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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

Can you do BLW with a FF baby?

21 replies

NapaCab · 22/02/2012 23:40

My DS is 19 weeks and so I'm starting to inform myself about weaning options for when he hits 6 months / is ready. So far, what I've read about BLW is interesting and I've ordered Gill Rapley's book from amazon based on recommendations here on MN. My DS is a feisty little fella and wants to do everything himself (even grabs at the bottle to try and feed himself if I'd let him!) so I have a feeling BLW would suit his personality more.

The thing is that BLW seems to goes hand-in-hand with exclusive breastfeeding and no-one mentions it as an option for FF babies. I've ended up formula-feeding my DS (not my preference but just wound up that way after 8 weeks of struggles and mixed feeding etc): can we still opt for BLW? Does anyone have experience of BLW with a FF baby?

OP posts:

TheNewandImprovedMrsHollywood · 22/02/2012 23:45

For what reason might BLW not be compatible with FF?

Personally, I can't see any connection. Admittedly, I haven't done either so am not speaking from experience but I just can't think of any reason why the way your baby gets milk should affect the way he has food!!

If you want to do BLW, then do it and I'm sure both you and your baby will enjoy it.

Chinateacup · 22/02/2012 23:46

Watching with interest. I have mixed fed and it never even crossed my mind to wonder whether this would make a difference to weaning

DaenerysTargaryenButCallMeDany · 22/02/2012 23:48

my dd is ff and we are just about to start BLW tomorrow as I bought her highchair today

I'd never thought about it tbh, i'm sure its fine :)

blackoutthesun · 22/02/2012 23:48

of course you can op

TheNewandImprovedMrsHollywood · 22/02/2012 23:50

I would also like to add I didn't find BLW the natural partner to EBF. I EBF both of mine and have happily puréed and spoon fed my way through the weaning phase. BLW is very popular on here and if you think it is the best option for you and your baby, then it probably is.

Original poster

NapaCab · 22/02/2012 23:51

I don't know New - that what I'm asking in my post!

None of the people opting for BLW seem to have formula-fed. I don't know if this is because it's just the people / info I've come across or because it's harder to do if a baby's been FF and is used to getting x mls per feed and being fed or whatever.

Answers on a postcard please...

OP posts:

thisonehasalittlecar · 22/02/2012 23:51

I think the mum who started this forum ff'ed; anyway, it's got lots of good advice and recipes.

bananarama05 · 22/02/2012 23:57

I FF dd in the end too and have done a mixture of puree's and BLW with no problems.

She is now 9 months and is having the same food as us cut into small pieces on a daily basis.

I'd say go with what you feel is right and you'll soon know if she's not happy with it! My friends son is the same age and still gags at lumpy food, they're all different and ultimately what you think they'll like/want is generally the complete opposite to what you end up doing...or maybe that's just my stubborn dd :)

Original poster

NapaCab · 23/02/2012 00:06

That's great, thisone - I'll bookmark that page to get some more info and recipes while I wait for the Gill Rapley book to arrive

Good to hear BLW worked for your DD, bananarama - it does feel right for him to go with BLW rather than purees etc. He is a very curious kid and will pick up and chew anything at the moment if you let him whereas, for example, when I've tried to give him Calpol after his inoculations, he just refuses the spoon and pushes it out of his mouth. I'm hoping he might enjoy BLW - fingers crossed!

I was just worried I'd burnt my bridges on the whole healthy nutritional diet stuff by FF-ing - nothing against anyone who actively chooses it obviously but I'd just been feeling a bit guilty about not having EBF up to now.

OP posts:

thisonehasalittlecar · 23/02/2012 00:12

In fact she's written a post about it here. Seems she was similarly frustrated about the lack of info about ff and blw and that's why she started the site.

bananarama05 · 23/02/2012 00:16

Sorry meant he, that'll be me posting on my phone and being too lazy to scroll back up and check!

The thing I found with BLW is remembering they'll only actually 'eat' tiny little amounts to start with. The majority of their nutritional needs are still being met by milk and their coordination, or lack of, means most stuff ends up on the floor but you have to try and not stress about it!

Gill rapley's BLW cookbook has some fab recipes in. I'm not sure what websites been linked to upthread but MN's own Aitch's BLW website has some good bits on and some interesting article type bits on not stressing over FF'ing.

bananarama05 · 23/02/2012 00:19

Just looked at the link, yep that'll be the same website I was thinking of, thank you thisone for being far less lazy than me and doing a proper link!

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 23/02/2012 00:28

gosh i am so CROSS there, amn't I? and absofarkinglutely it was one of the reasons i started blogging about BLW.

read down, btw, you'll see Gill herself says there's no reason not to so far as she can make out. i found blw very healing, btw, and a right laugh. (and as i always tell people thinking of doing it, if it's not fun, do something else anyway. plenty of different ways of weaning, this is just one of 'em).

Original poster

NapaCab · 23/02/2012 01:34

Wow, Aitch, it's like a breath of fresh air reading your honest take on things rant about the shame of FF and the annoying caveats and dubious remarks you read about FF-ers all the time when you consult health literature!! It made me laugh and cheered me up. That attitude where people seem to assume that an FF-ing parent is automatically going to be weaning their baby onto pureed turkey twirlers washed down with a sippy cup of Coke ... like we're either illiterate or extremely stupid and have thus managed to miss out on 30+ years of public health education that breast is best etc etc.. 'No, no, I WANT to feed my baby the industrially produced fake powder made up in a plastic bottle, thanks'...

I've bookmarked your blog now. Thanks so much! It's so encouraging to see that others have had the same struggles and made it all work in the end !

OP posts:

FredFredGeorge · 23/02/2012 08:17

I think the only reason why it might be different for FF is that they have had an opportunity to both see and to more of an extent control exactly how much the baby eats, so the complete lack of knowledge about how much the baby has actually eating requires a different mindset.

When BF there's no way to know and you've already learnt to accept that so are less likely to want to control or force feed, or limit how much the baby eats.

BikeRunSki · 23/02/2012 08:22

Of course! I did with DS, and intend to with DD in 6 weeks time

flowery · 23/02/2012 08:25

I did BLW with my two who were both ff. Didn't occur to me to think I might not be able to tbh

BikeRunSki · 23/02/2012 08:32

I very much agree with the sentiment that BLW is a healing process for mums who wanted to BF but didn't for whatever reason.

As for the mindset of FF mums being used to knowing exactly how much their baby eats in milk feeds - true, but that does not mean that we know it is the right amount. And that does not mean that just because we know our DC are used to 6oz of milk, or whatever, then we know or not how this crosses over to solids.

I found BLW brilliant, and started at 6 months, so DS could eat pretty much everything (not soft eggs or honey). Day 1 was steamed veg, by Day 3 he grabed a bit of my tuna bagette a crusty granary roll anf happily gnashed down on that!

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 23/02/2012 08:32

ime, though, fredfredgeorge, ffers who are interested in blw are a pretty self-selecting group, in that what they want more than anything else is to respond to their babies' cues. it's perfectly, perfectly possible to ff on demand (and if you are anything like me it's perfectly possible to do it for months without ever having a clue how many mls they are getting. much to the HV's confusion, in my case. )
there is a HUGE part of the BLW Venn diagram that is 'disappointed would-be bfers'. that post of mine (the ranty one ) gets more hits than any other non-basic part of the site, and although there are only 67 comments now, back before the server exploded and we lost everythign, there were hundreds.

FredFredGeorge · 23/02/2012 08:41

Yep Aitch... I was just trying to imagine the only difference, and ebf can't know how much (although I remember MIL saying something about how she was recommended 20 minutes on Left, 20 minutes on Right every time) so the only people who might find blw different would be those who did measure every single thing.

I've never understood the idea of measuring how much anyway - how much you eat on a particular day depends on so many things - why would it be different for a baby.

(DD has just decided to throw the booster cushion of her antilop on the floor and is now slouched back taking the bib off, so I think she's probably done and I should really go clear up...)

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 23/02/2012 08:48

lol, fred. god i am glad the days of highchairs are over for us...
there is another take on it, i suppose, wherein if you've been ffing on demand you're probably quite used to tossing milk, so maybe you won't be freaking out about waste? (mind you, again re self-selecting, blwers tend not to be the freaking out kind.)

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