Solid starts app - is the info unsafe/outdated?

[Gigi89x]

I joined a BLW group on facebook and was suprised when i found out the group did not recommend the solid starts app & stated it offers "unsafe and outdated information"

Im new to weaning so cant really provide too much insight

Does anyone agree with this?

Why did they say it’s unsafe? It seems fine to me, if anything it’s much more cautious than most of the people I know in real life.

It's the absolute best resource ive found so far and is run by a team of qualified infant feeding experts. As in, PhDs and licensed professionals.

I would ask - are the person/people who don't recommend it also qualifed as such, and can they give you the source to the research that tells them Solid Starts is outdated?

I think a lot of people are scared of it because it's a total 180 from everything people have been taught to believe about infant feeding for the last 50 years.

This is the info provided on the group

Interesting lack of context there.

The grapes thing is true, but they miss out all the extra information that goes along with it. They don't just say 'you can give your child a whole grape if you fancy it' They teach you to coach your child on chewing/biting and why foods might become more of a risk in certain situations. So my DD is 2 and I absolutely would not let her have whole grapes if she was say, at a party running around, or distracted by the TV or getting up and down from the table. But a couple of times shes had grapes in a kids lunch box (like at the zoo or something) and when sitting down, focussed I'm absolutely confident she can eat a grape because I've taught her how to bite it in half and chew carefully. They actually encourage coached eating of things like whole grapes because one day they'll be in a situation like a party or when you're not there and they'll eat these risky foods whether you like it or not, and if they've practiced in a safe environment with you it's so much safer.

No idea about the meat thing, they should really link to a study if they are making that claim - but in general the advice is bigger is better (because you can't choke on something that's too big to go down the pipe)

Sorry I've gone on a rant, but DD is such an amazing eater thanks to them and they gave me so much confidence in weaning her that I think two pieces of advice this group disagrees with (that are out of context and not backed up) doesn't outweigh the brilliant work that they do

Like with anything parenting, there's different schools of thoughts. I've found them (reassuringly!) less limiting than other advice out there. My impression is they prioritise children being exposed to culturally relevant and varied food as possible, over say, as stringent an approach to salt than others I'm familiar with. One of those many things you have to make your own call on.

They definitely stress the importance of eating sat down at a table, which might account for their advice re choking risk. I agree re poster above - larger pieces of meat seem safer to me!

I find some of the Solid Starts website helpful, but I don't rave about it the way other people do.
Weaning onto solids is something that a lot of parents feel anxious about and look for guidance on. Although solid starts is often signposted as a helpful resource, I found it unhelpfully pushed a particular way of weaning, and particular foods as "best," that rather than being reassuring ended up creating more anxiety.

• they have bizarre advice about avoiding tuna, rice and possibly some root vegetables because of high levels of heavy metals / arsenic, which just seems unnecessary scaremongering, given the number of people for whom these are dietary staples
• their food rating system doesn't make much sense. Most common fruits/vegetables are only rated 3/5 which seems bizarre
• they are very very rigid about avoiding any salt at all, which is much stricter than eg NHS guidelines. The point where I realized it wasn't helpful to me any more was when I was feeling anxious about giving my baby cream cheese on toast when Solid Starts said that ricotta was better because of the salt content. And then realising that the tiny quantity my baby was going to eat was going to contain a similarly miniscule amount of salt.

I was lucky that my baby always enjoyed trying to feed himself, so took to BLW relatively well. But there were also some foods he likes that he just could not manage by himself - like (horrors!) rice or couscous - and wanted to be spoonfed. And other babies I know who preferred spoonfeeding with finger foods on the side who feed themselves fine now. Unless your child is having serious difficulty with feeding, in which case you need specialist advice anyway, it's generally all going to come out in the wash anyway.