BLW before 6 months?

[MoonUnitAlpha]

My ds is 21 weeks old (was born a week late if that makes any difference!) - I'm keen to do BLW. I haven't felt any pressure to wean before now as he hasn't seemed ready at all, hasn't been feeding more frequently, and has gone from feeding once in the night to twice but it's not too terrible.

In the last couple of weeks though he has become much more co-ordinated at grabbing things and getting them into his mouth, and has started to sit with very little support - he can sit by himself but can only sustain it for about 30 seconds. He's also very interested and vocal when we're eating.

Is it possible to do BLW this early? I'll probably try to leave it for another week or two, but is there anything I should know/do differently as he's younger? I'm tempted to sit him in a bumbo chair with a tray and just put some food in front of him and see how he does, but not sure if this is the best way to go about it.

I read on one of the threads hear that the best thing is roasted veg cos it's all mussy on the inside and they can still grip it.

fyi - I believe the woman who 'invented' blw actually did a study on it (whilst developing) and she studied babies at 4 / 5/ 6 months and it just became six months as MOST babies had the right techniques by then, although many were doing some self feeding before - I started earlier with ds and he loves it!

I'll give roasted veg a go, thanks.

Try cutting the banana in half (peel still on), then peel down about one inch from the cut end and snip the peel with kitchen scissors to leave a kind of banana lolly. This seems to work well apart from when they start eating the unpeeled end!

mummyshreddingnora How many weeks did you start?

we started weaning at 17 weeks, (very hungry baby not gaining weight on bf, reflux - advised) and by about 18 / 19 weeks he was grabbing food off me when sat on my lap, so I would let him have a go! At 20 weeks at a bbq he ate a piece of watermelon (no seeds), mango, banana and a potato wedge! Some came out but he swallowed a hell of a lot - and to be honest he's not stopped since soon sorted his weight gain issues too!

Could he swallow straight away at 18 weeks or did it take until he was 20 weeks for it all to not come out?

I don't think ds (22 weeks) has actually swallowed much/anything yet - he's enjoying sucking and munching on things though.

DS sucked a piece of chicken to death tonight and then ate it. I was so pleased...

That's fantastic how long have you been doing BLW?

He's been having puree for a couple of weeks after a previous stop and start and then one monday we decided to do BLW for breakfast and dinner.

We're not sure about dropping the puree as he eats quite a bit of it at lunch, but are going to give him bits of food to play with afterwards.

that on not one *

nappyaddict - at 18 weeks it was kind of chomping on the fruit - until it squished to juice and pulp so slipped down... by 20 weeks he was getting little bites, for example by swiping a bit of DD's banana!

That would make sense so far 20 weeks is the earliest I've known them actually be able to bite and swallow it. So cute though to see isn't it!

DS is 22 weeks and he has been given little licks of things for a while now but last week at a party he was given a stick of cucumber and he gummed away at it for a good half hour so I have started a mix of blw and spoon feeding this week. I think it was definately the right time because he keeps trying to steal my food!

I have been giving him purees at mid morning-lunch time and so far he will eat 4-5 spoonfuls...this morning he grabbed the bowl off me and stick his hands right in so everything we were both wearing is now orange coloured.

When dh and I eat our tea I have been putting a little bit of it on his highchair tray and he plays around with it while we eat. Considering that the amount I pick up off the floor and put in the bin is always less than what I gave him I'm assuming something is going down!

We started BLW at 21 weeks with DS. He was so desparate to have the food, so we sat him up in a highchair (he could sit upright reliably with support, although didn't sit unsupported until 9 months). He just played with things mainly at first, and we stuck to fruit and veg (although XP gave him a breadstick when I went to the toilet in a pub ) and made a mess, but some went in, as I saw it come out in his nappies!

I always think if you're going to start early then BLW is the way to go because if they're not ready then they won't swallow anything. Whereas with purees they probably will, regardless.

I thought he hadn't swallowed anything yet, but today's nappies say otherwise!

Broccoli was a big hit at lunchtime today too

Just occured to me though, should I be offering water with food? He's still breastfeeding very frequently (2-3 hourly).

No need to offer water whilst breastfeeding.

You don't have to, but you can. I think you're supposed to give cool boiled water up to 6 months though (tap water from 6 months)

Bertie I replied on your sock thread earlier :)

ah this is really the nub of it -

In developed countries there are no reported disadvantages to beginning weaning onto solid foods between 4 and 6 months compared with waiting until 6 months (EFSA 2009).
A recent study of hospitalisation rates due to gastroenteritis or respiratory tract infection in the UK showed that these rates were higher in infants fed on infant formula compared to infants being breastfed but were unrelated to the age at which term infants, regardless of their milk feed, are weaned onto solid food

....so the commonly touted opinion on MN - that weaning before 6 mo is 'dangerous' or 'will make them allergic' or 'ill' is in fact....

bullshit
unsupported.

The official guidelines will always play it safe though - there's no evidence of any harm in waiting til 6 months, so that's the recommendation.

Nappy that thread is ancient! Off to have a read anyway.

Ooops I thought it was from December 10!!

I was reading your post thinking sock thread?? What sock thread? Then I clicked on the link and remembered it!