Someone explain baby led weaning to me

[lexyloub]

Ds is 20 weeks he's only just gone onto hungry baby milk he has 5 6oz bottles a day and sleeps through the night. Hes always followed the 9th centile growth line. He's a very content baby and I don't think he's ready for food just yet.

When I had my older dc it was all baby rice leading to purees then introducing lumps around 7m. This worked very well with my older dc although they were hungrier babies and we're on the baby rice well before now.

I'm happy to do it this way again but I'm interested to know more about blw. At the moment ds is not stable sat up in a highchair, I used to feed older dcs in a bouncer chair to begin with.

How will I know when he's ready and how do I start? Hv said I need to start this at 6m but what if he's not ready. At the moment he's very content with his milk I can't see that in only 4 weeks time he'll be ready for food or can it change that quickly?

Any advice welcome
Thanks

nickyeds you won't do porridge as such with BLW. As I said up thread, the type of food eaten would be slightly different. Yoghurt and porridge would be 12mo and above once they can use a spoon. (There is something called porridge fingers but that's not what people think of as porridge). I use shredded wheats.

Eggs actually is one of the first foods with BLW antihop. No idea why you think it's unsuitable. Whisk egg, fry and cut into strips. Perfectly easy finger food in large thick chunky pieces.

But I'm not evangelical about BLW. I actually think traditional weaning with purée and finger foods suit most babies better. You feed them food that needs a spoon, and let them eat the food that is eaten with fingers.

But both DDs are stubborn little things who will not let me near them with spoons. They both flapped their hands to stop the spoon near their mouths! Both are great at picking up food and never gagged either. So they are perfect specimens for BLW really.

BLW = you give them sticks of food, which they then throw at you.

Eventually you decide that if they don't get some food down their necks they will starve, so you give them some purée on a spoon.

They eat.

So it went in our house, anyway....

Actually, I don't understand BLW at all.

Obviously you're not going to purée a sandwich or a piece of toast, so those things they pick up and eat because, well, they're human beings and not animals.

Then other food that requires a spoon, is fed using - hey who'd a thunk it?! - a spoon!!!

So really BLW = eating. That thing we all do.

Nothing scientific about it.

Ah, but if you spoon it in for them then according to the theory it's not baby led, because baby might not have chosen it. If they manage the spoon themselves then it is baby led. Mine were pretty good at indicating their preference with either gaping cavern mouths or firmly pursed lips when I did parent-led feeding.

I agree that a mixture of spoon fed and finger foods they can eat by themselves is probably fine for most babies though. And it is far easier to just call it eating.

Whoknows I found that my baby pretty much led weaning despite not doing BLW too. Mouth firmly shut= no thanks mum. Mouth wide open= yes please! My friend who was BLW purist described it as "we don't force feed our baby- she only has what she wants, we're baby led" I remember thinking how clever her 6 month old was, you know putting a pan of pasta on to boil for herself, making herself a sandwich!

All I can say is if being a purist means I have to make porridge let it go cold then cut the resulting revolting concoction it into fingers just to retain the title. I'm glad I just did weaning

Who force feeds a baby fgs?!

So basically it depends on who touches the spoon? What if you have two spoons, one for throwing and one for eating?

Bloody hell how to make a mountain out of a molehill!

So basically it depends on who touches the spoon?

several books and hours if downloading later.....

that's about it

When I see a baby eating mash or beans with fingers I'm --> boak

Hmm Giles should I maybe start a blog?

A short one, admittedly

People can be very sniffy and contemptuous towards BLW, I really don't understand why. If you don't like the idea then don't do it. If someone asks about baby led weaning then presumably they want to know about it rather than have people dissect the definition of it, and describe how the idea of a baby eating with its hands make them "boak".

I did give my DS porridge, I made it thicker than usual and he ate it with his hands. Sorry if that makes anyone feel nauseous.

I found BLW to be very straightforward, not at all wasteful and to be fun. As long as you don't add salt then you can cook the same for you and them which can make life easier. They don't choke any more than with spoon feeding, although gagging can be common. How much they eat is not the point, so it might not suit if you want or need to keep track of quantities.

But what do you think the rest of us do? Once babies hit six months they have finger food stuff. toast, fruit, veg sticks, chicken strips sandwiches etc.

Most people when out and about chuck a few bits off their plate on the high chair. We don't walk around with flasks of spaghetti bolognase puree all day.

The only time babies eat puree and puree only is when they are between 4 and 6 months.

I've seen plenty of people spoon feeding purée to older babies, and replied to threads on here about people with babies that will only take smooth purées at well past 6 months. So I don't think that purées are only for 4 to 6 months.

Plus, it's not a competition. One way is not better than the other. Different things will suit different people/babies.

The point is, there's no need for a fancy name.and the limitations. of trying to maintain the exclusive badge.

just feed the baby. whatever, however.

This perception of "exclusivity" is interesting. Baby led weaning is one thing, spoon feeding is another. To point out that one is not the other is not to be "exclusive".

Idiots can use any parenting choice as a tool to be snooty and judgmental about other people and their choices. Just because some of those people use weaning as their tool of choice doesn't mean everyone else should be tarred with the same brush.

My point however is that I believe you can mix the two. Baby led some of the time, spoon fed other times. However I was told in no uncertain terms previously (not here) that unless the entire weaning was baby led, then it wasn't baby led at all. Which seems pedantic to me. Especially as weaning is such an inexact term too, when does it stop being weaning and start being just eating. I've tried to explain that here, so that others are aware too. However I have no issue with how anyone feeds their baby, just with them telling me what I could or couldn't call the process by which I weaned my own DC.

I'm stopping now as it wasn't anyone on this thread so it was a bit unecessary of me to bring it up and I apologise if I have derailed the thread.

So anyway back to one of my oringinal questions How do I know when he's ready for either puree or finger foods? I think doing a mixture of both might be better for me however ds might have other ideas until I try I'll never know

Can he sit up in a high chair with minimal support for a decent length of time? Can he pick things up and bring them to his mouth? Is he around 26 weeks? Those are pretty reasonable indicators.

lexyloub it's on the nhs weaning pages.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Babies-weaning/Pages/Whattodo-OLD.aspx

Basically sit up with straight back but supported. (Like putting baby between legs and he should be upright).

Can pick up and aim food (or food sized things) into mouth.

Can swallow. This you will know if spoon feeding the food will go down the throat and not out to the chin.

The link I posted didn't have it! See this one instead
www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx

Should have guessed from the URL it's the old page.

Thanks head I'll have a nosey. No he's only 20 weeks he's nowhere near at the stage if sitting unsupported in a high chair.

He can pick things up to put to his mouth though