BLW: what does it entail? Can I do it with an early baby?

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I don't really have a lot of knowledge around the subject but like the sound of baby led weaning. Can someone enlighten me? Also, DS is 4mo but 2mo corrected, there seem to be some mixed messages out there about BLW and ex-premmies. Is this just a physical thing due to them not being likely to sit up well at 6mo actual age? If so surely this makes eating solids at all trickier?
As you can see I am a total novice to the idea so any info appreciated. I just want to know whether I can continue to entertain the notion of BLW or not!

I think Gill Rapley kicked off BLW (IIRC), her website has some PDFs on guidelines and information on BLW but I found this site on BLW (I think it was by MNer Aitch) the most useful.

I don't have experience with a preemie, and when I BLW'd with DC1 there was some debate over FF vs BF babies in terms of capability to self-feed (my DS was FF'd but we always demand-fed). The main thing I took from BLW was that babies are a lot more capable with food than we often think. In the end we didn't do 100% BLW because we discovered he really liked yoghurt and porridge but couldn't manage a spoon yet and didn't get very far with bare fingers! So we spoon-fed those and gave him finger foods for the rest - rice, spaghetti, toast, meat, fish, veg, fruit... anything. He was very happy with it all and managed well. At 2yo he still insists on feeding himself and now manages with a spoon and a fork, eats a wide variety and we don't really have to do anything which helps as we've had further DC!

Think of it as just a way to wean as well. Like above, we did some mixing and matching. There isn't a 'wrong' way. For us it worked as DS enjoyed it and it was much easier than having to feed him every meal.

Also remember that food is for fun until 1 That was the most important thing I took at the time, so don't panic if you're not doing 3 meals and snacks at 9mo!

My daughter was 1 month premature, she's 8 months now and we've done a mix of purée and BLW. The advice with preemies is to start weaning by 6 months actual age (not corrected). If they meet signs of readiness for BLW you can go straight to that, if not purée. DD started with finger food at about 7 months and is now only spooned her porridge at breakfast. She moved quickly to lumpy foods because she as having finger foods I think.
Bliss has a great booklet on their website about weaning preemies.

Ok thanks. DS is exclusively breastfed so hopefully that should go in our favour. So is readiness wrt a preemie mostly to do with holding head up? As their motor skills are closer to corrected age than actual?

The only sign you need to know for BLW is that they can sit upright with support for ~20 minutes. If they have to be propped leaning backwards or they slump over then it's not safe to let them self feed. But aside from that, you can put food in front of a newborn but they won't be able to pick it up and get it to their mouth. That's what the other signs mean. If your baby can sit up OK then try putting some foods in front of them and see what they do - if they pick it up and try to get it to their mouth then you can continue. Just don't be tempted to help them by holding foods for them - it's really unsafe to do that. The whole idea of BLW is that it's linked to development, if they can't get it to their mouths themselves they are not ready for it.

I would guess it is nutrition which is the worry, hence if they have not started by 6 months they recommend you should give some.

Thank you for the advice. Good to hear from you Miaow with your report of a similar background. I suppose we'll just have to see what things are like when we get to the appropriate point. He did watch me eat a caramel egg very intently yesterday!

We couldn't do BLW as my 31 weekers were no where near seething unsupported. We were told to wean at 5.5months actual do to reflux so we spoon fed when they were supported in their bouncy chairs and moved on to finger foods when they could sit properly at around 7m actual.

My twins were 6 weeks early and blw wasnt an option for us as they couldn't sit properly until 9 months. I started with purees but by 10 months they were able to feed themselves completely. I had to fed them in bouncy chairs as they couldn't sit in high chairs.

They are 2.5 now and dt2 is able to feed herself in with a knife and fork :)

They don't need to be sitting unsupported, but they do need to be able to sit up e.g. in a high chair etc. If they are reclined there is a risk of choking with non smooth purees so you should wait until they are sitting more upright in the chair before you let them explore with finger foods.

My full term baby didn't sit until 9 months old and did BLW very successfully from about 5 months.

We had go wait until ours were sitting unsupported or they would just flop around the high chair.

I was planning to blw but my 31 weeker wasn't able at all. In saying that he was the best feeder in my baby group gang... Now he's a picky 2 year old for me but will eat anything for childminder! I found i was too anxious until he got bigger. Good luck

Ah right yes of course they have to be able to sit without flopping over, that's what I was meaning though. Some babies can sit pretty solidly with support before they can sit solidly without it, so it's just a small line but an important one, I think :)