Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

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

BLW at 23 weeks

14 replies

benne81 · 17/02/2012 19:42

I'm keen to get going with weaning and also keen to do BLW. I have a 23 week old boy who is strong and has good head control. Is it possible to do BLW at this age?

I like the idea of BLW but I'm not going to be fanatical and I am keen to do a mix with pureed. Do you think it's best to start with pureed and then move on to BLW in a few weeks? Does anyone have an experience with early BLW? What should I be starting with?

OP posts:
Gumby · 17/02/2012 19:43

I'd wait until 6 months tbh

then try him with a carrot baton, and see if he wants to knaw on it

AnaisB · 17/02/2012 19:49

We gave DD a strawberry just before 5 months and went from there with a mixture of purees and finger food (which she managed without a problem). Twenty-three weeks is pretty early.

vj32 · 17/02/2012 20:15

We did a a week or so of purees then a mix of finger food and mashed food from about 22 weeks. But ds showed all the NHS signs of being ready. He could just pick up food and eat it.

AvaMaria · 17/02/2012 20:18

I want to try blw with dd2 she is 22 weeks, I think it'll be easier to manage as I have a toddler of 2.7 as well, well I hope it'll be easier than spoon feeding and pureeing.

I have a book on it that I got from amazon, if you are interested I'll post title. I think if you are doing blw, then really you can't do a mix of spoon feeding as, according to the book I have, they are better at feeding themselves if you just stick to letting them do that. Though nothing to stop you spoon-feeding too, if that's what you want to do.

I have tried dd with toast and a bread stick this week and she has had a litle suck on both of them. I also ordered from amazon a net that you can put food into and baby sucks on it. It has mixed reviews but my hv recommended so I thought I'd try it.

I think tomorrow I will try maybe some carrot batons. In the book it says if they are not sitting securely upright, and my dd isn't yet, to have them on your knee at this stage and include them in your meals, making sure they are not hunGry and have recently had milk.

Good luck! It does seems a much slower process starting this way

Flisspaps · 17/02/2012 20:25

6 months is a guideline. There isn't a magic switch that goes off dead on 26 weeks (and you're only 3 weeks earlier than that) so if he's showing all the signs of readiness, then I'd go for it - the idea is that it is baby led after all. I wouldn't bother with carrot batons unless that's what you happen to be eating - if he tried to take some of what you're having, let him tuck in!

We started at about 23 weeks and had the thumbs up from the HV to do it then (one of the few sensible pieces of advice she gave us).

BTW, mixing BLW and puree is really just normal weaning Wink BLW really should be better phrased as 'Exclusive Self Feeding' (nicked that one from Aitch) :)

AnaisB · 17/02/2012 20:36

By the way, ignore my "23 weeks is pretty early." I was working on there being 6 weeks in a month.Grin

OneLittleBabyGirl · 17/02/2012 21:36

Like flissaps say what you are saying is you will do traditional weaning. It's purees with finger foods. BLW has a very specific meaning and the purees can only be given with a preloaded spoon.

And I don't like the term anyway as its not very clear what it means at all. Exclusive self feeding is much better. I use self feeding to describe my DD too. Everyone understands what that means (I mean those who aren't up with current mum lingo).

And a year is 52 weeks exactly so 26 weeks is 6 months.

Original poster
benne81 · 18/02/2012 07:48

Thanks for all your answers, I think I'm going to give it a go. I don't know why I am finding it all so confusing! So BLW needs to be exclusive to have the benefits?

I have ordered the BLW cookbook from amazon to give me some ideas but in the meantime can people tell me what they started with - does he literally eat what we eat - ahhh so confusing! Sorry

OP posts:
brandysoakedbitch · 18/02/2012 08:01

I have managed to not kill four children with a bit of a mix between normal weaning and blw (it was just giving them things to try in my day) - 23 weeks is not too early. I have always given them things off my plate, a bit of potato or a cooked bit of veg or something. And no it does not have to be exclusive to have the benefits (whatever they are meant to be) - I have 4 children that all eat widely and well are not fussy and can eat nicely with knives and forks (the older ones anyway) - I think people worry about it all too much, it is all common sense really.

ElliottsMummy · 18/02/2012 08:06

We started with veg/fruit, cheese, meat, rusks etc. 3/4 different things each "meal" just to get him used to picking things up and getting them to his mouth. Eating what we eat happened a bit later for us. Just enjoy introducing your baby to new tastes and textures - I found the whole process great fun and am looking forward to doing it with my 2nd in 6 weeks time!!

OneLittleBabyGirl · 18/02/2012 08:20

You can also have a look at babyledweaning.com

I don't buy the supposedly benefits of BLW. We went down that path after 2 weeks trying to feed my DD various fruit and root veg purees. She would either grab my spoon and fling the purees across the room, or turn her head away. People who aren't familiar with BLW, like my mum, would say I need to persist with a spoon because DD was not ready with solids (we started at 24 weeks). My HV told me about BLW and DD got it immediately and was stuffing everything I put on the highchair tray into her mouth.

In traditional weaning you would give finger foods after your LO is established with the spoon. You usually go smooth purees, then lumpy mush and finger foods. You feed them so to make sure they eat s certain amount. The finger foods are extras, for teaching them self feeding. It's a perfectly good way to weaning if you don't have a 6mo who insists on feeding herself.

I think I am not evangelical about BLW because I was going to do annabel karmel Smile

Flisspaps · 18/02/2012 08:28

I don't think there are any benefits of BLW over traditional weaning (or the other way round) for baby - the benefits as we saw them were simply no spoons to wash up, no pureeing or mashing to do and we got to eat our own meal hot at the same time.

Both methods are equally 'beneficial' for baby, it's just one way suits some and the other way suits others.

Definitely take a look at that website though Smile

paranoid2android · 18/02/2012 11:17

For BLW the baby has to sit up properly with little or no support (it's not just about head control), can your baby sit?
mine can't so I'm waiting, and will probably end up going longer than 26 weeks, I have to remind myself that there's no rush to start, and would rather wait till she's sitting really well so there's less danger of choking.

Original poster
benne81 · 18/02/2012 15:44

Hi everyone thanks again for the advice, my son is sitting up and is quite strong with good head control, he is able to grab things so I'm pretty happy to start weaning him and as of tomorrow will start BLW (but maybe with a bit of pureed as well!) thanks everyone

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread