BLW is all very well if....

[babybore]

1. Your baby has very good gross motor skills
2. You are not concerned about their weight gain
3. You have the time and money to prepare a wide variety of foods, most of which end up on the floor.

My dd is 7 months, weaned at 6. I was looking forward to weaning her as she was under her growth curve and I thought it might help her get back on it (it has). I have been trying finger foods but have mainly relied on home-cooked mashed or pureed food as she does not yet have the dexterity or the brain development to understand that the stick of brocolli put in front of her is her lunch, no matter how long I leave her with it.

If I had done BLW, my baby would be unhappy and underweight (she loves her solids) and I would be miserable and worried. So while it works for some babies I really think a degree of caution needs to be exercised in believing that all babies can eat finger foods from 6 months.

1. Only developmentally normal.

1. Nope, as long as you feed them milk as and when they are hungry as well as provide them with food.

1. Again, nope - more giving them bits off your plate - so if you eat something yourself, you give them a bit of it to play with.

speaking as someone who doesn't rerally fully understand BLW and have never tried it myself, I cxan see where you are coming from babybore but I think you are slightly misguided in what you think BLW is.

Obviously you never have to ty it ever again but hunker and lots of others have plenty advice on how to approach it(from what I have seen there is an approach for every child IYSWIM)if you want to attempt it again

hmm....

why is it more expensive to give them bits of food from meals you would eat...? ie some broccoli or veg from your plate at lunch and dinner?

and as hunker has said, it is the milk that is the main source of calories at this age, not food, and if a baby is not developed enough to sit up and hold their head up, then neither traditional or BLW is appropriate.

weaning is more about tastes of foods, rather than satisfying hunger

most babies of 6 months or so will shove everything in their mouths

some babies are smaller and gain weight less easily , my DD being one of those

she has been on solids for a while now, she is 18 months, and is still petite, it is just the way she is...

she eats anything and everything, just small amounts...

I do sort of agree with you here babybore. Have just stared waening DD (6 months now but started couple of weeks ago). I really wanted to do the blw thing it seemed a great idea and is but was not for my dd. Firstly she nearly choked to death on the limpest floret of brocoli. I know gagging is okay etc etc but she was truly terrified as was I. So I mashed it up and spoon fed it, and she woolfed it down.

I have tried again but she sits with bits of food same as me and just opens her mouth expecting me to feed her (either that or she is impersonating a goldfish). She gets very little in her mouth via blw , so me feeding her is much better. I do feel like I'm bad for doing purees so try to offer finger food as well - most of which she ignores.

I also appreciate that food isn't that important still, but as I weaned my dd off breast onto ff she drastically reduced her milk intake. To be weaning has allowed me to make up a puree with milk - thus giving her more milk than she thinks.

I think its all about the baby and whats best for baby and mummy.

Weight gain at 6 months has little to do with solid food and a lot to do with milk, though.

I think it's fine motor skills, rather than gross motor skills that make the difference. ds2 drops most things before he's managed to get them anywhere near his mouth!

the point is babybore is that all babies are different and different methods of weaning will suit different babies. I had a low weight baby who refused conventional baby puree, and I am very grateful to discover BLW. It was the best method of weaning for her, and cheap, and not very time consuming.

And IMO it improved her motor skills.

Hunker - as far as I can tell (ie in comparison with babies her own age) my dd is developmentally normal. She puts some objects in her mouth, can support herself fully, can sit up on her own etc. But she doesn't understand that what is on the plate of her is her lunch ie sometimes she will pick something up and suck it, more often than not she won't.

Also when I started weaning my baby was on 5 milk feeds a day, I have only recently started reducing it. Fact is, she is much mroe interested in solids now and it has done her good - weight gain, sleeps brilliantly, but then she always has.

I couldn't care less what is the trendy thing to do. My dd DOESN'T HAVE TEETH, she needs her food mashed up. Otherwise it's hard for her to swallow and it comes out more whole the other end - that doesn't seem right to me. If I lost my teeth I wouldn't fancy a stick a brocolli or a carrot stick for lunch!! I'd want soup and some soft bread please.

If you don't want to do it, don't do it.

Quite simple really.

But even when weaning onto purees, they only take small amounts ... their main source of calories should still be milk, and so there's no reason at all why there should be problems with weight gain.

And preparing a wide variety of foods, most of which ends up on the floor, applies equally well to food that is spoon-fed.

And they don't need teeth to mash up their food; their gums are hard and very efficient.

Look, you don't have to do BLW. Nobody is making you.

Belgo - that is my point too. It's just that some people here seem evangelical about BLW and I imagine it would make other mums seems like it's the 'right' thing to do, when I don't think it necessarily is.

well, don;t do it then

end of.

but don;t dismiss it as potentially less valuable than pureeing, and potentially getting less calories into your baby

I find BLW cheaper TBH. He eats similar foods to us, and no packets and jars all over the shop, and no having to wash the blender all the blooming time.

I'm relieved i heard about it, and will def do the same with next baby. DP marvels at DS eating a wedge of jacket potato or a bit of sandwich.

Hunker - I know that! I'm making a general point about BLW not always being the right thing and using my own daughter as an example of where it wasn't.

You seem very angry.

Why?

Do it however it works for your baby.

But plenty of 7mos don't eat much.

Neither of my boys did - it's only a lot more recently that DS2 has worked out what food is - he's heavier than DS1 was at the same age, but not because he's eaten more (DS1 ate more, definitely!).

As for expecting her to work out that the bits of food on her tray are lunch, not many 7mos would be able to do that either.

So far so normal.

You are a month into weaning your DD.

I'm not angry at all! Just trying to debate a topic. A contentious topic I know. I can only talk about my experience where full BLW just wouldn't have worked. I should be allowed to make that point without others leaping at my throat about it.

Detentiongirl - I'm glad it works for you. I can see where it does work it would be less time consuming and possibly more fun.

I batch cook everything anyway so spoon feeding doesn't seem that difficult to me either. I'm sure she'll love her finger foods ina few months.

But you're only a month into weaning.

And BLW didn't work for me when DS2 was only a month old.

So I just bfed him more.

And now eats better than any baby his age I know.

So while I respect what you're saying, I don't think you've given it a fair go.

BUT that's totally your prerogative. And if mashing, etc is working for you and your baby's happy, then that's fine!

Ok, lets have a debate:

You say that a degree of caution should be used in saying that all babies can be weaned onto finger foods at six monhts. Well, IMO, exactly the same can be said for pureed food.

AS for your three points in your OP, I have to disagree with all of them.

1. My baby has average motor skills, and these have improved whilst BLW
2. I was very concerned about her lack of weight gain, which is why I looked into an alternative method of weaning, after conventional purees failed.
3. I found that BLW cheaper and more convenient then pureed food.

I haven't given up on finger foods - I just don't rely on them as sustenence. They are more like a play thing that is occasionally eaten . I know she'll take them eventually. But if I was BLW I would have to have given her way more breastfeeds than I now have to and she wouldn't be getting enough iron would she? I thought that was why we should wean at 6 months because of the rapid depletion of a baby's iron stores after this time.

Hunker - right your baby and my baby, my kitchen, let's have a eating comp!!!!

Babybore, I did a lot of blw but I also fed her with a spoon if I was giving her weatabix. MAinly I let her have fun and now and then i helped scoop a bit of something in. Now at 14 months I'm not allowed to help and she feeds herself anything and everything.

Also...at the risk of being slapped for smugness, my baby has NEVER ONCE woken in the night from 12 weeks of age. Obv I'm lucky to have a good sleeper but I would ascertain that if I was BLW I could be having some sleep problems now.

I do a mixture of letting her feed herself and spooning in (9 months) seems to work well