BLW or puree come on convince me ladies

[beetlemum]

DS2 is 20 weeks and am wondering which way to go when the time comes to wean him. I am really idle so if I do puree it will prob be what we are eating or a jar. I am not arsing about with an AK cook book. If we do BLW we will probably have to eat less rubbish. Also DS2 weill be at ft nursery when he is 10/11 month so with that in mind what way do think is best. cheers!

BLW - suits the lazy mum imo - I'm certainly one, and couldn't be faffed with different food for DS. Made us cut down on salt in our cooking and keep it that way.

Nursery were perfectly happy with BLW - and DS weaned when at FT nursery

Thanks CMOT, I have already broached subject with nursery and they have no probs giving him whatever we ask for. I've been given a weaning plan thing (purees) off the HV which says how many meals they have everyday for 4 weeks,like the first week is baby rice milk etc is there such a thing as this for blw. What sort of stuff did you give ds when he started?

Don't let yourself get sucked into "there's two ways of doing it and they are completely distinct" position would be my take. FWIW, we gave dd porridge with pureed fruit spoon fed for breakfast (becasue timewise we wanted to get something down her relatively quickly before work) but then blw-style finger foods the rest of the time (mainly at her insistance - she'd accept being fed at breakfast becasue she was hungary but was very much "do it by my own" the rest of the time), and let nursery get on with it whichever way they wanted. At the very beginning didn't bother with a "weaning plan" as such, on the grounds that bf alone had done her fine for 6 months so not worth getting stressed about how much she ate in in the first weeks, but if I remember rightly she had mainly toast, rice cakes, or bagels with cream cheese and lots of bananas. Not saying what we did was "right" or an ideal way for everyone, but found it all good fun and very low stress.

You can have a plan of what meals you want them to have for the first 4 weeks but it doesn't mean they'll eat them

For the idle mum I would suggest BLW. We have been doing it for 6 months and it is so stress free. I have friends who spend hours at the start of the week pureeing and labelling and freezing, which if you are the prganised, control freakery type I imagine is the best way forward. However, if you can't be bothered with all that then BLW is much easier.

When we started DD has steamed veg (carrots, sweet potato, broccoli), rice cakes, toast with cream cheese, that sort of thing. If the nursery are happy with it then it seems like it might work for you!

Good luck!

When we started, I really did just share my food with DS. But I did do roast veggies (sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, potato etc) and larger cut veggies with our meals than we would have before. And I offered him something at each meal (or nursery did) as once he had started, he wanted something when anyone else was.

Sometimes nursery did give him mashed food if what the older ones where having didn't work (they had purees in the freezer for those occasions), and he was happy to self feed those if someone loaded the spoon.

Look at Aitchs blog www.babyledweaning.com for more info, or buy Gill Rapleys book

I'm doing a mix of the two tbh. At dinner time, I give DS a few bits of cooked veg. Sometimes I give him puree. I don't think you HAVE to do one or the other. So DS loves chomping on rice cakes, green beans and rusks, but will happily slurp porridge, or pureed carrot off a spoon.

BLW means letting your dc decide what to eat and how much. You do this by putting a selection of foods down for them to eat, or not eat. They tend to be finger foods, although babies can get the hang of scooping up mashed potatoes etc pretty quickly and they can use rice cakes etc to dip into yoghurt for example until they can manage a spoon.

Their intake will depend on their motor skills and their appetite.

If you don't feel comfortable with letting your dc completely control their intake (bearing in mind that it might take them a while to actually eat much and that can sit uncomfortably with some people), then you still don't have to puree everything. You can offer finger foods and combine that with spoon feeding mashed food, soups or yoghurt, or anything really.

You can still offer stuff like yoghurt for them to feed themselves if you are brave and near a bath . For lunch just now I just squeezed a yoghurt out onto her tray, chucked a few rice cakes on there and let her get on with it. She had a fantastic time whilst I sat near her but not really interfering (kept an eye on her obviously but was doing bits and pieces) and spent about half an hour eating and playing with it. Then popped her straight in the bath and for her nap. She is 6 months.

Is very messy but less tedious than sitting there with a spoon! To be honest though if she needs food when out I will probably take a puree with me - not really happened yet as snacks like rice cakes or a banana are fine for the minute when out. It really doesnt have to be one or the other - just what works best for you at any particular meal I think.

I disagree that total BLW is easier. Personally i agree with milkmade that you jsut do whichever suits the food you are serving so breakfast for us is weetabix or porridge....therefore a spoon just makes sense.

I have tended to just give whatever we are having as other meals, sometimes this is finger food, other times not then i just mashed it up, really not time consuming.

Have also given finger foods at the same time, so soup and toast as an e.g.

It doesnt have to be one or the other 'system'...if you get into the realms of making porridge pancakes because you dont want to spoon feed actual porridge then that just seems a bit daft to be and certainly not easier!

i think you should just do what you feel is right for you and sprog, why not mix both if you are both up for that? I let Shrimpy BLW everything except yoghurt/porridge as i can't be arsed to mop the floor but soon i'm going to take him outside and let him at it free style, but I'm dead lucky, I'm living in portugal so weather is more conducive to outside weaning and I haven't met a HV yet!!! i guess they have them here but as i don't speak good portuguese they just tend to ignore me at the doctors, which suits me just fine, so i am free to get on with it without being made to feel guilty, which reading a lot of these sites/posts, you guys in UK are made to feel so bad, like you are doing something wrong letting them put a bit of boiled carrot in their mouth themselves at 6 months....CALL THE COPS!!! As long as Sprog is healthy and happy and you are keeping up the milk feeds then whats the problem...????

I also agree, do what you feel most comfortable with.
I did a mix, mostly finger foods, or a variety of things he could pick up from his tray, toast, cucumber stickers, cheese sticks, banana, rice cakes, butternut squash and sweet potato fingers,
but I also spoon fed porridge and yoghurt until he started grabbing the spoon, then I let him do it.
IMO a mix of spoon fed and baby led, is fine, keeps everyone happy !