If you chose NOT to do BLW, what were your reasons?

[mrsb26]

Looking to start weaning dd soon and have been reading up on various approaches.

I understand that baby led weaning seems to be the 'thing' for many mums at the moment. I see its benefits in many ways, but also air on the side of caution with it for other reasons.

If you chose to wean traditionally (eg puréed food first), what were your trains for not doing BLW?

Am I right in saying that the NHS recommends a combination of purées and finger foods from around six months?

This thread is very refreshing by the way!

Well said, Rabbit

My dd has gagged and been sick every time I tried it. My very smug mil thought she'd be able to get dd to do it and she's given up as well.

I give dd plastic plates and spoons to play with and I constantly give her little bits to try but at 15 months she's still pretty much spoon fed purees.

Apparently my 2 year old dns still gag on some things so I'm not worried.

culture I just think foods for eating not playing with. I do let them hold food and they attempt to feed themselves with a spoon as well and it gets messy which is fine.

I just feel that messy play with food is encouraging them to mess about with it whereas getting a bit messy while attempting to feed themselves is more about learning to feed themselves?

Not sure if I've explained it very well but I know what I mean

I also feel that we help our babies with everything else so why wouldn't I help them learn to eat.

I'm curious how people manage BLW when they go out to eat - at restaurants, other people's houses, picnics, on car journeys and so on. What do you do about the mess then?

Thank you comeagain. It's hard - I feel like a failure because he's lost weight. Silly I know. And now I feel a bit like I'm force feeding him. Can't win.

DS4 was prem and had poor motor skills. We switched to BLW when he was able to feed himself.

Sirchenjin - I traditional weaned but I found it easier to switch to finger food when eating out as I could always offer banana/fruit, pieces of sandwich, bread dipped in soup, the odd chip etc.,.

Totally agree re finger food (I did the same) - I was more wondering about BLW in the early stages which seems to involve a huge amount of mess and effort. Do you have to cart about changes of clothes, plastic mat, cleaning cloths etc etc?

I'm confused do people just put bowls of food in front of their kids with no utensils and get them to fling it?

I thought it was finger food

No, finger food is different and is usually given (after the puree stage of weaning) to older babies. BLW is basically putting down different types of food - porridge, yoghurt, bits of veg etc, and letting the baby eat it with their fingers until they can manage cutlery. The puree stage is missed out altogether.

mantaray you should maybe start your own thread? So not lost within this one. I dont bf, but there are obviously plenty who do that can give you some help regarding your supply?

But if you are still concerned, go back to your hv or gp for some real life advice.

Wean your baby how you want they can manage finger food at 6 months but puree is fine too do a bit of each BLW isnt superior to purees

You can let baby experiment with textures and feed with a spoon

Sir thanks. That just seems impractical!

Personally I just started mine on purée and worked them up to more solid food as they got more teeth and were not gagging on everything. I've got three boys and they all started on purée and tolerated solids and finger foods absoloutely fine later on. Do what you feel comfortable with is my advice. When weaning my third ds last summer I was looking online for some ideas for meals and was a bit at some of the suggestions of what to give a 6 month old - people were suggesting pitta bread and carrot sticks and cheese sticks amongst other things, no way would he have been able to chew all that appropriately.

Sirchenjin - in the early stages I would just do a milk feed if whatever I was having in a restaurant could not be shared with my LO. At that stage you're feeding food on top of milk and they don't really go hungry if you "miss" a meal, it's all very flexible. However you can pretty much always give them a bit of bread to gnaw on at the very least!

I'm curious how people manage BLW when they go out to eat - at restaurants, other people's houses, picnics, on car journeys and so on. What do you do about the mess then?

You have no choice if you have spoon refusers. I have two. They would not let a spoon near their mouths.

At restaurants, you pick the food back up from the floor. In friend's houses, ditto. Picnic, ditto. Car journeys, we never eat in cars.

You just adapt to the babies.

DD2 has just started managing a spoon at 15mo. So it's getting easier.

TBH, they were both very good at eating and not dropping. If my 15mo threw the food away, it means she's had enough.

Squareroute I think we're describing the same thing in different words. Mealtimes would be in the highchair, food put on the tray (IKEA Antilop ideal for this), DS would pick up stuff and feed himself. He actually never threw or dropped food on purpose, but if he had I would have not given it back or if it was the second time, I would have ended the meal. I ate at the same time, and my DS was really only focussed on picking up and trying to eat the food. He very rarely just played with it, no more than a baby would be expected to play with finger food.

I viewed letting him touch and learn how to pick up food as helping him learn about food and eating. Everything's a learning experience really.

SirChenjin I don't think I ever had any issues when out, I would choose food that wouldn't be excessively messy. So I wouldn't choose spag bol when out, but a sandwich would be fine. Picnic type food is easy as well. Just like older children really. And be prepared to pick up any mess afterwards, although if the high chairs provided had a decent tray then not much actually made it to the floor. Or, as MrsMagoo says in the early days I would breastfeed instead. At 6 months I was only doing 1 meal a day, so if I was going out for lunch I'd do the BLW meal at breakfast/tea, and just breastfeed and maybe give a snack when out.

My daughter would never eat anything off a spoon. But now I'm glad, makes me so mad at baby group seeing 17 month olds having Ella's kitchen pouches spooned into their gobs just because the parents can't be bothered with some mess.

Get off your high horse Umbongo there's nothing wrong with spoon feeding.

I didn't say there was.

Then what's your issue? People using pouches? Again stop being snobby