BLW or not??

[iloveholidays]

I'm still undecided whether to do BLW or not (my baby is 5 months + 1 week). My main issues are...

I'm worried as BLW isn't as structured, my baby won't end up trying everything especially fruit and veg. There is the possibility that she may only pick up certain foods and leave others.

I'm trying to work out what the disadvantages of going the puree route (apart from the possibility of my child struggling to go to lumpy food which I haven't actually experienced amongst friends & family)?

Also, my baby was just under 4 weeks early and slightly behind on the hand/eye coordination although improving daily - not sure how ready she will be at 6 months.

Any comments gratefully received.

Thankyou. Whenever I have heard people mention it before they always seem to be taking about avacado and banana but saying at the same time that its easier because they eat the same food as the family. I had images of these families all over the country eating avacado for every meal.

hee hee hee, although we do have lots of avocado in the summer......I started weaning DS in January so lots of roasts/curries/stews/north african food/soup/porridge etc as it was a blinking cold cottage we lived in at the time... They just scoop it up if you know what I mean, messy but fun for them so just hose them down at the end!
Thats why its easy, you really just give them a bit of what you eat, I saw it as an opportunity for DS to experience loads of different tastes and textures, almost nothing was out of bounds (whole nuts..). Ignored the bit HV say about only refined foods as we mainly eat wholemeal and went for spicy stuff too (I really could not imagine that children living in Thailand would only eat unspiced food....but willing to be corrected?).
Give it a go.....I have a really unfussy toddler but then my memory is sooo bad maybe he is but I don't remember

If we eat something dd might struggle to pick up (e.g. rice, kidney beans, chick peas) I load it on a spoon and pass it to her and feeds herself. Now (7.5months) she can pick these things up in her hands/has pincer grip so I don't load spoons much anymore.

Mine could eat rice with his hands from 8mths.

I started DD with sticks of carrot, butternut squash and sweet potato at the weekend. She struggled to keep hold of them but when she got it in her mouth she had a good suck so going fairly well.

Going to try some pear this afternoon.

I think its an advantage that you don't have to always eat the same food as them. I often eat later with my husband, or I want to eat something unhealthy and salty so its convenient that DD2 has a jar of baby food for her tea. If we're having something healthy, then I mush or cut a few bits up for her. She happily feeds herself little pieces of meat/fish/bread/egg etc, but also eats from a spoon.
It's handy too in the morning when I need to get out of the house fast to be able to quickly spoon in the porridge

Hi there, I'm doing BLW with my son. We're really only beginning - it's only been a couple of weeks. I think I much prefer the thought of him being able to choose what he wants to eat, rather than force-feeding him bland mush. Today we had curried veggies and rice. Yum! He loved them, and so did I! I just have to say that I'm in New Zealand at the moment and I have a friend here who is also doing BLW - I think we are the only 2 people I know that are doing it this way. Anyway, we watched a morning program, like the BBC program running til 9am weekdays and this woman, Sharlene Poole aka "the Baby Whisperer" was on telling all the parents of babies to distract their children with a toy and then take the spoon and shove it in their mouths so that they get food into them. I just find this totally ridiculous and irresponsible. I don't understand why it is just accepted by so many to just feed purees to babies and to have someone like that on national tv. Can you imagine all the parents rushing out to buy pureed food and trying what she says?! I think it's cruel in a sense. It's depriving them of so much. How can we make the BLW method more mainstream and what about the baby food companies - they still make food for 4 month old babies when WHO recommendations are that we start feeding at 6 months - and that's not just for the people in third worls countries - it's for everyone. Do Heinz etc have any influence in what is current practice? I am wondering about this in New Zealand. Does Watties influence the decisions Plunket make and the advice they give to parents??!! It seems to me that all the advice I have received from Plunket has a Watties trademark somewhere on it! Interesting, wouldn't you say?