BLW premature babies

[ZuzuandZara]

Hi
My dts have just hit 6 months and we are giving BLW a go.

Couple of problems though. They were premature and don't have any hand to mouth coordination and also cannot sit up. It may be a good few months yet before they can sit and I obviously don't want to wait that long!

So far I am giving them bits of food - squashed blueberries, plums, potato, ripe pear, rice cakes etc etc. They are chomping away and gagging and swallowing happily! I just shove the bits of food in and they chew and spit as they want! I feed them in their bouncy chairs which are quite upright.

It seems to be going well so far and obviously isn't 'true' blw as I am feeding them, but solids rather than purees. Any idea if this is the best thing to do?
Anyone been in a similar situation?

tia

The whole point of BLW is that the baby self feeds at a rate they are developmentally able to handle. I don't see how it is BLW if you are putting pieces of food into their mouths.

Personally I'd consider it a choking risk to put pieces of food in their mouths whilst they are sat in a bouncy chair. They aren't able to lean forwards if they gag. Its not a natural position to chew and swallow in.

yikes, if you're going to take me calling breastfeeding twins 'a heroic effort' badly, there's not much that can be said is there? it is very impressive by any standards, and you should be applauded for it.

you do acknowledge in your first reply to missmarjorie that in a month you can anticipate the babies self-feeding, so it's hard, especially in light of the bliss advice, to see why you wouldn't just wait for that.

and re chokes etc, my practical experience comes from weaning two children, one term, one prem, and from dealing with the hundreds of thousands of mothers who have used my blw website over the last few years, and that has taught me not to be casual about popping food in babies' mouths. we hear tales of chokes very rarely, and certainly nothing that has ever required medical treatment, but as you have no doubt observed it's not something i would be at all casual about.

I'm sorry, but I also don't think it's a good idea on two counts - putting foods into your babies mouths if they can't do it themselves and doing it in a bouncy chair (I have yet to see one that sits them straight). We have started wth blw and didn't have many choking/gagging incidents early on as you describe. However as things progressed we have had a couple of spectacular gags and if DD hadn't been sitting upright I am not sure she would have managed to get out the offending piece of food (along with an impressive amount of vomit on two occaisions).

Could you maybe use bumbos with the trays intead of the bouncy chairs - this means they will be upright. I definitely think let them get the food to their mouths themselves as well. For us this has developed DD's hand dexterity (sp?) and hand eye coordination amazingly well. At 7.5 months she has perfected the pincer grip and can pick up the tiniest morsels and get them to her mouth. If they are developmentally ready to wean in this way, you will be surprised how quickly this develops.

Surely Zuzu is not chucking a lump of unmashed food into her DT's open mouths though - which would certainly be a choking risk, but rather offering it and they are taking it with their mouths from her fingers rather than a spoon - she's said they move it from front to back on their own. I can see where you're coming from, but I don't think it is the doomsday scenario you make it out to be.

I don't think you're contradicting Bliss either. There are two separate arguments here - the right time to wean a premmie, and the method by which you do so. Zuzu has chosen to wean at 6mo, according to, from what I can tell, the most common advice for premmies. Yes, she could wait to 7mo if she wanted to. She has also chosen to offer bits rather than purees. As long as she is aware of the choking risk, and supervises them, I don't see the problem. TBH, I suspect she is weaning much like people did before the invention of food processors and highchairs.

Aitch, it's the fact that it's followed with the suggestion that I want to wean to make my life easier. Getting my boobs out is easy, shopping, mashing and pureeing (or not!), washing up, cleaning floor, trillions of bibs etc is not so easy! Sorry if I took it in the wrong way but I am trying to do what is right for my girls as a first time mum, not to 'take the pressure off me'.

I am going to buy some highchairs, get out the blender and see how we go.

DH has taken the girls out for a walk, if I'm not ready to go when he gets back he's going to kick my arse.

Thanks all for input.

it's not a domesday scenario, just an unnecessarily danger and one that is easily avoided by either delaying weaning until the children can self-feed or by using spoons and purees. and there really is no point at all in remotely thinking in terms of BLW if you're not actually letting the child self-feed, as that is the entire basis of BLW.

anyway, zazu will no doubt form her own opinion. you think what she's doing is fine, absolutely everyone else on the thread thinks it isn't. i have a funny feeling that she'll go with you on this one...

zazu, there would be no shame in wanting some of the pressure on you to be relieved by your children getting some of their sustenance from food. tbh i think you are going some distance to be offended by that. at no point did i mention you giving up bfing. but yes, now that you mention it, weaning is a bit of a pita compared to milk... another good reason for delaying it until they can do most of the work themselves.

Nope, looks like Zuzu has gone with you lot.

TBH this thread has made me think, and DS is going for his lunch now. In the highchair. He'll no doubt scream but he's got to get used to it.

Theres a person behind blw? Thats odd I'm sure its something thats been done by different societies for a long long time.
I did it without knowing there was a term for it.

I was advised to wean at actual age not corrected ( I think this was common advise from paeds). Having said that I spoonfed my prem (27er) because of the risk of choking which was a hassle as I have always just bunged food in front of my others.

lol, it seems like she has, yes. (although my personal pref would be to delay... )

if your ds eight months and sitting up, he'll be fine on the floor if he hates the highchair, mine still love a picanic and the best thing is that you can just lift up the wee blanket and shake any and all debris into the bin.

yep, gill rapley, bronze. and of course there is someone who is behind it as a (somewhat wankily imo) 'named thing', but that doesn't mean she's done anything other than coalesce ideas that were out there before. nothing new under the sun...

DS has obviously been somehow absorbing the wisdom of eating in a highchair rather than the bouncy chair as he has just, for the first time ever, sat in it for longer than 20 seconds without hysterics. Long enough, in fact, to give him his lunch and then hang the washing out whist he watched me through the kitchen door.

Aitch, he can't sit up yet, which is why we've been using the bouncy chair.

i think the sit up thing is quite hard to define, isn't it? for me, so long as the dds were okay sitting in the bucket seat of the antilop i felt okay to proceed.

Hendo77, we have bumbos but they are not quite stable enough for them yet, almost but not quite. While we were out today, sitting on the grass, both babies managed to lean forward and pick up a leaf, while being supported sitting up by me and DH so hand eye coordination is coming along!

Aitch, I really don't feel any pressure from bf, it's quick and easy, this really isn't about that, it's just about the girls being 6 months and starting weaning. I will change how I'm doing it I'm not going to delay, I've seen them eat, they enjoy it, I don't see any reason to delay. I won't be going full steam ahead though, just gently introducing. It's still boob, boob, boob.

MissMarjoribanks, this thread has obviously made me think too! I'm glad your DS managed longer in his highchair.
Thanks for reiterating my points, and just to reinforce to everyone, I am feeding very soft foods, ripe plum and blueberries, squidged banana, overcooked potato etc. Not al dente bits of carrot! They are clearly enjoying sucking the juicy fruit and spitting out the skin. I have also pushed the bouncy chairs against the sofa to make them more upright, they are obviously not as vertical as sitting in a highchair or bumbo, but no where near horizontal. I shouldn't have used the word shove in my opening post, it conjures the wrong image. They open their mouths. I perhaps shouldn't even have referred to BLW, as it isn't, but it's not spooning purees either, I'm going to invent a new thing and write a book

I have decided (I think!) to go with the mashed or forked food, not complete puree, but not 'proper' food, somewhere inbetween.

Aitch, have looked at the Antilop highchair you mentioned, (11 quid ) what is the booster seat? Can't find it.

it may be this supporting cushion

you can also get a tray for the antilop:

they tend to keep them near the highchairs in the shop, they're like a blow up cushion insert thing. (although tbh having bought one i then mislaid it and managed fine with a folded up hand towel for dd2, going under her bottom and behind her back). the good thing about the antilop is the fact that it's a bit of a bucket seat and it has a solid central bit that goes between their legs.

Thanks Seona and Aitch. Will be ordereing online, no IKEA near me. I reckon with the highchair and booster cushion we're not far off being upright. I'm so pleased for the girls, one in particular is so desperate to sit up and have a proper look around, the other is happy to kick back in a bouncer!

they are SUCH great highchairs, so easy to clean.

That's why I bought an Antilop too - ease of cleaning. They're fabby - just chuck the bits in the sink.

DS was less happy at dinner time - no combination of booster cushion / tea towels / straps were going to make him sit upright in it. He kept collapsing to the right and forwards and getting upset. Bouncy chair for breakfast (its porridge, so no lumps) and we'll go again at lunchtime tomorrow.

Oh your poor DS, he must be so frustrated. If at first you don't succeed....

I don't know if you have this already but we used something similar to one of these playnests and it helped our DD to be able to sit up loads better within a really short time. Ignore me if you already have/use one and it doesn't make a difference, but it was recommended to me so thought I'd pass it on on the off chance it was useful!

Thanks hendo. They have these at several of the groups I go to, when the girls were little I'd turn the playnest over and put them on it lying down. Haven't tried them the right way up yet! Will give it a go this week and see how we get on. Not sure I've got any more room for baby stuff in my house, at least they could share and wouldn't need one each I suppose!

I'm coming very late to this, but thought some of you might find it interesting. FWIW II'm with Aitch and the others who recommended waiting to BLW. I'm BLWing my DS who was born in February at 31 weeks. I emailed Gill Rapley as I failed to find any info about BLW and preemies online. Some of her response is as follows:

"There is remarkably little written or known about what preterm babies need in terms of weaning. The current rule of thumb (put together last year [2009] by an expert group of nutritionists/dietitians) is that solid foods should probably be introduced between 5 and 7 months (actual age). However, even the members of this group admit this is really just a pooling of their ideas and experience, rather than anything based on clear research evidence (of which there is almost none) - and they don't say which babies should start nearer 5 months and which nearer 7!

The issues for pre-term babies are a) developmental readiness (including oral skills, such as chewing, and digestive ability), and b) the need for nutrition. In terms of developmental readiness, it seems that they may be ready to digest solid foods slightly earlier than their corrected age would suggest (although they will still be 'behind', compared with their actual age), which is useful information IF spoon feeding is planned, or thought necessary. However, in terms of BLW, which relies on food-handling and chewing skills, they aren't likely to be ready any earlier than their corrected age. This doesn't matter provided you are relaxed about this - which is where the nutrition argument comes in: Full-term babies build up stores of key nutrients in their last few weeks in the womb, so they are born with enough to last them for at least 6 months (probably up to 8 or 9).

Preterm babies are born with fewer stores, which may not be enough to last them for 6 months, never mind the additional months it will take them to reach a corrected age of 6 months. In the past, this concern has led to early introduction of solids for preterm babies. We now know that the nutrients they are likely to be short of are those that [they receive] as supplements, and that breastmilk (or formula) is the best source for everything else, so early solids shouldn't be necessary.

My own gut feeling is that, provided the nutrition argument is taken care of with supplements, BLW is the way forward for these babies, just like other babies. The only difference is that I don't see any reason to wait until a particular age to allow them to start handling food, since no-one is going to say it's too early!"

Hi my little one was taken out at 29wks 1lb 8ozs.
Now nearly fifteen months.
Still on infatrini every three hrs and three solids a day.Weighs 17lb 7ozs.
Can anyone tell me when is it going to get easier no one seems to no.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel.
Doing this on my own with two older children eldest in uni middle one in secondry school.
Its hard going