Baby-led weaning

[olivia9417]

Hi

Im really struggling with baby led weaning?
I feel like its extremely time consuming and difficult when your out and about. How do you mums do this? 🙈

How do you find it difficult? I just feed DS (7mo) whatever I'm eating. So out and about we might share a sandwich and fruit. The clean up at home is a bit time consuming but otherwise it's fine.

I didn't! To be honest, although I liked the idea, I didn't find it that practical and so we did a mixture of finger foods and spoon feeding. I remember sitting in costa watching some mums with their numerous Tupperware pots, doling out bits of food that got smushed up and thrown all over the place then left for people to walk into the carpet. Decided that wasn't for me. Great for at home though, and at nursery they did a mix too. DS is now 18 months, has fed himself reliably with a spoon/fork since he was a year and eats finger foods fine too.

I find it difficult because 1 im unsure what you can and can't give and 2 im terrified pf choking! I gave him some finger parsnips and he picked it up and bit a huge chunk off. I paniced and thought that he was going to choke on it! I want to do baby led so much.

BLW is great, but it's meant to make your life easier. If it's causing you stress then why bother? I can assure you that by the time they are toddlers they all eat similar stuff irrespective of weaning method. Starting off with purées and some finger foods on the side is possibly going to be less stressful for you. Why do you want to do BLW so much?

If you are worried about choking you need to do a first aid course as they can choke on purees and bottles. Not trying to scare you but it's best to know what to do if it did happen. Have a read of this too as it explains the difference between gagging and choking.

If you are unsure what to give, the list of foods to avoid is here after that pretty much anything goes

The only other thing I'd add is that I'd cut sausages lengthways, grapes and baby tomatoes too as these can be a choking hazard.

If you are struggling whilst out and about, what type of things are you eating? Could baby have some of that? Things good for travelling are sandwiches, fruit, savoury muffins , strips of omelette or strips of meat, hummus and crackers.

Don't forget too that baby only needs to move to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months so there's no pressure. If you are just starting out it's fine to give food every other day

I had the same stresses when weaning dd, she would just shove whatever we gave her as far into her mouth as she could. So I only have her purée until she was a bit better with hand eye coordination, gave her these things that look like giant wotsits from Organix to practice with as they melt in the mouth. She's a pro now at feeding herself at 10 months. Also remember that 'food before one is just for fun' you've got a long while until your dc will need 3 full meals a day.

I didn't do BLW for exactly the reasons you've outlined in your OP. It sounds messy and impractical, and some of the posts I've seen on this board make me think that it's not being practiced in entirely safe ways.

I did what the previous poster did - purees and melty things until he was ready. Now DS is 9mo and he's demolishing things like toast, bread with soup etc. I tend to spoon feed him at the start of his meals now and then finish with finger food once he's taken the edge off his hunger, and his snacks are all finger food. Tonight he had soup in a bowl with a spoon and he made a right mess but it was great and kept him occupied for ages! That would have been a pointless exercise even a few weeks ago.

I think you should just try stuff out and give your baby whatever you feel they're ready for. Spoonfeeding is convenient and less messy and a good way to start weaning (in my opinion); finger foods are great later on.

I sort of did BLW in that my DS couldn't stand purees so he largely had finger foods and some spoon feeding. We kept the main meal for evening so we could stick it in the highchair tray and let him do his thing then he was straight into the bath after. Recently turned 1 and we still do a mixture but he's slowly learning with a spoon himself.

It's not all spoon feeding purees or all blw... You can do a mixture and I'd bet most people do a mix between the two

How are you getting on today @olivia9417?

Thank you everyone. Iv just decided to stick to doing a bit of both, mainly puree's! Thank you for all your help though.