Will someone convince me to stick strictly to 6 months ebf...

[ag123]

So this is going to sound strange as I have read 'Baby Led Weaning' and completely agree with it and am in fact really excited about the ethos it promotes. It's just, (and I know some of you are going to think this is so stupid) I gave him my yoghurt pot lid to play with today, which I had scraped most of the yoghurt off as I thought it would be an interesting texture for him to explore but he seemed to be far less interested in the texture and far more in really sucking any remaining molecules of yoghurt off and got very cross when I took it off him. And it just got me thinking, would it be so bad to maybe give him a bit of porridge in the morning, or something sloppy but tasty seeing as he can't sit yet, if I made sure he was in charge of putting the spoon to his mouth and I just supported him to do so..?

I am aware of the virgin gut argument, but we have no history of allergies in our family, so is this so much of an issue?

I'm sure his milk feeds are enough for him as he refuses more often than accepts when offered feeds and his weight gain has been very healthy (95th centile since birth). He is growing out of his 6-9 month clothes already even though he is only 21 weeks and although I know the 'big baby-wean early' argument is complete rubbish I feel that he is just so interested in the world at the moment that it might be an appropriate new experience for him.

Anyway, I'd just love to hear from people to help me decide either way...

You're not understanding baby led weaning :)

It's not about dates on calendars .

The clue is in the name - baby-led. He licked some yogurt - no worries.

That doesn't mean he 'needs' porridge though - you dont give any reasons why he might 'need' it. New experiences? OK - there are zillions of them, and they don't have to include being spoon fed porridge.

He can't sit, he is gaining weight just fine, he can't (presumably) manoevre food into his mouth....why bother?

You're unlikely to harm him, but don't kid yourself you are doing him a favour :)

You can let him lick the yogurt pot lid again if you really want to though I would have said :)

I personally don't understand the strictness that many people seem to feel about BLW in that the only food to enter their mouths MUST come from their own hand? Maybe I'm missing something but surely we can't ruin their whole weaning experience just because we spoon fed them sometimes? 6 months is recommended age for weaning atm but you know your baby best - there isn't a magical switch that turns on when they're 6 months exactly! if you want to do 'strict' BLW then you need to wait til he can sit up unaided etc but I personally don't see the harm in spoon feeding before then if that's what is best for him. I started ds on purees at 23 weeks. now he is 26 weeks he has a mixture of purees and finger food. do whatever is best for you and your baby :) just my opinion :)

you're fine.

DD keeps grabbing at anything she can and it goes straight into her mouth.
she's 5.5months.

doesn't mean she's ready for food, but she's getting there.

that's exactly what they do - they put everything in their mouth.

she grabbed at my water cup (plastic) yesterday, ans i watched her - she sucked at the cup, but made the water drip down her front.
yes, she got annoyed i took it off her, but she does with anything she's put in her mouth.

the breast is the thing she knows as food, and that's all she cares about right now.

oh, she's manoeuvring everything now into her mouth- she can bash things together, and she reaches for everything she sees.

you watch him over the next few weeks, you'll be amazed! (i am- she's 24 weeks)
she grabs everything and sucks and sucks.
but it ain't food to her, it's just something new and interesting.

Alfie, the weaning experience is not 'ruined' if a baby is spoon fed. BLW is not a set of rules that mean no spoon-feeding. Most babies who are BLW prob have a mix of spoon feeding and self-feeding - no big deal. BLW just means taking your cue from your baby, and letting them have a role in feeding themselves from the start.

The OP wants to start her young baby with spoon-fed porridge - she can do what she wants, her baby will almost certainly be ok, but her baby doesn't actually need it, and it's not what's 'best' for him, that's all.

Can he sit with support? Because if I'd have waited until DS could sit up, he would have still been exclusively on milk at 9 months old, and by then he could (and did quite regularly) crawl up to the table, stand himself up on it and help himself from my plate!

The idea with not putting things in BLW babies' mouths is more to do with things like if you hold something up to their mouth that they couldn't developmentally put there themselves, it's more of a choking risk. It doesn't really apply to spoon feeding.

I wouldn't necessarily rush onto feeding her solids yet if I were you, but if she seems interested or wants to play with something you're eating, then there's no harm in giving her a bit to play with and experiment with. Things will follow on naturally from there and before you know it, you won't be able to eat in front of her without her demanding a portion.

Ok thanks everyone. I suppose that's how the process starts really isn't it-giving them the opportunity to experiment with the food you're eating and taking it from there. I just realise giving him anything but something sloppy for now could be a choking hazard as he can't sit. And I didn't really mean spoon-feeding crappy baby porridge into him as such, just letting him experiment with dipping a spoon into something yummy and helping him if he seemed interested...

It's only a choking hazard if he's sitting in a reclined seat - but sloppy stuff could be then, anyway.

If he can sit upright in a highchair or on your lap then it isn't a choking risk, as long as he's picking things up himself. DS was about that age when I used to let him suck on toast. (I know, gluten and dairy before 6 months, but hey).

tiktok - I don't think I conveyed my meaning well. I myself am mixing spoon fed and finger food and by no means think you can ruin weaning. It sounded to me that OP was worried about spoon feeding because it goes against the principle of BLW so I was saying that in my opinion there is no need to be so strict about self feeding.

I think I have baby brain as everything I try to say comes out garbled :o

Don't worry, Alfie, I get you now :)

Well, after this discussion I decided to let him decide so instead of pulling my toast away from him this morning I let him take a piece, especially after that advice about him being able to sit upright on my lap (which he certainly can, just hasn't quite got the balance to be able to support himself independently yet) and,well, he seemed to devour it...I'm sure a lot of it went on the floor but some definitely went in and he very much enjoyed the experience!

i wouldn't have risked it with toast.

they say nothing with wheat/gluten in until at least 6 months because of the risk of intolerance.

Oh ok

Toast kept to a minimum in future then...

:)

Actually if there's no history of intolerance in the family, it should be fine. We've given our DD bread and egg and she's been fine.

We started BLW at 23/24 weeks on the principle she could sit up well in her highchair and could pick up a bit of food, put it in her mouth, chew it a bit and swallow it. Based on those being the signs she was ready fro weaning, we also decided to fairly quickly introduce all foods (excepting things we felt might pose more of a choking risk, such as apple, although that wa smaybe percieved risk on our part, not actual risk). I figured nothing magical was going to happen at exactly 26 weeks.