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Weaning

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

Original poster

DD 26 weeks soon. Asked HV about BLW and was told it was wrong & dangerous. Help?

51 replies

imoscarsmum · 06/02/2009 16:00

I really like the sound of BLW but my HV said without mincing her words that it was wrong and the risks of choking are way too great (TBH, I think she thought i was hoping to hand DD her food and then bugger off to watch daytime TV, which I am NOT!!).

I like the ideas behind BLW, especially as it'll hand back control to DD who could not/would not bf (don't go there - broke my heart to ff).
However, i know very little about it and was surprised when HV was adamant it was wrong. However, same HV encourages delaying weaning till 26 weeks so she can't be completely bonkers can she?

So, thought I'd turn to the old faithful mumsnet for help. [Why is it that mn clashes with HV s much??!] Anyway, can anyone give me some simple words of advice and guidance - am i bad mummy for thinking about BLW?

OP posts:
Coldtits · 06/02/2009 16:03

Ask her to back up her claims with a dietician referral

She won't, she'll retract them.

Ds2 was blw, ish. It was fine.

EyeballsintheSky · 06/02/2009 16:04

I was in the same boat as you, couldn't bf, desperate for DD to have something that wasn't formula that she was in control of. We did BLW and it was absolutely fine. She's nearly 13 months now and will have a go at anything. I feel she's come on much quicker with food than she would have if I had pureed. She'll hold her paw out for anything going. After a couple of occasions where I thought she was choking (she wasn't at all) it was fine. Someone here, might have been Aitch, said that unless they were blue and not breathing, then they weren't choking. That reassured me and we haven't looked back. Learning the difference between gagging and choking was essential.

Good luck

Tommy · 06/02/2009 16:05

hi there - like your name - that could be my name too

Think your HV is talking nonsense. Every medical professional I have discussed BLW with have all though it sounded like a great idea.

How does your HV think people fed babies before the invention of the blender?

SnowlightMcKenzie · 06/02/2009 16:06

He He bumping for you. The 'experts' will have a field day! (sadly I'm not one, but am interested in how it goes)

insertwittynicknameHERE · 06/02/2009 16:08

You are not a bad mummy for thinking about BLW.

I love BLW and found out about it from my very first HV (she is now retired and I have been left with someone who doesn't know one end of a baby/toddler from the other end!!!!!

I don't know the intricacies of BLW, I did however read that babies have a natural gagging reflex and are more often than not able to dislodge anything that should not be there IYSWIM.

DD chocked a couple of times when we started and neither DH or I had to help her as she was able to bring it up both times.

BLW is great for many reasons, the things that interested me most about it was the fact that the DC seem to eat what they want and only what they want. they know when they have had enough. Also the fact that I didn't have to puree and feed DD (who is a very slow eater), she could have what DH and I had.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along soon and give you some more info.

Lulumama · 06/02/2009 16:09

NHS does recommend at least a mix of finger foods and puree/ finger food alone at 6 months...

as long as you are watching your baby and i am sure you will be, then you can help should anything go down the wrong way

and choking and gagging on food are totally different too

DD was very good at 'chewing the cud', ie. bringing something back up for more chewing if it was not going down well

i have a picture of her in her highchair at around 9 months eating a whole apple.

she chocked once. on a teeny fridge magnet, not food.

MauriceDancer · 06/02/2009 16:12

nhs advice here

as you can see, finger foods are advised from the moment the child shows an interest. so if that's 6 months.

hang on, am Aitch. am going to change back.

Lulumama · 06/02/2009 16:13

brill name aitch !

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 16:21

you had an HV tell you the risks of choking were too high... did you ask her how many children she had known to choke in a manner that injured them?

i'm in the peculiar position of having my HV (with dd2) phone ME up to ask me about BLW as she's getting so many people asking about it. we had a long chat and she's going on my website and we have a further meeting booked next week. she was saying that in her professional life (nannying, nursing, HVing) she hadn't had any significant chokes, ie that didn't get cleared by a slap. in fact, she thought if she totted it up she'd probably seen more choking on purees etc than self-fed solids.

i am quite heartened by her open mindedness on the subject, actually.

btw, wrt choking, i DO think it's appropriate to be concerned about it. you could think about doing a wee infant resus course (they're normally free and regular at maternity hosps), i'm going to refresh my knowledge before weaning dd2. this, despite the fact that dd1 only choked once on a bit of apple and it was cleared easily. it's completely sensible to be cautious about choking however you wean your child. knowing what to do in the event could save a life. (such as when i yanked a wee boy in the park upside down a couple of years back and popped out god knows what from his throat... wouldn't have known how to do it had i puree-fed. )

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 16:23

i did it to bait solidgoldbrass on the subject of her second-most-beloved pastime but most frustratingly she chose to take the high road and ignored me...

BakewellTarts · 06/02/2009 16:28

Hmm...now in our area NOT doing BLW is frowned upon. So much so that even though DD2 is only 3 months I've already had HVs talk to me about it (disclaimer - I'm not planning on doing anything about real food until she hits 6 months).

Lulumama · 06/02/2009 16:29

maybe change yourself to mundanecardriver?

i can;t think of a clever play on words

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 16:29

oh, and imoscarsmum... i found doing BLW very healing about my ffing. lots of people have found that, judging by the response to this post of mine.

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 16:30

realy, bakewell? where's that, if you don't mind revealing your whereabouts? i'd be really interested to know.

cmotdibbler · 06/02/2009 16:32

As previously mentioned, the DoH recommend finger foods from 6 months, so BLW is just an extended form of this.

But knowing what to do if they really choke, and what the difference between choking and gagging is, is really useful for lots of reasons.

I did BLW with DS (have never pureed a thing), and he never choked. And learnt from the start to chew everything properly which I'm sure protects them from choking later.

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 16:47

yep, cmot, someone on the blw forum put it this way, which i really liked. (in fact was it you, you clever old stick?)

'if you use purees babies learn to swallow before they can chew, if you let them self-feed they learn to chew before they can swallow.'

LOVE that description. and it's up to you as a parent to decide which you'd rather they learn first. probably advantages to both, i'd say, but for us BLW was a real joy.

SnowlightMcKenzie · 06/02/2009 18:28

Anyone actually forgotten how they weaned their first?

I don't have a blender so I doubt I did any pureeing, but I can't honestly remember and DS is only just 2!

I know he had a lot of yoghurt and I am a little baffled about BLW wrt this, but I also know he was eating 3 meals a day plus snacks at 6months and 1 day! And I'm sure it wasn't all yoghurt.

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 19:40

you mean you didn't start a blog about it?!

FiveGoMadInDorset · 06/02/2009 19:44

With DD we did a mixture of purees and finger foods, DS refuses purees so he is feeding himself quite happily and what is great is that his nursery are quite happy to do this as well.

SnowlightMcKenzie · 06/02/2009 19:53

I probably tried, but can't make sense of the blogging world. I tried a MN one but can't figure out how to write on it, and I have no idea what my moderating password is, - so gave up in the confusion.

I THINK I must have served a mixture of finger foods and mush. I also think, knowing me, that most of the mush was eaten with DS' hands because, knowing HIM, I wouldn't have been quick enough with the food. This brings back a vague memory, but I can't remember for sure.

DD is now 5 months. Forget early weaning. Is there anything wrong with late weaning?

[lazy-arse-emoticon]

AitchTwoOh · 06/02/2009 19:55

i KNOW! dd2 will be ready for weaning probably about a month and a half from now (hard to tell cos she was prem) and as much as i enjoyed weaning dd1 i truly Cannot Be Arsed.

cmotdibbler · 06/02/2009 20:13

She can't be that old already can she ?

DS was a 35 weeker, and dived into his food at 6 months. I knew he was ready as I was fighting him off my plate.. Sigh. It hasn't stopped now, and I made the mistake the other week of letting him sit next to the conveyor belt in Yo Sushi.

SnowlightMcKenzie · 06/02/2009 20:20

Ouch. That must have been expensive. Perhaps it was an opportunity to teach him the colour green.

cmotdibbler · 06/02/2009 20:46

Fortunatly we had the 40% off voucher. He likes sorting out the plates into their colours and counting them - but insists on generating a variety

Psychobabble · 06/02/2009 20:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.