My dd is teething and has a cold so hhaven't been able to reply to Maria and Neenz earlier!
Kate ? I?m sure you are dreading May, but just remember it?s still a long time from now in baby terms, your lo will probably be eating 3 balanced meals no prob by then!
Neenz ? apology accepted! As you say, formula is a ?close second? to breast milk, so imo there?s no reason why formula milk shouldn?t be the main source of nutrition for a baby in the first year. Moreover, Aitch has since posted a quote from the WHO that food should ?complement? milk. But of course, we can agree to disagree
I was very disappointed to ff, but I told myself to get over it, especially as I have such a happy, healthy (and strong!!) dd! So when I was deciding whether or not to do BLW I did worry that maybe it would be bad for my dd to be drinking a lot of formula and not eating much in the way of solids, but after reading about so many success stories of ff BLW babies, I gave it a go. And again, I told myself to ?catch myself on? as we say in Northern Ireland, as formula is a ?close second? to bm and has made my dd the wonderful round bouncy baby she is today.
Also, I think peope who don?t BLW get the idea that BLW babies are just waving bits of carrot about and not actually eating anything for months, but that?s not true. My 8.5 month dd eats quite a lot now! And so does my BLW friend?s 9.5 month ds. And I?ve read about lots of babies eating quite a lot at that age. So, Maria you?d said that Neenz ?was talking about well into the 1st year, e.g. at 9 months, 10 months etc.? ? a great many BLW babies seem to be eating plenty by then. Of course you read the ?Help, my baby won?t eat!? threads, but then of course that?s why their worried mums are posting, people don?t tend to post ?Help, my baby?s eating really well!? Plus, babies who don't want to eat solids would most likely be refusing the spoon too!
As for balanced meals and variety, I offer my dd a variety of carbs/veg/protein/fruit at every meal. Sometimes she eats loads of fruit, sometimes, loads of veg (she is obsessed with green beans at the mo!) and sometimes all she wants is beans and cheese and yoghurt. Personally I offer her the veg first, which isn?t very ?pure? BLW, but if I give her all her food at once she just chucks it on the floor. So we start with veg, and end with fruit. At the minute she eats what I would call a good small meal at each sitting (like eg. half a weetabix and half a banana for breakfast more or less) and she has 3-4 bottles a day totaling 20-25oz. So she has a good amount of milk. So in no way should I be worried about her ?getting enough? in terms of nutrition, and it seems her intake of solids definitely ?complements? her milk intake. And I?ve seen people on the puree thread posting their routines and mine?s really similar to theirs, so maybe the BLW way of doing things isn?t as different from yours as you think...?
Sorry for waffling on, just wanted to show you a real life example that BLW does not mean your baby is waving a baton of carrot around for a whole year while surviving only on milk.
BTW I saw on the puree thread that someone said a lot of "bollocks' was being said on this thread. I think that's untrue and unfair, and you don't see any BLW so-called "militia" saying that anyone's talking "bollocks".