Baby led weaning or traditional weaning, please advice

[trish1200]

I can't make up my mind on how I should wean David, there must be advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Opinions and advice is very much appreciated, but please don't turn this into an argument.

I would like to wait until he is 6 months, but recently he's been staring at us eating, sticking his tongue out and if I eat with him on my lap he tries to put his hands on my plate, then starts stiring and wants to be breastfed. I haven't started weaning him, but just to see how he reacted, yesteday I offered him some baby rice quite diluted with breast milk and he took 4 shallow baby weaning spoons, obviously some came out, but not much, he did swallow it and he would have taken more if I gave it to him. He found it hilarious and was opening his mouth as I pretended I was eating it too. He is 20weeks old.

Now I'm very confused

Advice but don't criticise others who don't share your opinions, please

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Puree you spend a lot of time making them.

BLW you can just give them what ever you are eating as long as it is healthy.

BLW is probably gonna be a lot messier, but the time you spend cleaning, I can imagine is gonna only be the same cleaning all the blenders are things!

We have had to start on puree's, but i want to swap to BLW and have been letting my Lo play with bits of food to get him used it to before we start fully.

Each method will suit different babies, some babies hate being spoon fed so could cause un needed stress - so BLW weaning might be the root. Other might enjoy being fed.

I'm not the best at giving advice as only just started but am sure others will tell you lots more about both methods. Have a read on google to, and see which method suits you best

BLW can't be started till 6 months, so if you start early you may need to start on puree anyway

 

[faille]

I can only speak from a BLW point of view because I've never once tried spoon feeding.

Honestly, I think for BLW to be successful, you really need to agree and feel comfortable with the principals and theories behind it.

If you're the kind to panic about how much your LO is eating (ie. you're constantly worried that they're not getting enough food rather than trusting that milk is still satisfying them) or at the thought of them gagging then maybe BLW isn't the right choice.

And about the mess, it isn't messy for us..... Yeah her bib gets really messy so do her hands and her mouth but that's it
We use splash mats that are cleaned after each use whether there's anything dropped or not and her chair and tray get a clean regardless too. But then I'd do this if I was spoonfeeding as well so there's nothing "extra" in that sense.

BLW is extremely rewarding if you have the patience and trust in your LO to let them learn, play, explore and take control.

 

[TigerLady]

I'm in the same boat. My 4 month old is convinced he is ready to start solids and showing all the signs. Chewing, pincer grasp, loss of tongue thrust reflex (and his was quite strong), loads of interest in our food when we eat, reaching for it, sticking his tongue out, getting frustrated if we don't respond, more than doubled his birth weight... on and on...

I am trying to hold him off a bit longer as I want to do BLW and he isn't sitting up without support yet. But is getting closer. I think as soon as he starts to sit without support, then I will think about starting the BLW. In the meantime, I do what I need to keep in interested in food and not frustrated when adults are eating in front of him. If we are having mashes, I often offer him a little taste. I hold pieces of fruits or steamed veggies and let him lick them. I just don't let him do it on his own yet. Holding off a determined baby is not easy! lol

 

[faille]

I'm in the same boat. My 4 month old is convinced he is ready to start solids and showing all the signs. Chewing, pincer grasp, loss of tongue thrust reflex (and his was quite strong), loads of interest in our food when we eat, reaching for it, sticking his tongue out, getting frustrated if we don't respond, more than doubled his birth weight... on and on...

I am trying to hold him off a bit longer as I want to do BLW and he isn't sitting up without support yet. But is getting closer. I think as soon as he starts to sit without support, then I will think about starting the BLW. In the meantime, I do what I need to keep in interested in food and not frustrated when adults are eating in front of him. If we are having mashes, I often offer him a little taste. I hold pieces of fruits or steamed veggies and let him lick them. I just don't let him do it on his own yet. Holding off a determined baby is not easy! lol

Have you tried just involving in him at dinner time..? Like maybe sit him up next to you and just give him toys for now? We done this for a few weeks before we started and Violet just enjoyed 'being part of it' x

 

[TigerLady]

Yup! I've tried that. It worked for about a week. He has NO interest in the toys or anything but the food now. I've tried giving him all sorts of things to distract him. It is either work with his interest in the food or take him away from the table altogether. The latter is not an option as it defeats the purpose of family meals.

 

[Pyrrhic]

We followed BLW and I cannot recommend it highly enough. There is a "BLW support thread on here which is well worth Reading. I also suggest getting the book by Gill rapley before you make a decision.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yup, definitely get the Gill Rapley book and read it before making a decision. I bought it when I was undecided and was totally sold on BLW after reading. I don't think there are any disadvantages of BLW versus traditional weaning if you understand and believe in why you are doing it

 

[Lu28]

I started on purees after GP advice due to poor weight gain. It was fine but I wanted to make my own purees and I found that alot of time was spent looking through recipes, getting ingredients in and making them, only to fine she'd point blank refuse to eat some of them I felt I had to do alot of messing for her to eat. On the up side, I knew she was eating enough.

We switched fully to BLW a few weeks back as that had been my original intention and it's going great She has fun with her food and it's lovely to see the look of concentration on her face when she's trying to get something in her mouth and how pleased she looks when she does it! Faille is right though, you have to be ok with knowing milk is enough and the amount they eat isn't important. You also have to be comfortable to just let them gag on their food so they learn not to take too much at once - Aisling's still learning this, she's a greedy thing!

For some reason, one of the things I was really excited about when we originally wanted to do BLW was knowing Aisling would be sitting at the table with us on christmas day eating a mini christmas dinner which didn't have to be mashed up and that she'd be doing it all by herself so it could be a proper family affair

Good luck with your decision

 

[angelstardust]

I didn't find purees that hard to make, but I don't use salt in anything so when making our dinner I can just set a few bits to the side and smush it up with a fork then freeze it. Most of our dinners are made from scratch anyway so things like chilli and bolognaise and mac'n'cheese can also be used as baby food, there is nothing in them that my babies couldn't have (hell I even use red wine in bolognaise so they got used to regular food anyway). Anything can be mixed with a little baby rice if it is a little too flavoursome for babies.

I'm choosing to let Amber tell me when she is ready for food, which is not yet, and I will be using purees and baby rice and porridge too.

 

[jackiea85]

I haven't tried BLW so can't help you with that side of things but I didn't find making purees difficult at all, I used to make up bulk loads of various fruit and vegetable purees and then freeze them. I started before 6 months, once Joseph got to 6 months I was told by the HV he could eat what we ate without the salt, so I used to just give him a pureed version of what we were eating, and as he got older his food just got lumpier. Now he is 14 months old and for the last couple of months I have just cut his dinners into small pieces, no blending or mashing needed. I also started giving him toast, carrot sticks, pieces of cucumber etc once he was 6 months old x

 

[rach321]

I would say it depends on the personality of your LO. Mine was happy to be spoon fed for about 3 weeks then decided that he had to do everything himself so we switched to BLW. I would definitely recommend BLW but be prepared for it to take months (if you're lucky weeks but seriously it took us months!) before they eat properly, so if you are not the patient sort then maybe its not for you. I would definitely recommend reading the BLW bible by Gill Rapley (see if your local library have it if you don't want to spend moneyon it) - it provides a lot of good advice and looks at weaning from a different point of view. On the plus side if you do BLW you can always go out for dinner with LO and eat the same meal at the same time - a lot of my friends are very jealous since they have to have a disjointed meal whilst spoon feeding their LO's! If you are going to BLW then don't be tempted to start much earlier than 6 months otherwise you will both end up frustrated. Good luck with whatever option you choose - there's plenty of good advice on here.

 

[MrsTatty]

I would just bung in that (purists forgive me) there is no reason you can't combine the two. NHS guidance is to introduce finger foods at 6 months anyway even if you are pureeing - www.nhs.uk/conditions/babies-weaning/pages/Whattodo.aspx

I spoon feed Patrick sloppy stuff (like porridge, yoghurt or soup) but let him take the spoon if he wants to (which he does most of the time) and I just load it up for him and I let him eat a variety of finger foods too.

 

[penguin77]

I would just bung in that (purists forgive me) there is no reason you can't combine the two. NHS guidance is to introduce finger foods at 6 months anyway even if you are pureeing - www.nhs.uk/conditions/babies-weaning/pages/Whattodo.aspx

I spoon feed Patrick sloppy stuff (like porridge, yoghurt or soup) but let him take the spoon if he wants to (which he does most of the time) and I just load it up for him and I let him eat a variety of finger foods too.

I agree..

I started out at 4 months old with the traditional weaning method of purees ect......which was really easy. Once Jac got to 5 months old i started introducing finger foods slowly...started with rusks and moved to toast and so on. At 6 months i introduced some lumpier foods and finger foods at each meal ....with lunch being nearly all finger foods.
I've just followed Jac's lead really and combined all sorts of methods to what suits us both.
It's good this way as he likes feeding himself as well as being fed so we do a bit of both.

xx

 

[Aidedhoney]

I would just bung in that (purists forgive me) there is no reason you can't combine the two. NHS guidance is to introduce finger foods at 6 months anyway even if you are pureeing - www.nhs.uk/conditions/babies-weaning/pages/Whattodo.aspx

I spoon feed Patrick sloppy stuff (like porridge, yoghurt or soup) but let him take the spoon if he wants to (which he does most of the time) and I just load it up for him and I let him eat a variety of finger foods too.

I agree..

I started out at 4 months old with the traditional weaning method of purees ect......which was really easy. Once Jac got to 5 months old i started introducing finger foods slowly...started with rusks and moved to toast and so on. At 6 months i introduced some lumpier foods and finger foods at each meal ....with lunch being nearly all finger foods.
I've just followed Jac's lead really and combined all sorts of methods to what suits us both.
It's good this way as he likes feeding himself as well as being fed so we do a bit of both.

xx

I agree with this as well, Alex is on puree at the moment, hes totally loving it and has even mastered getting the spoon to his mouth.
I plan on doing BLW but in my own unique way lol

Way i see it is that there is no right or wrong way every baby is different what works for one doesnt work for another.

Good Luck xx

 

[purple_socks]

i would def say get the BLW book before u make a decision...i haven't started weaning yet so can't really comment on anything from experince but i've just finished reading the book and its great.

i think a brief sum up of some of the pros to BLW (imo): It helps fine tune LO motor skills. i personally find the concept very natural and it sounds much easier because u dont really have to think abt what to introduce and what stage etc (with traditional weaning, especially if ur doing it before 6 months, u r meant to introduce one thing at a time etc then move on from mush to lumpy to finger foods) and u dont have to worry abt making them drop feeds/ eat certain amounts.
i'm particularly intersted in the benefits to future weight/health...OH and i both struggle with our weight and in particular i struggle to know when i'm really full/hungry and not to eat until i'm too full! i think BLW is great for teaching babies/children to stay 'in tune' with these natural body sigals...i think with spoon feeding u risk pushing 'one more spoonful' on a child and teaching them to go past the point of 'full' and eventually struggle to tell where that 'full point' exists. i think BLW creates a healthier relationship with food. (dont get me wrong i am aware there r lots of perfectly healthy people that have a great relationship with food, who were spoon feed...i just think 'sometimes' spoon feeding can cause issues with food which i really want to avoid).

The pros to traditional weaning: its safer to introduce food in this way if u intend to wean earlier than 6months. if u r concerned abt letting ur LO take the lead then u can controll this method better (i.e u feed ur LO so u can see what/how much they r eating and when they drop certain milk feeds). if u have a diet that would b really unsuitable for LO than batch cooking seperate 'baby food' or buying jars might b appealing (i personally dont find this a pro but i can see y it might b). apparently its less messy than BLW!

erm thats all i can think of...have tried to do pros for both but i personally think there r far more pros to BLW.

def read the BLW book tho!...good luck making ur decision x

 

[Lu28]

There's certainly no reason not to combine purees and BLW, it just might be that LO takes a bit longer to master BLW but that's not a problem. Finding something that works for you guys is all that matters