BLW vs Purées/traditional

[Suziek12]

Hi everyone! My daughter is 5 months so will be starting to wean in another month. I would really like to try BLW, how did you all
find it and is it as great as it’s made out to be? Also, is it easier than traditional weaning? Does anyone regret it? Can anyone that has done both BLW and traditional say which they preferred/ compare the two? Thank you!

i did jar food for my first and blw with my second .Never looked back so much easier and by learning to self feed they learn how much to eat self feed.So you dont have to worry about over feeding.

With baby led weaning as long as its soft chopped and low salt you can just dump it in front of them and let them learn from watching you

so a typical day

breakfast

two chopped fruits with either toast crumpets,pancakes torn up milk in sippy cup or dried cereal with two chopped fruits with milk in sippy cup

lunch two kinds chopped veg so either grated carrot,chopped cooked beetroot,chopped avocado,chop tomato's,bell pepper ,chickpeas ,one kind chopped fruit ,one protein like cooked prawns ,chicken,sandwich ham ,seafood sticks and torn up pitta or wraps or crackers

dinner could be bolenase ,cottage pie,stir fry noodles ,roast dinner ,curry i just lumped it in front of her let her eat with her hands

i would strip her to a nappy and wash her after .The food seems like a lot but its more about introducing a routine than actually eating and giving lots of variety for them to try

It feels like such a big thing at the time, but you don't need to decide, just do a bit of both.

BLW can feel quite stressful, especially at the start, because you worry about choking. Get the Solid Starts app to show how to serve things for each age, and go on a baby first aid course so you feel really confident you know what to do if they did choke (unlikely).

But it also feels so rewarding when you see them understanding they can feed themselves!

We found a bit of both really is the best of both worlds.

Thank you so much for all that advice/info it’s very helpful 😊 x

Honestly BLW wasn't for me in the slightest. Having to be on edge, constantly worrying about whether or not your baby is choking? Completely unenjoyable and in my opinion, unnecessary.

You’re right it does, seems so stressful the thought of it 😅 thank you for your advice/info it’s very helpful x

Agree with PP - you can do a bit of both, it doesn't have to be so prescriptive, it's just feeding your baby you don't have to decide to only follow one way.

Babe may decide they only like to eat purees or only want to hold their own carrot etc, you won't know until you get going and then you can see how it goes.

Hopefully you and babe can have fun and enjoy!

I've done BLW twice and honestly neither baby has ever choked. I went on a baby first aid course when DS1 was little, and I read Gill Rapley's book about BLW before starting, and both were very reassuring about choking risk, explaining how little babies' gag reflex is triggered much further forward in their mouth than when they are bigger, so they will gag and spit the food out if they accidentally put it in too far. I think Rapley says that BLW is potentially safer in this respect because the baby is learning from experience not to put food too far into their mouth, whereas they don't learn this so easily if you're putting it in for them (on a spoon). Also she warns never to put pieces of food into your baby's mouth as you can accidentally bypass their gag reflex and they are more likely to choke. The early meals are quite funny because they take little bites and it just falls straight out of their mouths again.

What I liked most about BLW though is the idea of eating family meals all together from the start, so mealtimes are social as well as being about nutrition. With spoon feeding either the baby eats separately, or one person (usually the mum) is having to feed the baby and not getting to eat their own meal.

I couldn't ever countenance BLW the way some people do it. I spoon fed purees of what we ate, and gave bread sticks and vegetable sticks, toast, dry foods etc as crudities. But letting children eat meals with their hands, is for me, completely inconceivable. Just horrible, messy, and unnecessary.

DD's used spoons and forks from a very young age as well, and ate all things, and everything, and ate properly.

Old fashioned I know. But worked for me.

I did it on my first. I found it quite time consuming really for some reason. On the others I had baby food mashed up in the freezer for when we were eating something they couldn't have. If the dinner lended itself to finger food, I did that. And if the dinner was better mashed and fed to them I did that.

So very easy and stress free. I always did loads of preloaded spoons and they were all feeding themselves quite happily early on.

I did BLW with my first baby and currently doing it with my second, I love it but appreciate it's not for everyone. What I like about it is I don't have to prepare or cook anything separately or blend anything, we all just sit down and eat the same dinner, I just make sure vegetables and meat are soft and chopped into batons. I can focus on eating my own food whilst baby eats theirs and put baby in high chair with toast or something for breakfast and crack on with hanging the laundry up or whatever. To be honest choking never worried me because it's actually quite rare and I know what to do if it happens. I know some people don't like it because it's messy but neither of mine ever threw food it all went in the mouth or dropped on the bib but again I was probably quite lucky and know this isn't everyone's experience. I think if you do purees it's a good idea to do finger foods as well to get them used to chewing and different textures early on.

I’m a big advocate of BLW, but in the early days I found a combination easiest, so BLW at home and purée pouches when out where I didn’t want to make a lot of mess. By 8-9 months I found that mine started to reject purées anyway because they were more established eaters of real food and had lost interest in puréed food. Never mention purées or pouches on a BLW group though as you will almost certainly be vilified as some kind of monster who doesn’t love their child….

Seriously though, mine are all very good eaters, and I do credit that mostly to BLW. All babies wean at their own pace, but by virtue of experience alone I’ve found the babies who did BLW are more confident with proper food by 12 months because they’ve simply been eating it for longer!

Totally agree with all of this. The Gill Rapley book is fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone. Really clearly explains the theory behind BLW.

Both of mine were full BLW - which isn't to say they never had food the consistency of puree. They did, just the same as when us adults were. Eg custard, yoghurt, soup, porridge. I loaded the spoon and put in on the plate. They picked it up and by 7 months were extremely effectively delivering it to mouth. Otherwise they used their hands.

Whatever method you choose, eat with your baby, it's so important for them to be part of the family mealtimes. I admit I don't really understand how that works if one parent has to spoon-feed the baby, maybe you can take it in turns to eat.
If doing purees, do still give baby finger foods as well from 6 months. I know a couple of mums who were so terrified of solid food they didn't let baby touch anything themselves until 12 months plus and lo and behold, even at 2 they're reluctant to self feed.

It saddens me to hear of all the stress. Many years ago, I did a bit of both, starting with purée carrot and then potato, our meals mashed down, plus bits for them to feed themselves. I didn't use jars or pouches or anything processed. All so easy. Can't grasp the stress.

Both of mine were I guess what you'd call baby-led weaned in the main. DD1 had the odd puree but DD2 just ate the family meal as I didn't really want to be spoonfeeding more than necessary. Both of mine have grown up sensible eaters in that they've never crammed stuff in their mouth and neither choked, just a bit of gagging which just happens anyway, it's just a biological thin g and both grew out of it as they should.

My main issue with shop-bought purées is that a lot of them rely heavily on 'sweet' vegetables to make them more appetising - if you taste them, you might be surprised how sweet they taste. Understandable, but I feel like it does kind of set up expectations and palate to be even more accustomed to sweet things and then it can make the transition harder.

Personally I always feel like offering different textures and tastes, letting them feel stuff with their hands and explore it, is a good basis for enjoying food as they grow. Weaning should be messy, IMO.

BLW is great but it’s not a religion, you can give purées too. Giving a little bit of what you are eating is also ideal for not making more work. But generally, yes, it is as good as people say.
Whatever you decide to do, you need to know the difference between choking and gagging. It’s also important to know the baby Heimlich manoeuvre — just because you decide not to feed food in pieces doesn’t mean the baby won’t one day get hold of something.

I did very lazy parenting - cooked our meals w/o salt, plonked child on my knee on a small towel (actually a terry nappy much of the time) and let her help herself to mashed up with a fork stuff off my plate while I ate. Meant no extra cooking or preparation or washing up whatsoever.

Yes I've done both. Weaned the first at 4 month on the advice of HV. The second totally refused purées when they were ready so had to do finger foods.

Weaning early and only using purées is a total faff. Much preferred being able to give DC2 some of what we were having although I would have preferred it if they would have had the odd smidgen of prepared baby mush.

Even if you do choose traditional baby weaning, most would be having finger foods alongside purées by 6 months.

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Blw can be easy and very rewarding for parents. Everything about homemade baby food from scratch is in this video.

I love baby led weaning, it worked really well with my eldest daughter and I’ve just started it again now with my 6 month old.

as I’ve typed this I realised you wanted replies from people who have done both sorry!

Do what works for you as a family.

My younger DD would just grab at spoons if someone went near with one. She would happily eat anything if left to it. Including loaded spoons if you put them down and let her pick them up!
My elder DD preferred spoon feeding.

Now they are Secondary school age you can't tell the difference. Funnily DD1 doesn't need spoon feeding and DD2 doesn't eat with her hands...

I hated blw. Did it for a month, couldn’t get in with it so moved into more traditional weaning. I much prefered being able to batch book and freeze portions and then stick them in the microwave.
I do wonder whether that month of blw that I found such a struggle is why DD was and still is fussy and not interested much in food.