Can we clear up once and for all whether you are 'allowed' to mention the possibility of spoon feeding on a BLW thread?

[Enid]

If the consensus is no, then I will happily bow out of any thread asking for advice on weaning, specifically BLW.

I always say that IMO it is fine to do both - ie a mixture of finger foods and spoon feeding.

Surely this cannot be in any way controversial?

I can't for the life of me see what is wrong with that either enid

isn';t that just normal?

what is wroing with a spoon

yes it's fine to mention spoon feeding dear. just don't try telling us anti-spooners that you're a fan of 'a bit of blw alongside spoon feeding'

well I do try and remember to say 'finger foods' and not blw

it sounds a bit of a fad to me this no spoons lark

cant it be BLW when the baby feeds herself a roast dinner?

and then spoon feeding when you give her a yogurt after?

great enid, good to hear. and when you don't i'll be there saying 'no, love, it's finger foods and purees, not BLW and purees.'
as a pedant i can't bear the contradiction in terms.

I agree Enid. dd has at least 1 spoon fed meal a day, breakfast, her lunch is a combo (sandwich followed by yog) and tea varies from day to day. Each to his own tho I say

I don't see what the problem is baby has spoon or two mum has spoon or two we both have hands and fingers and motuhs there are different types and textures of food on offer and great fun is had by all

but why wouldn't you just load up the spoon and hand it over? (and why are we about to get hung up again on the baby-ledness or otherwise of BLW?) where's suzy wong?

It's Mumsnet, you can say whatever you like (well, with one exception )

I consider myself a BLWer but DS does occasionally have stuff off a spoon - he can't manage one on his own yet, but he likes yoghurt, and self-feeding is a nightmare with that. So I load up the spoon and hold it by his mouth, and if he wants it, he leans forward and takes it. I don't consider that I am contravening the "rules".

In the end, it's not The Law, you do what's best for you. Whether you call it BLW or whatever, who cares.

is blw a cult then ?

...mooches off thinking why make life so complicated

I think you only really get the difference if you are ideological about weaning aitch

its really annoying and irritating when you do it but I know you can't help yourself

"In the end, it's not The Law, you do what's best for you. Whether you call it BLW or whatever, who cares. "

ah the myth of BLW

they do care. They really really do.

so you can load up the spoon and hand it over?

fails to understand fuss here

it depends if you need a heading for you to feed your baby

You know what we need to do? We need to get hold of Gill Rapley and ask her.

Do you think she would do a Mumsnet Q and A? (not just about this, I mean BLW in general, I think people would be interested)

zippi. there is NO PROBLEM. everyone should do what they want, what is convenient for them and what makes them and their child happy. but BLW is not synonymous with finger food, therefore you can't really refer to blw and puree. and the fact that people do, all the time, and that BLWers come on and say 'but they're not synonymous' seems to get people's back up. but all we're trying to do is keep things accurate.

i'm racking my brains for a metaphor that will clear this misunderstanding up...

a heading what on earth is that

..sounds very violent

i care. i care when someone says they are doing a bit of blw and a bit of spoon feeding. that suggests to me they haven't quite 'got' the idea of blw. i have no problem with finger feeding alongside spoon feeding, like you say, that is very much the norm. nothing wrong with that. blw isn't just finger food, as has been explained 1 bizillion times before.

I don't understand ... If I put food - like wheatabix (sp?) - on a spoon and wait for dd to open her mouth, is that blw or does she have to pick it up with her fingers? I certainly don't force feed her, if that is the alternative to blw!

Maybe a new name is needed like Shared Weaning, where it is All Right to have a combination of baby picking food up and putting it into its mouth and some spoon feeding, often for something like yoghurt, where the baby's dexterity may not be up to the task and it gets frustrated at the speed of food entry.

Although maybe not .

so what is blw if it isn't giving the baby food to eat?

do they go out and grow it themselves or something?

I understand it aitch

I realise that blw means letting your baby take the lead and controlling her own food intake, so never coaxing them to eat with spoons, therefore if you EVER use a spoon you are immediately struck from the BLW group

I understand, I just don't think it is that important!

what does blw stand for?

Baby Led Weaning