BLW - what are the pros & cons??

[Nannyto2]

Basically what the title says!

Really curious as to whether I should try it with my little charge

have a look at www.babyledweaning.com for info... basically, it's a no-brainer if you're waiting until 6 months to wean. it's messy, though, so if you're a neat freak it may not be for you.

My DD loves it, but she won't let you put anything in her mouth, she has to guide it in herself so spoonfeeding would've been a nightmare for us anyway. It can be messy but ikea painting aprons and a a metre of wipeable pvc tablecloth from dunelm for the floor make it easier to clean up and less food is wasted.

You may have a child who makes it very clear that as your coordination is so much better, could you deliver the loaded spoon to the mouth please rather than this half-arsed leaving it for him to do.

And blw is a stupid name as it's not like he's choosing the food presented.

Apart from that, giving all sorts of finger foods is great fun and keeps them entertained for ages, making eating out a pleasure. My parents were very impressed with ds at 7mo eating sticks if roast pork, chunky chips and peas and carrots, and he loved dim sum restaurants with sticky rice. But I don't think he suffered from having yoghurt spoonfed until after he'd got the hang of cheesy mash on a spoon.

Dd will be 6 months next week so quite looking forward to food adventures again. Might even encourage ds to be less fussy - he ate everything until 16 months...

Pros - baby leads pace, develops hand-eye co-ordination, easier preparation in some ways (perhaps to fit baby's food in with what you're eating), no need to puree

Cons - messy, waste, harder to track how much food baby is taking in, baby may refuse to pick up food (as has happened with us! DS was fine with fedding himself bread and other finger foods but a month ago at 8mo decided he doesn't want to anymore and will sweep or deliberately drop all food onto floor).

TBH we have mixed BLW with spoon feeding (until DS got attitude )

You can't actually mix BLW with spoon feeding, because BLW is not finger food. What Engelsemama did was just traditional weaning.

BLW is complete self feeding for the baby. You have to embrace the whole idea that they can eat whatever amount they fancy, and also all food the family eats (except honey and whole nuts kind of thing). It also recommends having family meals together because it encourages the baby to copy your eating habits.

I like it very much because I don't have to make baby food. I'm a fairly relaxed parent, no routines, bf on demand. So it's easy for me to not care how much DD has eaten.

Same as notcitrus people were very impressed with DD eating normal food so young. She was eating out from 7mo, even wolfed down the standard NHS hospital meal at that age. All the nurses were wooing and ahhing at her eating roast potatoes and chicken nuggets.

Thanks all, it sounds like it could be easier. Really not bothered about the mess - I say the messier the better

DD hasn't had yogurt yet but she's getting better with preloaded spoons of other sloppy stuff. Just bought her some shorter ones as the weaning spoons that were bought me are a bit too long for her. Just don't do weetabix or porridge on a morning you have to be somewhere as it always results in a full bath for us, she loves to pull her own hair right after she's stuck it in the porridge :) Porridge fingers however are practically mess free.

OneKittleToddlingTerror, should a baby eat an NHS meal though? It's bound to contain salt and that's no good for a baby. That's my issue with "strict" BLW, eating whatever the family has can't work unless the family likes food that's entirely salt free, contains no choking hazards and is full fat.

She was staying at the hospital at the and was only 7mo,

Darn phone!!

It was only for a cou

Couple of meals until the doctor was sure she was ok with feeding. There aren't usually any choking hazards in our food. It's not like we have whole nuts often. We cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters for DD. Salt is a bit harder I admit. We endure a bit of bland food, but it's worth it because it's just easier to cook one meal for all.

Oh OneLittleToddlerTerror I hope that she's feeling much better now, it must have been hard for all of you to have your baby in hospital

I'm in the adventurous finger food camp myself, DD (9 months) mainly eats on her own but I do spoonfeed her yoghurt and also sometimes give her my own unsalted food mashed roughly with a spoon. Didn't do purees, I find them really pointless at 6 months and it's lovely to see her chew her food properly.

The other thing I find tricky with BLW is hygiene when we're out. Cafes and restaurants have quite yucky baby chairs and the tables are wiped with the same everlasting wipe (yuck). So the idea of leaving her food on the table as we do at home makes me a bit uncomfortable (plate gets banged and thrown off). I prefer to spoonfeed her then, to avoid her eating all the unwashed crap. Does that sound a bit OCD?

Toddling not toddler, sorry for messing up your name

Blw is an exciting learning experience for you and baby. Baby eats as part of family, baby learns to 'listen' to their stomach and stop eating, baby may be less fussy eater. You don't have to prepre seperate purees. You can eat while baby eats not sit and spoonfeed. Yes it starts off very messy but they learn to eat more effectively quite quickly. When out and about I take Milton wipes and clean all surfaces ready for baby or keep them away from surface and hand them food. The minute you spoon feed you have gone back to traditional weaning.

onelittletoddlingterror, cook meals then take out some for baby before adding salt, select aspects of your meal, take baby friendly food when out. Strict blw is about baby self feeding and as much as is possible sharing family meals. We eat evening meals late when baby is asleep so I often have left overs for baby and me for lunch next day.

Oooops sorry onelittletoddlingterror agree with your post about what blw is , the last post was for sowadayasay

Oh I absolutely love BLW. It's making me eat better as I just cook nice stuff for me and DH and chuck DS some! He loves mealtimes, just sits and plays with/talks to the food quite happily, and DH and I can relax and enjoy the meal he even eats some sometimes which is vay exciting I only know because his poo has gone different. Tbh he's our first child and having never done purees and the associated organisation/measuring/hassle, it totally baffles me why everyone doesn't do it.

my experience is that I did BLW with DS3 (after advice from MN of course) and he is easily my best eater (he's 5 now). Honestly - go for it - I cannot be any more enthused about it - it is SO easy and sensible (albeit messy but really who cares about that?!). I never bought any "baby food", didn't worry about purees etc, he was eating sandwiches at 7 months on a picnic etc.

(I'm slightly evangelical about it as you may have guessed......)

sowad some salt is necessary for the body to function properly too. As long as you don't add salt to your cooking (and none of us need to add it to our plates either really) and have a balanced diet overall, it's fine.

Flisspaps, some salt is indeed necessary but there is enough salt naturally in many foods ( including vegetables). Babies need no added salt, marmite is ridiculously salty and actively bad for babies kidneys.

I remember a friend doing BLW who wouldn't give her hungry baby much bread because it's salty (true) but them would spread marmite in the bits of toast he was allowed! A bit counterproductive really.

Oh dear god, I have mixed two threads up and replied to you flisspaps on marmite, from the BLW toppings thread...

Now retreating with massive red face.

not angry just really really red

sowaddayasay It really isn't hard to cook without salt if you especially pick recipes that can have salt added at the end. The rest of the family don't actually go salt free. I felt everything tastes off without salt in fact. I remember going through my cookbooks marking out everything that's interesting that fits this criteria. I'm quite strict when cooking myself, but not eating out, pre 12months. I even rule out anything that needed soy sauce, fish sauce and anchovies added at anytime during the cooking process. On top of my head, here are some baby friend family favourites

• Nigel Slater's chicken with spices and cream
• Swedish fish cakes in Jamie's 30min meal
• Jamie's tomato macaroni cheese
• Ottolenghi's Quesadilla
• Ottolenghi's Green Pancakes with Lime Butter
• A spiced yoghurt marinate for barbeques

We definitely aren't deprived culinary wise!

As for yucky chairs when eating out. Like purplevi I have a pack of antiseptic wipes in my changing bag. I give the table and the high chair a good wipe so they are shiny and clean. It really isn't a problem.

And thanks sowaddaysay. DD had a week's stay in hospital at 7mo because of bronchiolitis. She's all good and sound now. She wasn't eating and was on IV. That's why the docs need to make sure she can have both milk and solids before she could be discharged.

OneLittleToddlingTerror, glad to hear your little girl is all good, and thank you for the recipes, they sound lush!

To be honest, I do all of our cooking salt free so my DD can eat it, but I think that we're a minority rather than the norm. Many families rely on ready meals and take aways and salty delights like sausages and the like.

I love many aspects of BLW, but find it convenient to spoon feed as well, so I have resorted to let her eat on her own for at least one meal a day and help along forfeiting breakfast or lunch. It's delightful to see her pick the food and try it, and I soon stopped confusing gagging with choking.

Re eating out, I like to take her along to museums or places that may not have a baby seat or when they do, they are slimy with years of food... It's nice to know I can spoon feed her some yoghurt or granola or similar on my lap...

By the way, I'm not trying to convince anybody, just sharing my experiences.