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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

BLW advice for a total newbie

32 replies

Littlefoxy · 29/04/2017 20:21

My LO is 5 months and we've started to look into weaning options and we're completely confused by it all. We like the sound of BLW but not sure how it all works. We've read that you should only give vegetables to begin with, no dairy, meat etc. But we've read on BLW websites that they'd given baby whatever they were eating so do some people dispute the veg only advice? Do you start on certain foods? We'd like to avoid giving LO anything sweet until she's eating her greens so avoiding fruit & veg like sweet potato. Is that possible with BLW or will I have excluded most of the common first foods? Also can I give her mashed potato, hummous, Dahl etc (home made no salt) or is runny consistency food going against BLW? So many questions!

OP posts:

RhinestoneCowgirl · 29/04/2017 20:25

My DC are 8 and 10 now (so rather past weaning) but i did BLW with both.

I simply carried on bf on demand and offered a bit of food at my mealtimes once they reached 6 months. If you want to give veg, things like carrot batons and florets of broccoli are a good start.

dementedma · 29/04/2017 20:26

I think you are overthinking it. I am old so the term BLW to me means giving the baby whatever he/she can hold and gnaw at - toast- or stuff he/she can get hands in and smear everywhere while in the hope that some goes in mouth. Eg pasta.
Erm, that's about it.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 29/04/2017 20:27

Oh and homemade dhal is a great first food. Messy tho - they will probably stick hands in and slurp it off. Great fun

fruityb · 29/04/2017 20:29

I spoon fed Ds to begin with so he could taste the stuff, then started with broccoli and carrots, then baby biscuits, then really anything he could grab hold of in stick shapes! He is very good now and working on pincer gripping everything so can pick up most stuff. Loves Philly on bread!

I haven't really avoided anything other than making it more textured and slightly harder as he now has teeth.

TittyGolightly · 29/04/2017 20:31

Get the Gill Rapley book out of the library. It explains it all really clearly. No need to stick to veg!

TittyGolightly · 29/04/2017 20:31

Fruity, there's no need to purée or mash anything and you certainly don't have to wait till they have teeth.

TittyGolightly · 29/04/2017 20:33

Do you start on certain foods? We'd like to avoid giving LO anything sweet until she's eating her greens so avoiding fruit & veg like sweet potato. Is that possible with BLW or will I have excluded most of the common first foods?

Whole point is to give the food you eat. There's no list of food.

Figgygal · 29/04/2017 20:34

Yes the Gill rapley book is a good buy
Ds is 6.5 months and we use the recipes from it with finger foods but I do spoon feed him the messier stuff

TittyGolightly · 29/04/2017 20:35

Why not just give him the spoon?

I wasn't referring to a recipe book, BTW. It was just a guide to BLW/gagging etc.

Speedybloomer · 29/04/2017 20:37

We've been doing BLW with my DD, now 9 months and loving it. The main principle is that they can join family meals and pretty much eat what you're eating. You can either just give them meals from the beginning or start with veg. We started with veg fingers so sweet potato wedges, avocado in strips, cucumber sticks, broccoli. Now she pretty much eats everything. You can definitely give things like daal, mashed potato. It doesn't really matter about the consistency, more that you're allowing LO to explore and eat themselves. You don't have to start with veg only. If your LO has no allergies then they can definitely have dairy and meat.

Do be prepared for not much eating at the beginning though! It's a whole new sensory experience for them, so they will explore, touch, smell but it may take a while for them to actually start eating. Don't be disheartened by this, you'll be amazed by the results when they do start eating.

I second reading the Gill Rapley book - great at explaining it!

Speedybloomer · 29/04/2017 20:38

Oh and there's a great app I use for ideas for recipes, it's called Baby Led Weaning Cookbook so you may want to check that out.

Original poster

Littlefoxy · 29/04/2017 21:27

Thanks this is helpful. I think I'm confused because I've been given advice by people who weaned a while ago & went the baby rice then purée route. my mum was a bit shocked when I said LO would have what we eat so I thought I might have got it wrong

OP posts:

Speedybloomer · 29/04/2017 21:43

I think a lot of our parents generation did the traditional weaning route with purees so they're not so aware of baby led weaning. My mum has panicked so many times but I've had to just reassure her. I find it amazing what they can do with no teeth!

You may also find it helpful to read up on the difference between gagging and choking and when to intervene.

Do you have a local NCT branch? I know they run weaning courses that focus on BLW which may be useful for you.

fruityb · 29/04/2017 22:35

I haven't puréed anything myself - I have used jars and pouches and stuff when I was finding my feet though. He loves Ella's kitchen fruit pouches and I mix it in with his breakfast or anything it'll go with.

I don't give him the spoon yet as there's no way he'd get anything in his mouth off it. He'll get there - for now it's pick up and stuff!

TittyGolightly · 29/04/2017 23:36

That completely goes against the point of BLW though.

NannyR · 29/04/2017 23:45

I used to give runny stuff like vegetable soup with a chunk of bagel so they could dip it in and suck the soup off it. I also gave very smooth soups in a free flow sippy cup so they could drink them.

multivac · 29/04/2017 23:49

We'd like to avoid giving LO anything sweet until she's eating her greens

Baby. Led. Weaning.

I think you're missing the point. If you mean 'we quite like the idea of fingers foods and no puree', then maybe you should just do that.

fruityb · 30/04/2017 07:43

You've been reading cow and gate stuff by the sound of it - savoury tastes and then sweet tastes? Just give them tastes. Ds eats anything he's given! Parsnips were a hit!

Original poster

Littlefoxy · 30/04/2017 10:45

I disagree. I wont be offering her a glass of merlot with her dinner either, doesn't mean it can't be baby led. She can't choose what she wants from the store cupboard and she doesn't know anything about nutrician so for now I need to be selecting her menu & that means not a lot of sugar

OP posts:

TittyGolightly · 30/04/2017 11:09

Mine had sips of what we were drinking - tea, fizzy water, prosecco......

You need to provide a range of tastes, textures and experiences. Sort out your own diet and she can just eat what you eat.

Some of DD's first tastes were at a local gastro pub - steak, pheasant, fish, batter, big fat chips, watercress and rocket, ice-cream, olives, homemade bread with different flavourings, pate, soup, meat and veg etc. Lots of things she loved and lots she didn't. We didn't restrict anything. She's now 6.5 and we still have Easter eggs left from last year and she doesn't glance at this year's.

Relax. No need to panic about it.

CornishYarg · 30/04/2017 11:57

I always found it fascinating how DS varied what he ate depending on what was going on. Eg he often stuck to fruit and veg when he was ill and his appetite was suppressed but his body needed vitamins. Then he'd eat lots of carbs when he was recovering and needed to build his energy up. Growth spurts saw him reaching for protein.

It all reassured me that, deep down at least, our bodies instinctively know what they need regardless of whether we understand the theory of nutrition!

TittyGolightly · 30/04/2017 12:01

I always found DD would go for fruit first. It's like she needed the sweetness to get her appetite going. I often let her have a small pudding before dinner - DH eats more when she does.

We adults don't always know what's true when it comes to nutrition. ;)

FatLittleWombat · 30/04/2017 18:02

Mine had sips of what we were drinking - tea, fizzy water, prosecco......

Seriously?
Blw doesn't mean feeding absolutely anything! It means feeding healthy food. Olives for example are far too salty for babies under 12 months old. As are most foods in a pub! And ice cream is not only full of sugar, but also contains loads of additives, colourings etc.
I think you've missed the point of blw.

TittyGolightly · 30/04/2017 18:47

The icecream was organic and homemade from a custard with natural vanilla. I don't eat olives but these were marinaded on site in oil and herbs and shallots etc. No salt that I'm aware of. They i always ask not to have any salt on my chips etc.

And yes, we let her have tastes of all sorts of things. She has always loved strong flavours. We also weren't eating out every day.

TittyGolightly · 30/04/2017 18:47

It seems award winning gastro pub, not a Hungry Horse.

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