Hi ladies,

I enquired at hv about weaning and she said they are now advocating BLW. I asked what are the benefits of BLW and why are they now advocating this over TW and she didn't really give me answer as she didn't really know.

Can anyone help?

I was planning on doing a mixture of both - bit of purée and bit of finger food, but hv said I should really be missing out purées all together. She also said to start on solids at 6 months...I was thinking of starting purée tastes around 5 months and move on to more fingery foods around 6 months.

X

I have just started weaning. Started with purees which she likes.

At first she didn't understand finger food - wouldn't even put it in her mouth. Now if I give her any she ends up choking herself with it and crying.

I don't know what the benefits of BLW are supposed to be but it is not for us at the moment.

I started LO on solids at 19 weeks under doctors advic.I started on baby rice,fruit/veg puree.. She took a few weeks to get the hand of this then I moved to just mashing food rather than puree,however now she is refusing to eat off spoon and wants to grab anything we are eating.I tried her with banana today and she managed ok.Im thnking of going down the BLW route however feed abit clueless about what i'm suppost to be doing.x

I think it all depends so much on the baby. A friend of mine did BLW with her little boy but is TW her daughter as she really couldn't get on with BLW. So I really do think it is down to how the baby responds to foods.

Some benefits:

Quote: Researchers found that babies who fed themselves with finger foods from the start of weaning were likely to eat more healthily and have a healthier BMI later than those who were spoon fed purees. Children who were weaned using a baby-led approach liked carbohydrates more than children who had been spoon fed, whereas children in the spoon-fed group liked sweet foods the best. More children in the spoon-fed group were overweight or obese than those in the baby-led group.

BLW gives babies the chance to explore foods for themselves. It means they can cope with different food textures from the beginning of weaning.

Parents who have tried BLW are generally passionate about its benefits. They say their babies will eat anything and everything

We do know that, as long as your baby is ready, it's important to give him foods with soft lumps for him to chew. Babies who are given lumpy food later on, after they're 10 months old, are more likely to reject the food. They may be less open to trying new textures and tastes as they grow.

We did blw from the start and now and again he'll have something homemade and blended [sunday dinner etc]

Finley is BLW and he loves his food, my daughter loved watching her brother trying to wolf down a sausage for dinner. It helps with their speech as it excercises the muscles used for talking, they have to use their tounge much more. It helps hand/eye co ordination, and it lets them explore new things, textures, tastes. They also eat what they want rather than being over fed (apparently) - these are just things I can think of at the top of my head. its bad the HV is promoting something she cant give you full information about xx

We started TW but Freya didn't like being spoon fed, so we moved onto more of a BLW type approach.

For us, the benefits have been that if we're out she can eat bits off our plates (so long as no salt) so no faffing with pouches/jars etc. If we're going out, I bung some pitta, cheese, tomato, cucumber and fruit in a pot and she munches the lot! Or, like yesterday, we went to the Harvester pub, and she had some chicken and peas off my plate, plus a load of stuff off the salad bar, and a bread roll! She's also learnt to eat properly, rather than just swallow off a spoon. At 7 months she was eating chicken, blueberries (whole!), halved grapes - all sorts. She chews everything and has absolutely no problems with lumps/chunks/textures at all. It's also made me and DH eat healthier as we have to consider LO in what we're eating, so it needs to be healthier for her. Not as many takeaways for us! She also feeds herself so I can be in the kitchen with her but getting on with something else. It's worked out cheaper, as we're not buying baby food - the only thing we buy are Ella's kitchen baby brekkie pouches as she loves those, and some snacks. I've quickly got to know what she likes and doesn't as everything is separate, rather than being together in a puree. Physically, her pincer grip is now amazing - she can pick up the slightest bit of fluff from anywhere - and it's probably down to picking up blueberries and peas from her tray!

The only downside really is meals can take longer - she will let us spoonfeed her cereal, but wants to do anything else herself, so tea can take 45 mins as she decides what bit to eat next! On the plus side, she lets me know when she's full by dropping it off the highchair!

That's just the practical benefits we've found, rather than the BLW "this is why it's better" guide. At the end of the day though, it's what works best for you and your child xx

BLW is so much easier for the parent too. No pureeing, no spoon feeding. You literally put whatever you're having or random finger foods on their tray and leave them to it Plus its so cool seeing a tiny baby taking on an entire banana or a slice of toast!

[QUOTE=Blah11;16670277]BLW is so much easier for the parent too. No pureeing, no spoon feeding. You literally put whatever you're having or random finger foods on their tray and leave them to it Plus its so cool seeing a tiny baby taking on an entire banana or a slice of toast![/QUOTE]

I 2nd that - I've a fab pic on my phone of Freya demolishing a huge slice of gala melon!

See here at the mo they are trying to get mums not to blw and can't give proper answers why.i think blw is a brilliant idea if ur not an overly petrified mother like me lol I can't control myself if she takes too big a bite of banana,I've tried sitting on my hands and everything lol.i also think that every baby is different and some just don't do well with tw and don't want to b fed,they want to immediately feed themselves so blw works really well.theres pros and cons to both methods hun,just get all the info and do what u think is best xx