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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

Am I the only one who thinks baby led weaning is a stupid idea?

388 replies

chocablock · 11/11/2011 10:30

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/mar/14/familyandrelationships

It seems as if everyone is doing BLW apart from me. What happened to the tried and tested traditional mashing up your baby's food and feeding it to them with a spoon? OK maybe let them play around with their own spoon a bit to get into practise but basically make sure they eat the food!!!Is there anyone else who thinks blw is new fangled stupidity? Or am I just a voice in the wildreness and hopelessly old fashioned?? :)

OP posts:

ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets · 20/11/2011 01:36

I've read everything on this thread(it's really looong!) and have to say I'm still not sure which way to go with it. I'll probably sit on the fence and do a bit of everything as per!
I won't be taking any advice from my dad though....yesterday he told me to mash a potato with milk and put it into DDs bottle. He's 12 weeks old!
Followed by long argument conversation about "thats what my mother did".

ChippingInNeedsSleep · 20/11/2011 09:37

ICan I take it you wont be leaving him alone with the wee one for quite some time!!

Original poster

chocablock · 20/11/2011 17:18

Am I argumentative? I guess I am a bit:) Interesting to read all the ideas on this thread. Each parent does what works for their child (and i am sure it does work for some babies) but to me blw = choking hazard, extra mess and nutrition issues. Not worth it.

OP posts:

AitchTwoOh · 20/11/2011 20:06

so we are agreed that it is not a stupid idea, then? rather it is an idea that, because of your unshakeable prejudice in the face of numerous of your peers telling you that it does not = a choking hazard, extra mess and nutrition issues, is not for you?

in that case, we are in total agreement.

ChippingInNeedsSleep · 20/11/2011 20:26

Aitch I was trying to work out how to word that and you did it for me!

choceyes · 21/11/2011 10:41

BLW is extra mess though, especially when you are out and about. I still have to pick up food from the floor , wipe clean the high chair everytime we eat out. I am slightly envious when I see other mums calmly spoonfeeding their LOs mashed up food and only have to wipe the faces once they've finished! And the number of times I've wished my DCs would accept being fed by a spoon when we are in a train, rather than throwing food everywhere and people giving me dirty looks.

Don't agree with you on the choking though. My DS never choked or gagged. My DD did, but as it was just gagging I knew she wouldn't come to any harm.

There was an article in one of the baby magazines, which did say that research found that BLW babies are not getting as much nutrition as spoon fed babies. But I guess babies do vary and some BLW babies eat better than others. I was suspicious of that article though (i think it was in Mother and Baby), it could have been funded my baby food manufactures for all we know.

AitchTwoOh · 21/11/2011 12:17

i know for a fact that the magazines are dead against BLW getting a fair airing, have spoken to many journos about it, contributed to articles, seen what the journo filed and then been at what turned up. no ads in BLW, it's a big problem for the mags.

re the mess, i personally think we just get that bit over with quicker, and when they are cuter too. a child has to learn how to manipulate food some time, and while they are learning they will drop it.

Furminator · 21/11/2011 12:50

I did more 'blw' with my third child than either of my others and she is without a doubt the most fussy of them all

sheeplikessleep · 21/11/2011 13:18

choc - to me, the mess at the end of the meal is a small price to 'pay' for us all being able to eat at the same time. nutrition issues and choking issues i don't buy.

Original poster

chocablock · 21/11/2011 13:48

Aitch 'numerous of my peers' have not been disagreeing with me. Some people on this thread have been disagreeing with me, many are undecided or agree with me to a certain extent and others appear to be wholeheartedly on my side! On balance more people have disagreed with me but that is only to be expected as my original post would have made all the die hard blweaners respond in indignation. I don't care how people feed their babies as it is up to them to do what works, and as I have already said it is clear blw does work for some. What I object to is the blw thing being pushed as the next latest craze which (whatever others say) does have implications for nutrition and does carry a choking hazard. I have talked to other mums (not on MN, in real life) who have had blw shoved at them by their health visitor and have felt they had to try it and have found it a disaster for reasons I have already stated.

OP posts:

AitchTwoOh · 21/11/2011 14:34

ye gods, what about the mothers who get puree 'shoved at them' by health visitors (this is vastly the majority experience) and who find that a disaster? their existence must prove that 'trad' weaning is 'a stupid idea', mustn't it?

what's that you say? it doesn't? and in fact to suggest such a thing is a bit stupid in itself? weeeeeell...

choceyes · 21/11/2011 16:02

choc - to me, the mess at the end of the meal is a small price to 'pay' for us all being able to eat at the same time.

My friends who spoon fed their kids ate at the same time too, but with much less mess! Eating together is not just unique to baby led weaners. They spoon fed and then let them eat with their own cutlery or fingers while they finish their own food...which is what I sometimes do with DD.

Don't get me wrong. I love BLW and I don't like seeing babies being spoonfed against their will (and I have seen this with a couple of friends...they put on the TV, distract the baby with toys etc so they are focused on something else whilst trying to shove in food through tightly closed lips..was so hard to watch), but I guess what I am saying is that for me BLW hasn't meant my DS has eaten any better than anyone else, and that there's nothing wrong in spoon feeding a willing baby.
Actually if I am honest, I love spoon feeding my DD when she lets me. She looks so cute opening her mouth like a little bird! And when she's had enough, she grabs the spoon and throws it away and grabs the food herself or uses her own spoon to eat!

sheeplikessleep · 21/11/2011 17:07

ok, so traditional puree feeders can eat at the same time. BUT, you still have to put your food to one side for a little while whilst you spoon feed (in between feeding yourself) and multi-task the two.

i guess it's not just the eating together thing. but the thing i love is being able to just leave them to get on with it, whilst i enjoy my meal and not have to multi-task the two .

anyways.

exoticfruits · 21/11/2011 17:12

Its not exactly difficult to feed while eating!

sheeplikessleep · 21/11/2011 17:20

i'm not saying it's difficult. i'm saying it's less multi-tasking. maybe i'm a male in a females body

exoticfruits · 21/11/2011 17:28

You just offer them a spoonful, they need time to swallow. If you hand them a spoon they are likely to try or they dip their hands in and use them. You can eat yourself and be relaxed.

AitchTwoOh · 21/11/2011 17:30

so if they can do it by themselves why do it for them? that's the bit i don't get, i think. totally get it under the old weaning guidelines, but not now. self-feeding is just another developmental stage, 94% of babies are at that stage by six months... why not just let them do what they are capable of doing?

exoticfruits · 21/11/2011 17:33

When you are learning it is nice to have a bit of help-not just say 'get on with it'. I think that applies to anything.

sheeplikessleep · 21/11/2011 17:45

They learn by observing and copying. I personally think I helped DS2 more by letting him experiment, hold foods and manage it all himself. I don't think spoon feeding is teaching them quite as much as early.

sheeplikessleep · 21/11/2011 17:46

spoon feeding them.
to elaborate, i think spoon feeding is a more gradual process, from a baby learning point of view.

exoticfruits · 21/11/2011 17:52

It isn't either or-you can do both!

AitchTwoOh · 21/11/2011 17:57

actually i am very much of the 'get on with it' school. never did all that tedious zombie walking round with my children's arms in the air stuff either to 'help' my children to walk. they walked then they pulled themselves up and did it, not because i fiddled around after them. likewise hopping, jumping, waving goodbye, all those other developmental milestones. i was encouraging, deffo, but disinclined to intervene. it's just not my thing.

exoticfruits · 21/11/2011 19:09

It is my thing!

choceyes · 21/11/2011 21:59

I didn't realise anyone intervened and tried to get their babies walking, jumping etc. They all do it when they are ready don't they?
My DS certainly was miles ahead with his self feeding as I never spoon fed him, but all his spoonfed peers had caught up with him by about 12-18 months and self feeding themselves by hand or by spoon just as well as him. They all do it one day, whether it is at 6 months or 18 months.

the reason why I spoon feed my DD sometimes is that

to get the meal over quicker, as with a toddler at the table too, meal times are over quickly, especially when it's just me with both of them. I don't have the luxury of allowing DD to explore and expriment as much I did with DS and I feel that it would be unfair for me to not offer to feed her myself if I wasn't letting her have her time.
She does't pick up loaded spoons like DS did. If I put something on a spoon I have to feed it to her.
And I do loaded spoons as if we have something like rice and curry, she will only ever eat the rice part left to her own devices (and I know in the Gil Rapley book she says babies eat what their bodies need but I refuse to believe that her body only wants plain white rice which is low in nutrients). So I have to mix the meal in and feed her.

AitchTwoOh · 22/11/2011 09:35

totally agree with second child that you sometimes don't have the luxury of time, that's what i experienced too. however, dd2 really didn't like being rushed and wasn't much of a spoon-user either so i guess i just made sure that she'd chowed down her body weight in carrot or whatever when she was snacking. and i was pretty trusting on the 'milk will take care of it' front, but then mine loved their milk. it's down to the parent at the end of the day, no book knows your child, as i've said before on this thread.

and oh yeah i've deffo seen people doing all that holding babies between their legs, with the kids' arms in the air to 'help' them walk. seems just to give the parents a sore back and they moan about it two minutes in... so why do it? but still they do...

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