Blw vs tw

[kerrie24]

No ones saying any ones wrong just fixing the myths of choking with BLW. I didnt look to much in to BLW just let my son do the lead but I see a lot here do know about it.

I'm very much interested in BLW now that she is six months but can't get past the fear. I love the ideal of putting something on her tray and letting her pick and eat. Around here TW is the "norm" so it's hard when you don't have support or know much about it other than what the internet tells you.

Dont worry about defending your choice,at the end of the day its upto you and just because you havent given fingerfoods yet doesnt mean you have to convince anyone of your reasons.
I think its quite rude to be honest to have someone say they 'dont buy' your reasons for not giving finger foods.Nobody has to buy it,everyone else made their post about their method of weaning and moved on,seems like your post had to be pulled apart for some reason.Not necessary in my opinion.

 

[overcomer79]

I didnt do any internet reseach but as I said my son did it himself, yes I crapped myself. I seen him gag a few times but he wouldnt eat a puree. There is no support near me for anything regarding feeding, even breastfeeding or formula feeding. So I was told to mush things up to. Nothing wrong with seeking support online as often thats the only area for a lot of people. This internet forum is a source of support to. I wouldnt bash stuff for being on the net, its got a lot of information from good sources if you look in the right places and talk to other mums. Sometimes the medical profession lets down mums a lot.

That requires time. I don't have a lot of that I'm afraid. I did contact a friend that if I remember correctly she said she was doing BLW. Her baby isn't here yet but she has two older girls so I'll be interested to see if she did BLW with her. The gagging doesn't bother me...the time my daughter stopped breathing on the other hand..

 

[aliss]

Overcomer, Dr. Sears has some great information about introducing finger foods in a safe manner when mom is also apphrenesive If you are interested (yes, it's a TW article). I did BLW but tbh it is VERY unheard of here in North America. Ozzi- maybe doctors in the UK do, but over here? Unless things have changed very recently I can't imagine any doctor in NA pushing BLW.

https://www.parenting.com/article/ask-dr-sears-making-solid-foods-fun

 

[Dragonfly]

I didnt do any internet reseach but as I said my son did it himself, yes I crapped myself. I seen him gag a few times but he wouldnt eat a puree. There is no support near me for anything regarding feeding, even breastfeeding or formula feeding. So I was told to mush things up to. Nothing wrong with seeking support online as often thats the only area for a lot of people. This internet forum is a source of support to. I wouldnt bash stuff for being on the net, its got a lot of information from good sources if you look in the right places and talk to other mums. Sometimes the medical profession lets down mums a lot.

That requires time. I don't have a lot of that I'm afraid. I did contact a friend that if I remember correctly she said she was doing BLW. Her baby isn't here yet but she has two older girls so I'll be interested to see if she did BLW with her. The gagging doesn't bother me...the time my daughter stopped breathing on the other hand..

I didnt even look. so I know the no time thing. You do whats best, dosnt matter if you puree of blw . I did both. I would even give a mix to next child and can identify with gagging, My youngest threw up on everything. Sight of pooh he throws up. tastes of foods he threw up. many heard attacks where had by me. Its important parents are confident to in feeding as babies can pick up when mums are nervous wreaks watching them eat. Speaking from experience here.

 

[overcomer79]

I think I"m really second guessing my weaning choice by the way she did last night. I was eating my dinner and she started her hunger grunts. I gave her something "age appropriate" and she got more angry and slapped it away. She finally consented to drinking her bottle (3 more ounces more then she usually does). My son didn't care as long as he was eating at the same time...it didn't have to be the same thing but she's so different.

Aliss: I will look at the article. I am going to email it to myself right now so I have something to read in the waiting room at the dr this afternoon.

 

[Dk1234]

Ill be the first to say I think blw is the craziest thing I've ever seen. That being said I'm trying not to be such a control freak so I let Coen feed himself some bread and pasta and a little egg yolk and he loved it. I sil still def be doing lots of tw too because I wanna make sure he gets a lot of variety of the most nutrient dense foods. And honestly because I don't like all the mess. But I will let him feed himself a bit of a few things that don't freak me out.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Technically, BLW was what they did before baby food in jars was marketed and introduced. It's not new or crazy. It makes sense to me and many others. You really see the results as time goes on.

 

[kerrie24]

There has been evidence of them mushing up food and even chewing it for their babies like a bird would.

 

[MumToEva]

BLW because I'm fussy about food myself and the thought of purées,especially puréed dinners etc, really does turn me! That and I'm lazy - I find it brilliantly easy just to cut up some of my food, tip it onto her tray and let her work away. And now at a year I can say it really has worked - she's a brilliant little eater, though I did doubt myself a few times along the way, as you really do have to be patient!

 

[alaskagrown]

TW because the thought of BLW scares me and I get WIC vouchers for a gazillion free pureed containers a month.

I do offer finger foods too, but I just make them tiny bite-sized pieces. I'm not throwing an entire honkin' leg of chicken on my daughter's tray ;P

 

[staralfur]

Haha, I don't throw chicken legs on my LO's tray either: I rip off manageable pieces and give them to her and she eats it like a proper little person. Love it.

I think I'm really lucky that my LO's doctor does BLW herself, makes it a bit easier. Her immunization nurse thinks I'm a crazy person.

 

[Meredith2010]

TW with finger foods here. Whilst I appreciate a lot of the logic behind BLW (learning to chew before learning to swallow, baby being in control of how much they eat etc), to be honest it just isn't for me. I don't think pureeing is hard work at all (put what we are having into a bowl and blitz it for 10 seconds - not hard!)

I like knowing exactly what and how much they have eaten, even when it's very early days and they are hardly having anything. TW just suits me more.

DS was TW'd and he is fantastic with food - eats anything I put in front of him and uses his little cutlery well. I suppose I just don't see the need to do BLW as I don't see anything wrong with TW. To me, BLW is just extra stress and more clearing up - two things I really don't need any more of!

I totally see the logic behind BLW though, more now than I did when DS was being weaned. I suppose I see TW with finger foods as kind of a middle ground approach.

 

[patch2006uk]

Just to clarify-all TW involves finger foods. You don't get children still eating puréed food at school because they weren't introduced to finger food! TW 'with finger food' or a 'Mix of BLW and TW' are just TW. I think it does a disservice to TW to imply that it's somehow lacking compared to BLW. All children will end up eating, it's just how you get there.

To PP-it wasn't the hassle of making purée that I didn't want. It was havig to sit and feed LO while letting my own food go cold I wasn't keen on. So many friends said to me when LO was around 9 months 'so how long since you've eaten a meal while it was still hot?' and the answer was never more than about 6 hours ago, cos I never had to feed LO and let my own food go cold. Granted, the clean up is pretty spectacular sometimes, but given you're supposed to introduce finger foods at 6 months with TW anyway, it never seemed like it was an either mess or no mess. Just simply either let them self feed or don't.

 

[Meredith2010]

Just to clarify-all TW involves finger foods. You don't get children still eating puréed food at school because they weren't introduced to finger food! TW 'with finger food' or a 'Mix of BLW and TW' are just TW. I think it does a disservice to TW to imply that it's somehow lacking compared to BLW. All children will end up eating, it's just how you get there.

Ah yes, valid point. I suppose I mean I specifically made a conscious effort to give finger foods from the beginning this time whereas a lot of people I know who TW stick to purees for quite a few months before introducing other things. I introduced finger foods later with DS, so just in comparison to that there's a greater proportion of finger food-giving going on with DD than there was with DS.

I suppose I just can't imagine sitting down to a family meal of something like lasagna and giving it to DD to just get on with it! Seriously, the mess would cause me to have a melt down! I can understand things that can easily be eaten with fingers (i.e. roast dinner of bits of meat, potato and veg), but what do you do when you have things like spaghetti bolognese, lasanga, shepherd's pies etc (basically something you cook in one big dish then serve out) - do you literally just leave them to pick it up with their fingers and eat it?

 

[patch2006uk]

Pretty much when DS was younger, we just cut things into strips he could handle easily. Now we actually tend to cut things into smaller pieces, because he wants to use a fork and he was struggling to stab the bigger pieces

Anything like spaghetti or shepherds pie is just plonked in front of him, and has been since he was 6 months old he eats spaghetti like a total pro-scoop it in and suck it up he's actually very mess averse now. He doesn't like getting too messy, and often asks for a wipe to wipe himself with half way through a meal (which is adorable!)

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Yeah, you just put it on their tray and let them get on with it! It's pretty amazing to watch!

 

[Meredith2010]

Wow, you're braver than me! I think if I adopted BLW my daughter would have a very limited diet as I'd only be able to give her food that didn't make a mess, I suppose kind of like the types of finger foods I give her at the moment, and then I feed her the "messy stuff".

I guess if I thought that BLW had loads of advantages over TW or was better in the long run then I hope I'd see past/get over the messy aspect for the benefit of DD!

 

[Dk1234]

Wow, you're braver than me! I think if I adopted BLW my daughter would have a very limited diet as I'd only be able to give her food that didn't make a mess, I suppose kind of like the types of finger foods I give her at the moment, and then I feed her the "messy stuff".

I guess if I thought that BLW had loads of advantages over TW or was better in the long run then I hope I'd see past/get over the messy aspect for the benefit of DD!

This is me. I don't see any advantages that would make me want to clean spaghetti out of my babies ears after every meal. LO only gets a bath every other day. I also don't feel the need to strip him down for every meal nor mop my floor after a meal. Just seems like so much mess.

 

[patch2006uk]

There are benefits to messy play for babies anyway. It's good for them to be given the chance to handle textures and different objects. BLW for me sort of killed 2 birds with one stone, as he had to learn how to eat, and it gave him an opportunity to get messy. I'll see if I can find some 'benefits of mess' info...

This one is quite a sweet post
https://www.babylondon.co.uk/articles/parenting/family-life/item/577-a-little-mess-conversation

Basically it's important for children to be allowed to 'explore' their world, and there is no finer messy play IMO than spaghetti bolognaise or yogurt!!

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Totally agree with you, Patch. I don't want insecurities passed on to my wee man. My SIL (o/t, I know) is so obsessed with cleaning that when her little boy hit his head and was bleeding, he was more worried about getting blood on his clothes, than his injury.