BLW and referral to dietician - what would you do?

[RaisingMrC]

I attended a weaning information session at my local health centre, and someone asked if baby led weaning would be covered. I am thinking of weaning my DS in this way too. The health visitors running the session said that their position is that they do not recommend it, and if you are thinking of doing it, you should ask for a referral to the dietician to discuss. Their objections to it were not clear but mentioned concerns about not getting enough opportunity to chew, which may delay speech development.

I am in 2 minds about meeting with the dietician. I understand BLW does not have much research behind it, but neither does there seem to be evidence for it being harmful (which the health visitors were suggesting).

Just wondered if anyone else had encountered this with their health centre, and just wanted to get people's views about meeting with the dietician...does it seem OTT (my gut feeling) or would it be worth hearing what they have to say (I have a feeling I will give BLW a try whatever they say!)

am wondering how avoiding puree and giving chewable finger food would leave a baby without opportunity to chew?

you don't need to see a dietician, nor do you have to tell your HV you are doing BLW

your baby will still be having plenty of milk which should be offered before food anyway, so the food is just a little extra and unless there are other issues with your DS then i see , IMO, no need for a referral

their attitude is really strange, BLW is hardly a new thing. People have always given finger food to babies. How on earth would this be giving them no opportunity to chew?

I would ignore. Or complain about such woeful misinformation being given out.

Rubbish.

There is nothing wrong with BLW (except the state of your floor afterwards ).

It's nothing new either - it just has a new name, it used to be called giving your child food without stressing how much of it they ate - BLW is so much simpler to type :)

None of the children I know who BLW'd have speach delays or are any fussier or less fussy than those who had pureed food.

If you stick to 'Food is fun until you're 1' it really doesn't matter what they have or how they have it.

I have never heard of anyone being sent to the dietician because they intend to BLW.

Just another example of why HV's need far more training and are more of a hazzard than a help! It's a shame because there are great HV's out there (and on here) but they are over shadowed by ones like this & the one suggesting the mother bottle feeds to see how much the (perfectly happy, perfectly growing) baby is getting

Buy Gill Rapley's book, or nip into a book shop, read the first chapter and then the 3 pages on what they can/can't have and just get on with it. It is great for lazy parents and great for babies learning about food and how to chew.

What an absolute load of old twaddle from the HVs! Honestly they should be embarrassed.

I think Aitch has a blw blog that's recommended - try searching and it should pop up.

The problem is that they don't know about BLW!
I told the HV we were doing BLW and she genuinely thought it was the same as breastfeeding on demand! She was saying things like "oh you might think we get to eat when we want, but really we have to have 3 meals a day..." It wasn't until after I had gone away a bit that I worked out that she actually didn't know what I was talking about!

Actually, there has been quite a lot of research into BLW, and as humphrey says, it's not really a new thing, it's just quite popular at the moment.

We did it... it was great (if a bit messy) and people are stunned that DD (2) will tuck into curries and all sorts now!

FWIW I think the chewing thing is rubbish because they don't chew baby rice, do they?!

NHS also recommends finger foods too

I'm now trying to imagine the meeting with dietician.

Dietician - these are the foods you should not give your baby: honey not before 1yo, nuts because they might choke (but fine in peanut butter, in cake etc), not cow's milk before 1yo as a drink but ok as ingredient. For dairy keep everything full fat until 2yo yadda yadda yadda

OP - but I need to know about the blw

Dietician - same as pureeing... Except you don't purée the food.

OP - thanks for your help, bye!

Just tell the HV that you are doing the puree thing and then do what you want at home.

This does sounds like a waste of money referring you to the dietician.

what utter rubbish! how do you chew on a puree? surely you get MORE opportunity to chew via BLW?

What a waste of a dietician's time.

In my area the closest thing I got to a weaning information session was a leaflet I picked up at the GPs. You don't sound stupid, do some research and do what feels right for you and your baby.

What rubbish. BLW babies get far more opportunity to chew, as people have said.

The idea that babies are ready to start solid food at the point at which they're capable of picking it up and eating it is behind the NHS recommendations about the signs of readiness for solids before 6 months. As I understood it, the guidelines are based on research evidence collated by WHO. So I would say that BLW does have an evidence base.

I think pookamoo is right when she says HVs just don't know/understand it. At DS's 10 month check I told them we did BLW and he ate the same as us. She then asked me if he ate lumps and if he ate finger food. Well, durr...

I never got invited to a weaning session by our HVs.

(And BLW is great. I stress less about what my 12 m.o. DS eats than any of my pureeing friends, even when he's being fussy.)