BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Lu28]

So glad you stuck it out and it's going well

And brilliant to see how well the newbie babies are doing too!

I think we could all live without those grown up poos though

 

[TigerLady]

How do you offer the kiwi? I have some and would like to try it with Otter, but fear it will be too slick for him to handle well.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

yeah its pretty slippy.... i have done it with a loaded spoon, but today i just peeled it whole, and cut longways into quarters, she did well with it until shes been on it for a while & then it got a bit mushy.....

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Glad to see everyone doing well!

We've not eaten anything this week really..half a yoghurt yesterday was all. Wouldn't touch anything else. He's been a bit poorly, was sick everwhere monday and a few times yesterday. He's still a bit off colour today but he ate some mash at dinner his fave! lol didn't touch the other veg!

He's dropped to bottles tho ...and I;m confused. Two bottles in 3 weeks, so we are down to between 18 -21 oz a day. Even less the past few days. He's not eating anymore tho so I am panicing a bit now!

 

[TigerLady]

Maybe he has just dropped bottles as he hasn't been feeling well? And he'll want them again as soon as he feels better. When Otter was really sick recently he went totally off solids and was even nursing less. I actually deluded myself into thinking he had dropped 2 night feeds! He picked them back up as soon as he got better.

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Yeah he dropped his night feed at the weekend, so that could be linked to him not being well, but he dropped his afternoon bottle about weeks ago! Makes me wonder if he keeps his night feed dropped(which would be great) should I offer an afternoon bottle again or not. Is 21 oz enough for a 7 and half month old who doesn't eat much. Am clueless!

TL: bet you wish he'd kept those feeds dropped lol!

 

[TigerLady]

Yes, I do!!!!

I dunno how much they should get at that age (you are FF right?) as I BFed and so I don't really know exactly how much Otter takes. I am sure someone else will know, though!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Yeah we formula feed now ... was so much easier when I was BF, never got hung up on number of oz's he was drinking! think baby number 2 I will go longer

 

[Boothh]

right my blw book came today i was reading it and read abit out to my mum, she turned round and said she thinks im starving him and not lookingafter him properly by no spoon feeding him, and if i want to carry on she wants us to move out because she doesnt want it under her roof !! WTF im soo pissed off, i wouldnt mind but shes the one that pressured me into spoonfeeding him too early, get guilting me and sayin he was hungry, she even went out and brought bowls spoons and baby rice when he was just a few weeks old, shes saying hes been upset recently and really grouchy, but i honestly dont think hes alot different, hes teething so hes obviously having the odd whingy hour but hes still sleeping the same so theres no big difference, i just cant believe shes being so unsupportive,

 

[TigerLady]

Ugg! I can't believe your mom would be that drastically unsupportive!! Have you explained that milk (bm or f) has more fat, calories and nutrients than ANY solid meal you can give him???? It just doesn't make logical sense when old school people claim that you are "starving" a baby by not giving solids. Milk is better for them for the first year anyway and will put on more weight than solids any day!

Are you bfing or ffing? If you are bfing, would it help to point out to her that respected places such as WHO reccomend ONLY bm for the first 6 months?? Your LO isn't even that old yet!

There is also loads of evidence that introducing solids when they are too young (such as rice cereal at a few weeks!!! ) causes more harm than good.

I know that is how they did it years ago... and then it was thought best. But there is new evidence now and we have to adjust our thinking.

Any hope that if you provide her some of this research, she will relent??

 

[Boothh]

im formula feeding, i did want to BF but i wasnt given enough support at the begining and it didnt work out for us, i was 19 when he was first born (20 now) i was very anxious and looking for advice alot of the time so i just assumed she knew what she was talking about as shes had 3 children and begrudgingly gave him solids early and i reaaally wish i wouldve put my foot down then, i just dont know what to do, OH said tell her to piss off and carry on how we want to, but on the other hand is it really worth the arguments, we are due to be moving in a couple of weeks, so im unsure whether to give him a spoonfed meal in the evening when she will see just until we move, just to prevent the arguing? grrr i really dont know what to do she just wont listen to me shes made me feel soo bad!

 

[TigerLady]

Only you can decide, hon. I'm sorry you didn't get the support you needed early on and still aren't getting it now. If you were planning on living there long term, I would say put your foot down. But if you really are moving in a couple of weeks, then maybe it would be better to appease her and move to pure BLW when you move out??

You make the final decision, hon. But loads of babies that are spoon fed move to pure BLW at 6 months and do just fine.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

i get it too from MIL, and others. she thinks its the more ridiculous thing shes ever heard, yet in the next breath shes telling me Ruby is 'fat' and needs to go on a diet???
ive learnt that in the start when BLW, you really have to ignore these people, but ive also found that once baby starts to get into it, these same people have to (pardon the pun) eat their words, because once the see how well, and easily, and naturally they can feed themselves, no one can say a word!
we have a big family meal on sunday and i cant wait to see their faces when they see Roo tucking into her sunday lunch!

 

[Boothh]

thanks girls i just cant understand were shes coming from, iv offered her the book to read herself.. nope shes not interested, what annoys me the most is that she is there when i offer jesse food so she can see for herself how he enjoys it picks things up plays and eats, and quite happily sits in his highchair for 30mins + but shed rather him be in his bouncer with a spoon with something he doesnt like on bein forced on him, tbh he did eat his spoonfed meals and we could of carried on fine doing it like that but he didnt seem to enjoy it, just put up with it seen as hes been doing it for so long, he hated savoury purees and would more often than not spit them out, but if i give him veg or cheese or anything savoury he likes it now, i think im just gunna have to compramise and keep offering him food when shes not around and when she is mainly at night give him a spoonfed meal, as soon as we move out though we will do pure BLW, xx

 

[TigerLady]

As for the bouncer... I would at least tell her to no longer feed him in there! If he can sit up in straight in his highchair, make her feed him in that. He is more likely to choke if he is reclined. I would put your foot down on that.

 

[Boothh]

i will do, iv decided to give offer him food whilst were eating and then give him something spoonfed after, just while were here,

i rang my HV to ask her to come around and speak to us about it, she said she cant because its not NHS policy! she told me about a nutrition and weaning co ordinater though who runs a baby bistro on monday mornings and shes apprantly independant so she will be able to help me,

i asked my mum to come with me she said no shes not interested and thats the end of it, she said she thinks what she thinks and i can think what i think but she doesnt want it under her roof,

 

[TigerLady]

It is unfornuate that your mom is willing to risk a fight and rift between you (and thus her grandson) over how you choose to wean him.

 

[Mary Jo]

ack, Boothh, I'm really sorry your mum is being so difficult. I'd be livid, myself, if someone so close wouldn't even listen to my view. but Jesse's YOUR son, your's and your OH's, and it's only you two who can make decisions like how he is fed. I feel angry on your behalf!

good to know what the official response of HVs is to BLW... I had a feeeling they wouldn't support it (or be able to officially) and so I have never mentioned it. when my HV came to do Adam's 16-week check, she said she'd send me some leaflets on weaning. well, guess what, they never arrived, so I did my own research, made my own decision. what she DID say was not to start before 20 weeks but to have started by 24, and that is how it's worked out.

 

[Lu28]

Aww Boothh, I'm so sorry you're not having the support you need

Do you think your mum would make you move out in the next couple of weeks (ie before you're going to anyway) if you don't spoonfeed? If you do spoonfeed for a bit, you could always let LO have control over where the spoon goes and hang on to the end of it if need be - that way although you're helping, LO is making the decision about putting it in his mouth.

I started off on purees on docs advice and we did make a successful transition to full BLW so if you do need to spoonfeed for the next couple of weeks, it's not the end at all, you can just switch after you move out

 

[Lu28]

So Aisling was a bit weird with her dinner tonight. For ages she kept throwing herself back in her highchair to make it bounce away from the table. When she eventually looked interested in her food, she bent forward so she could lick it while it was still on the table?! She then took a couple of mouthfuls but started whinging. It was shepherds pie so I loaded a spoon and she practically grabbed it off me and shoved it in her mouth and ended up more than happily eating most of it off a preloaded spoon - not sure what was going on with her