To think most people don't understand baby led weaning

[Londonforestmum]

I hear so often people say they are doing a mixture of baby led weaning and spoon feeding. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but this is 'traditional weaning', which always advised finger food from 6 months as well as purées. It's not doing a bit of both. BLW means you let your child feed themselves all the time. To say you're doing a bit of both is like saying you're a bit of a vegetarian because you eat some plant based foods alongside meat?

BLW also doesn't mean children don't use a spoon, you can use a spoon straight from the start but you just preload it for them and then let them hold it / put it in (or somewhere near lol) their mouths.

I think maybe people feel under pressure to do BLW but don't want to so they say they're doing a bit of it. There is nothing wrong with doing traditional weaning (purées and finger food) though!

It's not that deep.
🤣🤣🤣

I mean the phrase 'baby led' could mean anything you want it to I guess. But BLW as a methodology is well defined.

Ok

Clearly not. As lots of people think it means different things

Obviously a slow day in the office.

Seriously you either need to get out more or you need to find something funny to wind people up about

Then you probably need to learn that language is more malleable than that.

I worked with a guy like you, and he thought it made him look smart. It didn't. It made him frequently look rude, and more often made him look positively stupid, as he couldn't infer precise meanings from context.

Yes but spoon feeding purée can mean that the child doesn't realise they are full until they have already had enough.
No one is suggesting actual force feeding.

Theoretically, yes. This is what the article says:

Some research bears this out. Observational studies have found that BLW infants appeared to have more awareness of when they were full and were less likely to be overweight (although this study relied upon a questionnaire completed by mothers). This difference has been found by other studies to persist into the preschool years, even after variables like socioeconomic status were taken into account. However, one randomised controlled trial of 206 infants in New Zealand found no difference in infant weight or appetite regulation.

I agree that mindlessly spooning easy-to-eat food into a baby without checking to see if they actively want more is wrong.
The scenario I've just described would be a bit like force feeding and seems to be the only difference implied by BLW.
Hardly a "philosophy".

Step away from the parenting books and enjoy your child and let others get in with parenting in their own way

It takes all sorts of people. Not everyone can help being a pendant and some are also on the spectrum. It's not always people trying to be annoying.

The NHS defines BLW as finger foods only and no purees, as do many other BLW sites. I don't think it's a problem at all if people say they are doing a bit of both. I also don't think it's a problem if people say they are doing 'a bit of vegetarian' if they have days or portions of time where they abstain from meat (and I am a vegetarian).

People understand what is meant by this language, so I don't think it's a problem.

Yes I totally agree. The knowing when you're full thing is one of the things that chimed with me, after growing up in the 90s with parents very controlling over food and being made to eat all of your school dinner before going out to play.

It's not no purées as such. It's just that you let them eat normal food. There's not much difference between a sweet potato soup and a sweet potato purée.

Also the food industry has been making an absolute fortune off of selling 'baby food' since the 60s. Most of which is ultra processed and very very expensive, compared to just giving your baby normal family foods. And what with the childhood obesity crisis I don't think it's irrelevant to really look at and think about how people are introducing children to food.

What a load of tosh.
Never heard such rubbish.
BLW wasn't a " Thing " in my day.. you just did what was best for you and baby.
Mine were not on any solids until 8 months .. just breast fed and both thriving.
First meal was vegetables mashed with breast milk.
You do you.. let other people do what they want.

Gosh, I’d hate to get into breastfeeding/formula feeding with you if you’re like this about weaning methods🤣

I never really understood the term baby-led weaning. If the parent is choosing what foods to offer their child how is this baby-led in any way? Does it just mean the baby is choosing to use a spoon or their fingers?

Ironic that you are trying to get away from your parents controlling attitude to food by being.... utterly controlling about food

Have you ruled out it being a care giver/childcare situation - that parents do BLW and childcare or DGP have child due to work and they do spoon feeding?

So it really is a mix of two methods.

The NHS defines BLW as finger foods only and no purees, as do many other BLW sites.

I've come across that as well - so have been told that using purees on toast wasn't BLW - though frankly didn't care then or now.

So, from what the OP says, you keep it on milk until it suddenly demands steak and chips, which you then cook according to itts preference, and wait for the pudding order?
That would have been so much easier.

It doesn't mean they get to choose what the meal is. Just how much they want to eat.

I think you'll find that you're "teetotal-based".

I mean you could do that. But it's not what's meant by BLW.

All this talk of finger foods makes me want to throw a cocktail party...

Yes, I understand BLW, I BLW with my twins. I'm simply saying that it is defined in many informational outlets as no purees.

I also don't think it's an issue if people say they are doing a bit of both. Traditional weaning also isn't a philosophy and coined method as BLW is, it's simply advice that changes over time. So one day you can use one method, and another day another. No one has to subscribe to one method and one method only, and it's perfectly understandable what people mean when they say they are doing both.

YANBU to find it irritating – that's your business. But YABU to expect people not to describe it that way.