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Weaning

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

Original poster

BLW is all very well if....

330 replies

babybore · 14/02/2007 13:51

  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.

OP posts:
FluffyMummy123 · 15/02/2007 13:27

Message withdrawn

AitchTwoOh · 15/02/2007 13:30

i think you'll find a lot of wanking is ball-led, cod. Ball-Led Wanking - isn't it all just a load of cock? etcetera etcetera. must go and start a thread.

FluffyMummy123 · 15/02/2007 13:31

Message withdrawn

fluffyanimal · 15/02/2007 13:35

What I liked about Soupy's post was that she raised a question about the theory that BLW allows the baby to control its own intake. I can second her experience of a baby getting too bored / distracted / lazy / frustrated after playing with finger food, but you know that the baby is still hungry because (s)he gets cranky soon afterwards if you don't feed some more. Well, at this point my DS refuses extra milk, so once he's got bored of grappling with his bits of whatever on his high tray, I have to take over and spoon feed him, and I know he is full when he clamps mouth shut and turns his head away. So whilst I'm very impressed by all those who successfully do BLW, I do rather question the idea that the baby who self-feeds will feed until they are full and then stop.

On the other hand, my DS would also eat fromage frais until he threw up if I let him. So what does that tell us about childrens' abilities to regulate their own intake?

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:41

FA, I can very rarely get a spoon anywhere near DS2's mouth, so unless he feeds it to himself, it doesn't get eaten.

But if that works for some, then so be it - do it. Just don't write scathing "fgs chill out" stuff about it

As for appetite control - DS1 is 2.10 and loves a few things I'd rather he didn't have masses of (chorizo and twiglets) - but given free access to them, he does control his intake and says "had nuff now".

I've never bothered about how much either of them have eaten though - and yes, I had weight gain concerns with DS1 from about 4mo to about 16mo. Well, I didn't - I could see he was fine, but if I took him near an HV they'd fret (although not till he went on the scales - because he always looked heavier than he was for some reason).

AitchTwoOh · 15/02/2007 13:41

the regulation of appetite thing is a theory, extrapolated from the theories about demand bfing, so we don't know what will happen in the long term. it's interesting to find out in the meantime. and again i don't know the answer to this, but would a baby who has never been spoon fed know what spoon feeding is and that they would rather wait for it than pick up food and eat it themselves?
as i say, dd ate tiny bits and had mostly milk. her milk intake wasn't affected by food for months. i did find, however, that her number of bottle increased while the amount she drank at one time decreased, so i can only assume that the solids made her a bit more inclined to 'graze' on milk during the day.

Enid · 15/02/2007 13:42

fgs chill out

FluffyMummy123 · 15/02/2007 13:42

Message withdrawn

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:42

(As an aside, doesn't the word "solids" to describe food make you want to retch?!)

FluffyMummy123 · 15/02/2007 13:43

Message withdrawn

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:44

Enid... [stern]

Nah, Cod, I don't. DS2 doesn't hold with that sort of nonsense. He thinks he should feed himself because it's his tummy that needs feeding, and I don't argue with him

Enid · 15/02/2007 13:45

oh you are all so wholesome

get you with yer carrot and hummus sarnies and your 'its his stomach' malarkey

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/02/2007 13:45

Enid, away with you and your fancy adult food fetish

FluffyMummy123 · 15/02/2007 13:45

Message withdrawn

fluffyanimal · 15/02/2007 13:45

One of my friends was getting chatted up in a crowded bar where she didn't have anywhere to sit. The guy chatting her up said, "I'm just going to the gents, I'll fetch you a stool."

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:45

More like the lumpy bits in sewage, Cod [barf]

fluffyanimal · 15/02/2007 13:45

That was with reference to hunker and her 'solids' btw.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/02/2007 13:46

Oh yick yick and double yick at both of you.

Talk of jobbies on a weaning thread...i mean honestly.

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:46

Yes, of course he balances his food groups.

He has a chart that we colour in after each meal.

And because he's been BLWd, his pencil control is excellent and he never goes over the lines.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/02/2007 13:47

DD's pencil control Is Not Good

lulumama · 15/02/2007 13:48

babylulu can eat almost a whole crayon, of any colour

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:48

LOL FA! What a chat-up line!

hunkermunker · 15/02/2007 13:49

VVV -

emkana · 15/02/2007 13:51

Coming rather late to this, but also want to lend my support to soupy.

I have three children - with dd1 I got stressed about the whole puree malarkey but she wasn't really that interested, but I didn't know about BLW.

Dd2 - spoon refuser, only had milk until 12 months, I offered finger foods etc.

Now ds - I was fully prepared to do the whole BLW thing completely properly, and then what happens? Doesn't want finger foods at all, but will cry for pureed/mashed up, happily opens his mouth like a little bird, then turns head away when full up.

So just do whatever works, and FGS...

chill out
(Sorry, couldn't resist that one )

AitchTwoOh · 15/02/2007 13:52

i have just had to remove last night's champagne cork from dd's mouth... she first of all screamed with horror at justin and sarah jane's hiccups and now seems strangely subdued...