Am I right to think that baby led weaning is when...

[mameulah]

...you simply let your baby get on with helping themselves to what is on your plate, whilst making sure that what is on your plate is a reasonable size for a baby to cope with?

Well you don't have to let them eat off your plate although I'd like to have seen you explain that to my dd at 6 months . You can just serve it onto the tray of their highchair.

Is blw something you are thinking of doing? Have you read the Mn guide to weaning or the blw website?

Yes. Some people like an acronym cos it makes something sound much more complicated than it is and like they're part of a club. But it's really very ordinary.

Thank you for your resopnse.

My mum is concerned because she says that my ds would need to practise swallowing. Do you agree? Have you any tips?

And thanks, I will look at the blw website.

He will learn to swallow, but he'll also learn about how to handle food, about different tastes and textures and how to move food around in his mouth. Swallowing seemed to be one of the last things my DS learned, with traditional pureed weaning they learn to swallow before the other stuff.

It's natural for parents to be concerned but its also perfectly normal for all babies to be eating finger food at 6 months, no matter how they are weaned. As long as Lo is meeting the criteria for weaning everything sound be fine.

Perhaps if you give your mum the information on choking from the blw site and let her read the mumsnet info it might help alleviate her fears? My parents were very sceptical but when they realised that dd could come out with us for meals and just tuck in and that if they were looking after her, she didnt have to have anything specially prepared, they soon loved it

Sorry for the typos