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Weaning

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

So when are you sure that your LO is ready for BLW? Will hopefully be starting in 6 weeks if anyone wants to join me???

20 replies

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 16:54

DD is 21 weeks. Am hoping she will be ready around 26 weeks, what signs should I look for? I'm very nervous for some reason. I need lots of moral support as people around me are making me feel like a cruel freak

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lulumama · 03/02/2007 17:00

bless you jam.......how is it making you cruel? letting your baby eat lovely food at her own pace...and exploring all the textures and flavours in her own time..

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 17:15

that's what I think lulu, but everyone keeps telling me she will choke, why aren't I weaning already as she is obviously ready...blah blah blah.
Apparently the restless sleep can't be developmental - it's lack of weaning oh and I'm obviously torturing her as she stares at everyone that's eating and is making chewing motions, and I'm not feeding her...just feeling a bit about the lack of support I guess.
Sorry moaning on

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lulumama · 03/02/2007 17:27

she is copying, because that is what babies do...weaning should not start before 6 months, was reading a LaLeche book last night, and some parents wait until 8 or 9 months ....and they encourage BLW

she won;t choke...and do babies weaned traditionally never choke?

the restless sleep is part of a phase, and a spoon of puree will not suddenly make her sleep . if it does, it is purely coincidence. both of mine slept through before i weaned, so it is not weaning that makes them sleep

holding a steamed floret of broccoli and having a good munch, or a courgette stick is a great way to learn about eating and food....

there is bags of support here, have you looked a the BLW blog?

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 17:37

Have bookmarked it and will take a good look...I agree with everything you say hon, it's just trying to convince family, friends etc...I hear "well your DD was sleeping through 12 hours from 9 weeks, and starting waking at 4 months....needs weaning"
I said that to someone about watching...I said "DD watches me wash up too...does that mean I should rush out and buy her a pair of marigolds!!!!"

I just hope now it all goes ok after me goling on about it's virtues so much

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lulumama · 03/02/2007 18:13

it will be fine !!! i like your marigolds comment !

DizzyBint · 03/02/2007 18:17

it's awful how people who mean well try to put this pressure on you isn't it?! i remember when dd was 3 months old and not sleeping through 'yet' (!) and MIL saying she needed some mashed up egg or a rusk. she was horrified about my plans for blw, as was my sister. EVERYONE said she would choke. and now....she's 8 months old, and eats anything and everything. she's at nursery 2 afternoons a week, tucks into a proper tea while the other babies struggle with their lumpy purees. at baby group most of the other mums are getting worried about introducing lumps, or whether to give 2 veggies in a puree, how to puree potato, whether they should give an extra ice cube of food tonight etc etc...while me and dd eat our sandwiches quietly in the corner.

soooo..stick to your guns, maybe show well meaning relatives the gill rapley study, and aitch's blog. the pics on there were very helpful when i was explaining it to people. and then just have fun with it!

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 18:35

thanks guys, dizzy you really are an inspiration
Did you start at 26 weeks dizzy? when will I know, now is the right time?
TIA

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DizzyBint · 03/02/2007 18:41

i waited til 26 weeks as per the guidelines. i put handed dd some banana and she held it, ate it and swallowed it. so she was ready. the next day i put broccoli on her high chair tray, she picked it up and ate it. we then worked our way through every fruit and veg i could find. then at about 7 and a half months i introduced bread, pasta, dairy etc. now at 8 months she has anything at all (except nuts).

she may have been able to pick up and eat sooner than 26 weeks, some mums on here have said they were able to start blw sooner. however i can't really see much point in that. they don't actually need any food before then. and even after then milk still should be their main food. there is no reason to rush.

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 19:02

I can't see DD being ready before, she does have hand mouth co ordination but it's not great at the moment, I really want to wait until 26 weeks, for the sake of a few weeks why go against the guidlines.
Will take a look at the blog and get prepared
Thanks Dizzy
x

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Lullabyloo · 03/02/2007 19:12

i waited till ds was drooling & trying to grab food out of our hands (6m 2 weeks)-took to food like a duck to water & have never looked back.
you've probably got loads of weaning books but have lots if you want inspiration.
just plug your ears & don't listen to what everyone else thinks you should be doing xx

justJAMtarts · 03/02/2007 20:12

ah thanks lully xx

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bitzermaloney · 04/02/2007 10:08

We have been BLWing for a week now and I am wondering if I started ds slightly too early (25 weeks) - he does grab food but mostly smears it around his high chair or drops it on the floor, and any that does go in his mouth comes out again . On the other hand I filled a spoon with yogurt and put it on his tray and he rammed the right end straight in his gob and swallowed the yogurt (fluke?!), so who knows? He does really enjoy playing with the food though so I think we'll carry on.

Have fun JJ!

gingerninja · 04/02/2007 17:27

Hey JJ, this is where you've been hiding As you know, my lo is the same age as yours and I'd like to go down the blw route. I don't know where to start though. Everyone I know has or is doing the baby rice, puree thing which I understand but with blw do you slowly introduce foods in the same way ie three days giving courgette etc etc and what are good first foods to try? Does is just have to be veggies or can you give cereal or what? I found the blog a bit hard to follow to be honest. I'm not sure I found the answers on how to get started.

DizzyBint · 04/02/2007 18:53

you can do it however you and your baby feel you want to do it. by waiting til they're 6 months you don't have the same worries as with a younger baby. if you have allergies in the family then you would be more cautious as you would be with puree. however, most of your annabel karmel and other weaning others still start their weaning plans from 4 months so suggest you introduce food very very slowly, as you described with one food for 3 days etc etc. but after 6 months you don't HAVE to do this. however, if you feel more comfortable doing it this way then that's ok too.

with blw the idea is you just hand over bits of your food as you eat it. so say you're having sunday dinner, you put a potato, a carrot and a broccoli floret on your baby's tray and let them get on with it. in reality you might start off by deliberately cooking potato or carrot in chip shapes which are easy for baby to pick up. but again, you don't have to, just give what you're having. you must of course be careful of salt (no more than a gram ish a day).

they might not eat a lot of it, that's ok. it's not like the 'puree route' where you would maybe be building up from a teaspoon, to an ice cube, then three ice cubes. you just offer bits of food and as your baby gets better at handling it, you offer more, and offer different textures and sizes of foods. their main food is still milk so it doesn't matter that they don't eat much at first.

then slowly but surely they get better and better and can pick up even small things like peas..this develops as their body becomes capable of handling a pea without choking on it. until then they will only be able to grab food with their fist, so it has to be biggish things, or things in chip shapes.

does that help?

gingerninja · 04/02/2007 19:27

That's great Dizzy thanks, (Sorry JJ think I've hijacked your thread!) Also perhaps you have advice on this question, as I'm bf'ing on demand I don't have much of a routine about milk feeds roughly every couple of hours so do I continue to do that and just offer nibbles at our meal times or should I try and structure milk feeds a bit more? TBH DD just gets boob shoved in her mouth every couple of hours rather than asking for it (In the vain attempt at getting her to take more during the day and less at night.)so I could probably stretch this out. If we're out she'll happily go 3-4 hours without eating.

DizzyBint · 04/02/2007 19:40

i would say carry on as normal with your bf and just offer food when you eat. i bf on demand but my dd did fall into a routine of sorts, feeding every 3 hours or so. the idea is that she will drop feeds herself as she gets more interested in her food. maybe try to read her cues more? although i know it's easy to want to tank them up in the day. once dd was 6 months and we starting blw she was having bf on waking, after each of her 3 naps, and last thing before bed. at 7 months ..

wake up milk7am
breakfast 8am
nap 9-10am
milk 10am
lunch 11am
nap 12-1pm
milk 1pm
snack 2pm
nap 3-4pm
milk 4pm
tea 5pm
bed time and last milk 6.30-7 ish

plus a feed or 2 at night

so it felt like feeding and milk constantly, it was like something every hour, food, milk or nap..so not much time for anything else really!

now at 8 months she has no milk in the night, no milk at 4pm, and very little milk at 10am.

hope that makes sense.

gingerninja · 04/02/2007 19:44

Thanks again Dizzy, makes more sense in a couple of paragraphs than anything else I've read. Brilliant.

DizzyBint · 04/02/2007 19:51

happy to help

justJAMtarts · 05/02/2007 08:41

Hi Ginger!!! So good that we will be doing BLW at the same time
Thanks bitzer and dizzy, good to have support at hand

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justJAMtarts · 05/02/2007 09:18

helpful link someone gave before

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