Premature baby and BLW

[Apachepony]

Hi, I baby led weaned my first baby. He's never been a big eater & dunno what he would have been like if not BLW. Anyway, my second baby, who was a month early is approaching 6 months. He's a much bigger baby than his brother and is looking at our food with great interest - however, I'm not sure his motor skills would be up to BLW. Anyone any experience with weaning early babies? Should I do purées and then move on to finger foods around 7 months? Would this increase the likelihood of choking?

I'm not sure about the choking hazard. I thought the point of blw was a reduced choking risk if they can pick it up and put it into the mouth themselves.

Also not sure on weaning early babies either. Hopefully this will bump for you though

What you are thinking about doing is advised by bliss, the prematurity charity.
Just treat your baby as I they weren't born early. I wish my DS was that easy, he's 7 weeks early and has dysphagia so he chokes on anything mildly thick and he's 7 months old now

Is your baby on any nutritional supplements? These are sometimes recommended for babies who came early, because their iron stores are usually lower. If your baby is not on any supplements, I would recommend either starting him on some iron-rich foods now, or talking to your doctor about whether an iron drip might be a good idea. If your baby does not have the strongest motor skills, then it could be a while before he is actually able to get any food in his mouth, quite honestly.

No supplements, apart from vitamin D. However, iron would be a good reason not to BLW, it took ages before my first baby was ingesting much iron, I think. His motor skills aren't awful - he's bringing toys to his mouth to bite on - but my first baby got banana into his mouth within minutes of it being put in front of him, I'm not sure this guy would. He's a big strong baby, to the extent it's easy to forget he was premature, but with some things, like smiling (not til after 10 weeks) and rolling (never rolls from back to front and rarely the other way), I think I notice the delay. Tried him with some carrot today, but my blender is crap so I couldn't get it smooth enough I think. BLW was definitely easier in that regard!

I think vitamins are recommended for all babies OP. Have a read of this.

My DS was born a month early, and I had intended to BLW, but he's 13 months now and only just beginning to figure out finger food.... And by that I mean he is putting a very few things to his mouth and occasionally swallowing something. He has no problem chewing on anything that isn't food, but for some reason finger foods have been beyond him.

One consequence of relying on spoon feeding (and also still on mashed or pureed food) is its hard to get enough into him, and so his milk intake is still really high.

My DD was just over three weeks early - so only just below being considered full term - but HV said not to worry about delaying weaning, by 6 months she'll have sufficiently caught up. They still get most of their nutrition from milk at that age, so shouldn't be a problem if he's a bit hit and miss with getting stuff to his mouth or just sucking stuff off his fingers.

DD has also been a bit slow with various things. I think we're just going to start with tastes of stuff at six months and see how we go!

My baby boy was born at 26w, hes now nearly 6 months old (3 months corrected), the outreach team are very keen for me to start weaning, although he seems too little! :)
Ive been told to start with purees (by the dietician), quickly introduce new foods each day, feed once a day and increase the following week.
Weve only just started and I have no idea if im doing it right/if hes ready- I'm just about to ask other mummies on here- good luck x