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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

Baby Led Weaning

79 replies

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/06/2007 17:14

Enough of this argumentative chat and one upmanship.

My DD has fairly poor hand eye coordination, can't tell a spoon from a rattle etc.
We have started weaning her on purees, and that is what we feel comfortable with and what is right for her.
Fair enough some of your children were sitting upright at 7 months and able to grasp and eat finger foods without choking but that is not the same for everyone.

Stop your militant interruption onto every thread linking to BLW websites. Some babies cannot handle it, and some mothers are not comfortable with it. Surely your 'prophecy' is about it being easy and free for thebaby and the mother, so please just get out of our faces.

OP posts:
twocatsonthebed · 05/06/2007 17:25

Um, yes. Thankyou.

I'm feeding dd with a mixture of purees and finger food, but it's got to the stage where I daren't ask anything about purees on here for fear of a) feeling inferior and b) being linked to BLW again.

The BLW thing on here is starting to be a bit like a cult - you have to take it on board 100% or you are just plain wrong. It's not working for us because dd is starving, and demands tons, and also is high allergy risk and so we're really limited in what we can feed her for a few months. And the first time I fed her on a carrot stick, she bit off a huge amount, gagged and refused to touch it again.

See, I even feel I have to justify myself here. But I'm also a bit worried about the lack of scientific backup (a single study of 5 babies, without control, is Not Very Much) and - as per an earlier thread - the lack of any scientific backing for the 'foods for fun until you are one' argument.

And the whole business of 'undigested food is OK, it's what's meant to happen' also bothers me. I have always been told that chewing is an important part of digestion; babies can't chew therefore they get purees (and have been doing certainly for hundreds of years). And my dd's poos certainly look pretty much like mine...

I meant to start a thread on this myself, but to be honest was so frightened of being shouted down that I never quite got round to it.

lulumama · 05/06/2007 17:27

don;t think anyone has said that it is absolutely the right thing for everyone....unless i have missed something

it works for a lot of families, not for others, it is just good to know there is an alternative to the puree route

Original poster
TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/06/2007 17:33

I just don't undestand the thought that purees reso much hassle, and BlW is so much better.
It takes very little time to blend a weeks worth of foods, and very little time to feed them.
As opposed to over an hour cooking then coaxing the 'solid' food into a babies mouth/ picking bits up off the floor/ standing on guard for choking etc etc.

I agree for some mothers this may work, but it doesn't for all.

So just please don't tout your theories on any thread where someone is asking a simple question about purees or reheating. etc etc.

OP posts:
twocatsonthebed · 05/06/2007 17:42

Plus - certainly for me at least - there is the added advantage that dd eats quite a bit and so has gone from waking twice a night, or more, to sleeping through from her 11pm feed...

bitzermaloney · 05/06/2007 18:04

Probably the thing to do TDWP (like your name, btw) is to do a search on all the threads there have been that start with posts exactly the same as your OP, read them through in all their glory and ask yourself whether you really want to waste another minute of your life on this. Trust me, it's pointless. Then go and feed your baby however the hell you want to.

My name is bitzermaloney and I happen to give my baby finger foods - but I don't believe anyone else cares how he eats!

tassis · 05/06/2007 18:08

TDWP - I so agree

but i'm caring less and less by the day

dd couldn't do finger food until 7.5 months but was eating massive amount of purees from 5.5 months. yes, that's 2 weeks short of 6 months - so shoot me! Now she's 8 months she loves figer food and had cheese sandwich for lunch and chopped fruit for snack

purees aren't a hassle for me, i like doing them. i like having a freezer full of pots of mush for my wee treasure.

(and I've still only heard of BLW on MN... and my HV told me to wean at 4 months)

lulumama · 05/06/2007 18:11

i think, for the families for whom BLW has worked, and worked really well, they are offering it as an alternative when others are struggling with traditional weaning

if anyone is evangelistic or even militant it is due to being excited and enthusiastic, not to make any other mum feel bad

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 21:58

Hear hear Lulumama - there's absolutely no reason to be so sensitive because it simply doesn't matter what other people think about how you are feeding your child. It really doesn't. My only comment is that in general, people seem so reluctant to change or take on new ideas when it comes to babies and everything to do with them, that it often takes a lot of talking about, justification, explanation etc etc etc for people to even take you seriously. Maybe that's why it comes across as so strong? I always assume that it is taken as red that you take or leave info and opinions as it suits. I personally find it very helpful to have all sorts of approaches and experiences and opinions thrown at me, as I am perfectly capable of sifting through and taking on board what I want to and ignoring the rest. It's all good fodder for directing the old google search.

I haven't even got on to weaning yet. So there. Thank you and good night.

Aitch · 05/06/2007 22:29

oh good, someone else on MN telling people where and what to post. there really hasn't been enough of that recently.

and PARP. particularly at the words 'militant' and touting'.

NikkiBFG · 05/06/2007 22:31

Oooh Aitch - glad you are around - maybe you can help? DS is just over a year and really gags on anything solid type, however, he's starting to take more of an interest in finger foods now - he had a potato wedge the other day ...so what's the best way to go from here....let him eat with us at dinner time, put bits on his tray???

Aitch · 05/06/2007 22:41

do us a favour, Nikki, and start a new thread and i will Probe You with Further Questions... i've parped, don't you know...

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 22:44

Isn't this the perfect thread? Nicki has asked a question about finger foods under 'Baby Led Weaning'....??

I may throw a spanner in the works and ask if you could both perhaps dart over to my thread on finger food ideas....

I understand that all babies / children 'do' finger food at some point. Don't they?

VeniVidiVickiQV · 05/06/2007 22:55

Good for you TDWP.

They say that attack is the best form of defence, dont they?

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 22:58

Well for the record I have absolutely no problem with purees either - infact I still eat them as an adult.....mashed potatoe, apple puree, thick pea soup, rice pudding, dahl.....it's all just food isn't it??

VeniVidiVickiQV · 05/06/2007 23:01

pureed roast beef, roast potatoes, steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, and yorkshire puddingi is my favourite. Yum-meeeeeee.

NikkiBFG · 05/06/2007 23:01

Does melted chocolate count as puree for adults???

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 23:03

I think it does! Didn't that welsh boy on Big Brother get his favourite meal pureed as a prize for winning a task??

NikkiBFG · 05/06/2007 23:04

I don't know...don't watch Big Bruv...have to have subtitles as deaf and it goes to fast for the subtitles to match what they say when they say it and DH moans when they get in way of tits and arse!!! lol

MeAndMyMonkey · 05/06/2007 23:08

HI twocats! Hope all is going well with you, writing wise etc. (weaning aside)?
Just saying hello, not stalking
Fwiw dd is munching down anything we can throw at her now, puree or not! Am slightly worried about the choking thing but hopefully someone can reassure me?

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 23:09

Serious biz - when in doubt, I always sit back and think 'what would I do if I was in the wild'. I then decide that I don't know, ask everyone I can lay my hands on what their opinion is and then make up my own mind based on the consensus and scientific evidence and what seems to make sense to me. A bit of trial and error and I'm sure we all end up with morphed versions of formally recognised methods and that is fabulous. All to do with the richness of life. I do suspect that all people doing BLW have had previous generations as well as peers being 'in their face and militant' about how wrong the BLW approach it. It works all ways.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 05/06/2007 23:22

Are bogeys a finger food or a puree?

Aitch · 05/06/2007 23:24

ROFLVVVQ!

PS do you want to see the article i wrote? you're in it.

welliemum · 05/06/2007 23:24

Yes, how dare these militants come on MN and force us to feed our babies finger food. How dare they be enthusiastic about something which has worked well for them.

It's shocking that first-time mums are being exposed to different ideas in this way. They should keep their minds closed and just do what the HV and Annabel K and the makers of baby food tell them to do.

TDWP, if you feel sensitive about BLW but want to keep reading MN threads, I'm afraid you need to grow another layer of skin and accept that it really works for a lot of people and they will talk about it and they will want others to know about it.

(I walk the talk by the way - there are things I am sensitive about and I have not ever demanded that people stop discussing them.)

Twinklemegan · 05/06/2007 23:25

My take on it is that whatever baby wants is "baby-led", be that spooning, finger food or a mixture.

PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt · 05/06/2007 23:26

I would liken more to Stage 2 weaning.