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Weaning

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

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Original poster

So is baby led weaning just not pureeing it and giving jars or is there more to it?

124 replies

dejags · 07/02/2007 11:03

DS2 was weaned very early (advised by Paediatrician [anger]).

We kept his diet very simple until he was 6 months old and sitting very confidently.

After that we just let him eat what we were having (obviously prepared with him in mind with no salt/sugar and taking care to introduce different foods slowly).

I never bothered with jars or purees, I just mashed what was mashable with a fork or let him gnaw on it when that was possible.

Is this baby led weaning or is there more to it?

I am currently pg with DC3 so am interested in this for obvious reasons.

TIA

OP posts:

BuffysMum · 07/02/2007 11:10

I'd say provided you wait until the baby is 6 months, siting well and showing interest in eating food etc yes that's about it finger food or rough mashed I'm sure someone will correct me but that seems most logical to me.......

Original poster

dejags · 07/02/2007 11:11

So.... (dare I say it)....

What's the fuss.

This is just normal weaning to me - or am I being a bit thick (par for the course) and missing something.

OP posts:

BuffysMum · 07/02/2007 11:16

I think biggest difference is that it is nearly all finger foods, I literally gave babyrice for 3 days to make sure she could mmove the found around and swallow and after that it was finger foods all the way......I don't get what the fuss is about either - I weaned my last 3 like this although I have to say one of them was on baby food for 3 months as she just gagged on finger food and wouldn't eat it then one day she at a chip (!) and that was that self feeding from then on.....

Original poster

dejags · 07/02/2007 11:19

it just makes sense to me.

DS1 was weaned on home made purees (PFB Syndrome in the extreme). It made a monster of him - he was still refusing to eat lumpy food at age 3. To this day, he hates lumpy/hard/differently textured food (5.9).

When DS2 was born I said "never again". He is a much better eater for it.

OP posts:

DizzyBint · 07/02/2007 11:26

it's just giving a proper name to something, following gill rapley's study into weaning.

it helps people know that you don't have to puree foods. i wouldn't say it's just finger foods, because lots of people give finger foods along side puree. blw is really no puree, just giving the baby what you're having, straight to proper food.

looking at baby food sections of the supermarket, and most baby care books, you wouldn't think you could wean a baby this way. of course, often with a third time, or even second time mum, blw happens anyway because it is far easier, more relaxed and fits in better with a busy family.

Original poster

dejags · 07/02/2007 11:30

Thanks dizzy.

seems to me that by giving it a formal name then then it just becomes another thing for mum's to feel guilty about

OP posts:

AitchTwoOh · 07/02/2007 21:14

fuss? what fuss? and why would anyone feel guilty? [baffled]

Wallace · 07/02/2007 21:19

I have noticed that people use "BLW" as meaning "gave some finger food". I mean people who are using purees, say things like "did some blw today" when surely they mean they gave their baby some finger foods. That isn't really blw, is it?

AitchTwoOh · 07/02/2007 21:28

i know, or 'i've tried blw and purees'. eeerrr, have you thought about what the words mean?

anyway, it's not controversial, it's not designed to make people feel guilty and it's not something that people should be called upon to defend. if you've weaned your children successfully once, then keep doing what your doing if that's what you feel like.

once you've read the research it's quite clear what the differences between spoon feeding and BLW are, but in the end you do what you think will suit you and your baby.

BuffysMum · 07/02/2007 21:33

My last 2 (dd3 & 4) were def BLW after three days of baby rice/fruit mix - that was my test to see if they were def interested in eating without killing them on our food. My 2nd was a bit odd she had tongue tie which was divided due to b/f problems and I think she was delayed in her ability to chew/swallow and has a natural aversion to trying anything new - so we had to go down the baby food route as mashing our food was just not acceptable to her - funny thing. She was over a year old before I could let her have biscuits because she mainly choked/gagged and brought her whole last meal up - yuck!

Think my big bug bear is all those people rushing to wean them before 6 months - why make life more difficult for yourself?????

Wallace · 07/02/2007 21:35

I was guilty of it myself before I started... I remember typing that I was planning to use a "mainly blw approach"

Original poster

dejags · 08/02/2007 13:48

So if I spoon feed mashed food (i.e. something off my plate which I have just mashed with a fork) what is this classified as.

There is a fuss. I have seen posts where "red-mist descending" has been used to describe the poster's reaction to BLW.

I was also referring to why the fuss about re-naming giving finger foods. Just a fancy name for something we have always done if you ask me.

OP posts:

Original poster

dejags · 08/02/2007 13:49

I must clarify that I genuinely was interested in the mechanics of BLW - the OP was not intended as a piss take.

Just seems to me after reading the responses that it's just glorified finger feeding?

OP posts:

DizzyBint · 08/02/2007 13:59

no it isn't. as the responses have said.

as has been said, lots of people give finger foods alongside puree or mash, and lots of people move from purees to mash, to finger foods. blw isn't the finger food bit. it's the whole idea of waiting til baby can feed himself, relying on them to control their intake etc etc. gill rapley's study explains it very well. it was after her study, as i understand it, that the 'fussy' name came about.

DizzyBint · 08/02/2007 14:00

if you spoon feed the mashed food off your fork then that isn't blw. if you put the food by your baby and he picks it up and eats it..

Original poster

dejags · 08/02/2007 14:04

Thanks DB.

I'll look up that book.

Just out of interest how do you manage things like scrambled eggs, cereal. Babies don't have the dexterity to use a spoon. So how does one approach this if going the BLW route?

OP posts:

DizzyBint · 08/02/2007 14:07

she hasn't written a book. if you google her it should come up, otherwise there is a link to it on aitch's site.

scrambled egg is easy to eat with hands, just don't break it up too much...or even easier do it as an omelette. as for cereal..there is a well known mn recipe for porridge pancakes, or...just do the porridge/readybrek etc thick, let baby make a mess and shovel it in. other cereals are manageable too..dd likes rice krispies, just add a little milk, drain milk off and she scoops them into her mouth. easy.

Original poster

dejags · 08/02/2007 14:10

excellent - thank you

anything for less work - and it is such a fag having to sit and feed the baby whilst my food goes cold (we like to eat together).

OP posts:

mabel1973 · 08/02/2007 14:30

I am interested in weaning this way.
But have a few queries..what about yogurt...things like that, surely there are some foods that you HAVE to spoon feed?
Feel free to put me right!

Wallace · 08/02/2007 16:06

I think it is okay (do correct me if I'm wrong) to load up a spoon and hand it to the baby to feed themselves/bang on the table/smear in their hair, etc

terramum · 08/02/2007 17:20

we loaded spoons of sticky things like quinoa porridge for DS to self feed once he was able to. Runny things wouldnt have worked as he held the spoon virtically for months! Although saying that yoghurt wasnt an issue for us as we avoided dairy until he was well past 1 year, so by the time he had it he was able to use a spoon properly.

FotheringtonTomas · 08/02/2007 18:11

yoghurt isn't an essential foodstuff, especially those petit filous things, which are gross. but if you want to feed them it, just load up the spoon and stand back. tbh i waited until she got a bit more adept (say, 8 months) til we started with yoghurt, but then we're not big yoghurt eaters ourselves and what we eat, more than anything, dictates what our dd eats.

DizzyBint · 09/02/2007 09:10

i don't give really sloppy things very often because i do want dd to feed herself, and she isn't that great with spoons yet. so yes sometimes she has those mums own ones, or shares a rachels one with me, i load up the spoon and she makes a nice mess with it. i do do that sometimes, i guess to show her what utensils are for and to help develop her ability to handle them, but i'm in no rush for that yet. otherwise she has fruit covered in yoghurt, picks up the fruit, so gets the yoghurt in that way. nursery do that for her (they are on board with blw).

but like the others have said, yoghurt isn't an essential baby food. it maybe has become to seem to be because it's an obvious food choice if you're spoon feeding purees IYSWIM.

oops · 09/02/2007 10:02

Message withdrawn

mabel1973 · 09/02/2007 10:03

I know yoghurt isn't an essential foodstuff, it was just an example...but DS1 has always loved them, and incidentally has petit filous, and so do i and I don't think they're gross!!..I would like Ds to enjoy all sorts of foods, not just ones that he can pick up with his hands, I have always made loads of soups as we get tonnes of veg from my dads allotment which DS1 has always loved as well.....I guess it's just a case of combining finger food and spoon feeding if that suits us, I would like him to eat the same as us, which may include things he can't pick up.

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