Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Weaning

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

MIX FED BABY AND BLW?

19 replies

Dalrymps · 18/02/2008 12:28

Ds is nearly 4 months old so am not actually thinking of weaning him yet, am going to wean at 6 months. Thought i'd start doing my research on it now though so I know what i'm doing when he reaches the 6 month mark.
I read a link about BLW, it looked quite interesting. Ds is mix fed as i've had problems BFing and haven'y got a good enough supply to fully bf at moment.
Anyway, on the link i read it said ff babies may not be suited to BLW as they might not get enough fluid from formula or too many calories or both as they don't regulate their own amounts like bf babies do or something like that, not sure then what to do if i want to BLW ds as he has both, do I feed the same but offer water occasionally?
Also, I quite like the idea of iving a few puree's right at the start to get him used to flavours.. is it possible to start on purees for first week or two then move on to BLW? a sort of combination of the 2? I'm just a bit confused by the whole thing really... any advice? anyone else mix fed and blw?

OP posts:
Dalrymps · 18/02/2008 13:23

anyone?

OP posts:
TinkerbellesMum · 18/02/2008 17:51

Aitch FF as did a lot of women on the blog. There are also premature babies, it's purely a disclaimer from Gill Rapley who does say so in places because she wouldn't want her study discredited for saying it works on babies she didn't test it on when she only used full term breastfed babies. Hope that makes sense.

It's entirely up to you how you start, the idea is BLW is a laid back approach with no real rules (apart from don't stress lol). However you will probably find that he quickly gets the idea and you can offer a variety of things as well. If you allow him to try for himself first he won't start until he is ready, if you start with puree you may find he gets frustrated later because he can't keep up with the rate or quantity that he has gotten used to.

Offer him his normal feed and when he has settled afterwards give him some solids. It's up to you how often you offer solids, you may want to give once, twice or three times a day. At this stage it doesn't really matter, it's fun and experience.

Dalrymps · 18/02/2008 23:22

oh ok thanks for the advice, suppose i just fancy starting with puree's cause I have a book of recipes that look nice and fancied making them in a mumsie sort of way but can see how it might not work if i go the blw way... oh well sure i'll be able to use my new blender thingy for something he eats

OP posts:
goldenpeach · 18/02/2008 23:42

Did the NHS give you a book called Birth to Five? Weaning section there is good. It also tells you that if you start before six months you shouldn't give anything before 17 weeks and no meat before six months and other things like eggs, acidic fruits and other less digestible foods (there is a list).
I did baby-led weaning and started with baby rice mixed with breast milk or formula at 17 weeks (it's only two teaspoons a day, hardly a meal and I did it early because she was after the food off my plate, she was like a vulture!). She ate puree at 20 weeks, only a few tbsp a day, so again really tasters more than meals. Proper meals started after 6 months when I introduced meat in purees (she is not big on meat, though). I suggest butternut squash, carrots, swedes, apples with pears, spinach... She still loves them all
You can give cool boiled water if you think your baby might be thirsty, not too much as it fills stomach.
Baby porridge is quite nice for them too and they sell fruit pots and little yogurts for later, my baby despises bought savoury jar food so I use ice cube trays and cook in batches. She still loves purees at 10 months, but by 8 they can have a bit of a lump. Sorry for long post, hope you'll have fun!

Dalrymps · 19/02/2008 00:32

thanks for the advice, yeah, think whatever i do i might try him on baby rice or baby porridge first but he's not looking that interested in my food at the mo so hopefully will make it to 6 months before starting

OP posts:
Dalrymps · 19/02/2008 11:35

anyone else got any advice?

OP posts:
TinkerbellesMum · 19/02/2008 16:34

You can still get creative with what you make without making purees (if that's what you want to do). Have a look at the blog, there are loads of recipies on there. Blenders are always handy!

Whilst I don't want to knock the way anyone has parented and it's not my intention at all, the way that goldenpeach has described is more along the lines of how babies have always been puree weaned (of course puree is a fairly new thing) if they have followed guidlines. It's not really BLW.

Dalrymps · 19/02/2008 16:40

ISWYM.. do you mean the recipes are on the blog there is a link to? i'll have a look

OP posts:
Karen999 · 19/02/2008 16:42

Dd2 was mixed fed. I started weaning her on puress and then switched to BLW at about 7 months. It was not a problem - she took to it right away. Start with purees and see how you get on. You can always switch to BLW or do a combination of both if you wish. Nothing is set in stone.....good luck...

Dalrymps · 19/02/2008 16:42

oh...can't remember how I got to it now, you know where it is?

OP posts:
TinkerbellesMum · 19/02/2008 16:49

That always wasn't meant to be bold lol, I forget about the formatting on here.

What I was trying to say is no way of parenting (as long as you're not abusing your kids) is wrong. How you introduce solids is your choice. Annabel Karmel says that purees should only be for about two weeks and then you start finger foods, so to start with puree and then swap to finger foods is more AK than BLW.

recipe page babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/Recipes

Dalrymps · 19/02/2008 19:07

yeah it's an Ak book i've got, thats all i've read though, will have a look at the link, thanks

OP posts:
talktothemoths · 19/02/2008 21:18

Dalrymps jsut to say my dd was ff and I started giving her bits of fruit and veg to chew on at about 5 1/2 months and we've followed the baby led weaning route ever since. DD is now a few days off 8 months and there is nothing she won;t eat (or throw on the carpet). It's such a lazy stress free way to wean . I thank the lord I did it this way on days like today when I'm out far later than intended and dd is shouting at me cos she's hungry - stick a lump of bread in her hand for her to chew on and she's happy as larry. You do have to let go of the urge to measure how much she's eating though and just trust that if she's still growing, she's eating enough. Good luck

Dalrymps · 20/02/2008 00:13

thats interesting, sounds good, not thought of that angle, thanks for the tip

OP posts:
TinkerbellesMum · 20/02/2008 08:58

Oops, Just noticed:

Aitch's babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/Recipes page

TinkerbellesMum · 20/02/2008 09:00

For crying out loud!

Aitch's recipe page

Yes! Previewd it and it works now.

fedup1981 · 20/02/2008 09:48

Just to add my two penneth, my lo was mix fed until 4 months when he wouldn't keep still enough for bf any more so fully ff. I started giving him some purees but two weeks later moved onto finger foods too. It doesn't matter whether they're bf mix or totally ff, it doesn't impact on blw imho.

I've never read anything by AK but by two weeks of spoon feeding my lovely healthy homemade purees the novelty had well and truly worn off and I was bored rigid. Plus the timing is always rubbish, they want to eat while you're eating, or while you're cooking, which means you have to stop everything and start spooning and you never eat a hot uninterrupted meal. And they're still having 3-6 milk feeds a day which you also have to stop everything for. Soon it feels like you do nothing but feed your baby, it's as labour intensive as having a newborn.

He's now 6 months and I'm still giving some purees but I'm moving more towards fingerfoods all the time. I'm working towards him only being spoonfed things which you would naturally eat with a spoon, like porridge and yoghurt etc

They cope unbelievably well with fingerfoods, he has never choked, and only gagged a few times considering the amount he's eaten.
We eat our toast together in the morning, he shares my food if we eat out in a cafe (loves munching on slices of cucumber, tomato or cheese) and the best thing of all is when he's hungry and his bottle isn't quite cool enough, or we're out somewhere, I can just grab a ricecake or something for him to tide him over for a while.

If I'd known how easy it was I probably wouldn't have pureed anything, but he's used to to a greater volume of food now than he can feed himself iyswim, but he's getting better all the time.

The only downside to blw is your own diet needs to be pretty good as you can't feed them off your plate if you happen to be having beefburger and chips. It will make you aware of just how much salty/fatty/processed foods you eat.

Dalrymps · 20/02/2008 12:44

yeah guess i'll have to stop my galaxy carmel addiction then lol... Now you've pointed it out I can see the spoon feeding might become boring quite quickly, quite liking the sound of the BLW lark
thanks for the link again

OP posts:
AitchTwoOh · 21/02/2008 14:08

ohooooho dalrymps, we hear ya on the mix feeding front if you read the comments you'll see there are LOADS of us, and Gill commented too.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread