BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

Originally Posted by mistyscott

We don't really monitor how much LO is eating - but it's still minimal after only getting back into solids after a week of teething pains and a new tooth!

Quite jealous canadabear that your LO is eating with such gusto! People always say its not possible to over feed when BLW? I guess like demand bf, only they know if they're going through a growth spurt and need more?

LO is definitely picking up everything and trying nearly everything - so we just have to be more organised and offer him food at least twice a day I think.... It's just so messy! I do find myself shying away from giving him squishy or messy foods....naughty mummy. Roast dinner this evening, and I will put gravy on things for him

Thanks.. I think I will trust to the BLW and just let him eat as much or as little as he feels that day.

It has been like this since day one.. LO LOVES to eat.. I haven't had the experience of him exploring/tasting/playing with food.. he just wants to eat and eat..
I kinda feel bad mentioning it but BLW has hardly been messy at all for us because LO is DETERMINED to get the food into his mouth.. not all over himself or the table/floor etc.
I was actually looking forward to the messy face pictures, but he is surprisingly clean and eats well with a spoon already.
I said from the beginning that I thought our LO was well ready for food LONG before we gave it to him. He bypassed all the beginning stages and went straight to eating..

Looks like ill be leaving the BLW community. Our new doctor who I thought wouldn't have a problem with what we were doing, does in fact have a big problem with it. She advised us to stop and go back to mushy foods till atleast 9months or later. I'm devastated again. This is the second doc to tell us this. I now have to go through all the work of PUREEING everything he will eat and giving him cereal via spoon, THREE times a day. I don't know how I can do this. I'm so stressed at the thought of it I get anxious now. I'm gutted and feel like nothing is going to be good enough and I've been doing it wrong the whole time. I'm so incredibly sad and unsure of what to do or "what is right" now.

Originally Posted by hersweetleaf

Looks like ill be leaving the BLW community. Our new doctor who I thought wouldn't have a problem with what we were doing, does in fact have a big problem with it. She advised us to stop and go back to mushy foods till atleast 9months or later. I'm devastated again. This is the second doc to tell us this. I now have to go through all the work of PUREEING everything he will eat and giving him cereal via spoon, THREE times a day. I don't know how I can do this. I'm so stressed at the thought of it I get anxious now. I'm gutted and feel like nothing is going to be good enough and I've been doing it wrong the whole time. I'm so incredibly sad and unsure of what to do or "what is right" now.

I don't understand why they would say this! How old is your LO? Have you had any problems or health issues which would make them concerned about it? If it was me I would either ignore them or just stick to pre loading spoons of mushed banana, mushy peas, mashed potato / turnip / carrot, weetabix, yoghurt, soups etc until the 9 month period. Surely they can't have a problem with that I don't see why pureeing would be necessary, you can still do blw just stick to foods which can be easily mushed / mashed

Originally Posted by chysantheMUM

I don't understand why they would say this! How old is your LO? Have you had any problems or health issues which would make them concerned about it? If it was me I would either ignore them or just stick to pre loading spoons of mushed banana, mushy peas, mashed potato / turnip / carrot, weetabix, yoghurt, soups etc until the 9 month period. Surely they can't have a problem with that I don't see why pureeing would be necessary, you can still do blw just stick to foods which can be easily mushed / mashed

theres no medical reason. bubs is 20lbs, and has a ravenous hunger, and we havent had any problems medically. i think shes just overly worried about the choking. apparently 6-7 months is too young to have normal human foods and the risk of choking is large. hes choked on the jarred food, but not the BLW stuff. i guess ill just have to do like you said and do the loaded spoons till 9 months, which is in 2 months. just makes me sad. i changed peds hoping shed be a little bit more understanding about it, but she wasnt. even though shes got lots of relatives in the UK, shes still never heard of BLW. and she said we should buy into fads, just like potty training at 6 months, it will just fade out. kinda made me mad.

and to be honost, i will continue to BLW when i and baby are alone to bypass allt he stupid ridicule i get from family and friends. so sue me. lol.

Choking is a big worry and I find myself being very cautious because of it, so I do understand their concern but I agree they can choke on mush too. I have given LO banana biscotti biscuits (which are being sold as suitable finger foods for 7 months plus) on 3 occasions now and each time she choked or gagged with them. I'm not sure why exactly but she doesn't have the same problem with whole bananas, sandwiches and potato wedges, so go figure!

Lets hope your doctor does go away and read the blw book and as a result eases off a little but I think its a shame that your family don't understand either. Like I said though, if it was me, I'd stick with it. My LO loves to feed herself with a spoon or just scoop mushy stuff up with her hands, so its definitely possible to still let baby lead that way

Originally Posted by hersweetleaf

theres no medical reason. bubs is 20lbs, and has a ravenous hunger, and we havent had any problems medically. i think shes just overly worried about the choking. apparently 6-7 months is too young to have normal human foods and the risk of choking is large. hes choked on the jarred food, but not the BLW stuff. i guess ill just have to do like you said and do the loaded spoons till 9 months, which is in 2 months. just makes me sad. i changed peds hoping shed be a little bit more understanding about it, but she wasnt. even though shes got lots of relatives in the UK, shes still never heard of BLW. and she said we should buy into fads, just like potty training at 6 months, it will just fade out. kinda made me mad.

and to be honost, i will continue to BLW when i and baby are alone to bypass allt he stupid ridicule i get from family and friends. so sue me. lol.

I just go ahead and do what I feel is best for my LO. I haven't even mentioned BLW to our doctor at all. Why should I? LO is gaining weight well and meeting all the milestones perfectly, even a bit early for some. We have no health issues etc.. and I just use my common sense as to what to feed LO. I have read the recommendations on what foods to give and when.. so I basically follow those guidelines, but do it the BLW way. LO is a very happy and healthy baby. The only stress OH and I have at the moment is remembering not to make the curries too spicy..

If you and LO are enjoying BLW, and have no health issues.. then why not just continue with it? I understand the worry about choking etc, but that will be there regardless of how you decide to wean.. and you will have to introduce fingerfoods again eventually anyways.

Also.. I do EC, elimination communication, with my LO and now he is holding both is poo and wee.. doing both in the toilet and only having approx. 3-4 damp nappies a day and is MUCH happier than going in his nappy. So we are enjoying that 'FAD' very much as well

Originally Posted by hersweetleaf

theres no medical reason. bubs is 20lbs, and has a ravenous hunger, and we havent had any problems medically. i think shes just overly worried about the choking. apparently 6-7 months is too young to have normal human foods and the risk of choking is large. hes choked on the jarred food, but not the BLW stuff. i guess ill just have to do like you said and do the loaded spoons till 9 months, which is in 2 months. just makes me sad. i changed peds hoping shed be a little bit more understanding about it, but she wasnt. even though shes got lots of relatives in the UK, shes still never heard of BLW. and she said we should buy into fads, just like potty training at 6 months, it will just fade out. kinda made me mad.

and to be honost, i will continue to BLW when i and baby are alone to bypass allt he stupid ridicule i get from family and friends. so sue me. lol.

The only advice I would have for you hun is do what YOU feel comfortable with.

Choking is not actually that common. Gagging is common but there is a BIG difference between choking and gagging. The gag reflex is very far forward in a 6month old, compared with a 10/11month old. So the likelihood is that anything that shouldn't be going down will be gagged back up before it goes near the wind pipe. So if a LO can learn to deal with foods whilst there is this safety net, they should be ready for when the gag reflex moves further back towards the wind pipe when they get older.

There is nothing wrong with traditional weaning e.g. purees but the concept of the 'stages' of TW are quite often based on earlier weaning (pre 6months)

Do what you think is right. Meal times should be a stress free as possible and fun, you shouldn't be worrying about what you're doctor said.

xx

Hi, I'm looking for some advice please! My boy is nearly nine months now and I've been giving him purred food really since six months. Recently he won't take puréed food maybe due to teething but he won't take that much food in. So I'm trying to hve him finger foods and things but he doesn't seem to take much in - he much prefers it and he isn't crying like he does with puréed food. How do I know he is getting enough? For tea I just have him about 1/4 chicken breast nicely marinated cold which he chewed on and two cherry tomatoes-love them- and then melon for pud.

He ate some but he was playing with it too - he prefers feeding himself so should I persevere with it? I don't want him to starve! Thanks x

Lo is really getting into BLW now and is starting to go for it with shoving as much food in his mouth as poss and actually swallowing a lot of it too

But, with meat like chicken we are finding that LO holds it in his mouth and is still trying to chew it half an hour after eating... it often gets stuck to the roof of his mouth and we end up having to get it out of his mouth, unless he takes some water to help it go down (but he's not a fan of his cup so this isn't usually successful)

Does anyone else find this problem? Any tips?

I've not noticed this with meat but it has happened with cheese, banana and bread.
My lo does eventually spit it up or swallow after lots of gagging so I just toast all bread, grate the cheese and slice banana thinner.
How do you cut the meat?
x