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Weaning

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

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Original poster

5 years (or more) on from BLW or (not BLW) do you think it made a difference?

21 replies

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 20:38

Just wondering as it makes sense to me that children who have issues with textures might have not had them in they had been weaned on to "proper" food. But then I have also heard people say they think BLW children are more likely to be fussy. Probably becasue they aren't going to be trying as many flavours as a child on purees.

What did you do? How are your kids now? good eaters or not, do you think there was a difference between children who you fed differently?

OP posts:

Tommy · 22/08/2011 20:40

I have 3 DSs and the youngest BLWed one is far and away the best eater - he will try anything and everything.

FannyLogan · 22/08/2011 20:42

Probably becasue they aren't going to be trying as many flavours as a child on purees.

Eh? Why? DD ate everything we did.

Original poster

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 20:44

Certain foods would be choking hazards for a 6 month old when not in pureed form or just too difficult to eat

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Original poster

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 20:46

Thanks Tommy

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CMOTdibbler · 22/08/2011 20:55

Which foods Lola ? After the first week, ds really did get whatever we were eating. I have a photo of him aged 28 weeks eating steak, chips and salad (strip of steak gummed to death)
At 5, ds is a brilliant eater who will give anything a go, and there are very few things he doesn't like. He also has a very strong sense of what is enough to eat, and self regulates well

Tommy · 22/08/2011 21:20

DS3 regulates himself very well too. He never overeats and will quite often forgo pudding because he's "fulled up". Very satisfying after Mr Fussy from FussyLand DS1 who would rather go to bed hungry than try anything new and Mr Greedy DS2 whose mantra is "If it's cake, I must eat it"

FannyLogan · 22/08/2011 21:22

I have never purreed anything, and dd ate everything we did. The only things they cant have are whole nuts and honey.

LemonDifficult · 22/08/2011 21:25

4 and a half years - does that count ish? I've also got a 2yo BLW'd.

I know I sound smug but.... they are fantastic eaters. I don't mean that they eat a lot (their appetite varies) but they will try everything, mealtimes pass with zero fuss whatsoever and food has never, ever been an issue. They love olives, pickled onions, smoked salmon, etc, etc. as well as the usual marmite toast n pasta stuff.

One issue we do have though is table manners. We're beginning to find that the 4yo is eating with his hands too much, and are trying to encourage him to use knife and fork more. But I'd take that over whingey eaters any day.

bigkidsdidit · 22/08/2011 21:26

When is your cutoff for 'weaning' and new flavours? I ask because I'm not doing blw, we started with fork mash and a few purees, but at 7.5 mo DS now feeds himself everything and eats everything with us. So saying he had more flavours - are you assuming that the first month determines everything? seems a bit unlikely to me

headfairy · 22/08/2011 21:30

I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment on this as ds isn't quite 4, but I wished I'd BLW'd him. He's very fussy, particularly about textures. It's odd because he used to go to a Ugandan childminder from 8 months who (judging by the smell of his nappies afterwards) fed him lots of different flavours, lots of garlic and strong flavours. But I did give him purees and I wish I'd just chucked food at him (not literally obv) as I did with dd. She's only 19 months but is waaaay more adventurous than ds was, even at this age. Her first solid food was an apricot (stone removed) skin and all! She will eat absolutely everything. It'll be interesting to see if this continues.

mollycuddles · 22/08/2011 21:32

Ds is 13. Dd1 is 10. Dd2 is 14 months. There was no such thing as blw back in the 90s. But I did much less pureeing with dd1 than with ds who got the whole Annabel Karmel routine. Dd2 has been blw completely. She is the best eater at her stage by miles. Can't predict the future obviously but think regardless of method the more fuss surrounds food the worse for avoiding food become a big stress. Ds sensed I was too earnest re food I'm sure and we had such battles. Dd2 just eats as part of a big noisy family and nobody really notices how much she actually swallows in the middle of arguments about how rubbish Jedward are etc. She's growing and settled so she's obviously getting enough.
My advice - whatever you do just do it without any palaver.

bigkidsdidit · 22/08/2011 21:37

Interesting that the two with 2+ children on this thread say the youngest are the best eaters. Perhaps ignoring is the way to go!

headfairy · 22/08/2011 21:39

definitely bigkid everyone I know with 2+ say the younger ones are better eaters. It's a combination of being more relaxed about food and being too busy to spend hours pureeing and spooning (well it is in my case). Far easier to shove a sandwich in the direction of a hungry child :o

bumpybecky · 22/08/2011 21:49

dd1 (13) was purees cos that's wat we did back then, she east everything and loads of it (even though she's stick thin)

dd2 (11) also fed on purees fussiest now about textures (done'st really like wet food)

dd3 (6) BLW never did purees now won't eat pork / bacon / sausages (she likes pigs) and several vegetables (peppers, courgettes, mushrooms)

ds (3) also BLW but did some spoon feeding too as he yelled too much when he couldn't feed himself fast enough! he seems to like everything but randomly refuses meals he ate happily the previous time he met them. Also prefers his dinner to go cold before he eats it. Seems like a normal 3 year old....

Not sure what that tells you!

UniS · 22/08/2011 21:49

Boy is 5.5. He was kinda BLW (tho I only found teh term after it had happened) as he disliked being spoon fed and would not open his mouth for a spoon of mush. So we gave him real food, well actually he started taking it from my plate, and he got on with it.

Like most toddlers he went through a " I will not eat vegtables" period. He also went through the " I will only eat peanut butter sandwiches and sausages " period.
Now he is in a " I will probably eat what I'm given but I may take a long time over it " period.

He now eats meat, fish, pasta, rice, bread, spuds ( but doesn't like mash) Most veg including salad but not tomatoes. Bit picky on fruit, only eats what we grow, wild fruit or apples . Dislikes banana intensely . Curry, chilli, roast dinner, stir fry, omelettes etc all disappear quite happily. You know- normal food. I don't cook special kid food Can't remember when I last cooked a fish-finger or baked beans.

Original poster

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 22:30

I was only repeating the pros and cons that I have heard listed previously. Personally I couldn't care less how people feed their kids, the reason for my OP is because I want to do my best to ensure dd isn't a fussy eater. I am worried she'll be like Dh who is a pain and won't eat most veg.

Most of the bunfights threads on mumsnet are from people debating the value oftheir method of choice whilst actually doing them.
And I just think its a bit silly to say your method is best before you can back it up with results.

Currently dd,7 months- just (who has been eating for a few months now, I weaned early) is BLW with things like fruit bananas, whole peaches, cooked broccoli easy to hold and carry foods)

The purees I give her are things like carrots, peas, greenbeans... I had planned on fully using BLW but part of the benefit we recieve is 30 jars of baby food a month which I can't afford to not use.

I just want her to be a good eater as I find fussiness a pain (I ate everything, until I became a vegetarian.

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Original poster

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 22:31

oh and thank you for all the responses about how your kids eat now!

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UniS · 22/08/2011 22:48

Just remember that while she is a toddler its NORMAL to go through fussy phases. Most kids grow out of them however. I love teh explanation that I heard that disliking and refusing to eat green veg is an evolutionary protection thing. Mobile babies/ toddlers do put stuff in their mouths BUT plants they are kinda programmed to avoid to miss poisoning. Regrettably this does not extend to rabbit or sheep poo ....

Original poster

LolaRennt · 22/08/2011 22:52

unis greenbeans nah, sheep poo? yes please!

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weegiemum · 22/08/2011 23:00

Totally!

Dd1 is 11, weaned at 4 months onto purees, terrible eater, just about now (just started p7) starting to be better (removed skin from a chicken drumstick by herself yesterday!! Result!!). She was also bf to 13 months.

Ds is 9, weaned also at 4 months but more a mixture of purees and BLW (though that was just me, hadn't heard of it then) and was a great eater as a baby, went through a veg only stage at about 3-5 yrs (apart from the shellfish which he has always loved) but now eats everything apart from sandwiches! He was bf to 16 months

Dd2 is 7, totally BLW at 6-7 months. Eats anything, always has! Bf to age 2 when she (very articulatulately, always a good talker) self-weaned.

WidowWadman · 22/08/2011 23:03

Only 2 years on, my daughter is now as fussy an eater as any other child. Still will do the BLW thing with number 2, as I simply can't be arsed to puree.

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