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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

BLW - Can I have a show of hands, please?

121 replies

MummyTL · 26/05/2007 20:58

Purely out of curiosity, and in no way to pass judgement, here's a quick poll for parents with babies who are being weaned at the mo.
Are you doing BLW or pureé?
Did you start off one way and then switch to the other?
Any comments as to why you chose this particular route are very welcome. Especially from parents who had heard about BLW but chose not to. Thanks folks.

OP posts:
Dragonhart · 26/05/2007 22:05

With my ds1, I did purees but because I waited til 6months, he was ony on purees for afew weeks beofre I started giving him chopped up food and finger food (4 at the most).

I now have a 5 month old dd and am interested in BLW but I cant decide.

DD is breast fed and she has had weight problems from the start. I have problems getting her to feed and it seems to take an age to get her to take a feed.

I have read this on this webpage :

"The fat content of breast milk increases during a feed. A breastfed baby recognises this change and uses it to control his fluid intake. If he wants a drink, he will tend to feed for a short time, perhaps from both breasts, whereas if he is hungry he will feed for longer. This is why breastfed babies who are allowed to feed whenever they want for as long as they want do not need any other drinks, even in hot weather."

Which I found interestion as sometimes dd will feed for 5 mins on one side, then refuse to feed any longer on that side, then when I offer her the other side, she will feed for much longer.

So I dont know whether these feeding and weight problems will make it better for her to be BLW or mean that purees would be better? The info about breast feeding makes me think that blw is the way to go as it seems right with my experience with dd.

However, DS1 is really good with his food, didnt choke on anything until he started finger food, eats at the table with us and enjoys meal times so part of me thinks that it worked with him so why not do the purees again?

Really cant decide- sorry theat doesnt help does it!

NoBiggy · 26/05/2007 22:09

Just to add, when DD had her 8 month check a few weeks back the HV asked if she was now having a range of textures. I told her she started with finger foods and carried on that way. She was delighted, as, she said, too many people wait until 6 months then start on a weaning programme as if the baby is 4 months.

My HV is a good sensible woman! Didn't mention BLW though, as I didn't want her thinking I was in some sort of cult.

Wallace · 26/05/2007 22:23

ds2 is 10 months and we have only ever done blw.

ds1(7) and dd(5) were weaned the conventional way

caspercat · 26/05/2007 22:47

Did BLW cos DD very wilfull and not at all interested in spoon feeding. Started at 6.5 months. She is now 10mths. The odd thing ends up on the floor, but she def eats more than she doesn't. Recently eaten corned beef hash and omelette which she loves. Ate a whole nectarine in front of non BLW friends and they were amazed. I love doing it this way, if for no other reason than we can all eat brekkie together without anyone's food getting cold. Plus no stupid pureeing & protein/carb ratio crap. We're happy and she loves it, that's what counts xxx

BabiesEverywhere · 26/05/2007 23:01

We are doing BLW with our DD, we didn't try traditional weaning at all. Despite the weaning lecture 'you must feed mush' the HV gave me...I just nodded and ignored her.

DD loves her food and has only refused tomatos slices out of all the different food we have given her.

I think BLW is so easy and hassel free.

For example. We recently visited the in-laws at the same time as my DH's cousin and young baby were visiting. Our DD (8 months ld) happily self fed herself steamed veg, whilst DH & I ate our lunch with the inlaws.

In contrast the cousin and DH spend the entire meal trying to force fed their child (10 months old) mush whilst the DH used a hand puppet to distract the child from crying and they didn't get to eat with the rest of us either.

Dragonhart · 26/05/2007 23:15

That would def be a plus for blw then as ds was very slow to use a spoon. Would finger feed himself almost straight away but he has only just started properly using a spoon.

redhedjane · 27/05/2007 13:13

When we had our weaning 'talk' the HV said if you start at 6 months you will have to go through the puree stages very quickly otherwise your child will not develop the muscles to enable them to talk and by the way, they will need vitamin drops for iron! pah. Oh and feeding EBF for 6 months is recommended only because mothers in the third world have to wash their spoons and plates in dirty water!

Anyway, I digress. At that moment I decided not listen to the HV every again and saw BLW on here. It just seemed to make sense, DS is taking to it well and it is easy to do.

NoBiggy · 27/05/2007 16:21

In less enlightened times, many of them would have been burned as witches.

WriggleJiggle · 27/05/2007 16:35

dd in now 13 months. Purees have never featured.
Found out about BLW from MN. Waited until 6 months then did a version of blw - our normal food, but using a spoon for 'messy things' like cereal, yoghurt, soup, sauces
Initially she wouldn't hold her own food but would lean over, mouth open taking it from my hands. Then she stuffed it all in herself. Now she does cereal with her hands but still is spoon fed yoghurt, soup etc.

d?2 will be BLWed without any question.

Lio · 27/05/2007 16:38

started with purees but she is not keen on spoons so we are doing something like BLW by default. Spoons at breakfast (because she is so hungry she will tolerate it) and hands the rest of the time (more cleaning up to do afterwards).

redbeki · 27/05/2007 19:55

I did purees for approx one month ,then switched to blw.I didn't know about it before.It's fabulous.

Aitch · 27/05/2007 20:12

ROFL NoBiggy...

CantSleepWontSleep · 27/05/2007 20:18

Started with purees (+ some finger food - our NHS team ran an 'intro to weaning' session where they advised waiting til 6 months, then getting them onto finger foods alongside puree within a week or two), but at 7 months dd decided that she didn't want to be spoon fed, and to this day (now close to 16 months) she has only let me put one spoonful of food in her mouth for her. We switched to blw at that point, and I read a load of stuff about it, including Aitch's blog.

She now feeds herself whatever we're having with her own hands/spoon/fork. Some mealtimes are good, some are bad, but she knows what she likes, and if she's hungry and likes what's on offer then she'll eat well.

pinkdolly · 27/05/2007 20:48

I also found out about BLW from here. DD3 is now nearly 11 months and has very rarely tried pureed food. Mainly because she is an independant so and so who not only likes to feed herself but test her food by squashing it and throwing it around the room a bit first.

I was shocked when my HV said she hadn't heard of it. She was quite supportive about me not giving pureed food. But didnt like the fact that I wasn't trying harder to get her to eat after she turned 7 months.
She didn't really get established onto solids till about 8 1/2 months. I blame it on loving her "booby" too much.

I would definately encourage BLW, so much less faffing about. DD sat enjoying a raw pepper the other day and it was lovely to watch.

redhedjane · 27/05/2007 21:48

Oops did not mean to sound quite so aggressive (or HV hating) nobiggy ... on another note thanks so much for the blog Aitch, it has really helped us get started with BLW.

Aitch · 27/05/2007 22:03

you're very welcome.

HoratioMcCain · 27/05/2007 22:11

We're BLW, started at 6mths and have never even attempted to spoon feed dd. She's nearly 8mths now and eating well.

The Rapley study made more sense to me than the puree route, and seemed a far more logical progression from exclusive bf.

mozhe · 27/05/2007 22:13

We have done BLW for all 5 of our children...I did it under the guidance of my mother,( a paediatrician ), who swore by this method in the 60s and 70s hen it was deeply unfashionable.She bought us all up that way and thought it prevented allergies, problems o the gut in later life and preventd obesity,( all 9 of us are pretty svelte...).I found it easier and more natural, though we tend to star a bit later say 7-9 months...taking cues from the baby as to wen theyseem interested in joining in with mealtimes.With our method they are not really on the 3 meals a day + snacks until about 18 months old. I'm afraid I ignore any negative advice/ dire warnings...it works for us !

percypig · 27/05/2007 22:16

DS now 14 months, we did BLW.

I knew I wanted to wait till 6 months, did some googling, read Gill Rapley's stuff, read threads here, looked at Aitch's fab blog and was utterly convinced it made sense.

DH (a GP) was initially sceptical, but now also fully convinced. HV hadn't a clue about BLW, and probably only held her tongue because she knows DH and tends to assume we therefore are fairly clued in.

I don't know anyone else in real life who did BLW (is not too big here in N Ireland) but my friend with a baby who's quite similar to me hardly did purees and saw DS eating so well so young, her daughter ate loads of finger foods, though not BLW.

One of my friends is v cautious and practically still feeds her one year old a lot of mush, but everyone else we know has been v impressed, and my mum has been telling random mothers she knows about BLW!

Aitch · 27/05/2007 22:17

how cool, mozhe, where did your mother get the idea from, do you know? (i mean i say 'idea', it's not an idea as such, but you know what i mean...)

PinkTulips · 27/05/2007 22:22

BLW from the moment ds stole food from my plate (had been gearing up to do it at 6 months but little big man got a bit impatient so we started early!)

When i was weaning dd i always wondered how on earth purreeing could be the right way to feed a baby as it is so unnatural, i mean where would women even 50/60 years ago have gotten a blender to puree? Never mind thousands of years ago! So when i heard about BLW it just made sense.

I read loads of posts here, checked out the blog and the rapley research and have never regretted my decision.

DS is so incredibly happy and healthy and easy to feed and i've even converted a few toddler group moms as they're so impressed with his technique!

NoBiggy · 27/05/2007 22:30

LOL redhedjane, no criticism of you is implied!

It's just the way some of them carry on like old-style wise women, with their odd, half-baked theories accepting no question!

PinkTulips · 27/05/2007 22:34

sorry for all the ! in that post, as you can tell i'm very enthusiastic about it all

must also commend my fabulous health clinic who had heard all about BLW and thought it was fantastic i was doing it

Flame · 27/05/2007 22:37

Finished weaning as such - BLW pretty much all the way (the occasional pots of banana porridge and weetabix).

Started off BLW (or actually LW to my mind - Lazy Weaning) and it worked for us so stuck with it.

I could never be arsed with cooking and pureeing, and didn't want to do jars, so I waited until as near to 6 months as I could (he was swiping fruit from my hands and munching on it the second I looked away at just gone 5 months, so I took it as a sign ) and then just gave him holdable soft bits of whatever we were having.

It doesn't work for everyone - BabyDragon being a prime example.

Try not to set your heart on one way or the other - babies do whatever they feel like - if you're lucky they go with your plans and you can say it is down to your excellent parenting, if not, you can just say that its babies being babies!

PinkTulips · 27/05/2007 22:39

oh please can we change the name to Lazy weaning?!

much better IMO

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