Terrified of BLW

[steadyaswego]

My DS is 7mo and last month we started him on solids. He still hasn't really taken to them and more so plays with it And chews on his spoon than actually eats or seems remotely interested in eating anything.

My plan has always been to do BLW, but when it came down to it I was so scared of DS choking I had a small panic attack. I keep trying, steaming the carrots and broccoli etc, but when he gets a bit off in his mouth I freak! Not out loud so as to scare him and risk a choke even more, just internally and then I take it away.

He's tried purées and doesn't seem interested if he cant pick it up with his hands. He will however eat the ready made Ella's but only straight from the pouch into his mouth (I know it's awful!)

Any tips from anyone who's felt similar would be so appreciated!! I don’t want my DS missing out because of my worries 😩

Honestly I think blw is over done years ago we fed them purées or from jars or bits of toast etc and no one worried half so much. Do what’s comfortable for you and don’t worry he’ll be eating everything eventually.

He’s not going to choke. Let him explore.

At 7 months even if you weren't doing BLW you can give them finger foods to try anyway. Sucking Ella's puree out of a pouch doesn't really teach them how to actually eat, he's going to have to gradually learn that at some point! Let him play with a few bits of whole food in pieces he can grasp easily.

Look up the difference between gagging (very common, alarming but harmless) and choking. Maybe go on a first aid course yourself to build your confidence in the beer unlikely case he does choke on something. He will be ok!

Personally 7 month old is too young to BLW. Stick to purées, porridge and yoghurt. We all end up eating properly eventually.

Not true. Babies are perfectly capable of feeding themselves at 7 months.

I think soft food is the easiest way to go. Surely the idea of blw is that babies choose their own food from a large variety not feeding on chunks of adult food? Feed your baby in a way that's comfortable for you both. It will be fine.

I started off with BWL. But to be honest now…wtf is it even? Im only about 7 months ahead of you btw.
he could be months away from havign a full meal. Whats wrong with the ellas pouches? Theres nothing bad in them. I only mean to be kind…. but just chill….i was in your shoes not long ago. And just as youre happy hes eating ellas he will decide sod it only solids i can pick up….and just as you get used to that…nope only ellas! Everything in weaning is a
phase.
As long as you keep offering a variety youre doing good.
And youll soon realise they’re pretty good at muching, gagging, spitting….its a messy affair

Blw just seened messy so i didnt really bother.

I spoon fed yoghurt porridge blended veg progressing to meals.
At 11m Baby gets bit of bread stick, cheese, fruit like banana etc. Veg like carrot slices that are boiled to death. And maybe some baby snacks to feed themselves alongside their "proper meal"

BLW is quite new and I am not sure the evidence will bear it out. As it is I mixed weaned them with purrees and offered blw foods prepared correctly in a way I was happy with. But you don’t HAVE to BLW if you are concerned about choking (and I was) stick to purees.

re the evidence WHO suggest that 6 month old babies need 200 calories from food, that’s quite a lot for baby to self feed. Hence I was happy to spoon feed them, I also found that once baby was full and didn’t want any more they were very good at showing it…. That is refusing anything else from the spoon, so I never worried about over feeding.

Do what you and baby are happy with, they all get there in the end.

You need to get a grip. Putting stuff in mouth, practicing chewing etc developed a lot of the mouth muscles required for speech. If you don’t let them mouth/experiment/suck/get to grips with chewing solids you essentially risk delaying them in other areas such as speech.

@Hopping don't be so silly. Fancy telling someone to get a grip when asking advice. Honestly, soft easy to eat range of nice food that's all you need at 7 months

I started with BLW and quickly gave up. Ended up with a mix of purées and finger food aka as toast. Gradually introduced other things with my first. My second got a selection of what we were eating in a bowl and a pouch or jar.
Now they both eat well and a good variety of foods. Eldest is great with fruit and veg yet wouldn’t touch it as a baby. Youngest ate everything at weaning and now refuses all veg!

I can really relate to this as I felt exactly the same. I was terrified to the point where I was on the verge of a panic attack watching my baby put food in her mouth. There were a few things I did which gradually helped me to build up the confidence to let her explore more with food and now she is a brilliant eater. I am no expert by any means and I have no idea if this is right but here’s some of the stuff that I did:

I educated myself on the difference between choking and gagging. I learnt that gagging is a good thing and the reason why babies gag is to prevent choking.

Myself and my partner went on a first aid course. It was important for me that we did this together so that we were both aware of what to do if it ever came to it.

I sometimes got my friend who already has kids to come over while I fed my baby. Having someone else there who had already been through it helped to make me feel more comfortable and she reassured me that everything would be fine.

I fed her things like porridge and weetabix and slowly made them thicker. Again I mashed up banana and avocado but slowly left a few chunkier bits in so she could get used to texture. Some foods I found good were raspberries as they just smush when baby bites down. I also steamed broccoli to the point where it would smush as soon as she bit down but she was getting used to the fact she couldn’t just swallow like she could with purées.

The main thing to remember is to do what is right for you and your baby. Don’t feel pressured by what anyone else is doing or what you see on social media. I also found this website helpful, she often does live workshops and educational videos/sheets: mylittleeater.com

You need to get a grip. Have you spoken to your Gp or HV re your anxiety. Your child needs to experience different foods and get the tongue muscles going for speech. Try all foods. Purées, your own foods you are serving to Dh, eg pasta, shepherds pie whatever, blw, bits of toast, everything.

I don't think BLW is the be all and end all - but purees are a pain and they do need to learn to deal with solids, lumps etc at some point. It sounds like your baby might love playing with finger foods?

Do you have someone who could sit with you for a few meals and introduce finger foods together? Partner, parent, friend?

Have you read the BLW book? Regarding choking it’s actually less risk than purées and when you understand why (how the tongue works) it might help you relax about it.

You don’t need to cook anything - I started my boy on whole pears and bananas when he was 7ish months. I would peel the banana or take a bite out of a ripe pear to get him started (it’s easier to grip/bite with a bite taken out of it) and hand him the whole thing.

www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Baby/dp/0091923808/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=21J0UCR6C3DUN&keywords=baby+led+weaning+book&qid=1676616632&sprefix=baby+led+%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-4

I mean you don’t need to cook anything to begin with!

I really enjoyed BLW first time, I found it so easy. Literally just gave them the same as what we had but a much smaller portion.
they tend to gag as others have said but not choke, spoon feeding us a higher choking risk

I found weaning very difficult too. I went with purées and slowly gave thicker consistencies. Eventually we added soft 2-ingredient (egg and banana) pancakes, small pasta shapes, couscous. Worked up to small bits of toast. We also used those baby crisp things and biscotti biscuits - I know not everybody likes them but they worked for us. I would try and go at your own pace because it’s not worth trying to do something that terrifies you on a daily basis.

Find a baby/child first aid course. Nof just for choking hazards, but the myriad of other ways they find to trrify you over the years.

Fwiw... my youngest completely refused spoons. Her first food was when she nicked my sandwich at 5.5months. She never even gagged. I avoided food like uncut grapes, sausages with skins or stuff like uncooked apple where bits could come off... otherwise she just had what ever we had. They can feed themselves this way.

Her elder sister preferred spoon feeding.

Both were using forks and spoons thenselves by 12 months.

Both eat varied healthy diets now.

Long term... it hasn't made a difference!

Gill Rapley’s original report came out in 2005. Slap bang in the middle of my young child years. So it’s neatly 20 years old. That said, this is a very easy to read systematic review (a review of all the different research studies they can find about the approach) and I think it is is safe to say it hasn’t been research enough to say it will confer advantages over a traditional purée approach. It’s not researched well enough to know if it will cause harm - for example by making it harder to tell what allergen a baby might have had.

Review

I didn’t do it with mine in the bed just the usual haphazard mix of purées and then finger foods and then at some point they just ate things themselves!

You don't have to do BLW. I doubt any of us learned to eat that way (unless very young mums) and we all know how to eat, don't we 😁

It is scary at first, I was terrified of mine choking but he quickly demonstrated he was absolutely fine with purees and porridge, and then toast fingers and pancakes, and we went from there. You don't need to give him a full roast dinner at 7 months, just introduce different things as he gets older. Some puree and a soft finger food at each meal seemed like a sensible option. Mine was eating 'proper food' - a small portion of what we were having - by 10/11 months.

My daughter hated BLW and prefered purees etc. She is fine.

Just make your own purées but gradually make them lumpy. Add solid pieces of food ie potatoes, Banana, soft fruits etc. You don’t have to do BLW but ultimately we are all led by babies as if they don’t like something they won’t eat it. There are some lovely baby cook books. Perhaps look at one of those. Don’t feel you have to do blw. I didn’t like the gagging sound and my kids are late teens, one in the RAF and both eat everything. My youngest was like a baby bird and was a delight to feed. just enjoy this phase. Plenty of more stressful stages to get through like when they go to school, learn to drive etc

Traditional weaning still has finger foods alongside purees so do a mix of both.