BLW with twins?

[1stMrsF]

Has anyone done Baby Led Weaning with twins? I've done some reading and BLW seems to make sense to me, more so than purees. I bf on demand, so it seems to be a natural next step.

However, would be it a huge undertaking with twins? Can I keep bf two on demand for perhaps another 3 - 6 months? Will the mess overwhelm us all? Can you pick up bits of food and prevent choking with two babies, and still eat your own meal? Grateful for your thoughts on the benefits and potential problems.

The biggest challenge as far as I can see will be the grannies (bf on demand was enough of an anathema for my MIL; not spoon feeding may push her over the edge!) any tips on how to placate them?

Ignore MIL. Just tell her this is what you are doing if she says anything.

I think it will be fine doing it with 2 babies. You will be close by.

Baby led Weaning with twins is actually easier than pureeing because they eat what you eat! You just give them a bit ov your sandwich, or a bit of your veg, or leftovers from dinner the night before. It's great. And breastfed babies love self-feeding as it gives tehm control over their food intake, just like breastfeeding on demand

We didn't do it 100% as it wasn't invented when mine were litte (ie it wasn't given a name) but mine had loads of finger food from 6 mths and by about 8 mths they were on pretty much 100% finger food! With baby no.3 I am going to do it fully!

As for choking this is the advice we give out at our breastfeeding drop-in:
Make sure babies are sat up straight
Give them quite large chunks of food which they can bite bits off, eg broccoli florets, green beans, veg cut into chip shapes (they can hold the bottom and chew the top), toast soldiers, slices of fruit.
Keep away from whole grapes, and anything else of a similar size as this is the kind of thing they will choke on.
Never leave them alone whilst eating.
Babies will gag on food but this is an important reflex that they need to use to prevent them from choking so try not to worry when they gag.

There is no more mess with BLW than with purees as they still manage to get it everywhere!

You can keep breastfeeding on demand for as long as you want. You'll still need to do this once weaning is started as babies get nearly 100% of their nutirion from milk right up to when they're nearly 1!! (though they do tend to cut back naturally as they start to eat more solids)

I would say go for it!!

I'd say it's a lot more mess at the beginning (especially if you do it properly and really let them get their hands into everything), but less work as you don't have to sit there for ages trying to sppon feed. We cheated a bit and had pouches at the ready for meals where they didn't like it or couldn't be bothered to eat much, though that probably just spoils them and prolongs the time when they can do it all by themselves - our motto is 'whatever is easiest at the time'. My friend has done it meticulously and her one yr old DTs are amazing eaters. Go for it!

I'm doing it with mine MrsF (they're 1 this week). Highly recommend. Will post later about it. Mess is a problem, but good in so many other ways!

combo approach. With twins you do what works. Mine are 10 months now and can pick up a few things to put in the mouth but I give them thick purees stuck on a spoon which often ends up on the floor but once in a while in the mouth. Then I spoon feed them the rest. Also use Ellas pouches which they suck on and I help squeeze it. They are allowed to play with the beakers. Most of the water ends up on them not in them. But I only started some BLW stuff at 9 months.

I dont eat when my babies eat. There lunch is 11a since they never cared for breakfast. Dinner is around 5.30p. My lunch is after the have gone down for an afternoon nap around 1p and dinner is when dh comes home at 7p and babies are (hopefully) in bed.

Lots of my clients BLW their twins and seem to have great success. It's lovely when I go to visit and see their wee ones eating well and such a variety of foods.

If anything, I would say it is easier to BLW twins than to puree etc.

As to the grannies... well the grannies etc tend to become the biggest converts of BLW Have fun and don't forget to post your stories of life with BLW twins!!!

I just can't imagine trying to spoon feed both of them now, it seems like such a hassle! But they're very very messy still and it has been frustrating at times because it's hard to get enough into them (although I found this with the other 2 as well) as certain times because they don't swallow much. They're very very independent though and I like that, although once I'd started that meant I couldn't change my mind and go back to purees! One reason I did it was because my older children both have speech probs and I hoped that it might offset the liklihood of these two having speech probs too. I waited until 28 weeks I think which helped. Have put a photo of them eating on my profile and have others I'd be happy to email you if you like MrsF .

All in all a very satisfying experience, but my mum is still not a convert and hates going anywhere near feeding time (although she still helps, bless her). Twas v.hard for her to understand, she just kept banging on about filling them up and 'shovelling' it in. But to me that's not what food for babies should be about - it's exploring.

They're gorgeous AQ!

Too cute!!

Thanks for these comments. It's helped me convince myself it's the right thing to do.

Beautiful pictures AQ!

Update: this weekend my mum was here so I discussed BLW with her and my dad. Predictable concerns about choking, how much they would eat etc. However, clearly it caught everyone's imagination because at breakfast yesterday, following some joking about DTs eating fruit with us, we ended up offering the twins (5mo next week) some pineapple, melon and strawberries. It was really interesting! DT2 sucked at fruit pieces held by someone else, but made no attempt to chew, hold the fruit or look bothered when they were removed. But, DT1 chewed on pineapple right away and then when DH tried to move it away from her mouth grabbed his hand to push it back into her mouth! Same with melon and strawberries, but clearly liked pineapple best! Today, she held sticks of cucumber and chewed them herself, whilst DT1 dropped them consistently.

So, DT2 is more ready than DT1. Decided to wait a few weeks (much earlier than I intended to try anyway) and try again. Great experience for all though because M&D so excited by what they saw, all have forgotten that the first taste of food wasn't pureed and on a spoon and I think the BLW already seems quite normal.

awww, thanks You should have seen them today tucking into roast dinner on their 1st birthday following by chocolate cake.
MrsF, sounds fab and wonderful to have the family involved. Exactly how I felt about it to start with, several people have come up to me and said how nice it is to see babies enjoying their food so much!

Fantastic!

Interesting thread. I tried BLW with my two (17mo now) but I gave up rather quickly because they just were not interested in any food except toast and rice cakes. I know that is the point of BLW, that they just eat what they want, but I really wanted them to get a good range of fruit, veg, grains etc (and after 6mths protein too). Also, I was BFing exclusively and they started to cluster feed wanting milk constantly, so I ended up going for the 'fill them up' method. They were much more settled and it worked better for us.

However, right from the start they had toast and rice cakes as finger food and never choked or even gagged really - it teaches them to deal with chunks which is good for safety because they might one day come across a small toy or something and put it in their mouths - well they are unlikely to choke on it because they have learned how to deal with big bits.

It sounds like your twins are doing great - but don't feel like it's 'failed' if you decide to spoon feed them a bit of sweet potato . Whatever works is always the best policy with twins

Also, I never really got into the swing of giving them a little bit of what you are having... because I always liked to put them in bed when it was meal times so I could eat in peace