What is BLW?

[Claireykitten]

Just so people dont get confused I am not asking what it stands for.

I have just been advised by my HV to start weaning my DS at 19 weeks with a bit of baby rice a couple of times a day because he is being a bit sick when he is moved/played with. So I decided to have a look on here to see what other people had done/had to say because to be honest I feel a little worried since EVERYTHING I have read since getting pregnant has said to wait until 6 months. After starting to read I got confused as many people seem to be advocating BLW but I have no idea what it is so I wondered if people could help/advise me.

Stands for Baby Led Weaning - great blog on it here. Philosophy behind it is that children are ready to wean when they are able to self-feed themselves with finger food (and actually lots of other stuff if you can handle the mess). The idea is that they are in full control of what and how much they eat (although you, of course, decide what's put in front of them!). Most babies can't really do this until 6 months (although some little eager beavers manage it earlier). I don't know much about the sickness problem your son has, and whether weaning would make any difference to that - perhaps try to get a few opinions - another HV, GP?

it's your baby, you don't have to feed any baby rice...HV are very fond of giving unwanted stupid advice...

why is he sick? isnt that because of over eating milk?

BLW is when you put little bits of food on the high chair/plate wherever and the baby picks up what he wants, encourages better motor skills/decision making but I only started when dd was 5 months 2 weeks, and didnt BLW until she was onto tiny bits of mango etc, I started with organic jars of mashed carrot/apple never used baby rice.

you can try him, just see what he does with a little spoon once/few times a day...

but it's up to you!!
try and enjoy it, it can be a lot of fun, new experiences and all that

Baby Led Weaning - here

basically - the baby feeds themselves, mostly finger foods. No pureeing necessary.

I have been reading a bit aboutBLW and I'm sure thats pretty much what Dd ended up doing herself anyway.

She was never really happy being fed purees and mushed foods by spoon, and would quite often gag and be sick. She was happiest with finger foods, that she could control herself. She would still gag at times, when she got a bit carried away!

I'm really considering giving it a go with my next child.

i think loads of people do it automatically, tbh. i wonder if there's a confidence thing, as well? i get a lot of emails from mums coming onto my site really upset that spoon-feeding makes their child cry/refuse but they still can't shake the feeling that the baby will choke on proper food. personally i blame the food manufacturers, the amount of mums who've said 'but how can i just skip stage 1 and 2? how will the baby be ready?'

bloody stage one and two, a marketer's dream. doesn't mean a thing but settles into all our minds all the same...