Exclusive baby-led weaning?

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Anyone got any experience with this?

We combined BLW with spoon-fed purées/mashes for DD and it worked fine. She was generally slow with weaning and is still totally unmotivated by food (unless it’s crisps 😂), but by 8 months she was eating well.

Our DS, however, is another story. I was sure he’d be a good eater as he was very interested in the food we were eating and is generally quite a hungry boy, but the only thing this kid was interested in when we started at 6 months was breastmilk, bogeys, and tissues! We’ve discovered he MUCH prefers to feed himself, but he’s not actually ingesting all that much. How do others handle exclusive BLW? He has a diagnosed egg allergy too.

I’m desperate to quit bf at 12 months but he’s so slow I can’t imagine him being ready to drop feeds in 3.5 months time. I really want to speed up the solids! He’s a really active baby too (zooming about on his knees, pulling to stand and climbing, basically trying to walk already), and I feel I’m struggling to keep up with his needs. He’s only on the 11th centile for weight so he can’t afford to drop much. He will not drink formula of any kind, much to my dismay. 😭

Every baby is different but I wouldn’t worry too much about where he’ll be in 3 months time. My son was exclusively baby led weaning, and he barely ate anything for the first 2 months, then around 10 months when I went back to work it suddenly picked up, and again at 12 months. We stopped BFing at 16 months but could have done so before then. BLW is slower, I think, so you could try a bit of spoon feeding and see how it goes? But I wouldn’t worry about him not getting it in time. I just kept putting stuff in front of him and eventually he began eating more of it. Felt like forever at the time though!

We did exclusive BLW with both children and it was fine. You have to make yourself not care whether they eat it or not, though, which I can imagine is hard if your baby has allergies or is already small. Do you eat with him, and have the same things? I think it can help if mealtimes are sociable and the baby doesn't feel like he's being watched the whole time.

I tried BLW but had to switched to spoon feeding for this reason. I had to go back to work before 12 months and needed to make sure he was eating enough. He never loved a bottle so I knew we needed to get to 3 meals a day quick. We didn't do purees but chunky food and then normal-ish food but spoon / fork fed.

Oh he won’t entertain the spoon. 😭 He blocks it like a ninja, spits it out, clamps his mouth shut! He likes to hold it and will put it to his mouth but barely anything goes in. The slower speed of BLW is what concerns me 🫠

He’s off to nursery part time at 12 months and I won’t be pumping for that so he’ll have to catch on (and take other milks) by then!

We all eat together and he has a version of whatever we’re eating. It definitely helps. He likes watching his sister so I’m hoping that really sinks in and changes things.

It’s concerning isn’t it?! He’s also been a bottle refuser since day one. 😭

Honestly, if he's not ready to give up boobs and he's struggling to eat enough and put on weight, then you continue with boobs.

I understand your frustration. I ended up ebf a baby who was 'supposed' to be combi fed, but refused bottles from birth and struggled with weight gain. My child continued to struggle with weight gain so I fed her until 2.5!

He might surprise you and his appetite increase, and you can give it up as planned or you might need to adjust your timeline for him. You might not need to pump though, and just fed him when home and in the night when needed.

Op it will be fine. Get your hands on the BLW book and go for it.
Youngest didn't ever like mushy gooie slimy food and still doesn't eat mush (mince, mash, mango etc).

I remember having a munch of Elle fruit pouches he wouldn't touch. Until I put them into ice lolly moulds and froze them.

My daughter was very slow to wean and didn't really engage with it until 13 months. I had to stop breastfeeding at 10 months even though she was a bottle refuser and not eating. She went 26h without drinking then accepted formula from a bottle. She was 20 months before she ate enough to drop the formula. She has a lot of food allergies so that was a complication

She did better with big food...never had any interest with slices of apple but would eat half an apple for example.
We used strips of toasted pitta bread as edible spoons and put purees on the ends

Both of mine were a bit slow to eat any significant volume – they liked food, would happily eat a couple bites of most things...but that was it. I can remember telling my husband that DD1 had really liked lunch, as she'd had six bites. They did get it in their own time, and both were good eaters by toddlerhood.

It helped a little to notice what foods they ate slightly more of and serve those often so that they gradually increased the number of bites they thought constituted 'a meal'.

Will he put a pre-loaded spoon in his mouth? Or with those long-handled weaning ones, sometimes you can load it, hold it out for him to 'take', and conveniently keep your hand on the end to help with aim.

Slightly overcooked fusilli pasta can also be good – they're easy to grasp, but break down easily in the mouth, and the spirals can hold a whole variety of nutritious and/or calorific sauces.