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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

Checked her to refresh weaning DC3 and oh my goodness we are all up in arms, are people thinking too much these days?

141 replies

Roca · 08/03/2009 11:02

Surely it's baby seems ready for food, try them on this and that and before you know it they are joining in with your meals.

Oh and mine started on puree, then progessed to finger food then 'normal' meals. And now believe it or not they eat just like little human beings - curry and everything, never had to cook a different 'baby' meals for them.

And I weaned my first 2 from 17 weeks (the old guidelines) shock horror

Perlease, life is busy enough without 'my DC played with a bit of brocolli today he is doing so well on the feeding'

Just to clarify - am I now not supposed to give my DC a spoon or something for fear of hindering them in later life?

OP posts:
Deanna1977 · 09/03/2009 20:48

Aitch
Totally agree with you regarding doing things differently. Every baby is different. I just wish there wasn't such an attitude that one way is the right way and one way is the wrong way when it comes to the type of weaning. What works for one person may not work for another. It shouldn't be so black & white ie BLWvPuree wars...Agree Giantkatestacks that it is v tedious! Most people I know do a mixture of both. (I am going to start another argument aren't I? Are they mutaully exclusive?). Oh well. I know that a lot of people are trying to help but the way that some people come across is very off putting sometimes.

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 20:48

oh i know kate, i said it was fair enough, the ak grinder was just the first thing that popped into my head.

gagarin · 09/03/2009 20:51

"I think people should be encouraged to wait until their baby is ready..."

BUT people who decide their baby is ready BEFORE 6 months are politely slammed....

So Aitch has a point...

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 20:51

i really don't think that there is a Right and wrong attitude, tbh, from either, and i'd challende anyone to prove me wrong on that. cannot think of a single blw thread i've seen that says purees are wrong.

re the mix, well, blw is really just self-feeding tbh, but everyone finds where they're comfortable with and the mixis actually the current govt recommendation.

6inchnipples · 09/03/2009 20:54

deana1977 i got it , i laughed.

giantkatestacks · 09/03/2009 20:56

And the whole grinder thing just reminds me of Fargo [eek]

Deanna - the thinking behind blw is mutually exclusive yes so you cant mix and match. You can do finger foods and mush but its not the same thing at all...Most of the time my baby gets to choose how quickly she eats and what she wants to eat - theres no disguising or forcing or playing feckin' aeroplanes but because I like making casserole and porridge and its much quicker to spoonfeed it to her myself rather than have her hoover it off the tray or her hands then I dont blw.

I would like to say at this juncture that thanks to Aitch and others I have done far more finger foods this time (in fact mostly finger foods) and earlier as well and with much more confidence - so even if people do mush and finger foods I think its very valuable info.

I have noticed with the finger foods though that its easy to give them stuff that they shouldnt be having - ie chip shop chips on occasion maybe I shouldnt mention that...

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 20:57

nothing wrong with a bit of fried potato, is there?

NotAnOtter · 09/03/2009 20:59

i just find the whole blw thing a bit dare i say 'precious'

i am still weaning a baby but 16 years ago i was also weaning ( another one !) i just think we 'got on' with it then...

I am sure there are reasons etc but still

giantkatestacks · 09/03/2009 21:00

gagarin - the before 6 months thing is so hard though isnt it - because you get caught up in that - well its 25 weeks, then 24 and before you know it you're 4 weeks off and where does it stop? Its easier to draw a line at 26 weeks isnt it?

I was sure that my baby was ready earlier than that but held off anyway - just as I knew my baby slept a lot better on her front - and by that I mean not waking up every hour when she was really windy but it didnt mean that I was going to put her down on her front.

6inchnipples · 09/03/2009 21:02

surely blw weaning is the baby eating what it wants mostly by self feeding but as said before babies are very capable of letting you know when they want something and when they don't.
Just like most bottle feeders can't get anymore milk into a baby than the baby wants to drink..
Just like my baby turning her head away and moaning as i wap out a mammary...

They have ways of letting us know...

so not mutually exclusive IMO

giantkatestacks · 09/03/2009 21:02

NotanOtter - I think its only precious when its implied that if you dont do it your baby will be somehow damaged in its relationship to food which I categorically dont believe.

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:05

everything about being a parent is more precious these days i think. and the idea behind blw is anti-precious, if anything. it just says 'let the baby get on with it, don't worry about amounts, and eat the same food as the family where at all possible'. that's hardly prissy.

re the timing, i think having done blw once i'm now much more confident about letting dd2 have food 'early'. she's six mos, but four and a half corrected, and i've let her hold raw carrot and celery. she can get it up to her mouth but after that she doesn't really do much with it, just drops it. i'll know she's ready when she starts to have a better go at it, i reckon.

LackaDAISYcal · 09/03/2009 21:06

Can I just stick up for the OP please. Roca is not a troll and I know she didn't think thst she would get quite the level of abuse that she did. I think the typos make her post seem more aggressive than it actually is, but yes she has a point about the playing with a bit of brocolli thing (and I'm all for BLW)

Anyhoo, she is a lovely and sensitive MNer who gives support on our PN thread as well as gets support from the rest of us. I'm really worried that she is now going to disappear and miss out on what MN has to offer.

Don't go Roca.....

Chatkins · 09/03/2009 21:06

Who says you can't mix and match ?

I weaned my dds on purees at 4 months, as that was the guidelines then. It was difficult with dd1 as she blatantly was not ready, loved her milk far too much, and barely ate a things, until my sister suggested I stop trying to spoonfeed her mush and give her little bits of food to pick up on her highchair tray. This was years before blw heard of ! It worked wonders, she tranformed into the hungriest greediest child ever.

With dd2 I did purees again and she loved them, but then we had issues trying to get her off them and onto lumpy, and finger foods, she was far too lazy !

When ds was tiny I discovered MN for the first time, and blw. I loved the idea, but did it my way. He had some baby rice before 6 months, as he was always trying to grab what we were eating. But put him onto finger foods at 6 months and never pureed anything after that. He loved it, but I also fed him fromage frais and porridge with a spoon, so whats wrong with that ?

He still sat in his chair and ate whatver else was plonked in front of him. He is 21 mo now and the best eater out of all of them. Uses a spoon and fork brilliantly.

Anyway, people should just do what they want, what feels comfortable. Many friends told me they would not be brave enough to do blw, and fair enough. I did not think them inferior or outdated for sticking to purees.

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:07

6inch, couldn't agree more. as a bottle feeder i was always highly offended by the idea that i was over-feeding my baby to some strict routine.

the reason it's mutually exclusive, though, is only because strictly speaking BLW IS just self-feeding, because you really do want them to take it completely at their own pace without interference. of course it's not the case that the obverse is force-feeding, it would be completely insulting were that the implication.

6inchnipples · 09/03/2009 21:09

with regards to the finger foods being less healthy, i have to agree. i have found it difficult to always go with finger stuff as its hard to make diet as varied (imo)

With puree you can get so much in one little pot, but on the other hand there is nothing my dd likes better than to feed herself (but the fav things are bread type things and not so healthy)

beaufies · 09/03/2009 21:09

Pinkglow - don't be scared. The puree thread is very friendly if, like me, you're sad and mean enough to want to feed your baby mush

I've already said my piece about the attitudes that seem to prevail here on the weaning boards, and sadly, there has been more evidence of this since my post.

I would just point out the irony of responding to being called a bully with 'they can f*ck off with calling me a "bully" '

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:10

no, lacka, bollocks to that.

"Perlease, life is busy enough without 'my DC played with a bit of brocolli today he is doing so well on the feeding'"

so, roca doesn't want to chat about weaning, that's fine. i couldn't think of anything more ghastly than a post-natal thread as it happens, but i don't come onto yours and tell you that perlease life is busy enough without you all talking about your babies... it would be ridiculously rude.

NotAnOtter · 09/03/2009 21:12

Aitch yes i can see your point

my blw baby has eaten a lot more rubbish then my others ever did as he gets a bit of everything

there is no gluten free/dairy free etc like i did with my others

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:14

beaufies, did you read my post about why so many people post about BLW on MN? it's just google.

sixinch, that's completely why it's not really a mix and match thing, tbh. if you're doing BLW you put out good healthy food and if they don't eat it today, they will some other time. but what you don't do is get stressed etc about vitamins, you assume that they'll get what they need from milk and food.

i can point you in the direction of some interesting (although pretty ancient and unresolved) research on this if you like, which strongly suggests that if you leave kids to it they'll make the 'right' choices.

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:16

ah, he wouldn't have done if he was your PFB, NAO. i get a lot of people on my blog who've been rather forced into reviewing their diets, it's quite funny really, when they realise they're eating shite they wouldn't feed their baby.

NotAnOtter · 09/03/2009 21:19

the other day he was gobbling down extra mature cheddar - at 7 months

I would have written to 'The Guardian' if i had witnessed someone doing that to a baby when I had my first!

6inchnipples · 09/03/2009 21:22

Great post chatkins. Couldn't agree more.

aitch i don't understand why blw is strictly self feeding when we have agreed babies clearly let you know what they want. They can still lead the weaning when you offer a sloppy food on a spoon. Surely turning their heads away with a closed mouth is a sure sign and still infact baby led??

If its strictly self feeding it should be called something other than blw as it is misleading! Do true blw babies never experience the deliciousness(??) of soup on a cold day until they can manage to eat it with no help from a spoon?? My 2yo still gets most of her soup down her front and she has self fed from 6 months (except with help for runny stuff so not blw) Infact even my 4yo likes mummy to help spoon in soup occasionally and my kids all great eaters, love their varied healthy diet but sometimes they just want a bit of a helping hand (when tired or ill for example)

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:23

lol, they do like surprisingly strong stuff. dd's favourite snack is olives, the poncey little madam.

AitchTwoOh · 09/03/2009 21:26

well, it's just a name, sixinch. a crap one, in my opinion, not least cos it does rather imply that if you're not doing things 'baby-led' then you're not following your baby's lead, iykwim, which is arrant nonsense and a bit insulting as i said.

i wish Gill Rapley had thought more about the name, but i don't imagine she ever thought it would catch on, it was just a weeny bit of qualitative research which she noodled with as part of a qualification.

i'd call it self-feeding, i think.