Up until last week I was terrified of the idea of BLW...and then someone posted a video of a 6 month old eating a chicken leg and it got me thinking...and willing to do some research...and I think I want to give it a try. But is there an actual reason why I can't do both? She's had cereal 3 times now...once she was very interested, other two times not so much...mostly she just grabbed at the spoon. I'd like to try her on some things like sweet potato fries and steamed veggies...but I'd like to be able to spoon feed her some things too...does it confuse them? She's just 5 months now so not ready to do BLW for another month...but in the meantime I'd like to do a little more cereal.

Also...what is the reaction usually of pediatricians? I'm trying to get comfortable with this whole approach and the more I look into it the more excited I get...but it still makes me nervous. Especially since I know with TW you're supposed to do one food every 3/4 days and then move on to another...do you do that with BLW as well? Also what if she swallows down a big hunk of meat (like I saw the baby in the video do) - does it come out undigested? Is it hard on her insides? TIA!

Bump?

I think it is ok to do both. At baby group today the nurse was saying to give them the spoon and let them explore a LOT. Anytime were eating something not orange (and sometimes even if we are, I just lay out towels) I put her food in a heavy bowl and let her put her hands in it, and make a right mess.

BLW terrifies me, anything involving choking scares the poop outta me, so I am not sure I can do it.

You can't do both. BLW is by it's nature, totally different to TW. If you're spooning cereal into her mouth, that's not compatible with her not eating anything until she decides to, and the idea of learning how to chew before they learn how to swallow. Spoonfeeding is a big no-no with BLW, although you can give pre-loaded spoons and let LO figure it out herself. You also don't start BLW until pretty damn near 6 months, when Lo sits well unaided and has the co-ordination to feed themselves.

Why do you want to give cereal for the next month? It's got less nutritional value than the equivalent volume of milk, so all it's doing is filing her tummy with stodge.

We started BLW at 23 weeks, just with banana and steamed veg.

Well because up until about a week ago I was going to go the TW route...and I was giving her cereal every once in awhile (she's only had it 3 times) to start getting her used to textures and eating from a spoon (approved by her pediatrician) for when I start veggies and other purees at 6 months. She's not filling up on anything, just getting a taste of it as I don't make much at all and she's not entirely interested in it anyways.

I guess I will be doing my own version of things then...because I'd like to be able to give her some bigger things i.e., avacado, banana, sweet potato fries, etc...but I'd also like to be able to have some control sometimes...plus i'm not entirely ready for someone else i.e., her daycare worker to do some of the bigger things with her at this stage. Thanks for your response!

I initially said I was going to traditional wean - Freya, after a few days, refused to be spoon fed. I wasn't 100% confident with BLW, so I described what I was doing as TW with lots of finger foods! As I've got more confident thou, and given her more and more "normal" foods without her choking, I'm moved more and more towards fully BLW. She just won't let us spoon feed her AT ALL.

So today she had porridge fingers and a pre-loaded spoon of greek yoghurt for brekkie, a hard boiled egg cut into quarters and some pear for lunch, and tea is mashed potato with swede and carrot wedges. Yesterday she had chicken strips, sugar snap peas, baby sweetcorn and pasta for tea.

I'm not worried at all about the gaging side of it, as after the first few days, she learnt really quickly to push food forwards or out her mouth, and in the last week, she's really starting to chew and swallow more food. My only "bugbear" that I need to conquer for myself is that she's not eating the amounts they do when you TW. I know that's normal with BLW at first thou, and I just keep telling myself it will come when she's ready xx

I thought that you could do some kind of mix of BLW and TW feeding loaded puree spoons and letting them play in their puree along with some finger foods? I thought that is what combi weaning was or is offering things made up just the same as TW?

(fwiw, even if it is nutritionally inferior to milk, the taste and texture change did get more milk in her. Her doctor was concerned in her major percentile drop. She is really, really, really insanely long. She just wasnt interested in her milk as much any more and he needed us to get more in her. It did work)

TW includes finger foods along with puree, otherwise all TWd babies would be on puree forever, which evidently isn't true! The end result of weaning is to have baby eating the same foods as the family, and with BLW that's all you offer. TW has to include finger foods too, they're just supplementary to the purees.

As for getting milk into a baby, it's slightly different for BFing and FF. With BFing, anything you give that isn't a breastfeed will reduce the amount of milk taken. With FF, you can mix the formula into the food and increase the milk intake that way. You can express and mix with BFing, but it's laborious (and from 6 months you can just use full fat cow's milk anyway in cooking )

That's ok - weaning can be confusing what you're planning sounds like TW, which should include finger foods from 6 months anyway, alongside puree. You can be faster introducing finger foods than some tradition guides recommend, and maybe skip the 'stages' and wean onto lightly mashed adult food and go from there. That would be a variation on TW that encouraged independent eating a bit quicker It's really up to you and whatever suits your family (although I've loved BLWing, and would really recommend everyone reads the book by Gill Rapley!!)

BLW is quite a specific way of weaning, based on the theory by Gill Rapley. BLW basically is made up of:
no purees
no spoonfeeding
family mealtimes (where possible - but it really does make a difference. LO eats so much better when we eat at the same time)
not before 6 months (or when LO can sit up unaided, which will be pretty much at the 6 month mark)
If you're doing any of those things, you're not doing BLW.

BLW isn't something you 'move on' to after TW. I think some of the confusion stems from people assuming it's another 'stage' of TW.

Hope that makes some sense!

BLW police will shoot me down but I'm predominately Baby-led, but its a messy time and sometimes not always practical - i.e if I'm in a rush or have a group to go to I'll feed him his weetabix instead of letting him do it himself. My LO has never had a puree in his life so i'd say i'm doing BLW. Do what feels right for you and your LO try her with finger foods, if she doesn't take to it straight away don't worry - you can always try again at a later date or if you feel more comfortable offer puree.

I didn't wean until 5.5 months and it made weaning a lot easier as he was able to have more food. Good luck and enjoy! x