Do BLW babies really choose to eat healthily later on?

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We are doing BLW with DD (8mo) and have noticed that, although she (sometimes...) eats a lot, she seems to have a definite preference for the unhealthier end of the food spectrum (eg. sweet things like fruit as opposed to vegetables). She can spot broccoli a mile off and has become very good at carefully dropping it over the side of her tray

The impression given by the BLW book is that BLW babies end up automatically eating a healthy, balanced diet with no need for encouragement. But is this really the case? ie. will a toddler weaned using BLW really eat whatever's put in front of them? I would have expected that, just like adults, they'd prefer certain foods over others. And if so, as the BLW philosophy seems to be to let them eat what they like, how do you then get them to eat healthily?

It worked with us, but that could be a fluke.

I spoon-fed DS mush and he is and always has been a fussy bugger and vegetable-dodger.

Did BLW with DD and she eats pretty much anything, will try anything new, loves veg, loves spicy and strong flavours.

We took them out for dinner the other night and DS chose burger, chips and milkshake, while DD had curried got, rice and peas, plantain and spinach & avocado salad + a watermelon and mint crush to drink.

That sums them up, really

Thanks everyone for the detailed replies, this is all very helpful (especially the twin studies!). Looks like we should just do our best to offer a balanced plate and see what happens

curried goat

One of mine was shovelled in puréed food. One was BLW.
Puréed baby eats wide variety of stuff. Currently teenager so defaults to shit.

BLW baby refuses most food. Loves sugar more than anything. And chips. Is horrendous.
So no. It doesn't follow. Sorry.

Dd is three now and was blw. She eats plenty of fruit and veg now, but has had her fussy phases like any other child. I have just continued to offer the same things and she has come out the other side each time. I think the problems arise when you panic that your child is going to starve and only offer what they want at that time.

My mostly spoon-fed DS' favourite food is broccoli at 2yo. Go figure.

No - I have three who eat differently despite following BLW with them all.

DS1 (12) is the fussiest and gets fussier the older he gets - He does have dyspraxia and low muscle tone, so that has an impact, but the food types he eats is getting less by the week.

OP Yes, absolutely, offer a balanced plate (not too full, as that can over-face them) and try and avoid even noticing how much they eat (and certainly don't comment on it, coax them to eat one more spoonful etc). I wouldn't say it makes an adventurous eater necessarily, but it does make mealtimes stress free. Apart from the stress of meal planning for all the balanced meals when I'd rather just have beer and cheese for dinner...

I'd love to see the evidence behind BLW being healthier that the government is basing their advice on - as far as I know, there isn't any.

I think that children are more likely to be aware if their parent is any kind of food zealot and react accordingly - I think many (not all) hardcore weaners (of any description) have their own food issues and I think that this is very easy for children to pick up on and develop issues around (fussyness, controlling, what have you)

It also depends on what what the parent gives th child to eat. All of mine have been fab at eating and trying different veggies. Eldest is now 19 and fussy and always eats out at fast food type places. Despite declaring the aubergine as his favourite veggie until about 10.

Ds2 eats a wide range of fruit and veg and eat until full but is very into health and fitness and aware of what he's eating and drinking.

Dd is 10 and has a fondness for sweets and chocolates and 'bad' food. She does eat a lot of veg and fruit at mealtimes but snacks too much.

However I've come across people claiming to blw who for them it means not having to buy special food etc and give 6 month old baby slices of pizza the size of their head and things like pre prepared sandwiches with hoisin sauce in, scotch eggs etc.

Even in Christmas Day they were feeding the now 7 month old pigs in blankets whilst laughing that the child won't eat a veggie!

BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
no.

I still think BLW is best, but it doesn't stop them going through the same eating phases of every other 3/4/5/6….13/14 year old..

I think it is more down to personality, developing taste buds and individual digestive systems than any particular method of feeding.

I think BLW maybe makes the parents healthier at least
DS (9 months) always wants what's on our plates, which means we can only sneakily eat takeaway etc after he's asleep.

It's way too soon to tell if he'll eat healthily when he's older but at the moment his favourite foods seem to be broccoli, apples, pears and cheese though tbh he'll pretty much shovel anything in his little mouth.

I don't think it's so much that they eat more healthily but are just generally prepared to try more textures and tastes. As you're not pureeing batches of stuff but cooking as you go (much more like 'real life') I do think they tend to get a much wider variety of foods to try.

I can't see how BLW babies have any advantage as the purée stage is so short. I haven't used a blender for months and dd is 1. She's had finger food since the beginning, and now just eats what we do, but cut up smaller, which was the approach I was weaned on 30 years ago.

I,agree Cantreach, both my children started on purée alongside finge food and the purest lasted a month at most. the myth that you can over feed a pure fed baby is nonsense, they stop eating n the same way BLaw babies do. As long as you offer healthy food Weaning method makes no difference. It makes me laugh how people with 10 months old boast how well their BLW us eating independently. So where both my purée for 1 month fed babies. They have both gone thro stages of fussiness, so have all the BLW babies that Ive known. Just offer healthy choices, but don't delude yourself to thinking it will have any bearing on your child's eating habits past around 8 months old.

More twins, Really good eaters and do try lots of food, but often go back to using fingers and take ages to eat a meal. School use a timer on them. I do wonder if they see it as an extension of play which was the theory behind blw and attracted me as the idea of spoon feeding 2 babies together sounded like a nightmare. They have good manners and don't throw food etc but can't seem to concentrate and eat at food time.

Very little proper scientific evidence on many of the aspects of BLW compared to traditional (spoon fed) methods of weaning. Some studies are starting up now and starting to deliver data. Nothing I know of, at the moment to indicate that the BLW baby is likely to have a more healthy eating pattern later on. here are some of the studies that have been done:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27647715 (evaluating choking risk for BLW)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27154478 (looking at the energy and other nutrient intakes thru bLW)

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26563757 (outline of a study design for a randomized trial of BLW being done in new zealand).

there may be others.

It's a small study but one of the concerns highlighted by the BMJ Open paper
bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/5/e010665.long
is the BLW group were more likely to have had inadequate iron intakes - which is a concern

"It has been proposed that the BLW infant may be at particular risk of iron deficiency because the texture of infant cereal makes it difficult for infants to self-feed, and because foods that are easier to grasp tend to be naturally low in iron (eg, fruits and vegetables).10 Our results would suggest that these concerns may have some value given that, on average, infants following full BLW appeared to have less than half the daily dietary iron intake of infants following TSF. The full BLW group introduced fortified infant cereal 5 weeks later and were considerably less likely to consume fortified infant cereal during the WDR. Although the adequacy of intakes below the AI cannot be determined,23 the iron intakes of all three groups were considerably lower than the AI of 7 mg24 (3.6, 3.3 and 1.6 mg for TSF, partial BLW and full BLW, respectively)."

I did BLW with 1st baby pretty seriously and the 2nd was just, whatever worked. I do feel that a really full-on ideological BLW approach could be problematic from the point of view of getting the adequate nutrient intakes esp iron and zinc as they say, but that's not totally confirmed by real data as yet, just sneaking suspicions plus a small amount of evidence that it might be a problem. Personally I see no reason why you can't spoon feed as well as BLW but that's not really politically correct with BLW advocates

Our dd ate beautifully when doing blw but ended up a really fussy bugger with a penchant for biscuits

It's totally anecdotal but my two were not blw - I did traditional weaning - they are both amazing eaters and astound me sometimes at what they will eat. They love all vegetables ( my daughter was literally begging me for more tender stem broccoli the other day) and refuse a pudding if they feel they've had enough main course. My brother, on the other hand, did baby led weaning with his two and they are the pickiest children. One will only eat dry food like chicken nuggets and in terms of vegetables will only tolerate a carrot baton. But she'll eat chocolate and crisps till it's coming out of her ears. So in our little family the traditional weaning looks like it created more balanced eaters. I have to say my kids have only ever been offered the same food that we eat, puréed at first, and I don't offer alternatives.

I don't think it makes any difference TBH. DS was totally BLWed. Suddenly got picky at 9 months and barely ate anything until he was 2. Then stuck with an extremely limited range until about 5 or 6 when he started trying things.

He has sort of a mix of mine and DH's tastes now at 8. He loves fruit and salad veg, prefers boiled/steamed veg to chips (I was exactly the same) and favours bland foods but is starting to enjoy spices like chilli. Likes pizza, pasta, normal stuff. Not a fan of fish or potatoes in any form. In fact, I've always struggled to get carbs into him because (like me) he finds them too bland and boring. Pasta is okay with a lot of sauce, pizza etc same, but no sandwiches, no chips, no mash.