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?

kellymom promotes to much of 'false natural' and sets many parents up to fail. We don't live in a totally natural society and we have learnt many new things on the way. Kellymom is the new NCT (ask parents in the 70's/80's what that means, most will not have had a positive experience)

Centile charts are there to make sure a baby's overall growth is satisfactory. Many HV take this too literally but they are an effective tool to gauge the healthy growth of an infant. If a baby suddenly diverts up or down on the centiles, it can be an indicator of a problem. A baby on the 2nd for height and 91st for weight has a problem and if its reversed.

We all want to be seen as being the best parents. Taking some things to such extremes is worrying.

Over my 20 years I have seen new guidelines come into force, through proven medical research and parenting has changed as a result.

Complementary feeding does mean to go alongside breastfeeding in infancy, up to age 2. The problem then lies that very few babies are actually BF for the full 2 years. It no longer becomes a complement but a necessity. A baby can survive on BM alone, it doesn't mean it will necessarily thrive on BM alone.

I had a positive expereience of the nct

what does regulating your appetite mean?

stopping eating when you are full?

oh gawd not the iron thing again

nct is national childbirth trust not natural childbirth trust people do often get ocnfused

whatever...i still don't see what all the fuss is about, why is it wrong to give purees or spoonfeed as long as you are careful not to 'forcefeed'.

it is still limiting needlessly a baby's diet.

and pureeing is not just about chewing is also about their digestive system, which wih finger food means going from milk straight into more difficult foods (which ime are often ingested without too much chewing as some babies can't be bothered)

I have found with my dds ver strange reactions anytime new textures were introduced, pulses especially had to be put through a mouli since the skins always made their nappies v. unpleasant.

Also the thing that gets peoples backs up is the evangelical way BLW is promoted. Look, my baby will eat a broccolli stalk! Well, most babies would too.....pureed and off a spoon to start, mashed then whole. It has the same nutrients. The guidlines to start weaning at 6 months has skipped a step. 4 months olds needed puree and 6 month old doesn't

My baby will eat anything at 8 months......well look back in history....you will find other generations (and children now started on purees/mash) will too. They are developmentally ready to. The problems all come with jars, bland slop for 4-6 months, then bland mush from 7 months. No pure tastes and no nice textures.

Sorry been out for dinner so frantically trying to catch up! you lot can talk! pmsl

Can I just point out I don't think it's got personal or anything so can't see why GR would be disappointed. I see it as a healthy discussion of mother's opinions and views, which lets face it are always going to differ on numerous scales.

The reason these discussions/debates get a little heated is because we are all mums trying to do what we see best for our children. Some of us feel more passionately about our choices then others but that's about the lot me thinks. Also the automatic defense that some may put up as soon as something is mildly questioned.

I certainly wouldn't say BLW causes malnourishment. You should see my daughter! I never want to keep her thin in fact I would go as far to say she would win a chunky thigh competition... god knows how she's been doing her first steps this week (at 9.5months ) with those tree trunks! and she has been BLW from 6 months

NCT today is different, 70s/80s it wasn't somewhere positive for most women and that was why people got the national/natural confusion came from

It was evangelical in it's promotion of natural childbirth and breastfeeding and made many women feel inferior if you weren't an 'earth mother'

divorcee - kellymom is one of the best bfing resources around - are you implying that is a bad thing...no we dont live in a natural society....but that doesnt mean we shouldnt breastfeed...NCT is still alive and kicking and doing its bit as well - they have done an awful lot of work on getting women a more natural and less medicalised birth...

I agree with you that centile charts are useful...but it would appear that you know about as much as the average HV about them...if a baby is following its curve and happens to be tall and skinny ot short and stout then so what....were are not clones - we are all different. For the record my DS is 25th centile for weight and 75th for height - there is NOTHING wrong with him.

I never said it would cause malnourishment per se. It could if taken to extremes as some have promoted on here. All the talk of food is fun til 1, how it is all about just tastes and don't worry if baby doesn't swallow anything. I have seen people belittle hv over being concerned about slow weight gain or loss. It is a concern and should be noted especially if it continues over a period of time

I am concerned it will be taken as gospel and babies will suffer as a result

It is just another tool for oneupmanship imo. Look aren't I the best mother and look how clever johnny is.

my head is rather spinning with the wildly contradictory / wildly generalising nature of your posts divorcee but I would say that the NCT used to be called the natural childbirth trust but changed its name some time ago.
and yes the idea of regulating your own appetite is stopping when you're full, choosing what you want to eat from a variety made available and eating food at the proper texture rather than in a mush or a liquid.

limiting the diet doesn't necessarily mean causing malnutrition, I did not want to say that.
You obviously have very capable babies, but there were things mine were just not able to eat unless pureed, without choking, at 6 or even 8 months, like bits of apple for example, or carrots, tomatoes, cucumber.

that's why I think you're limiting their diet. (and not malnourishing them)

i still don't get what's wrong with purees, but never mind.

I think I've learnt enough from this thread

good posting and good night

Actually, I know more about centiles than most. I also know how important they are folowing a childs growth. I also hate the hv are useless theme (i'm not one btw) They are an invaluable resource in our society and when they are gone (in the very near future) many children will suffer as a result. They do pick up on problems and they do support parents that need it

The NCT are a valuable resource but if you were a parent 20 years ago, you would know how they made women feel. Where do you think todays guilt comes from when women have to have medical intervention in childbirth and when someone can't or won't breatfeed. It came from the idealised NCT of the 80s

Women are empowered by knowledge that NCT has bought forward and do have choices thanks to them. But the feelings they began are entrenched in our society. They came along took us back to a more natural way of childbirth and baby rearing.....but it was their way or no way

blimey divorcee you really are talking wild nonsense now

It is just another tool for oneupmanship imo. Look aren't I the best mother and look how clever johnny is.

erm, no

i started BLW ,as puree fed DD would not eat. HV and GP told me to give her food to feed herself, and i did

end of.

and MN told me this had a name, and a thought process behind it

i have never ever ever used it as a stick to beat other mums, but suggested it to those struggling to wean their DCs

find it actually offensive that you would presume BLW parents would be so insensitive and so silly as to do something like this to mnake others feel bad.,

i am involved in the NCT....yeah, god forbid women should feel capable and empowered to give birth vaginally

and i never breast fed

am going to have to parp myself off this thread! never had to do that before

i don't agree with your nonsense about the nct and the 70s and 80s sounds like urban myth to me

was it really the natural childbirth trust lol

must have been a long time ago

really was Zippi !

oh well i doubt anyone on mn was a member of the natural childbirth association between 1956 and 1961

which then bbecame a charity called the national childbirth trust in 1961

so I stick by my earlier post!