BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[faille]

Tell them milk is ALL he needs (formula or breastmilk) until at least 9-12 months. He does NOT need food. He gets everything he needs from milk. Milk is much much more nutritious than food and more easily digested -- duh! By the time he needs to be getting certain things from food (9-12 months) he will be eating enough.

You might just have to throw a hissy fit and put your foot down. Tell them he is your baby and you will be doing things your way. And you don't want to hear about it anymore. End of story.

I really hope that works for you. Fighting the older generation on this, especially when you live with them and they are family, is very hard.

100% agree and not to mention that they get a hell of a lot of nutrients from just sucking the food.



NI, our daily routine goes something like this... (times can vary by about an hour but usually she's pretty predictable)

8/8.30am - 8oz bottle
10/10.30am - breakfast (food)
1pm - lunch (food)
2.30/3pm - 8oz bottle
(sometimes a snack about 4/4.30pm - depends when she had her last bottle and how much).
6.30/7.30pm - dinner (food)
8/8.30pm - 8oz bottle

With timing the food, until recently, Violet wouldn't be interested in food if I offered it too soon after a bottle (would always offer her the milk first in the beginning). A gap of 2hrs after milk worked best for us but it really is something that you need to find out what works best for your LO x

 

[FsMummy]

i just read in this book that blw isnt great for premature babies. the twins were born at 36 weeks this doesnt really count does it?

 

[sublime_ivy]

hi girls, i was wondering what you all think in regards to making porridge. i used to make it with breast milk but is it ok to stop that and use normal (goat) instead? it says on the pack to use your baby's normal milk but as dex is older now do you think it is ok?

 

[Lu28]

FsMummy, maybe just see how the twins get on? 36 weeks isn't too early though so hopefully they'll be fine.

Sublime, I make it with formula, can't deal with the hassle of pumping 3 times a day for her breakfast! I thought cow / goat milk had to be cooked before 1 year for it to be safe? Not sure if cooking porridge counts I'm using formula for the amino acids, extra iron etc too

 

[sublime_ivy]

i just read in this book that blw isnt great for premature babies. the twins were born at 36 weeks this doesnt really count does it?

under 37 weeks is classed as prem but as twins are usually earlier im not really sure.

 

[sublime_ivy]

FsMummy, maybe just see how the twins get on? 36 weeks isn't too early though so hopefully they'll be fine.

Sublime, I make it with formula, can't deal with the hassle of pumping 3 times a day for her breakfast! I thought cow / goat milk had to be cooked before 1 year for it to be safe? Not sure if cooking porridge counts I'm using formula for the amino acids, extra iron etc too

I just didnt want to give formula until 9 months. I plan to stop bf'ing then to and switching to formula. I'll skip the porridge for now then.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

ruby had carrot and sweet potato for dinner & loved it, and the good thing is she actually tried to swallow a few giant bits and dealt with it! one came flying out, and one got mushed up a bit more before she swallowed it!!!!
yeaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! i feel so much better now i know she knows what to do!!

quick Q tho... how roasted do you ladies roast veg cubes like that... is it better that they have a thicker outside, or is it better if they are still soft inside & out?

 

[faille]

It's fine to use cows milk with cooking, it just cant be offered as a drink or as a substitute for their usual milk.


Glad you feel more relaxed about Ruby now NI
I tend to give Violet veg which is softer than 'normal', but the only roasted veg I give her is parsnip (and roast potatoes if they count? Lol) so they're usually a little crispy/hard on the outside. I really don't think it matters, just as long as it's not slippery and is easy for them to hold on to.. I guess though that the softer it is, the easier it is for their throat muscles to crush/move it if it does become lodged.

 

[TigerLady]

^^ Agreed re: roasted Veg.

As for premature babies. I think, from piecing together information in the book, the concern with them is they might not have built up enough iron stores to see them through the BLW process and/or have developmental issues. I don't think your LOs had any developmental issues as they were nearly term, right?

As for the iron, they get formula (at least some), I believe -- that should contains plenty of iron. Once they hit 6 months, the iron stores start to be used, so by 7-8 months (for them) you might make sure they have a formula with extra iron in it, just to be safe.

I also agree to go with it and see how they do.

 

[FsMummy]

thanks, they are breast fed wit 1 or 2 formula feeds a day.

 

[TigerLady]

That's what I thought I remembered. The combo is probably best for them as formula contains more iron... but the small bits of iron in breastmilk is more easily absorbed. I bet they are just fine!

 

[special_kala]

ok so just tried to explain BLW to my mum...oh it went well lol

shes think
im just being lazy
River will choke
that gagging and choking are exactly the same thing
its still appropriate to give babyrice before bed to FORCE them to sleep through
and didnt understand the idea of baby led parenting at all!

 

[faille]

Aw special_kala, we had this convo a few pages back... Some people just cannot grasp the concept of BLW no matter how many times you explain it to them, it just goes straight over their heads completely.

My mum was a bit like that at first, panic everytime V would gag just a little but the more she sees her eat, the better she's become, although I still think we have a while to go yet as she still goes 'no that's not suitable' to almost all food I try giving her.

And it's not lazy at all.. You have to make sure you're cooking and offering healthy and nutritous meals which have little or no salt, you have to make sure you offer food that they can reasonably be expected to be able to pick up and get pieces off (to begin with), you have to be extremely patient and relaxed and literally let LO take the lead.... Picking up a couple of jars with your weekly shopping is more 'lazy' if people want to associate that word with anything??? I don't think that any route of weaning is "lazy".

Just give it a couple of months and when your LO is a pro and eating with everyone at meal times like they've been doing it forever, just watch those faces of all who doubted you. It honestly shuts them up once they see it in full action!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

i just read in this book that blw isnt great for premature babies. the twins were born at 36 weeks this doesnt really count does it?

I know very little about prem babies but what I read in the bible is that the only potential problem with prems and BLW is that they are usually weaned at their actual, rather than corrected, age, meaning that they may not have the fine motor skills / chewing ability a full term baby would have at 6 months. But as your twins were only one week pre term I can't see this being a problem....good luck!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

ok so just tried to explain BLW to my mum...oh it went well lol

shes think
im just being lazy
River will choke
that gagging and choking are exactly the same thing
its still appropriate to give babyrice before bed to FORCE them to sleep through
and didnt understand the idea of baby led parenting at all!

Agreeing with what the others have already said! It's just a case of 'times have changed', and we know an awful lot more now than we did when our mums first had us! Eg babies didn't always have proper car seats, does that mean its still ok?

I'm afraid when it comes down to it, how you wean River is your decision and no one else's. Ok, it's annoying that she refuses to understand it, but once River starts sitting up at the table with you all, eating normal food and not having to be fed whilst your own food goes cold, I'm sure she'll see your point!

I hate the idea of babies being forced to sleep through with baby rice or by any other means, they will do things when they're ready, and you are doing a great job by following your baby's cues and doing things accordingly, forget your mum's attitude and feel proud of yourself.

 

[saraendepity]

omg a really quick one as Daisy is waking up from her nap .... she ate a whole Weetabix thismorning!!! surely this is waay too much ???i was so so so worried cos of all the Fibre but she's done a nice big poo......

 

[JayleighAnn]

Me & Halen had banana at lunch, he found it hard as its so slippy, I tried with the skins and all he kept doing was sucking the skin and making yuck faces lol. How does everyone do it?

And RE the earlier topic of accents, I have a Leicester accent which is common as hell, we say "Lesta" and my name is pronouned "Jayleh" instead of "Jaylee" and 3 is said like free lol

 

[faille]

omg a really quick one as Daisy is waking up from her nap .... she ate a whole Weetabix thismorning!!! surely this is waay too much ???i was so so so worried cos of all the Fibre but she's done a nice big poo......

Advice from Food Standards Agency

Don’t give your baby high-fibre versions of foods, especially those with added bran. It stops babies from absorbing important minerals such as calcium and iron. It’s better not to give your baby brown rice, wholemeal pasta or bran-enriched breakfast cereals until they are older, although you can give some brown bread.

Jayleigh, with banana, I found that if I left the skin on, she'd just suck the skin or ended up peeling it! But without the skin on, it was just a little too big to hold as it was too slippery.
So, I cut the bit I'm offering her in half long ways, so she has two long slices and put the curved part on her tray so that she can pick it up - if the flat edge goes against the tray then it just sticks and is impossible for her to pick up. Found that the best way for us

 

[sublime_ivy]

ok so just tried to explain BLW to my mum...oh it went well lol

shes think
im just being lazy
River will choke
that gagging and choking are exactly the same thing
its still appropriate to give babyrice before bed to FORCE them to sleep through
and didnt understand the idea of baby led parenting at all!

lazy it isnt, do they even know how much cleaning is involved. sweet lord if i had known how messy it was I may have reconsidered. haha.

Also sleeping through, ha what a joke. dex still wakes up at least 3 times for milk and he is full on eating loads of food every day.

Wish me luck girls i have decided that i cant keep up with dex's 3+ night feeds so we are trying formula tonight to hopefully give me a break. we shall see.

I have a question about the feed before bed, when do you give you formula and where? before or after bath? in bedroom etc etc. thanks

 

[Pyrrhic]

Wow, really interesting to come back to this thread and see so many new BLW Mummies!

Niamh is just over a year old now, and we have BLW since she was 6 months. We get comments all the time from people about how well she eats. She will literally eat anything, and we haven't found anything yet she dislikes! We went out for lunch today and she had some nice chicken and peas, then decided she wanted fish off my Mums plate, cucumber off OHs and some baked potato from mine