate the flung scraps

KeepOnKeepingOnAndOnAndOnAndOn · 04/05/2014 19:53

Splash mat bought ;) amazon do cheap large ones for anyone interested!

KeepOnKeepingOnAndOnAndOnAndOn · 04/05/2014 19:53

Thank goodness I am not the only one then! Haha

MinesAPintOfTea · 04/05/2014 19:55

No more than not clearing your plate is wasteful. Not feeling obliged to keep eating beyond the point hunger has ended is a fairly healthy habit.

Ds didn't get any more solids because I did blw, he just got to choose what he ate of them (obviously sticking to savoury healthy t stuff)

SueDoku · 04/05/2014 19:59

Poundland sell large plastic table cloths that make invaluable 'splat mats'...

Sigyn · 04/05/2014 20:05

yy at idea its become a Thing.

When mine were little (oldest is 10), it was just called giving kids whatever you were having.

And only the most precious of pfb parents didn't do it as I remember.

Now its a Thing with books and all the rest.

Can't quite believe they've managed to find a way of making money out of giving weaning babies whatever food everyone else is eating, like its some kind of radical thing.

Kissmequick123 · 04/05/2014 20:07

Give him less? A few prices at a time

MrsKoala · 04/05/2014 20:20

But I didn't think it was giving them what you were having - I don't know anyone who eats random chopped up dry, cold fruit, cheese, meat and veg all at once for their lunch/dinner. If it was giving what we were having it would need cutlery and be shepherds pie, or something similar. Which is what I grew up having, just mashed up a bit and fed to me on a spoon. That's the total opposite of what my blw friends do.

monkeymamma · 04/05/2014 20:48

Sorry but I agree with the OP and feel this is why blw tends to be more of a middle class thing. It's all very well to say just give baby one piece of each thing but sadly most fruit and veg is not sold in single pieces :-) My ds was a milk fiend till he turned one so most foods I tried with him till th ended up on the floor. Better to chuck out a £1 pouch of plum or Ella (although funnily enough they did get eaten!) than a £1.99 melon and 90p brocc

monkeymamma · 04/05/2014 20:48

Broccoli and bunch of other ££ fruit and veg!

monkeymamma · 04/05/2014 20:50

I also think it's a different thing with a second or third baby as you are cooking bigger batches anyway and can just give them bits of what everyone else is eating. Plus you have a better idea of what tiny people like. Weaning a first baby is hard work and pretty soul destroying whether you do homemade organic purées or carefully selected finger foods IMO!

HearMyRoar · 04/05/2014 20:59

Who buys a while melon just for their baby? You really are missing the point. You but the melon for you and then just offer some to your DC. It doesn't go to waste because you just scoff the lot if your dc don't eat it.

Also koala we blw and would just give whatever we ate. This included stuff like shepherds pie. We just didn't spoon feed her, she just used her hands to shovel it in. One of her early favourites was dhal, she would just mix it all up with her rice and gobble handfuls.

I did blw because I am lazy and can't be bothered with spoonfeeding dd when I could be taking the opportunity of her being distracted by food to actually eat my own lunch. :o

dingalong · 04/05/2014 21:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsKoala · 04/05/2014 21:13

That's the thing hearmyroar, ds wasn't remotely distracted by food and would never eat himself anyway unless we spooned it in pretty rapidly. Handfuls of sloppy food would never have gotten into his mouth, also would have taken way longer to clean up than feed to him. He also had the most sensitive gag reflex I've ever seen, I tried him on some finger food a couple of times and each time we had to panickingly drag him out of his high chair and tip him forward as he choked and gasped for breath, food would then come shooting out of his nose while he screamed. It made eating so stressful for all of us.

RachelWatts · 04/05/2014 21:16

The only thing DS2 drops is sweet corn if I put too much on the tray. Everything else gets shovelled in. I find it much less wasteful than the purees I made for DS1 which he wouldn't eat.

MrsKoala · 04/05/2014 21:16

He also would and does eat anything you give him, liver, squid ink paella, crab, spices etc. I think some children just have adventurous palettes whether you blw wean or not. So I don't think it's fair to use blw as the credit for that.

TheOtherSideOfSilence · 04/05/2014 21:18

It's the happily scoffing loads of something one day and then acting like it is poisonous the next that gets me. It means that even if I save leftovers, they often still end up being binned. Yesterday DD was wolfing down green beans and ate a whole yoghurt, today the beans were instantly chucked on the floor and the yoghurt was suddenly disgusting (cheese was absolutely fine though).

Kafri · 04/05/2014 21:19

A friend recently put it in perspective for me....

If DS mushes it but ultimately leaves it, it goes in the bin. If DS eats it, it goes in the bin in his nappy later on. Either way it's going in the bin at some point.

monkeymamma · 04/05/2014 21:20

I don't think I'm missing the point. I've never scoffed a whole melon before the damn thing started going grotty looking in the fridge. I think it's great if you can blw and if you ordinarily eat stuff that is approved by the baby police (no salt, no stock, no nuts no honey no sugar no pate no sushi no shellfish no cured meats no unpasteurised cheeses etc) then that's super. It's just necessarily the case for a lot of first time parents.

Artandco · 04/05/2014 21:27

Monkey - many people do buy fruits and veg for themsleves though. We used to buy a melon/ mango/ whateer before children, so it was just a case of them eating some also.

I would just cut a segment out of apple for example or even just bite a chunk off and give them and then I would eat the rest.

1 bag of 6 apples = £1, 1 plum pouch = £1. The first option gives parent and baby a snack for nearly a week, 2nd option lasts baby one meal

HearMyRoar · 04/05/2014 21:28

Well, I did often ignore many of the rules of the baby police, which probably helped.

shanghidawn · 04/05/2014 21:29

I am wondering why ppl are not using plates/bowls? I have always given food on plates or bowls for babies.

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