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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

BLW gurus..... Advice please!

13 replies

hodgiebreeder · 10/04/2012 13:23

Hi all! Would really appreciate your advice/general reassurance about this..... DS is now 24 weeks and we have recently started a spot of BLW. After numerous plate thefts and one epic open mouthed 'launch' from bumbo in the general direction of food, I'm assuming he's 'ready'.

I know, I know.... You are not supposed to help them to eat BUT....

He can happily get stuff to his mouth but seems to lack the dexterity to keep hold of it while he munches. He invariably gets it to his mouth, takes one suck and then drops it (cue general fury and frustration on his part).

As it's such early days, I took pity on him and have started holding things for him. He can then hold my hand and guide it to his mouth as and when he wants to chew. I've also loaded a few spoons which he also seems to manage (although he tends to drop the spoon after emptying it). I guess what I'm asking is, do you think by doing this he will never develop the skills/inclination to do it himself. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Am I just being stupidly impatient..... Probably :)

OP posts:

WifiNappies · 10/04/2012 13:51

Glad you asked this. My DD is 26wks and we started BLW a few days ago. She has exactly the same wrt getting it in her mouth and general frustration. My DH continually takes pity on her and guides it in, which I'm finding frustrating as I worry she won't learn, but I can see why he does it iyswim

We are stuck in France atm and I have no books or ability to view YouTube videos, I'm frightened we are doing it all wrong.

Katiebeau · 10/04/2012 13:55

BLW was just becoming fashionable when I weaned DD now just 3. I used spoons. She doesn't need me to feed her, hasn't really for more than 2 years. Of course they learn even if you help them a little to start with.

FredFredGeorge · 10/04/2012 14:00

When they're starting to walk - will you hold their hand whilst they start stepping? Or just stand them up and tell them to walk across the room?

Loading spoons, helping out with things which are dropped / difficult to pick up won't change anything. Don't encourage them to eat (with airplanes or other games), or push stuff into their mouths - as that's not them choosing to eat, but helping them with the dexterity required on difficult foods. If baby really couldn't get anything from tray, to hand, to mouth - then I'd question if they were really ready. But if it's just some tricky foods to handle, well help 'em out a bit. They'll soon get the hang of things, especially if you don't help them out too much 'cos you're busy eating your food.

ShowMethePony · 10/04/2012 14:01

I would agree with the impatient thing tbh. My ds was 15 months before he really started eating 'properly'. A lot of stuff got tasted and dropped before then.

Are you giving milk before solids, so they aren't screaming hungry and then the food is more about just experimenting and playing with textures and tastes. It is totally normal to take one bite and not get that there is more food inside their fist if they could open it. This comes with time.

If its slipping out of their grasp a crinkle cutter (got mine for a quid off Amazon) makes things easier to grip. Also roasting veg gives it a bit more surface to hold onto - you can roast virtually everything.

As far as I remember the Ready signs are that they can get objects into their mouths themselves (not interest in food as they are actually interested in everything around them, especially stuff that you are interested in) so you may just need to wait a few weeks. Sorry, I know its very exciting to get started but they will get there, even ds did.

FairyPenguin · 10/04/2012 14:04

My son was the same and he eats very well now (age 2!) so don't worry about helping him. Try giving banana but with skin left on to hold on to. Long strips of steak - he chewed on these and sucked all the goodness out, but not able to bite through the meat so didn't choke. Same with chicken drumsticks (take out the sharp bone). Philadelphia on strips of toasted bagel - again too chewy for them to break through easily. Houmous on bagel or toast. Sorry I can't remember any more but those were my son's favourites! Good luck and enjoy!

FairyPenguin · 10/04/2012 14:09

Sorry meant to say at that age, my son was happiest just sucking food and getting flavour out of things, hence my suggestions! It gave him a chance to get used to flavours and food before learning to chew properly and moving food from front to back of mouth without choking.

There then came a point where he couldn't get the food in quick enough so we did a mixture of BLW and some spoon-feeding (say 1 meal spoon fed a day).

My daughter was spoon fed with purées and she is a much more fussy eater. Don't know if the two are linked but my son is by far the better eater!

FairyPenguin · 10/04/2012 14:10

Corn on the cob! Now that was probably the biggest hit!

OneLittleBabyTerror · 10/04/2012 15:51

I didn't help DD at all, but then maybe I am a mean mother! However DD was very dexterous at 6mo, and have been stuffing things in her mouth for a long time before we started weaning. Also I was making special finger food at the beginning so she has food that's easy to handle - toast, rice cakes, meat patties, crinkle cut roasted root veg, fruit with skin on (she was very good at not gagging). BTW, she didn't manage bananas until much later. It's very slippery. Pears, apples and plums are all much easier.

OneLittleBabyTerror · 10/04/2012 15:52

Also I started at 26wo. Maybe 2 weeks could make a difference in their ability to pick up food and aim for the mouth too?

Flisspaps · 10/04/2012 15:55

Sounds normal to me - part of the whole weaning process is about learning how to get food into the mouth and stay there long enough for it to be eaten :)

lilbreeze · 10/04/2012 15:59

I weaned with purees first time round, and planned to do "proper" BLW second time round. However DD2's motor skills weren't great at 6 months and so I ended up pretty much feeding her, but not using purees at all. Worked absolutely fine, although she actually wasn't interested in food at all until 8 months, so try not to get impatient if that happens to you!

Original poster

hodgiebreeder · 10/04/2012 18:14

Thanks everyone! I think I need a new mantra...... Must be patient...... Must be patient

Will make it my mission to but out and let DS take things at his own pace. If that means nothing stays in his mouth for the time being there's always milk!!! Might have to help him occasionally though as I keep eating his leftovers which really won't help the diet

OP posts:

Flisspaps · 10/04/2012 21:07

hodgie That's the spirit. Until 12mo his main food source should be milk anyway, pretty much anything else at the moment is a bonus!

To be honest, you'll probably find that until he gets to about 8mo seemingly very little goes in, and then at 10mo he stops eating very much again!

You might find that you're better off doing yourself a normal portion of whatever it is, and then letting him have it off your plate (no bloody leftovers then!)

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