BLW and other peoples negativity

[craftymum]

I'm planning to wait until Jacob is 6 months (or as near to it, if he is ready) and follow the BLW route, however I have found other people are so negative and really quite outspoken when I tell them this - given that most of them don't even know what it is and I have to explain to them - I've had friends saying oh no you need to spoon feed them or they wont get a good feed and that is the point of feeding them, I've had my Mum turn her nose up at the idea, then tell me it makes sense only to tell me 5 minutes later to start giving him some custard or rice!! My MIL is worried we will choke him by not giving him purees first, while I can understand our Mother's views as they are older and that's just not how it was in their day, it's friends around my age with young babies that surprised me by thinking I'm some sort of child abusing lunatic for not conforming to the "norm".
Jacob has shown no signs of wanting more than his formula and at the minute he's teething and has actually gone off his food a bit.
I just needed to rant a bit, sorry I am planning to stick to my guns though and do it our way, I just wish other people would butt out and just leave us to our own devices.

 

[Westy29]

i have started to read more into BLW and I keep getting the same responses when I tell people too!!!
Where did you find out more about BLW?? My health visitor doesn't recommend it so wouldn't give me any more info.

Thanks very much x

 

[Lu28]

It's frustrating isn't it. I don't think I've spoken to anyone who does BLW who hasn't felt the need to constantly explain themselves to friends and family and I'm no exception. I've had everything from mean mummy starving the baby to rolled eyes and young people these days with their new fangled ideas.

Honestly I've grown tired of explaining myself and instead point out the fact that my LO barely gained any weight between 4 and 7 months but once we started BLW she gained a tonne - obviously not starving and she's thriving on it

What alot of us have found is that once LO gets the hang of BLW, most people are converted just by seeing them in action eating their food and seeing just how capable they are

Come and join us on the BLW support sticky!

 

[craftymum]

i have started to read more into BLW and I keep getting the same responses when I tell people too!!!
Where did you find out more about BLW?? My health visitor doesn't recommend it so wouldn't give me any more info.

Thanks very much x

I got the book by Gill Rapley - it's very good and has definitely swung me in the BLW direction. Haven't spoken to HV about it yet as we had a stand in last time and she told us all about the regular puree spoon feeds but I said nothing as I've heard of a few people saying their HV didn't approve but at the end of the day they are our babies and so up to us how we choose to bring them up.

 

[Lu28]

HVs seem to have mixed opinions on BLW but hardly any of them have had any real training on it. Luckily mine have been quite good

 

[trumpetbum]

My sil told me I was starving my baby (my fat chunk ) but I just rolled my eyes, put on a condescending voice and said. 'Well, since milk is the main food for the first year, THAT's unlikely.' etc. If someone was genuinely interested I'd discuss the pros and cons and my reasons behind it, if not I'd shoot them down with the correct information. It's a knack I picked up from people always thinking they could question or belittle my decisions based on very little actual knowledge. (homebirth, veggy, extended breastfeeding, attachment parenting, baby wearing, cosleeping etc, etc.)

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Craftymum you could point out that not giving purees first makes Lo LESS likely to choke, as they will learn to chew and move food around their mouths while their gag reflex is still high up.

I know what you mean though, but I can't say I've had negativity, I've just had blank looks and the odd dirty look when out.

 

[craftymum]

yeah I've explained all that, I would suggest them reading the book but I reckon it would just sit in a corner gathering dust!

 

[Tacey]

I've just got back from getting Alice weighed at the HV. She's doing really well and sticking to the 75th centile and the HV asked if she was on 3 meals a day plus dessert! When I told her we were waiting until 6 months to do BLW and so far she's only had a few stick of fruit and veg to chew on she looked really shocked and suggested baby rice at lunchtime because "she's a big girl"! I just smiled and told her we'll see how it goes. It seemed so odd considering she's not losing weight and she's clearly happy. I think she was just a bit old fashioned.

 

[Kitten]

My mum said to me in a jokingly exasperated way the other day "oh for Gods sake just give him some bloody puree!" I was so annoyed and told her if she wants him to have bloody puree she can come down here and try and feed it to him herself! He won't even let me put finger foods near his mouth, let alone a spoon of porridge so I can't imagine he'd let me feed him purees. I chose to BLW because I preferred it but as it's turned out it's just as well I did as he won't be fed anyway.

 

[leighbaby]

tell me about it - we fend off comments 24/7! my answer - does he look like an unhappy, undernourished baby? does he heck!

 

[craftymum]

why do people not get the concept when so many people bring their babies up this way now and it seems with great success too.

 

[charliesmom]

I think it's the fear of choking... I'm dying to try it myself when LO turns 6 months, but I'm REAALLY skeptical of her being able to handle chunks of solid food and not choking on it. I'll have to try it to believe it... but I'm very open to the idea, just scared!

 

[Lisa1302]

I would try to ignore it - in a few months when they see how its going they wont be so stick to turn their nose up.

I didn't BLW, it was what i wanted but Izzy weaned after 4 months - but because it was what I had wanted to do she has since she has been able to eaten lots with her hands.

So many people are surprised with what I give her, how she eats it and chews it.
She will have a sandwich and take proper bites from it, oppose to pushing bits in that were pulled off.
She eats things that even some BLW folk are vary of lol like whole dried apricots, they go in whole and have the life sucked out of them.

So yes at first it may be hard to listen to their comments, but dont worry - if you believe you can do a good job of it then soon enough they will be thinking differently.

 

[golcarlilly]

It is a new idea so bound to attract negativity as people don't like change - purees have been the way to wean for years and little is known about blw or the effects of it yet so that is probs why you are encountering these type of comments It is up to you how you raise your baby so I would just smile sweetly and ignore them!!

(I am traditional weaning btw so not biased for BLW )

 

[soootired]

I am planning on doing this and came over to ask the q have people had negative comments, i quess i know the answer from reading this lol. I am starting to get ohh you can start to give food soon from mil and mum (lo 3 month). Nct has loads of info and there are some good books about. My best comeback and reason for doing this really is that it seems the natural way. How many foodproccesssers were around 200 years ago and how many animal mainly primates do you see muching up babys food for them.