What is baby led weaning?

[Muckypup]

A big debate has sprung up on my Jan 07 babies thread and I first heard the term BLW. How is that different or possible as we have to give the baby the food anyway?

there are loads of threads about it in the weaning section

not sure myself, will listen with interest

the idea is that if they don't want it they won't it it... therefore they are leading the way

BLW definition on wikipedia

Baby chooses as it is finger food rather than pureed and spooned in by parent.

I think we'll start when dd2 hits 6 months in a couple of weeks time. Sounds fun. Sounds messy.

Aitch's site I think

it is fun, adad. and it is messy...

And sounds completely logical too.

ps great looking site aitch.

the idea is you give finger foods at 6 monhts, rather than puree....chip shaped pieces of fruit and veg, and toast and cheese etc..also, because you are weaning at 6 months, you do not have the worry of introducing one food at a time to watch out for reactions as 6 months mean the gut is usually ok to handle pretty much everything....including bread, chicken , meat and pretty much everything

the baby eats as much or as little as they fee;l they need, they learn to regualte their own intake, and the best bit is, no pureeing , no freezing, no mashing, no ice cube trays full of fruit and veg to defrost

when you go out,baby can eat off your plate, or you can take a snack box of little sandwiches, bread sticks, rice cakes, all sorts...

milk is still the best source of nutrition for the first year, and food complements it, solids should not replace milk rapidly....

'link{http://www.bablyledweaning.com\BLW blog here } and another good site here babybanana.. both BLW sites by mumsnetters!

BLW blog here ooops!

my DH certainly thought so, he's quite evangelical on the subject. when he's not talking about football and horses...

" you do not have the worry of introducing one food at a time to watch out for reactions as 6 months mean the gut is usually ok to handle pretty much everything....including bread, chicken , meat and pretty much everything"

Never heard that - where does it come from? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure babeis are fine with all those things then, but I'd personally still leave a couple of days between new things of very different types - I wouldn't eg start bread and fish together or dairy with anything else. Same goes for fruit and ve g in different 'families' eg the first bit of citrus or tomato say. We do have hayfever in the family, so we hvae allergic tendencies, but for some things like gluten and dairy aren't most people best paying attention to when they start it and keeping an eye out for any reaction?

Starting at six months is not that new, so people have been starting at six months and still paying attention to when they start diffreent foods for years - it might not always be necessary, but I'm pretty sure it's not never necessary just because you start later.

you are absolutely right lorloveaduck, and i should have added that as a caveat ! esp with a family history of allergies and intolerances....

i know the weaning at 6 months has absolutely been the advice for years..yet read the posts on here day in and day out, and some mums are being advised to wean at 16 weeks or 18 weeks

so it is still a minefield, thanks for pointing that out

God, I feel so conned
Like all those people who bought Beetamax VCRs just before they were phased out!

No more mush or icecube trays!???

I missed the boat by 12 months. I wouldn't have had to weep as I scraped organic home made sweetpotato and pork casserole mush in to the bin countless times. Don't get me started on the vats of wasted organic apricot puree I flushed into the sewers of Highgate

cor i was hoping this would be a lot more contentious. not much of a dare in the end eh Muckypup?

oh well

UD - if you start talking about early weaning then I bet you'd start getting more contentious replies!

does this mean that you didn't actually want to know about BLW muckypup?

I think she did as it was brought up on our post natal thread and was asking what it was. I've been reading all about it lately too as I'm going that way with ds2 so am also reading with interest.

Pleased to hear my linking efforts were not wasting my time then! and lulu's and other posters on this thread...

Thanks for all the links and advice. No ice cube trays sounds like a god send! I will now go and follow all your links and swot up. DS is only 8 weeks so I've got ages to plan for it. I'd never really thought that far ahead but was hoping to carry on breastfeeding til at least 6 months. I thought everyone had to start with mashed vegetables so this is really enlightening. I've got a copy of Anabel Karmel's complete baby meals but I'm going to seriously think about trying BLW now I know more about it.

if you want recipes and/or a book to counter any Karmel-loving friends' claims of 'Oh, we're on Chapter 3 now' etc, try Jenny Malziels' Finger Food for Babies and Toddlers

but really table scraps and sandwiches will do fine.

and to be fair to AK there are some good toddler recipes in there that you can give directly to your 6-month-old.

as long as it doesn't contain lychee stones of course aitch

oooooh yes, that's very important, diz.

I have been having a little lurk here because I don't know what BLW is either.

Although I do now, a bit more. Sounds easier than mushing stuff up anyway!

But I was confused by that Wikipedia page, it says you start at four months, but most of the books / magazines say not to introduce solids until six months? Which is right?

wikipedia is now right . i just changed it...