Puree AND Baby Led Weaning

[tillymama]

I'm seeing (and talking to IRL) more and more people who say they are doing both weaning methods.

I can't work out how...?

Surely it's one or the other, or am I missing something?

Do people spoon feed, and then give finger foods and think that's what BLW is?

Or are they doing BLW, and spooning a bit of porridge in here and there?

I did BLW, and it's so much more than just "finger foods"!

Anyone shed any light?

It's just new fangledness
everyone always gave finger food and spooned a bit of yoghurt in at the same time
then someone came up with the Blw name and decided a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt or soup etc was wrong
why do you care what other people call what they are feeding their children ?
Mine are 3 and 6 now and honestly I couldn't give a flying fig how people feed their babies. It's just a mad obsession you only have if you have a child under one

I tried pure BLW last time but had the wobbles so converted whilst giving plenty finger food still. This time I'm doing it by the book _ the Annabel Karmel book but with lots more finger food, and earlier than she says.

I do both. DS2 has puree's and also finger foods depending on the meal. Its just common sense innit? What is the big purist thing with EBF followed by EBWL? Oh and have just discovered EC - to get your child out of nappies in super quick time tis good for the environment............

I think people class finger foods as BLW. Whereas Gill Rapely would say BLW is more than that.

Fwiw I started out "pure" blw and then switched to spooning in some bits and giving some finger foods. I don't really label it anything.

Most people have always done a mix of mush and finger foods. It is just common sense really. Doesn't need a special name.

I mostly go with handing over whatever we happen to be eating, but sometimes what we are eating requires a spoon and fine motor control so they get spoon fed.

Not rocket science.

If we're going to get religious about it, then traditional weaning is so much more than just "spooning"

I love you bigchris

Hurrah for common sense. Bit of mush, bit of finger food. See how they go.

When weaning DS1 I got interested in the whole BLW thing, but just couldn't understand the argument about spoon feeding being wrong, and all the negativity towards people that did it.

There were people on BLW forums agonising about how to serve Weetabix. Should they bake it into bars? Or make it so stiff that the DCs could pick up handfuls of it?

When such 'pure' BLWers claim that their DCs eat just the same as them, I want to open their cutlery drawers and point out the presence of spoons. You know, for eating soup and yoghurt. And Weetabix.

Soup, yoghurt on a spoon

Fingers of cucumbers and toast - finger food.

Not so difficult to understand

Although chillipickle i have to disagree that Weetabix mini's get rid of the need for sspoons there

I did a bit of both, seemed to work out fine for both dc's

I love you all!
Have been BLW and having a complete wobble over DS2 not eating a lot and wanting to give mush too. Thanks everyone for reminding me that it does not really matter how I get food into him so long as he has some and is able to feed himself finger foods as well.

It's interesting that a few posters here started on 'pure' BLW and then changed tack. I would say they are ones being genuinely 'baby led' - seeing what did and didn't work, and changing the system to suit.

I would generally agree that it's irrelevant what you call the process, but starting out weaning for the first time can be stressful, and at that point it's unhelpful to label one type of feeding as 'baby led' if that implies that it's somehow 'right'.

Fwiw, our DS1 was spectacularly gaggy, and finger foods were fairly disastrous at first. DS2 on the other hand quite likes a bit of toast. In the long run I dare say no-one will notice the difference.

OP, I agree there's confusion in people's minds.

Lots of my friends say they're doing BLW & spoon feeding, when they actually mean finger food and spoon feeding (which is fine of course, just not 'BLW' as I understand it).

In fact, one friend who says she's doing BLW and spoon feeding explained how she distracted her DS with the TV so she could shovel in food while he wasn't paying attention. However you understand 'baby led weaning', I'm sure that isn't it.

In fact, Gill Rapley who wrote the BLW book said it's nothing new, just what lots of people have always done (maybe alongside spoon feeding, maybe not) and she was just exploring what happened if you let babies have more control over the eating process. She didn't invent the name either - it kind of emerged.

Funnys, for lots of people who do EC, it's not about getting out of nappies earlier. It's just a different way of doing toileting. Not better - different. (And it might or might not lead to being 'nappy free' sooner.)