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?

then it's semantics again fflibble isn't it.

and yes hunker, i'm sure gill rapley would hate to see this.

I've emailed Gill Rapley and asked if she fancies coming on here for a chat

Also, someone asked about the porridge thing... think of it as flapjacks, my DS refuses to eat porridge, but if I bake it with pineapple juice, let it set and then cut it into squares, he loves it... plus you can take it out with you.

great littlelapin. shame it won't be a chat though. it'll be a bun fight, and probably very embarassing like the piers morgan one.

he he zippitippitoes - what kinds of things did mums puree waaayy back then...really interested in this...do you know of any books/studies that have this info?

why would it be a bunfight? She is an educated lady who has done proper research on this, I think she would be interesting to talk to, I also doubt she's going to say "No, you're doing weaning wrong" to anyone...

I wouldn't lump her in with Piers Morgan!

From the BLW sources I've read, I got the impression that, although 90% babyled, say, clearly isn't seen as as good as 100% babyled, the important thing is the idea that the baby is capable of leading the way and that the more they lead the way the better (rather than the significance/benefit of any leading the way they do do, however much, being wiped out in a stroke if anything ever comes to them on a spoon).

pap was popular which is more or less bread and water

you'll like this site here

nourishing jellies, veg, much the same as you could puree now
gruel

There was a link to a webchat she'd done before on another site somewhere.

Honestly, she is a lovely lady - funny, intelligent, sensible - this is NOT what she envisaged, I promise you. It was meant to make people's lives easier, to demonstrate what babies were capable of, to stop mothers feeling guilty their babies weren't eating a rainbow of homemade pureed cubes.

Gill Rapley webchat

this is an interesting chapter here

I love the "never give a child vegetables which are less stewed than can be pulped through a collander"

reading what gill rapley says it is more about a positive approach to sharing food than it is about spoons

and interestingly she doesn't seem to say it is an ethos or has fundamental pronciples i thinkthat has been added perhapsd

So why has it ended up like this? Why has it turned into a thing you do or don't do, a box you qualify to tick or not?

I'm not asking that as a rhetorical question btw, I know it's not meant to have ended up that way (I've read the web chat and totally agree - based on people I know who know her - with what you say about Gill Rapley), I'm just curious as to why it has gone a bit this way. Is it an internet thing? Is it because it's all text, on boards, and because there's an acronym? Is it because we can read back what we and other people say, and so we all get more into correcting each other, and because in online parenting communities people are much more likely to label themselves/each other rather than individual actions? It's interesting.

The whole thread is making me hungry now though.

I don't know - I think in part it's because people object very strongly to the "BLW" label.

Or maybe it's because we're all boozy fishwives, as Caitlin Moran said?

I think it is a badge like baby wearing which is apparently not the same as wearing a sling with a baby in it which is old fashioned

I find it scary that people will follow something that was an exam thesis on a tiny study (5 babies wasn't it?)

The food is fun til they're 1 thing too, where did that come from? Unicef and WHO both say a baby should be established on complementry foods by 8 months. I read that as getting more from solids than they do from BM

At 6 months a baby is developmently ready for thicker/lumpier/chunks of food and therefore doesn't need purees but some people are happier starting off like that.

I have never met a baby that will eat just because it is being distracted. The clamping of mouth shut is usually a good indicator that the meal has ended

The comment from Gill Rapley study about the 8-9 months on a picnic, eating pizza and sandwiches.....why is that so shocking? Its normal development. Also, saying that this method will stop obesity.....I doubt it. Just because a 1 year old doesn't eat much, doesn't mean to say it will when it's a teen. Nor the fussy eater business, a child exposed to a variety of foods will most probably eat a variety of foods, pureed or mashed or whole. Almost every child goes through a fussy stage, it's a form of control (the same way a 5 year old will tell they did nothing at school today....they are controlling your knowledge of their life) Health benefits - why isn't every Brit on this planet falling over sick? They were all weaned on purees, from 3 months and under. Obesity is a problem but isn't that just a side affect of having so much choice and availability? If it was a weaning issue, we'd all be obese

Sorry if this offends but I find it terrifying that babies are used in this way (a study of 5? how does that mean it's safe)

I laughed when i read the pizza and sandwiches thing

it did rather pull the rug out from underneath

there appeared to be an underlying assumption that you either breastfeed and blw with chip shaped food or formula feed and feed jars

so either that was the babies in the study or in general I'm not sure but surely most people with an interest in food don't exclusively use jars or even use them at all

why, is pizza bad? DS had pizza for lunch

great post divorcee

where pizza and sandwiches comment?

pizza isn't bad

in her study pizza and sandwiches at the picnic were enjoyed by blw babies much to the jealousy of non blw parents apparently

in the web chat she says that most parents with more thn one child unconsciously do blw

so it is in fact what most people are doing anyway once they have a bit of experience rather than a cult..so it is first time mums who are learning that the idea most benefits

littlelapin do you mean you emailed her to look at this thread!

Nooo, I mailed her to see if she would like to talk to us about BLW in general. She has already posted on Aitch's blog so I know she is interested in what people are doing.

I don't think she needs to see a bunch of us having a frankly ridiculous conversation about spoons!

oh like a mumsnet live event you mean..

the penny has only just dropped that you are part of mnhq !!