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'm not! I am just bossy . I emailed her and said do you think you'd be interested, cos if you are, we will ask MNHQ. Or alternatively she could just sign up and come and post!

Any second now, we'll have a GillRapley on here, I can tell...

oh sorry

I'm good at this wrong end of the stick bsuiness..

divorcee the use of the word "complementry" is interesting with the WHO guidelines...my take is that thats what solids are, whether a baby is "established" on them or not. They completment the milk & are in addition to it...which I take to mean that milk is still very important and is the major part of a babys intake...otherwise it would be milk that complements the food iyswim

No no, it's cool, I aspire to MNHQ... maybe when I grow up...

I am surprised at the bit where gill rapley says that people are surprised at a baby going from nothing to 3 meals a day in 2 weeks

I am surprised at that.

Cheers for the links zippitippitoes - shall have a proper look later...some interesting & stuff at a first glance....cows milk with water & sugar for a newborn

there are also very interesting reads on public health and the introduction of health visitors

and of course ther start of the whole formula milk powder in the 19th cnetury

and the weird contraptions for breast feeding via straw sucking devices for modesty!

the infant mortality rates are terrible if you look into the reports

yes dd3 had pizza at about 6.5 months

she sucked the crust in a pizza restaurant

in fact she fell asleep with the crust hanging out of her mouth much to my delight and the horror of my mate and probably everyone else in there

all lovely

but then I fed her some mush later

AND THATS NOT ALLOWED

well I think it is

this isn't just about spoons though, its an exploration into peoples attitudes about the whole weaning process and has certainly been a huge eye opener for me, never really looked at BLW threads before!

and enid you are probably an unconscious blw

well it isnt allowed if you want to say you have done BLW

which I dont really so why on earth am I flogging this to its death

must go and have a life momentarily

We have a problem in this country where basic child rearing has been lost. Years ago, the only option parents had were to breastfeed and then wean their babies onto homecooked food, not purees but sieved or mashed

From the 60's on, we became a consumer.easiness population. Formula was made readily available and it was seen as a modern way to be. Then the introduction of prepared babyfood. It became fashionable. Unfortunatley the side affect was babies were fed on jars/packets and nothing else. This also coincided with women taking their rightful place in the workplace and it became acceptable to be a working mother. Unfortunatley it meant women were working but still expected to still do the bulk of the childcare/ home running. People were looking for convenience.

It means the art of weaning has been lost. We are so scared of the rising health problems this country has and so image concious we are scared of adult obesity. A baby actually needs some sugar, salt and fats (if a child has a gastro bug, what do we give them? Diarolyte. All that is sugars and salts, flat sprite is just as good). Everyone wants to keep their babies slim and think that will stop adult obesity, when in fact a baby should be chubby.

Pure BLW worries me, not to be concerned that baby isn't getting most of it's sustinence until over 1 (food for fun) could lead to many babies being malnourished.

A healthy baby needs help to get nourishment and spoons are needed to ensure they get enough food. Once they developmentally ready they will want to feed themselves and learn to use utensils.

(Before I get jumped on, I have read the WHO/UNICEF literature through my work and studies, I have also studied kellymom (dangerous place) and other publications as I need to to keep up with ALL the methods, techniques and practises for my career. I also have 20 years experience of childrearing through my own children, foster children and career)

why is kellymom a dangerous place divorcee?

Not all babies are chubby - otherwise the centile charts wouldnt exist....& my DS did very well on excl bm until he was 29 weeks then more bm than food until he was 18 months & even now at 32 months some of his nutrition still comes from bm (anything from 2-7 feeds per day) & he is far from malnourished...not sure a starving child would or could jump up & down whilst eating or run the 1/2 mile to his Nanas house

divorcee why is kellymom "dangerous"??
anyway, just to answer your point - the thing is not that BLW babies "don't eat much" so therefore they won't become obese no idea where that idea comes from, certainly not from Gill Rapley or anything I have read - the theory is about a child learning to regulate his or her own appetite.
yes, there is an epidemic of childhood and adult obesity. There are no doubt a huge number of factors.
lots more asthma/eczema/food allergies/sensitivies than there used to be. could they be connected to early weaning?

I commpletel agree with divorcee, greatt post.

How do you make sure they get a good variety of food if ou can'tt give purees?
Do you give pieces of meat to a 6month old? or whole pulses with their skin on? (their nappies will be a fun thing to be sure!!)

Can't see the harmm of purees and cannot believe a 6month old can get enough nutrition without getting some pureed food as well.

webmum, did you give pureed meat to your babies when they were six months old?

not as first weaning food, but after a few weeks yes, once they were on 3 meals a day with very little milk, they need the iron.

well that's not quite true, they don't "need the iron" of meat and certainly they don't "need" meat at six months.
there are lots of other sources of iron and if they are drinking milk then they will carry on getting iron from that for several months after six months.

by eight months, dd2 was eating sticks of chicken, florets of brocolli, dried apricot spread onto toast, wholegrain toast, lentils ....
she does eat some red meat but not much (neither do we)

but divorcee...some babies eat more than others, whether BLW or puree weaning

and children can eat a lot, and be malnourished, depends on the food going into them....

How do you make sure they get a good variety of food if ou can'tt give purees?

well, Webmum,we came to BLW a little late, but once we started......

DD ate spag bol, chicken pieces, broccoli, cauliflower, dry cereal , or cereal soaked in enough milk to moisten, cheese, apple, peach, courgette, pear, orange, eggs, potatos, spinach, squash, yorkshire pud, carrots, potato cakes, pitta bread, hummous, peppers, cucumber, brown bread, banana, avocado, pizza, sandwiches, grapes, tomatos, ommlettes and frittatas, meatballs, lasagne, pasta , noodles,

etc etc...

all without being mashed, pureed or fed to her

at 14 months she began to eat properly with her spoon and fork and now at 19 months, eats everything

it worked for us, and i have no doubt it works for many others, but i understand why people are suspicious of it and feel a child may not eat enough