baby led weaning?

[dairyfreequeen]

when i was pregnant i bought the blw book and was sure thats what i wanted to do - it just seemed to make more sense (seriously, how long have blenders been around? not long) and be more fun. However im slightly losing my nerve! not helped by the fact that since ds has milk and egg allergies ive been given specific weaning advice all based on moving through stages of purees, the dietitian didnt know what blw was . Also ds is only 5 months (though 2 weeks overdue) and is already desperate to be included in mealtimes and will swipe at my plate if hes on my knee (i know thats about joining in, not hunger but hes desperate to join in! ) i dont know anyone whos done blw so would love to hear some experiences

I've tried both methods with different kids. The blw was the easiest and less time consuming. It's simple to do blw avoiding egg and dairy.

What do you eat? Did he suggest milk substitutes?

What has the nutritionist say exactly about what to make? I think it's rather weird he had no idea about blw.

Food will only be a small play thing initially anyway and he won't have much of it

I did blw, it was pretty straightforward to do and the children took well to it.

I'd be extremely surprised about a child nutritionist who hadn't heard of it though.

I have done it with DD1 and am doing it with DD2. I'm about 2 weeks in with DD2.

I'm not a flag waving anti purée BLW mum. In fact I started both with purees. However both are spoon refusers. I wish they would eat purees and that would make travel easier.

In your situation I would start with purees and move to lumps and then finger food. Your DS might be grabbing plates but it doesn't mean he could aim something chip sized into his mouth, chew and swallow. You can try a piece of chip or a toast finger on him. I started weaning DD2 at 22 weeks with purees because of slow weight gain. I also gave her finger foods. But she couldn't actually get anything into her mouth till nearly 27 weeks. This is just to assure you that there is nothing wrong if your DS can't do it. But he might surprise you.

Otherwise BLW does work. DD1 started eating meaningful amounts of food at 7mo. Before she had pincer grip, I made special chip sized food for her. (And am doing same with DD2). Simple things like omelette, toast fingers, meat/fish burgers shaped into fingers, stir fried chicken, roast root veg, mini muffins cut into halves, and fruit. Neither would take loaded spoon but instead will projectile things from them. As their skills gets better it gets much easier to give the same food. They will learn to open the fist and push food into mouth, pincer grip, holding large foods with both hands, etc. DD1 didn't get spoons until around 18mo. Before that she would aim the spoon into her mouth unside down. Some foods did stay on the spoon this way (eg hummus) but not yogurt.

Hope this helps.

As far as I know, the NHS Guidelines are to do the traditional, puree weaning. So it may be that he isn't able to advocate BLW as a dietitian.

My son was a little less than 6 months when we started. You might want to try what we did and just give him a bit of food to play with in the high chair and see what he does. The first time, he just pushed it around a bit and looked at it, but within a day or so, it went in the mouth.

You can watch your DS and see how ready he seems and whether you think it might work for you.

When I mean DD1 with spoons as dipper it is when she's much older than 6mo. She would dip the spoon herself. When younger, if I load the spoon she would just swing the spoon around. But some 6mo babies will take loaded spoons for porridge etc.

We did BLW with DS and its been great. There are some great online resources and groups if your on FB which will give you support and ideas particularly if your DS's allergies restrict some of the food you can try.

As far as getting food into your LO its not much different to purees. You offer what you feel happy with, they eat it/throw it on the floor.

Familiarize yourself with choking first aid procedures (good to do regardless of how you wean) and learn the difference between gagging and choking (the first month or so can be a little nerve wracking!)

DS started on finger foods (strips of pepper/cucumber/carrots/risks etc) at 5 and a half months (he was also 2 weeks overdue!) and did gag quite a lot at first but as long as you are hearing noises, it's just them testing their reflex.

Once they take to it its really fun, messy and enjoyable and DS has been eating the same as us (sans salt) from about 7 months. I know a few people who have done mixed feeding offering both purees and finger foods, although I've heard this can slow them mastering their gag reflex as they use different techniques to eat purees compared to solids.

Hope that helps!

thanks for all the input, i think advice to familiarise with choking procedures is a good one, my area doesnt do first aid courses anymore but ill have a look at youtube. The dietitian i saw was very young, (otherwise she was pretty helpful) id guess newly qualified and the nhs advice just assumes everyone does purees which is whats shaking me i think! im breastfeeding ds so already following his restricted diet and theyll give me special formula to make milky food with so im not that concerned about what to give him. If you started blw when they werent ready, would they just spit it out? he can pretty accurately pick up a spoon and give it a good chew

Generally, my DS just spat anything he couldn't swallow out, yeah.

He gummed a bit of steak to grey sinew at about 8 months! It's surprising what they can handle.

As far as the NHS guidelines, I think generally they hold purees as standard but if it makes you feel more comfortable, I'm pregnant with my second and in my maternity notes given to me by my midwife there is a big page on weaning and they discuss baby led weaning as an option so it's possible that the NHS are moving towards recognising it.

The HV here run workshops on baby led weaning and don't advocate purées any longer so I think the advice is changing.

We started giving little bits of toast, banana, avocado & yoghurt to DS when he was 5.5 months, also 2 weeks overdue. He just had bits of what we were eating mainly to play with but soon mastered eating it and then came to expect something every meal!

ooh thats interesting topsy my hv said "you could try blw but of course theres an increased risk of choking" which scared the crap out of me. Not sure why im hanging on to that since every other piece of advice shes given me has been ill informed at best, to downright dangerous at times..

Same here topsy. When DS started on solids three years ago, the HVs in this area all advocated BLW (and as far as I know, still do). It seems to just depend on the area and, often, the opinion of the head HV.

I did BLW somewhat dogmatically with DS1 - plus he was a devoted spoon-refuser - and, in hindsight, I am happy to say I absolutely loathed it. The gagging, vomiting and mess were absolutely nerve-shredding. His intake was practically zero until he was over one, and, at almost three, he's an awful eater, so I didn't even get the adventurously eating gourmand I was promised. Won't touch anything except beige stuff and baked beans.

I was determined to do purees and finger foods with DS2 as a result, and what did I get? Another committed spoon-refuser I have been persistent about sticking spoons of stuff in his mouth, though, and he seems to be coming round and is already eating better than DS1 did at the same age (7mo). The NHS advocates a combination of rough purees/fork mashable food combined with finger foods from six months - so a sensible middle-ground between pure purees and BLW. Honestly, just keep the salt low in whatever you're eating, mash it up and offer in on a spoon or even your own fork and let him play with and nibble on un-mashed bits.

Ask your HV for what she's basing her comment about an increased risk of choking on, as this is not something that I think has actually been researched or proven one way or the other. All babies should have finger food from 6 months plus anyway, so surely the risk is there for all babies?

Fwiw, I did BLW with my DS who hardly gagged, never vomited and didn't make a huge mess (he was more keen on eating than chucking). He's a very unfussy eater now at coming up to 3, will eat pretty much anything and will try things he's never had before.

I think yours would have been a good eater without BLW then Culture, just as mine would still have been a shit eater if spoon-fed. I've decided that eating is like sleeping - it's all entirely down to luck as to whether they'll do it or not.

I'm doing sort of BLW with DD who is now 11 months - I never read the book but am taking the general idea and figuring it out as we go along. She is egg and dairy allergic too. It felt a bit daunting at first, as so many baby recipes include eggs or cheese, as do lots of our dinners, so the BLE mantra of 'just give them what you're eating' is useless advice for us. But now we're up and running she's doing great, loving feeding herself and her diet is balanced. Way more fun for both of us than shovelling purées into her. (And I'm eating less cheese which is probably a good thing...) PM me if you want some specifics on finger foods that work around those allergies

I think that's my point, Elphaba, that it's just as likely to be fine as to not be fine. As with all things baby-related, it's helpful to remain flexible and be prepared to change your plans if your baby isn't having it!

im taking the nod and smile approach with my hv as she also ignored ds's allergy symptoms, told me not to bother with dairy free diet (im breastfeeding which should hopefully help with the eating-what-we-eat) and told me to start him on solids at 17weeks to improve his sleeping. Thanks elphaba, i think id like to give blw a good go but its a good reminder to just take it as it comes and change plan if it doesnt suit us! im not expecting miracles wrt future eating, it just seems like a nicer process in principle. We'll see how it goes!

I found the BLW or purees thing a bit odd to be honest so did neither! I think we did traditional weaning. I pureed some fruit for about a week and ds didn't seem terribly interested so just gave him food and he was fine. I gave anything I'd eat with my fingers or is easier to eat with fingers, so cucumber sticks, bread, pieces of banana etc as just finger food and then anything I'd eat with a spoon/fork, so shepherds pie, fish pie, porridge etc I'd spoon feed him. I never really blended anything except fruit to go on weetabix and in porridge, everything else was just sort of mushed up with a fork. DS is 15 months now and eats really well.
I think most people end up doing this one way or another! I only have two friends who have done BLW (strictly no spoon feeding) and they recommend the Gill Rapely book. I think I'd avoid the puree only route if I could as the only mums I know who've done it have ended up having a nightmare getting their babies to eat lumps at all-I've no idea why the NHS are so keen I've found it useful to batch cook curries, fish pie, slamon and sauce, lasagne etc for ds and freeze it in portions.
Good Lord! Ignore any hv who says that weaning a 17 week old will help them sleep!

I think the NHS advice varies by region. We were told that the WHO advised purees and finger foods hence their advice. But we were also told to purée for first tastes but aim for a fork mash by 7 to 8 months and then to cut up family foods by 9 to 10 months and that finger foods important so that they learnt to chew

told me to start him on solids at 17weeks to improve his sleeping

It won't. I'm pretty gobsmacked that a hv would tell you that! Her information is clearly very outdated.
Do what you think is best. To be honest, puree isn't bad, it's just not completely necessary. Our hv told us homemade puree is ok, it's the jars you have to be wary of as lots of salt and sugar in them.
We skipped puree altogether though because it's such a faff and went straight to finger food at 6 months. It's going really well. We just cook what we normally would and I give him a bit off my plate. I recommend it!

We started dd with blw at 5 months. due to family history of allergies and PFB paranoia, we did follow the American version of stages (one new food every 4 days, starting with low allergenic ones, banana was dd'so first one to try) for the first monthor so, they just weren't pureed.

My DD is 13 months old and also dairy, peanut and egg allergic so sympathise completely. We opted for purée ing/ spoon feeding with lots of finger foods. I personally have found it no problem. So because of allergies and reflux we introduced things one at a time in the first couple of weeks and then went all out. I think toast fingers, steamed veg, lots of fruit and bits of meat all fab.

I must say dd is an excellent eater and pretty good at self feeding but I think we just got lucky there. Is you LO okay with soya? If so then soya milk was a good substitute for her cereals, mash, sauces etc. the special formulas tend to be vile so you may struggle to get you breast fed baby to take them but persevere we did and she guzzles it now (weaned off breast at around 9 months). Good luck.

I did BLW with all three of mine, the eldest started weaning 7 years ago and the HVs in our region are very supportive of BLW and the NHS baby book we got when DD1 was born definitely encouraged finger foods from 6 months.

DS (my youngest) was preemie and we discovered fairly early on in weaning that he had CMPA and egg allergy. I found it as easy to do BLW with him as with his sisters but we're fairly foody and I think it's easier to avoid allergens if you are homecooking than buying ready meals (true however you wean).

I have one 'fussy' child and two 'good eaters' (admittedly the youngest is still a bit young to say that for certain). But all are willing to try food which is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned, even if the fussy one doesn't like a lot of things tries she is slowly finding more things she does like because she will try things.

DS was a spoon refuser and I didn't know what to do until I found out about BLW from DSIL and found huge support on mn. I found it very easy and very sociable (we got to eat at the same time), and was determined to do it with DD. She had other ideas and although she was happy to start playing with sticks of food she soon started asking for spoons. Having thrown away a freezer full of purees once I was not about to start making them again, but she very quickly got a pincer grip and started feeding herself and I cooked a lot of 'nursery food' like shepherds pie or risottos that were already sort of mashed.

I would really recommend BLW and think it may be easier to do with allergies because you can be so certain exactly what they're getting their hands on.