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?

Just to add, does a baby really care what we call it?
It's food, it's just part of the weaning process however we choose to do it or whatever name we give it.

Gill Rapley isn't anyone special, though - she just wrote a book. She didn't trademark anything, and just because she published a book doesn't make it gospel. She makes some very dubious claims imo.

I bought Gina fords weaning book & had a wonderful time making puréed, freezing them, feeding my gorgeous girl. What a great time !

She is a fantastic eater & always has been, readily eating with a knife & fork, trying new flavours, textures etc.

Shame she's turned into a horrible 12yr

Didn't follow blw with either of mine

1st - early weaned for health reasons (on Drs advice), so needed to be purées. I introduced finger food as soon as possible and encouraged him to play with food afterwards, but I did not follow blw though. He fed himself very early with cutlery. He refused all but his bedtime bottle very early, so we needed him to be taking food in. Blw was not suitable for him.

2nd - gagged on purées and wasn't ready to eat until past 6mths. Was far too lazy to feed himself for ages so we went straight onto chopped and was spoon fed. By about 9mths he was feeding himself food but not in huge amounts. He was a messy eater, throws food and was slow to use cutlery.

I did introduce strong flavours very early. My second had texture issues but now (14mths) has a brilliant diet and really enjoys food. My first is a foodie snob and actually eats far less now as a preschooler than he did as a baby.

Personally I think a combination is the best way forward. Exclusive blw would not have been the right approach for my children. I also struggled with the idea of not using cutlery. I've liked to 'try' at teaching table manners early and aim to sit down with them and eat / drink to encourage them.

RiverTam, you're absolutely correct. I don't think I said that she'd trademarked it or that it was gospel. Gill Rapley described a method for weaning and gave it a name. Now when people use that name they often mean giving finger foods alongside spoon feeding, which is not what the method as described by GR is. That's all.

Just remembering watching gorgeous baby try baby rice, her mouth puckering up at Apple, liking pear & she could get cold potato (yuk !) down quick enough.

I also used to make meals, mash & then take out with us so she ate food at whatever temperatures...

I also skipped baby rice like squarerouteofwine for the same reason. Before I weaned my first I read French children don't throw food and a lot of the anecdotes made sense to me.

Culture yes indeed but some people are very precious about it when a lot of people simply take it to mean 'not 100% spoon-fed'. Which is fine.

Bit like a thread I once read that didn't count a baby carrier as using a sling or baby wearing or some such and got very precious about it as though anyone claiming otherwise was breaking a commandment. It's all just parenting methods - bit of this, dash of that, smidgen of the other.

Imo, as soon as you starting policing the labels then the method has become more important than the child.

Why do people feel the need to say "I did BLW" though when they actually just spoon fed and gave finger foods like 99% of other people. It isn't doing anything special and it doesn't need a new name.

If you actually are doing BLW, as described by the woman that came up with the term, and you use BLW to differentiate from "spoon feeding and giving finger foods" then fair enough.

BLW was a godsend for my twins. Frankly if you have patience to spoon feed two children at the same time you're a better person than me. It did mean that I started very slowly - so steamed veg, a bit of fruit, a piece of toast a day for the first month. Then after that, a bowl of soup with bread dippers or enormous pasta shapes with sauce added at lunchtime the next month. Then (thick) porridge eaten with hands!! A bit later.
It wasn't that messy and if they fucked about them food got taken away. Spoons from about 9 months. Metal forks from about 11 months.

I never have understood the obsession with yoghurt for babies. I go weeks with out it, it's not obligatory for it to be shovelled down after every meal. That said, mine had (and still have at almost 3) Greek yoghurt with a bit of stewed fruit happily. Then don't seemed to have suffered for the lack of petit filous.

And they have impeccable table manners - we are often complimented when eating out on their table manners by restaurant staff. I think because they were used to concentrating on eating themselves from an early age, they don't expect to eat in record time and happily eat at their own pace.

They didn't sleep for fucking ever though and DTD is in many other ways so weaning is the one thing I'm happy I did they way I did. So many compromises with twins, at least solid food doesn't feel like one of them.

I will add that DS2 is 5 months and I will be doing the exact same with him. It'll probably be easier with him as there will be fairly child friendly meals at sensible times every day (whereas with the twins, I lived on cake and chocolate biscuits and enormous bowls of pasta pesto at 9pm at night). But he will still be expected to shift for himself!

That said, he wasn't premature and is fat good and healthy and I don't give a shit about his weight (hasn't been weighed since his six week check) so if he loses a small bit I really don't care.

I did a mixture of both depending on mess, what they wanted and the food. I had purées, finger foods and bits they could blw and other times I got a spoon and fed them cottage pie!!
I don't know why people make such a big deal about it.

Do u know I really do love mn my son was prem with severe reflux that kept landing us in hospital they wanted me to wean him at 5 months on neocate spoon some wierd form of baby rice, he wouldn't let me put it in his mouth so waited two weeks and tried again he took to weaning beautifully after that but this hole time I felt really guilty for not doing blw. I'd try him with finger foods like a piece of banana because I felt I should he'd stick the hole bloody thing in his mouth gag/choke and be sick then cry now according to gill rapley thats normal! how is making your baby vomit because they way you served there food normal? Or am I missing something

My son is now 17 months eats family dinners everyday has the most amazing pincer grip and uses a fork and spoon he actually picks up peas puts them on his spoon and puts them to his mouth very neatly but also has a slight play with food but nicely.

I dont believe that is how people used to wean as it goes against every natural instinct as a mother to ignore a gagging distressed baby and to give them food that doesn't fit in there mouth properly I believe people may have chewed up first foods to try there baby on imo its all bs!

My Child had reflux and vomited particularly on finger foods for a while, anyone who has had a refluxy baby knows how much you really can't face them losing weight.
This poor brain washed woman at a toddler group I went to, who was in the blw club they hold before tod group asked me if I thought it was because I had started him on mashed food. Yes you dick I think I programmed my kid to only be able to except mash

Summerdreams, giving finger food is a part of traditional weaning, the NHS advice page on weaning says to give finger foods. Some babies have a stronger gag reflex than others, most babies don't vomit when gagging. If your baby has a strong gag reflex and always gags and vomits, then clearly you should wait a bit longer before introducing finger food. No one is suggesting that you should make your baby vomit each time you give solid food.

I weaned DS when he was 6 months corrected age and no way could he have fed himself. Looking back, I'm really glad I went for spoonfeeding because he was 9 months before he showed any interest in feeding himself. Even if he had enjoyed feeding himself from the start, I didn't consider full BLW for various reasons:
I don't think food is for fun until one, babies need a certain amount of solids after 6 months.
I wanted to feed semiliquid stuff like yogurt, and smearing it on the highchair tray for him to play with eat seemed, and still seems like a bonkers idea to me.
I think babies need help with eating, just like they need help with absolutely everything in the beginning.
I don't think it's possible to overfeed a baby, be it with a bottle or a spoon.

I also found the science behind BLW dodgy - small studies, no big, peer-reviewed data as far as I know. Yet it's presented as the solution to all eating disorders.
I also can't stand how fanatical some parents are about it, and how they feel superior because they have never fed "mush". I came across the sentence "BLW is messy, but far less messy than having an adolescent child with an eating disorder" on a parenting blog: that's just the kind of fanatic attitude that puts me right off trying BLW.

Talking of mess, I am surprised by the number of people who say they didn't fancy the mess with BLW - I didn't find spoonfeeding any less messy than finger foods. DS would regularly spit out mouthfuls, fling the spoon about, smear food into his hair and onto his face. He often needed a bath after a meal.

BLW is where your child exclusively^^ self feeds.

A mixture of finger foods & spoon feeding is traditional weaning. You don't need a book or a "method" for it, you just do what you feel is right to introduce your baby to a balanced, healthy diet.

For me, getting food into him on a spoon so he could feel the feeling of a full tummy was just as important as letting him discover food in his hands and learn to bite/chew.

I don't think I could really see a place for a diet consisting only of soft spooned in food for a 6 month old, but ultimately they all get there eventually - we don't see adults gagging on lumps do we?!

"Oh and baby rice is completely rank,"
My daughter loved it. Odd child.

I started her on baby rice at 4 months, as was the advice nearly 20 years ago. She'd get excited when she even saw the box, and couldn't get enough of it, even after I started feeding her other things.
She really wanted to feed herself, even at that age, but honestly I couldn't handle the mess so I gave her a spoon to hit herself on the head play with while I fed her.

She was perfectly capable of feeding herself almost exclusively before she was a year old. She was and is particularly fond of strongly flavoured food, including spicy things, which always surprised people including me, I'm still a fan of the bland beige stuff.