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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

WTF is baby led weaning??

41 replies

SoupDragon · 12/06/2006 17:49

?

OP posts:
hulababy · 12/06/2006 17:51

I hink you give the baby finger food and let them feed themselves, and miss out the puree/lumpy food stage.

LotosEater · 12/06/2006 17:51

is it that the baby decides what he will eat - oh no - that's my 7 yr old Grin

NotQuiteCockney · 12/06/2006 17:57

Yeah, it's as hulababy describes. You wait until 6 months or so, and then let the baby self-feed.

I did BLW with DS2, and although it's messy, it's a lot less work, in many ways. Now, at 20 months, he's very competant with spoon, fork, open cup, etc etc. The only problem is, I can nearly never feed him. But he does fine on his own.

Original poster
SoupDragon · 12/06/2006 19:47

Ta.

OP posts:
SenoraPostrophe · 12/06/2006 19:50

lol, lotoseater. I clicked on this thread simply to make a similar joke but you have beaten me.

morningpaper · 12/06/2006 20:32

BLW is what you have to do after you've orgasmed your baby out and after you've attached him to your breast for six months

I think

PigeonPie · 12/06/2006 20:50

lol mp :)

HarpsichordCarrier · 12/06/2006 20:55

BLW is the best bloody thing ever.
IMHO.
SO much better than spooning puree in
".Baby Led Weaning
Gill Rapley, Deputy Programme Director of Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative, spoke about baby-led weaning at the Unicef conference last year: "A small group of babies were allowed to follow ‘baby-led weaning’ between the ages of 18-38 weeks. As the babies matured, they became more purposeful and their gross motor abilities and interest in food developed.

The study found that:

The babies began to chew at six months, about the same time as they began to reach out and grasp objects purposefully. At four months, the babies were not ready to feed themselves.

Six months seemed to be the right age developmentally to progress beyond breastfeeding.

Shared mealtimes are important. A baby learns about food from his family. The window of opportunity is for self-feeding rather than spoon-feeding.

Babies like to compare foods and make choices and enjoy mealtimes. The control of the weaning process can be given to the baby. Baby-led feeding from the start!

The study babies were able to attend a picnic at 8-9 months. They ate pizza and sandwiches while the other babies had to put up with babyfood from jars. The other mothers, who had been sceptical about the study, were envious of the study babies’ independence and dexterity!"

morningpaper · 12/06/2006 21:03

gosh there is so much wrong with that

why is it "pizza" versus "jars" ffs?! Pizza and sandwiches are full of salt anyway

I don't see why you can't have finger foods AND purees? Babies have been feeding themselves rusks since they were small for ages.

And how can a six-month old feed itself soup or porridge?

The window of opportunity - this is another stick to beat women with because it implies "something else you bad mothers have missed"

And I love feeding puree because it makes my baby growl with excitement :)

morningpaper · 12/06/2006 21:04

"Babies like to compare foods and make choices"

I thought WE were supposed to decide what the piglets should eat

I thought that was the rule that we beat mothers with on the "my child is fussy" threads

all these confusing messages

hulababy · 12/06/2006 21:04

I bet most people just do a bit of a mix anyway don't they? I know I did. Purees and finger foods, pretty much from the start. The finger food occupied DD and I would spoon fed at same time. Finger food took over within a couple of months or so as DD prefered to feed herself, but somethings she still needed help with with a spoon.

morningpaper · 12/06/2006 21:07

yes I thought everyone did a bit of both

I thought you shovelled in the wholesome puree and then handed over progressively sized lumps and hard bits until baby stopped breathing and then you turn him upside down and bang him until it comes out

that's what I do anyway

Lact8 · 12/06/2006 21:10

My dd has definately led me in her weaning. She has always sat with us at the table for mealtimes from being newborn. As soon as she could, she sat in bumbo in the middle of the table and watched us all with great interest. Then she started reaching out for food, if offered food or a toy it would always be the food she went for!

Even though she was under the 6 month age, 5months but in 9-12 motnh clothes as she is a huge baby, I offered her a steamed carrot and she grabbed it, sucked it, chewed it making mmm mmm mmm noises and has never looked back.

It has been so easy, she has whatever veg we're eating on her tray and feeds herself, no faffing about letting my food go cold while i spoon feed her.

I think its encouraged her dexterity, she is 6 months old no and managing to pick up peas!!

Thank you MNers who have posted about this as I'd never heard of it, when I did thought it was a bit of a 'look at me being a better mummy than you' thing but I'm so glad I gave it a go and I know that DD def is Smile

I also think it goes perfectly with breastfeeding, as I know I couldn't be doing with bottles and sterilising and with both ds's hated the fiddling with pureeing/mashing etc. So think it should be known as BabyLedLazyMum method of weaning!

Tatties · 12/06/2006 21:33

I ended up doing BLW because it was the only way to get food into my ds! He would not be spoon-fed. Not motivated by a "holier-than-thou" attitude at all; on the contrary. It was just what worked for us. I wish he'd let me shovel in wholesome puree Envy

CorrieDale · 13/06/2006 08:08

We did this and DS does choose himself what he wants to eat, but I don't point him at the fridge and tell him to wade in! He gets to choose from what I put in front of him. Porridge is eaten in handfuls (yep, it's a bit messy) and I dip bread in soup and give it to him. He probably eats a little more salt than if he'd been having jars, but definitely not above the .6 gram limit. Two weeks into weaning I tried to feed him some yogurt from a spoon and he didn't want to know. He's always grabbed the spoon from me and fed himself, so even if I hadn't decided to do it this way, we'd probably have ended up doing it anyway.

harpsichordcarrier · 13/06/2006 08:27

holier than thou??? I'm a better mummy than you???? oh give me a break. it's just a idea, no one needs to get their knickers in a twist, really.
mp, it's possible that the pizzas were homemade?

FrannyandZooey · 13/06/2006 08:30

You know I don't think it is possible to put anything into your baby's mouth without someone else judging you, making assumptions about you, and claiming that you are doing it to make them feel bad Angry

morningpaper · 13/06/2006 08:32

aha Franny, now you're getting it!

Piffle · 13/06/2006 08:33

Yes its times like this we should all hug and say are we not lucky in this country that we have such a choice of things to feed our kids - a food aversion is a privilege remember...

FrannyandZooey · 13/06/2006 08:40

mp :)

morningpaper · 13/06/2006 08:41

gah

TBH it's the launguage that pisses me off "Baby Led Weaning"

Why does everything have to set up these dichotomies? i.e. BABY-LED versus PARENT-LED therefore ARTIFICIAL

Why not just call it Self-Feeding? Or Just Finger Foods? Why make it morally superior?

SenoraPostrophe · 13/06/2006 08:44

mp I think you are spot on.

particularly agree about the making choices thing. too much choice confuses babies and they end up eating nothing but yoghurt or something.

morningpaper · 13/06/2006 08:45

in fact Baby Led Weaning is going in my Room 101 along with the phrases Unassisted Birth, Attachment Parenting, Baby Wearing, Natural Birth, Child-Led Weaning, Water Birth

and Gina Ford

harpsichordcarrier · 13/06/2006 08:47

MP I think you might be being a bit oversensitive here.... It IS a bit different from finger foods/self feeding, but just saying Baby Led doesn't make it morally superior I don't think ...
I hadn't heard of it before I came on MN, I find it really works for me but I am alarmed at being accused of being smug about it... Sad

harpsichordcarrier · 13/06/2006 08:49

Water Birth??
blimey MP you are on a roll there......

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