Moving from purées to BLW

[Loupee]

My DS is 5 and a half months and since birth I (with DHs approval) decided I wanted to go for BLW and starting weaning at 6 months.
During a stressful week with the in laws at Christmas he is now eating 3 purée meals a day. SIL (who has a 5 year and 7 month old) and MIL basically persisted in badgering me until I gave in. The night they fed him sweet potato he slept right through, after a week or so of waking for a feed during the night, having previously slept through since 6 weeks.
Having conceded defeat at this juncture I still want to try and start BLW at 6 months. I am looking for any tips or previous experience that might make this easier.
Due to mental health issues I am already beating myself up for failing at feeding my baby the way I think best. Please don't think I have just been spineless.

I don't think you've been spineless at all - a lot of new parents are badgered into doing things by grandparents/friends etc - they're well-meaning, but don't always realise the effect their opinions have!

Once he reaches 6 months - when you feed him his purees, just put something he can eat with his hands on the tray. Soft, steamed veg is good to start with. This is generally how I feed my baby. Spoonfeed him some food, let him get messy with finger foods at the same time.

if you want to stop the purees you can especially if he was only having them for a week. Or if you want to continue with the purees then just start adding in food alongside that he can eat with his fingers - if he is 5½ months now then you could even start offering them now as he may already have the dexterity to pick them and get them to his mouth.

Please don't feel bad, there is nothing wrong at all in what you are doing! Loads of people mix purees and BLW. The most important thing for BLW is that they can sit nice and straight so they don't choke. If your LO slumps a bit in the chair I would wait, but if he sits well you could start now.

The BLW website has lots of good advice including choking hazards to avoid (raw apple, grapes and cherry tomatoes unless cut up, sausages need to be cut up length ways when you get to that stage).

The favourites with my baby have been things he can hold easily - steamed broccoli is his best, also raspberries, roast parsnips and roast carrots. (personally I would avoid oil until 6 months though).

I have really enjoyed watching my baby learn about foods, he gets all excited when he sees brocolli on his tray! You dont get that with purees.

But very jealous of your good night's sleep - if you can have best of both worlds by mixing the 2 why not? you may have just convinced me to start some purées, I am bloody knackered!

PS meant to add I can understand why you are annoyed about your in laws pressuring you, perhaps have a chat with your other half about it and see whether he can be more supportive of you in future when they start telling you how to parent!

Thank you for all your support and tips, will do as you recommend. He does sit quite straight in our highchair, it has a young baby insert, and he's not of the small variety of babies!
Is there any way I can steam things without buying anything. Don't want to spend much more money this month. Also if I steam something how long will it keep in the fridge?
I have been blessed with a baby who loves his sleep :) takes after his mum like that.
I don't mind him getting messy when eating, DH is a bit more uptight about it, but he'll just have to deal with it :)
Thanks again, feel much more positive about it all now. At least they weren't feeding him chocolate buttons and cola!

Oh and about the fridge - veg should keep for 3 days no problem, but the vitamins will be lost. I try and do a compromise by steaming veg fresh one day, then the next day giving left over bits plus fresh fruit or cucumber. That way he still gets fresh stuff and variety without me constantly cooking stuff. It would be easier if he just ate at our mealtimes, but we have dinner when he is in bed, and my lunch is usually a quick bowl of soup. When he is on 3 meals a day I think I will try and adjust our mealtimes so we eat the same food at the same time.

Don't be too worried about the vitamin content in veg being lost - the vitamins that we're actually likely to be deficient in are not in veg anyway, the ones in fruit and veg are the ones we tend to not have problems with.

Scurvy is extremely rare, Rickets not so much. The only veg which is remotely a Vit D source are mushrooms and I don't think many people are pureeing them as a weaning food. Veg (mostly carbs and fibre with a few exceptions) are actually the least important food group to babies until they start moving around - they need protein as it's essential to them, and fat for high calorie density. The fibre and the carbs come later as they have bigger stomachs and are more active needing higher overall calories.

Don't worry be about how you feed, if it's puree, or baby led, or anything else, whatever is easiest for you and baby. Milk will continue to provide the majority of nutrition for a long time yet.