Ok, so what exactly is Baby Led Weaning, and why should I do it?

[RomanCandleQueen]

DS2 is 17 weeks, and mostly BF but has one or two 7oz FF a day.
DS1 was weaned "normally" ie like the HV suggested, mushed up veg etc.

So what is BLW, and what are the benefits & downsides?

it's waiting to wean until they can feed themselves.

benefits- you know they're ready for solids cos their body tells you. nothing to do with hunger, sleep etc.

no need to puree you just give them normal food. pureeing is only necessary if you're trying to feed a baby who can't feed themself.

gives them control of their own intake. you can't bypass it with a spoon.

you can eat together, less faff taking food out you have to heat up etc.

downsides- if you eat shit food yourself you'll find it harder to incorporate blw into your normal day to day life.

some people find it too messy.

some people stress their baby isn't eating enough, they expect to follow a weaning stage by stage plan with guideline amounts etc.

some people stress about giving yoghurt, thinking it's essential baby food. you can get round this by pouring it on other things they can pick up. plus, they don't actually need yoghurt.

website

the book

One other plus...

Your food doesn't get cold while you shovel!

Thanks RN, and that is one very important plus-point Pigeon!
I'll peruse that site and check out book now.
It seems so obvious and simple, so why does "everybody" bother with all the baby-mush faff?

Because I don't like to see my baby choke, might be one reason...Yes, I've tried some of the BLW for DS2, but I'm not happy with it and have reverted to chopped food. My motto is "if it ain't broke then don't try to fix it." DS1 is an amazing varied and happy eater and he was weaned on purees. I've not seen enough substantial evidence to prove to me that BLW is the "new" way.

By and large they don't choke, although they do gag to begin with and that can be unnerving as you convince yourself that they are choking.

Completely by the by - I'd been telling DP for a while about wanting to try Baby Led Weaning with DS. Thought he was listening and understanding until he asked me whether we could buy it in Tescos. He thought I said Baby Linguine... like there is some kind of special baby pasta that you don't have to mash...

LOL Super! Sounds like the sort of thing my DH would say! He wasn't watching telly when you were talking about was he?!

they don't choke, they gag a lot at first, to stop themselves choking. far easier to choke sucking mush off a spoon.

We eat roast dinners together as a family which is just lovely

My food doesn't go cold while we wait

My ds is very independent and refused to take food off a spoon unless he had touched it, smeared it around, flicked it at me etc. so BLW is actually much less messy as the food is not so mushy and liquid and no spoons are around to act as catapults!

We just cook one lot of food for all of us (add salt for us after if necessary) so less hassle than preparing purees.

Purees can cause problems for some babies (only some, but I do know one who at 18 months is still only on stage 1 purees!!!) when they move on to lumpier textures and also onto separate flavours as they are used to a mixed up taste, whereas a BLW baby is used to different textures and separate tastes from the start so in theory should not have these issues. Of course, that doesn't mean a BLW baby can't be fussy but perhaps a bit less likely.

I was very nervous and a bit uncertain and a bit sceptical at the start so we did a mix of puree and finger food but it became apparent that this was the best way to go for us.

A baby is likely to gag on lumpier food whichever way they are fed - I still get food stuck in my throat occasionally now at age 32 - so whether they gag at 6 months by BLW or at 2 years if puree fed first is neither here nor there to me. Puree does not lessen the gagging/choking risk, it just might delay it until the baby is older.

I won't be doing BLW as it sounds a bit 'faddy' to me. My DS1 was weaned a 4 months with puree and was just fine. DS2 is nearly 7 months and has not weaned at all yet and is still BF. At 7 months he cannot hold a spoon or put it in a bowl to get food, it sounds like it would cause a hungry baby alot of frustration. I seem to remember that is was 'professionals' that told mothers to put babies to sleep on thier tummies so they would not choke, when choking was the main fear of the day, then when babies started dying of suffocation they had a massive ' oh we know how to solve this' moment and told people to put babies on thier backs.

They also told mothers not the BF as it was not giving babies enough, now after years they realise that BF is best (if possible).

Beeper, BLW isn't about the baby spoonfeeding themselves, they use their hands to shovel in unpureed food.
My one-year-old is pretty hopeless with a spoon yet has managed to jump from the 9th to the 50th centile by feeding himself shepherd's pie, sandwiches, strawberries, roast dinners etc etc.
If I'd left him to it with a bowl of puree and a spoon at 6 months he would indeed have starved