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Weaning

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

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Original poster

BLW and pureeing joint strategy?

64 replies

TJuice · 18/11/2008 20:56

My baby girl is 24 weeks today. She has been fully bf but for the past week has a bottle of vælling as well as bf at last feed (its like a very thin corn gruel commonly used here in denmark).

After one attempt with baby rice, I decided to wait with the weaning until 26 weeks or even later because she was 3 and a half weeks premature, has an operation coming up next week and isn't showing a huge amount of interest anyway (apart from sipping from my water cup today actually)

Is it a bad idea to do both purees and BLW? How best to go about doing this?

OP posts:

Maria2007 · 08/12/2008 10:02

I meant I ordered the BLW book...

peachsmuggler · 08/12/2008 10:27

Hi Maria

You may be right, though remember just because you offer 3 substantial meals a day, it doesn't mean that your LO will eat 3 substantial meals a day . It might take a while to build up to that. Some babies have bigger appetites than others. My DD is 9 months old and she only eats small amounts, but then she is just a baby and it is difficult to compare what she eats to that which seems like a normal amount of food, IYSWIM. Hopefully your DS will start sleeping well soon. DD has just got the hang of it at 9 months!!!
I think for most babies the food eaten is heavily weighed towards milk in the first year, not just BLW babies. Even with purees, they only eat small amounts really.

Have a look at kellymom www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html for more resources on solids in the first year

The BLW book is really good, hope it arrives soon!

Maria2007 · 08/12/2008 10:35

Peachsmuggler- thanks for the link! As for different babies eating different amounts, you're right, that's certainly true, and even now that we're BF my boy doesn't seem to be eating huge amounts, just enough to continue on the 50th percentile which he's been on from the beginning. In fact, there are periods where he's simply not interested in eating (BF). So I'm not too hopeful that he'll be a great big eater...

peachsmuggler · 08/12/2008 10:50

But the fact that he is doing well and gaining weight means he is eating enough, so don't worry about the times when the is not interested. Babies are just like us, some days they are hungrier than others!

TINSELJuice · 08/12/2008 11:23

okay okay, i am not doing BLW - i am doing a hotch-potch of whatever.
i don't think its necessary to be so purist about the whole thing. its feeding your baby using different approaches, not referencing an academic paper.

peachsmuggler · 08/12/2008 11:31

Exactly! Labels are for tins!!!

Maria2007 · 08/12/2008 11:54

I do agree actually Tinseljuice. I wrote a bit earlier in the thread that I have a bit of a problem with purism of any kind, e.g. saying this is BLW and that is NOT BLW based on this or that criteria. I mean surely parents are able to mix & match, & choose what works for them from different approaches?

ruddynorah · 08/12/2008 12:11

if you talk about doing blw and puree it's like saying you're vegan but you do eat meat, you know, just to make sure you get enough protein. you may as well just not say you're vegan. what's the point?

maria- you keep talking about sleep. they learn to sleep sooner or later. i'd rather they learnt about food and eating without any concentration on filling them up. if it's at the back of your mind to be thinking about the amount they eat and how filling it is then that's surely going to affect how you present the food and encourage the eating of it.

Maria2007 · 08/12/2008 13:22

Ruddynorah, how is doing blw & puree anything like being vegan & eating meat at the same time? Surely in the case of vegans it's about not eating particular foods (the same with vegetarians). How is that similar to the way we feed our children? Not what we feed them... but the way we feed them. I truly believe that many parents who use purees also encourage their children to discover taste, texture etc through offering finger foods at the same time, encouraging self feeding etc, without necessarily saying they're doing BLW. Surely the point is to find a system that works well for the individual parent & child, and not to say this or that system of feeding is best for everyone? So, turning the issue on its head, what would a parent who is really wanting to do BLW do if they discovered their child really loved eating by a spoon, or eating mushy foods? By not offering that option to your child- and I think soups / mushy foods etc are a part of normal adult food choices- are you being baby led, or are we talking about a purist, adult-led agenda? Well that's exactly the sort of thing I was talking about, it sounds to me that there are some fantastic ideas about helping your child to discover food on their own, explore textures / tastes etc... but labelling it BLW (as if all others are forcing their children!) & saying that whoever gives a bit of mush is almost like a vegan eating meat... well to me that doesn't make sense at all .

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 08/12/2008 13:27

Oh not this b*llocks again.

peachsmuggler · 08/12/2008 13:55

You can do puree and do BLW, it's just that BLW would involve the baby feeding themselves. I guess it's not about the food, it's about the method, but it's not about spoons or no spoons either.

I think what ruddynorah is saying is true, in that BLW does not involve spoon feeding your child. However lots of people offer finger foods for the baby to feed themselves as well as spoon feeding them. I think labelling ourselves as BLWeaners (!) or not is maybe not is not particularly helpful as it seems kind of divisive.

Hmm, sorry, am not being very articulate. maybe someone else will come along and say it better.

Maria2007 · 08/12/2008 19:03

Peachsmuggler: I agree, it does seem divisive to me... it's almost as if you're either with us or against us, a W Bush kind of thing ()

Doesn'tChristmasDragOn: I'm sorry, what b*llocks are you referring to exactly? Personally I find this discussion interesting, as I'm a new mum (son 4 months old) & don't know much about all this, so I'm happy to learn. If this topic has been done to bits, sorry to offend you, but please, lighten up!!

peachsmuggler · 08/12/2008 20:11

Yes, to Baby Led Wean or not to Baby Led Wean. T'is the "to control cry or not"!!! Everybody gets very defensive.

Think it's great that you are approaching it all with an open mind Maria, that way you'll be able to find the right way for you and your baby!

Caz10 · 08/12/2008 20:37

my DD is 1yr old and if asked I would say that we have done BLW, but all I mean by that is that we didn't go the route of baby rice then fruit purees then veg purees then small lumps then big lumps etc!

We do spoon feed her for porridge, yoghurt etc and she is also equally happy picking things up herself.

So I know technically that is not BLW, but what I personally think is one of the most important parts of BLW is the baby-led thing - dd makes it pretty clear when she doesn't want to eat and I never force it. Likewise if she wants to eat at odd times or have lots of one odd thing (like tonight when she ate about 100 peas but nothing else!) I go with the flow!

Maria I think you can do what suits you in terms of spoons/no spoons etc, but the info against early weaning is pretty conclusive, and I think it only makes sense not to put pressure on your baby in any way when it comes to food/eating.

Oh and my dd eats like a horse and still wakes every 2 hours...sorry!!!

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