BLW - how much food?

[fhdl34]

We started BLW when DD turned 6 months almost 3 weeks ago. I'm just wondering whether I'm giving her a big enough quantity of food to eat/play with? As an example, if we're having a sandwich for lunch, I give her a couple of cucumber sticks, approx a 1/4 slice of bread, a bit of the filling filling, a couple of chip size slices of pepper and then a small piece of fruit. She doesn't eat all this and I don't expect her to yet but is that enough? I'm just thinking that if you work on a principle that they'll eat a certain percentage of what they're given, should I be increasing the amount? I usually put some extra at all mealtimes on the edge of my plate so if she disintegrates everything I can give her more but just wondering what everyone else does? Last night we had fish and pasta so I gave her 3 pieces of penne pasta, a separate dollop of sauce and the tail piece of the fish.

That's fine

Remember food before 1 is just for fun ( will help you relax :)

I generally now give 1 year old almost same portion size and 2 1/2 year old knowing that a bit will end up on him/ floor/ table/ not eaten

If she reaches for more then you can always add a bit from yours

They don't eat a percentage of what they're given. They eat as much as they want so long as foods they can cope with have been provided. I started off with anything I could crush with the back of a spoon or swallow whole but dd now eats small pieces of meat and pasta even though she doesn't have molars. It takes a while for them to co ordinate effective chewing.

We started with fish, potato, sweet potato, bananas, avocado, pears, rice, cheese etc.

It gives the brilliant appetite control. Dd will give back a piece of chocolate when she's had enough, she doesn't eat to finish her plate or because she likes the taste.

Problem is with babies that are easily distracted. My DS is now 16mo and still throws lots of food on the floor.

I would love to know where this notion of "food before one is just for fun" comes from? Babies need to grow well during the first 2 years of life. Measures such as height and head circumference at 2yo are good measures of adult traits like height and even IQ. My DS stopped gaining weight between 7-12mo. BLW was not appropriate. He didn't make up his extra calories with more bm contrary to these websites that claim they do.

fhdl34 Just giver her some, then if she eats it all (or has eaten all of something even), then just give her some more from your plate or the fridge. Just let her decide what and how much to eat of the selection.

Thanks everyone, I know she won't eat a certain percentage, I'm not aiming for that, I was just thinking about when she's eaten/dropped/mushed up/spat out everything I've given her, I wonder if I should give her more. I guess I find it hard to gauge when she's done but we're usually at the table for about half an hour. She's only just had a tooth come through yesterday but last week she had brisket and loved it, was tearing strips off it with her very hard gums. I think as well that I'm not finding it that messy so that also made me wonder if she should be having more but I'm confident now that she has enough to play with.

I'm only basing this on DD and she was a particularly hungry baby, but she used to eat everything until she was full and then play (if there was any left). She made it very clear if she was still hungry by trying to grab our food, sucking food off her bib and screaming. (This was from just under 5 months.)

They will grow honestly even if no food passes lips as formula/ breast milk really is more calorific

Having worked abroad in paediatric areas, many cultures actually don't even introduce food until around 2 then just give food and stop milk. The children are all growing fine

( not that I actually agree with waiting this long, just highlighting that milk alone is adaqate and any extra food is a bonus)

Youngest here ( 14 months), has just eaten roast veg couscous and marinated chicken for lunch. Used a spoon and fork and tbh barely any mess at all

Calories are not the only thing that counts in a baby's diet forevergreek.

The cultures you talk about were almost certainly where water/food contamination risks are high. Just because it's the best solution for them, doesn't mean it's best for us in our society.

I tend to give a lot more than that until he is throwing it away straight away or ignoring it rather than just accidentally dropping it. You can tell when they have had enough. If I onlly gave that amount he would be banging on the table for more! A lot goes out for the animals but that's the choice when you blw.

You can tell when they have had enough. except if you have a baby that throws away food at the beginning, all the way through and at the end of the meal.

I have no problem with mess. I have a problem with waste. I have a bigger problem with babies that don't put on a single gram of weight over three months.

She's putting on weight, no worries there. I'm glad I didn't spoon feed as I'd have had to force it in, she won't even allow you to put the syringe for her vitamin drops in her mouth she has to do it herself and then I push the plunger slowly. But then she's never had a bottle and you can't force a boob into a baby's mouth so not surprising really that she wants to be in control of what enters her mouth.

lebfg you have a very one sided and personal experience of blw. Perhaps your baby just wasn't developmentally ready for blw feeding themselves.

Patently from the other comments here it works for us, and yes I do know when he has had enough.

I don't consider it waste I consider it as allowing my baby to have a good Experience with food which is very important to me.

I decided to share my "one-sided experience" to contrast with the other posters. So many people want to BLW and are taken in by the hype - I know it 'works' for some, my DSis has done it with her two boys. But some babies actually enjoy being spoonfed. I see BLW as a good alternative if your DC is a spoon-refuser.

My DS was ready at 6m, and still is ready at 16m for BLW. He can feed himself very well....for about 5 minutes. All the rest just get dumped. He has no interest in spending any longer than 5 minutes eating food.

My point is, weight gain in the first two years of life IS important. If your DC does not thrive on BLW, it DOES matter.

leBFG my DD also hasn't gained weight by doing BLW, we hit a plateau around 10 weeks ago. She is absolutely grand feeding herself but she chooses not to most of the time, she's very much enjoying being fed at the moment. I'm still giving her some feed yourself type meals, once a day, but I'm now feeding her myself a lot more. So you are not alone.

I'm playing it all by ear, if she starts refusing the spoon in not forcing it, I'll offer bits on her tray but I'm not worrying about making sure she's eating x amount, but at least she's eating now.

Actually no, in all countries sanitation wasn't really the main issue ( maybe in the countryside but not generally), really just a cultural thing

Eastern Europe, Russia, china, Vietnam kinda areas

I didn't start this thread for a debate on spoon vs BLW. I just asked about quantity of food that people offer. I'm not interested in being persuaded one way or the other, we've made up our own minds about how we want to wean based on how our DD is and what we feel is best for her, if it doesn't work then so be it. She doesn't eat all that's put in front of her but I'm not bothered if she does or not, I was interested in whether I gave her enough food to play with as I see mealtimes at the moment as a messy play activity, she is still breastfed, has her vit drops and is growing and gaining weight well so she is not malnourished. Perhaps I don't feel it's that messy as it's all contained on a wipeable mat on the floor and she wears long sleeved painting aprons to eat in so quite easy to clean up. But I sort of feel that maybe some of you think I've just thought I'll try BLW on a whim when the opposite is true. I discussed it with 2 HVs, have read 2 books on the subject and some web based research. I've said all along if her Health is affected then we'll do spoonfeeding but so far it isn't.

It sounds like you're doing a great job. There's BLW forum which you mind find helpful as it is very positive and supportive. You'll find it easily of you google. I found it helpful for advice on what to introduce and when.

Good for you OP - just bear in mind that I was in your position, reassured myself with the 'food is just for fun' mantra. By the time we realised there was a weight gain problem, bearing in mind these patterns can't be determined over a few weeks, DS's weight had effectively been stationary for three months, and only started to pick up again three or four months later.

I find it naive that anyone thinks late introduction of solids is somehow healthy. If some cultures do it, forever, well that's what they do. Many conditions like low iron, vitamin D levels and the like are linked to poor diet, and not neccessarily easy to diagnose (anemia and rickets only present, obviously, in extreme cases). Hell, in the UK veal production is banned - animals need more than milk to build healthy bones, muscle and brains.

Veal is banned? No it's not. I brought some in Waitrose last week from Essex

Op you sound like you have your head screwed on so I'm sure you know best. If baby withers away change tactic, if not continue with current plan :)

Lebfg- I'm not advocating any way of feeding. There are many ways and rarely are they wrong. Society wouldn't have survived and thrived if people didn't adapt to different life styles. ( nutritionist here)

I'll take your word on the veal - never seen it in the shops I frequent in the UK, so assumed it was banned along with the veal crates. Your last comment is a bit but as any good nutritionalist would know, waiting for babies to wither away is probably waiting a little too long.

www.waitrose.com/shop/BrowseCmd?pageNo=1&defaultSearch=&searchTerm=dmVhbA%3D%3D&level0Aisle=Groceries&isFromHomePage=true&searchFlag=true&langId=-11&sortValue=0&storeId=10317&search=Search

im sure you know what i meant, not wither, just any change basically

Food before one is not fun! I'm finding the preparation time, enormous mess and massive food wastage all a bit of challenge, plus I have weight concerns - not major yet but DS's (6mo) weight gain has slowed down a lot since he started crawling. He refuses the spoon though so BLW or finger food is the only option.

OP sounds like you're doing a good job

Did it sound like I doubted your word forever? If so, many apologies - I don't shop in waitrose. Veal so common everywhere on the continent by contrast....In any case, I'm sure YOU knew what I meant. Veal isn't banned as such, but the veal crates were and I'm not sure about milk-fed veal...it IS deemed by many to be cruel.

Our neighbour has tried it on his milkers' calves and killed a few! The animals suffer because of, amongst other things, "the failing to give nutrients the lack of which is known to cause the animal to fall ill." The meat is pale because, in part, it lacks iron. It's also incredibly tender (the character sought after) as the muscle doesn't form correctly - milk lacks the glut of amino-acids required for good muscle production. As you are well aware, I was trying to make the parallel of milk-fed veal with no solids before 2 years. This is clearly not HEALTHY, for calves OR for babies, by our westernised standards.

To reassert my inital point: the method of weaning is pretty unimportant relative to the health of the child. In the UK, where food hygiene is of little concern, solid foods should be making up a good proportion of the infants diet before one. Growth in the first 2 years is of great importance, so if one method of weaning isn't working, another should be used. IMO.

Actually leBFG either breastmilk or formula should be the main proportion of a baby's diet before one because their stomach is not big enough to take the amount of solids needed to get all the nutrients they need. After 6 months they should either be breastfed with vitamin drops of A, C and D or on a certain amount of formula and if they're not taking that x amount of formula they should be on drops too. Solid foods are complementary until 1, even the nhs weaning website says that, even if doesn't advocate pure BLW. It has nothing to do with hygiene but rather the size of their stomach.