Does anybody else find BLW harder work than purees?

[Tinkjon]

Some of it is much easier, of course, but in general I find it much harder and I was wondering if anybody else felt the same? With BLW you have to cook each meal fresh (no making big batches and shoving them in the freezer as you can with purees) and I find that a bit tiresome in itself. I also find it (please don't shoot me for saying this! ) far more restricting than purees when trying to make a complete meal. Most meats are out for DS as finger food at the moment (he's only 7.5 months) so trying to give him something other than fruit & veg sticks takes a lot more thought and effort than just shoving it all in the blender and whizzing it up. And the mess! I certainly don't object to the mess per se of course, but I'm getting very bored with having to either wash clothes before they stain after every meal or, now that it's warmer and I can feed him with no clothes on, having to bath him after every meal! Maybe it's just my DS, but he gets so messy that he's way beyond cleaning up with a baby wipe.

I'm not anti-BLW at all - I think it's a brilliant idea and I have found it great with DS who refuses to eat much by spoon, but I just find it all SO much more work than purees.

BEAUTlFUL - yes!

oh, d'oh, too slow to post, sorry!

I thought that the reason you start weaning at 6 months is because breastmilk isn't enough from this stage onwards? Will they get enough nourishment if not much goes in? Is a pureed baby (!) better fed then?

When can a BLW (or any) baby have some chicken torn off the roast?

I used a spoon for cereal and yoghurt but everything else was BLW, it was all whatever we were having, I'm veggie, DP isn't so I would mix and match bits of our dinners for the DDs.

I don't now why you can't do both purees and BLW either.

Liz79 I think any kind of milk (formula or BM that is) is still their main source of nourishment until they are approx 1yr old? As I understand it the LOs will start to drop milk feed when they are getting more and more filled up by the food, but there is no rush for that to happen.

Liz79- ditto caz10 and also re chicken, they can have this from 6 months onwards. My ds wasnt particularly interested in food until he was about 8 months so we didnt push it, just offered it.

There is nothing to say that you can't do puree and finger food, in fact this is what the NHS weaning guide advises, but true BLW'ing bypasses pureeing and spoonfeeding.

would they be physically capable of chewing and swallowing shredded chicken? can i introduce it in week 2 of blw? was thinking of fruit/veg maybe toast/bread once or twice a day in week 1

Liz - are you planning to start all this next month? If so join me here !!

(sorry for minor hijack)

sk, it's not a question of 'you can't do purees and blw', it's merely a contradiction in terms (because blw really means self-feeding) but there's no reason whatsoever why a person weaning their child wouldn't start off with purees and finger food at 5 months, iykwim? (you do know what i mean, don't you? it's just the terminology, not the practise).

in fact, mash and finger food is what the NHS recommends in its current weaning guidelines, so your HV should have been thrilled.

liz, if they're not then they'll just spit it out, that's teh point. i found that dd preferred chicken leg meat (those little sections that come away from the bone) to breast, breast was too dry for her to suck at. i know you don't want to read the whole blog but if you do a search for 'chicken' you'll see what other people have said about it.

lol, sk, at 6 months

Think it's important for children to see adults eating healthily and normally so we used it as an incentive to eat better as a whole family (ie less salt etc). Dd generally has 'good' food (like us) but does eat crisps, chips, takeaways, bla bla - as she eats with us.

BLW was DEF the less faff option for us, especially when out. Although I did occasionally feed her a really disgusting looking jar... There isn't really anything to stop you feeding some mushy food, (you could always use it as a dip) is there?

lol at 5 mths aitch, you had me all confused!

Yes, eating together is important - but it's simply not possible for some people. My baby is exhausted and refuses to eat anything at 5-5.30pm, when my older daughter eats. Hopefully that will change as he gets older though.

Sidge, of course some 'diet food' is perfect for babies, but a lot of the stuff we eat isn't. For example, I will often have a WeightWatchers ready meal, or one of my fave diet meals involves low-fat sausages (no way I would give sausages to a 7mo but others may disagree). It will be easier when he has a pincer grip though and can eat a wider variety of foods.

True aitch

I think what I was meaning was giving foods that are traditional sloppy i.e. yoghurt with a spoon that are always going to be eaten with a spoon rather than deliberately whizzing up things into a puree does that make sense.

Both my DDs grabbed the spoon off me at 8 months and refused anything spoon fed.

Also I gave mine a spoon and let them get on with it from an early age too, messy business though but they can get the hang of it very early.

i think the vast majority of people i know who do BLW do use spoons for yoghurt. me, i couldn't be arsed with the carnage and was quite content to wait until she could self-feed with a spoon a bit more cleanly, which was after she was 12 mos. mind you, i don't much like yoghurt so i also don't tend to have it in the house.

My DP is like that aitch he detests yoghurt, can't abide the smell or texture and can hardly pick up a yoghurt spoon without hurling. He says he would rather deal with an exploding nappy than yoghurt aftermath strange man!

Yes I found the purist idea of BLW restricting. I wasn't prepared to have to deal with dd3 painting herself with sheperds pie that I had made for dd1 and dd2 so I spoon fed some things - yogurts as aitch has mentioned and sheperds pie/lasagne etc.

But I did like the IDEA that a baby could feed itself so I used more finger foods with her than the others - it went in fits and starts, sometimes I fed her with a spoon, sometimes she fed herself. Anyway she is 2 now and eats everything that we eat and with a spoon and fork too - like the majority of babies her age, it doesnt seem to have made a jot of difference how they were weaned .

I really believe that with three kids you just get through it whichever way is easier tbh

yep, it kind of gives me the creeps too, sour milk... yurgh.

Yes, I think that's a good point Enid, BLW isnt some fad which weans your baby "faster and quicker", they all get to the same point but I just found with BLW its easier for me and thats a winner in my book!!

I combined BLW with purees...as a result my DS has always eaten 'normal' food (i.e. our food). Could you not cook extra from your own meals - e.g. cook a few extra bits of broccoli or carrot on a Tuesday, then serve as a BLW meal on the Wednesday? As soon as I could I made sure I was giving DS same food we ate - we just got used to eating without salt until he was 1, and now use v little salt - much better for health.

As it's summer there are loads of things you can prepare in seconds -

avocados
mangos
peaches
bananas (you can also 'scoop' it straight off the banana and into mouth - instant puree!)
asparagus (okay, requires a little bit of cooking but not much chopping!)

also canned fish in oil - just shred it btw your fingers - instant protein!

mashed potato (can keep in fridge)

I definitely recommend making each meal BLW + puree as it they usually don't eat enough calories with BLW. So perhaps give a single carrot stick and then the rest can be mashed/ pureed food.

Stick your hand in the freezer and throw some brocolli, peas, carrots or beans etc, in with the pasta when you cook it (or rice). Complete meal.

My dd1 started eating mainly strawberries, pasta with tomato sauce and brocolli florets - seems a reasonable diet to me. Started eating chicken at about 9 months (with only 2 teeth).

Breakfast - cheerios and a bowl of chooped fruit and a handful of raisins.

She started in June, so we ate everything in the garden, or at the park - no clearing up

Oh and eat out a lot too - IKEA, local cafes etc.