Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Traditional VS BLW - What do you do?

29 replies

Dozeyland · 12/03/2011 18:00

Going to wean my DD at around 6mo, i wanted to start purees, then finger foods/BLW.

What did you start with?

OP posts:
ragged · 12/03/2011 18:08

er, about how you describe. I don't understand why people make a big deal out of weaning. How can some people be so philosophical or evangelical about it? It's not a religion or even rocket science. :)

Original poster
Dozeyland · 12/03/2011 18:11

How do i describe?

OP posts:
Flisspaps · 12/03/2011 18:12

BLW (not that you could tell from my replies to your other thread Wink)

Jojay · 12/03/2011 18:18

BLW all the way

Flossie69 · 12/03/2011 22:44

I think what ragged means is just start with some purees, then once your LO is happy with these, give some finger foods. Many on here are evangelical about the BLW, but my DD, for example, wanted more food than she would have got into herself, before her coordination was developed enough to feed herself. She is surely making up for it now, at almost 10 months, and when feeding her with a spoon, it was only every as much as she wanted.

ChunkyPickle · 12/03/2011 23:00

We started with mashed banana/potato/other similar stuff, then when he got the hang of that (about a week.. he's a little guzzler) started giving him the banana in bit-sized lumps/other soft slightly lumpy stuff.

I give him food to hold, but not much makes it in (especially since without teeth all he can do is gum at it), and that leads to a very annoyed child!

Much like Flossie, my little guy's appetite is well ahead of his ability to get food into his mouth and chew it so feel fine about popping lumps of mash and spoonfuls of spaghetti bolognese in for him (no forcing, he still only eats what he wants, I just make it available)

blackcurrants · 12/03/2011 23:54

BLW, started around 26 weeks DS has only just (32 weeks) really started shovelling it in. Lots of food goes on the floor, and I never know from one meal to the next how much he's going to want to eat.

That said, I friggin LOVE that I've never pureed, mashed, steamed, or spooned in a single thing. I'm lazy and DH and I cook everything for us from scratch, therefore it's easy to just cut out the salt and not have to worry about "what will DS eat" - therefore I love BLW!

NotaMopsa · 12/03/2011 23:56

bit of both - i find blw (hate the phrase) too stressy

FunnysInTheGarden · 13/03/2011 00:01

bit of both here too. DS2 is just one and he had weetabix for breakfast, sandwiches and baby crisps for lunch, and puree for dinner. Depends what is easier at the time. DS2 love to eat normal food.

Basically if we haven't the time or are out, we give him stuff to eat himself, if not he has a mashed up meal.

Don't stress it honestly

emmylou157 · 13/03/2011 00:04

I did mainly purees but then give her carrot sticks/bits of toast and rice cakes etc. If I tried blw she would never eat anything only a tiny bit goes in I find most of it mushed up in her highchair. I know people who have done blw and their kids eat really well. Just see what suits your little one.

ragged · 13/03/2011 13:52

Exactly Flossie :).
Just try this, try that. see what suits you both. It really doesn't have to be a "big" decision.

hermioneweasley · 13/03/2011 13:58

BLW from 6 months. never pureed a thing in my life. Was out this weekend with DD eating her pieces of pasta without any assistance (allowing me to trough eat nicely while food was still hot, and stressed BIL and SIL desperately spoon feeding DNiece i did feel very happy with the decision. not mine at all BTW - DP insisted (she is v wise).

Original poster
Dozeyland · 13/03/2011 15:29

I'm not stressing :-)

Just like to see peoples experiences. I am trying
Going to start pureeing soon, then finger foods, and blw.
See how DD gets on. All down to her.

I actually look forward to pureeing :)

Thanks for replies ladies

OP posts:
ladysybil · 13/03/2011 15:32

i did pureess for my kids, although dc3 refused purees and went straight onto finger foods after one week
I did blw with dniece. not on purpose, it jsut happened. she was exclusively breastfed and we were staying at our parents. at meal times she would sit on my lap and i fed her bits from my plate, and by the end of the month she was actually consuming stuff. worked beautifully :)

Icoulddoitbetter · 13/03/2011 15:50

I did BLW. My DS didn't seem to get frustrated about how much he was able to eat, and I didn't stress about how much he did eat, so it worked well for us. It def makes life easier, just giving your baby what you're having, and knowing that usually it'll get eaten. There were times though when we ate out that I kind of envied my friends whose babies sat nicely in the highchair having food shovelled in, whilst mine chucked stuff all over the floor!!! But, I think there's alot to be said for your child having "normal" tastes and textures from the start. If there's no history of allergies, a 6 mo can eat most things, and mine would!

Now DS is 17 months he'll eat pretty much anything. He still uses his hands a lot of the time, though is getting pretty good with a spoon and fork too. There seems to be a bit of a myth that spoons are not allowed with BLW, which is rubbish. In the early days, I put runny stuff on a spoon (yoghurt, porridge etc) and he popped the spoon into his mouth. nowadays I do sometimes spoon it in for him if he decides he's going to have a good play with his dinner. I'd never try and persuade him to have more if he didn't want it, but he'll just open his mouth for me. I reckon it's laziness!!! If he's had enough, he shakes his head.

Oh and get the Ikea Antilop high chair, it's fab, and v cheap.

Good luck Smile

theborrower · 13/03/2011 20:54

I've no idea what you would call our approach - I'm just giving her food in the way that feels most natural for both of us :)

We give her mashed food on loaded spoons that she takes from us and feeds herself. She also gets a good mix of finger foods like rice cakes, toast fingers, sandwiches, chunks of cheese, strips of cucumber etc.

Don't know if that's BLW or not, but I do find that phrase annoying.

And yes, the IKEA antilop highchair is great - compact, cheap and VERY easy to clean!

RitaMorgan · 13/03/2011 23:20

I mash and spoonfeed some things, but ds also feeds himself stuff.

I don't think you can really start with purees and finger foods and then progress to BLW - you either do BLW or you don't.

monkeyjamtart · 15/03/2011 21:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

babybouncer · 15/03/2011 21:23

I hadn't heard of BLW when I started weaning, but DS refused purees and spoons, so I tried it and loved it (both me and him!).

A few people I know tried it and it worked differently for each of them - some supplemented with purees, some of their kids began eating earlier, some totally switched to purees. It really depends on what the child and parent are like.

Last weekend I visited a friend and helped her to spoonfeed her LO, but I actually found it very difficult, although the child made it much easier than my son ever did.

My advice to anyone starting weaning would be to find out what works best for their family, because doing it the 'wrong' way for you will be much more difficult!

InspirationalBreadbin · 16/03/2011 08:33

Traditional. Spoonfed purees and offer finger food as well. DS is a very good eater and non-fussy.

Justalittleblackraincloud · 16/03/2011 08:52

We did BLW here, and have all loved it. Will definitely do it next time around.

Takes a little while to get going, but you just have to have a relaxed attitude. And don't panic that other babies the same age are on 3 x 2 course meals per day and yours is just thorough enjoying playing with some food!

The tides soon turn, and suddenly all the mums who were proudly talking about how much puree their little ones were eating at 6 months, are asking your advice on how to get them to eat finger food!

DD is now 19 months old, and will eat pretty much anything. We respect her choices and give her a fairly free rein on what she eats. Having BLW'd, I trust her to eat what she needs.

I can try new recipes & new foods, and she'll always dig in. We can eat out, and know we don't have to find somewhere with something specific on the menu.

It's been a very freeing experience, and I'm so glad I read about it before we started. As the thought of pureeing and mashing and planning was filling me with dread! The concept of BLW is much simpler.

  • Offer food if you're eating, and baby is awake
  • Food is just food, no specific "finger foods" required
  • Treat it like a big game, food is a new thing for them to explore and learn about. Just like any other aspect of their life
  • Remember they don't NEED to actually eat it until beyond 1, just keep up the milk!! Once they are ready, they will eat.
Cosmosis · 17/03/2011 17:34

blw here, ds refuses to eat purees. He seems to have an uncanny knack of knowing what is sopposed to be mushy and what isn't - ie he will eat yoghurt or homemade (thick) soup or weetabix if we offer him a loaded spoon, but not pureed veg or a bought jar of baby food.

hazeyjane · 17/03/2011 20:28

Purees with dd1 (hadn't heard of blw)

Blw with dd2

Ds only seems to be able to manage very runny purees, so have been gradually trying to thicken and make lumpier. He will suck on toast and some finger foods, so am trying to come up with new ones of those.

petisa · 20/03/2011 14:14

Does no-one find their dc makes the decision for them? Dd1 refused to be fed anything. That's how I found out about BLW (thank god!). Happy to do BLW with dd2 too, but I have tried spoon feeding her mushy things, and she clamps her mouth shut and reaches out for the spoon. Decision made for me again! Grin

ruddynorah · 20/03/2011 14:21

I did blw with both of mine. Ds is now nearly 5, ds is 16 months, so it all seems like ages ago now. I did it because of rave reports on here tbh, and aitch's blog.

I've recommended it to friends but they've all done traditional puree with finger food alongside as they found blw to stressy for them.

Swipe left for the next trending thread