to not like seeing parents shovel food into the mouths of little babies who clearly aren't hungry

[froglegs]

and then not understand why they are crying

I've never seen that.

Actually I saw that the other day in a café.

Well of course it could have been anything, I don't know the story but it was certainly distressing to see while I was drinking my coffee.

YANBU to not like seeing it but you can't assume the baby isn't hungry, baby might just be fussy.

If my DD isn't hungry I can't shovel anything in at all so I'm willing to bet the baby you saw was more fussy than hungry.

I agree with you tbh

YANBU - remember very clearly a woman I met last year at a wedding, baby was 5mo (she told me) so arguably a bit young for weaning anyway. Poor little things was strapped into a baby car seat so lying more or less on his back, with his arms pinned down tightly by a tucked in blanket while she shovelled mush into his mouth. At one point he tried to get a hand free to grab the spoon for himself and was told 'NO, mummy feeds you!' I was very and for the little chap, but mainly about the mother - what on earth did she think she was teaching him about food / healthy eating? She just kept shovelling til the pot was empty - baby could have been hungry or full or neither, how on earth would she know?

All the while my DD (then aged 14mo) was happily and messily feeding herself some spag bol and having a fine old time. BLW all the way

Well actually, the baby I saw (7months ish) had eaten a fair amount of food and was clamping her mouth shut and mother was pulling little girl's chin down to get the spoon in.

Like I said it could have been anything like a health problem that means the little girl needed all the food but it was still distressing to watch.

Don't like the way that it's no longer acceptable to feed a baby from a spoon they must be having food they don't want shovelled into their mouths

If you are regularly seeing babies being force fed then phone SS, if you saw a baby crying whilst it was being fed and assumed it wasn't hungry then

Perhaps it was crying because it was very hungry ds used to get a bit like this.

Oh I am one of those mums . DD was so skinny with ribs showing that i was worried that she would just waste away so would do as my mum did to me, shovel food in her mouth so that she would put on weight. Sometimes she threw it all back up most times she would happily have it, but as she got older in toddlerhood and beyone there was no way that i could force her if she was not hungry and i became more relaxed too as i saw her bulking up a bit.

agree notsoteenage

and why do blw children eat so much spag bol?

what's wrong with spag bol?

Oh my god ss will be onto me then! Anyway the majority are right if a baby just does not want it there is no way of forcing it just will not happen.

A mother I saw recently in a waiting room seemed to be force feeding her little one (didn't look older than 4 months)salt and vinegar crisps..thats not right it is?

I have a 20 week old son and I am tempted by BLW. I wonder what my MIL will say!

My ds is 13 months but looks 7-8 months, has developmental delay and needs a high calorie diet as he is tiny and can't metabolise his food properly. I'm sick to death of strangers telling me he is too you to be weaned and he should be BLW anyway even though he could barely hold his head up let alone manage to hold food and get it into his mouth.

there's nothing wrong with spag bol, I didn't suggest that there was

I just wonder why people who are into BLW as a hobby are always going on about how much fun their children have eating it

maybe your MIL will say "oh your baby is eating food with his hands, how completely uninteresting. you'll have to come up with something better to feel misunderstood and chippy about"

I know skidoodly , there nothing wrong with spag bol novice but whenever BLW is mentioned someones dc is always happily covered in it.

Theres also nothing wrong with BLW but some seem to think you can't not do it without force feeding or shovelling food.
If you have a dc like mine who pretty much give up on milk once they started eating food or who hate the feel of food on their hands then you have little option.

Thats different froglegs if your first post said that then YWNBU

Can you actually forcefeed a baby? It might be that my three were just particually un-biddable, but if they didn't want that food in their mouth there was no way it was going in their mouth. If by chance/stealth I managed to sneak it there it just got spat back out, usually all over me!

I think the point about BLW and spag bol is that anything can be eaten as you'll often hear people say "Oh but how will they eat..." so you tend to get a little defensive in advance.

tapeworm, your son sounds huge! My baby is 14 months and the size of a 3 month old, Mum was teasing me the other day because I was holding in a newborn type position (teasing Baby by swaying and going "ah my baby" which is apparently really funny) because I shouldn't be able to hold a 14 month old like that.

123 Yes thats what I meant earlier.

I have to say that I don't like the way that it is sometimes implied that if you aren't doing BLW that yo are force feeding your child. I think we do a mix of BLW and traditional spoonfed weaning and when DD has a spoonfed meal I pay attention to her, read her cues and can tell when she is getting full or disinterested in the food and then we stop. Its hardly rocket science is it?!

Anyway, have to go out now so will miss the inevitable BLW bun fight that will ensue!

Someone i know proudly announced last week that she'd feeding her tiny 13 week old dd solid food.

If there was a real life i would have had to use it. The child can barely hold her head up, was only 5lb8 at birth and hasn't grown much.

She props the bottle in the infants mouth rather than sit down to feed her so why she even wants the extra work is beyond me.

Not one bit ashamed of judging people like her tbh!