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 think it is because some people are so dogmatic about BLW.

It's just the 'spoonfeeding - ' stuff that is irritating.

And most babies are spoonfed and they are fine.

So it's referring to finger foods? Bits of toast, etc. Everyone gives babies that, don't they, whether they spoon feed or not?

i have definitely seen babies being forced to eat, absolutely definitely, and it is most upsetting to watch. only a couple of times, in cafes, but it is grim.

seems to me that the most dogmatic people re blw are often the people who haven't done it and have arrived at various assumptions about what it is from prejudice airing sessions discussions like this on MN.

blw is just self-feeding. blw is a wanky name, sure, but that's all it is. spoon-feeding isn't self-feeding, unless the baby is using a loaded spoon. a mix of blw and spoon-feeding therefore is rather a contradiction in terms, and some people are rather more fussed for these sorts of semantics than others, it doesn't make them dogmatic, just accurate.

i wish gill rapley had used self-feeding, personally, because i do feel that the name baby-led causes people who spoon fed but in no way forced their children to eat to (quite understandably) take umbrage, as if by definition they were not led by their babies.

Gill Rapley's the one who coined the phrase, is she? She must be having a right laugh all the way to the bank.

bobbysmum07, BLW generally means not doing purees or mash and just giving baby what you're eating with the only preparation being that it is the right size for them to pick up.

Gill Rapley is not "laughing all the way to the bank", she made a DVD for professionals and then (after much badgering because she couldn't see the point) wrote a book. Unlike a certain person who recommends that purees take up the first two weeks and sells recipes books, branded blenders, ready meals, branded cooking utensils...

Well said LeSingeEstDansLarbre