I'm scared of BLW but scared TW means he's never going to eat by himself

[felix555]

This weaning thing has me in 2 minds! My lo is 6 months and this week I've started giving him butternut squash (pureed) for dinner mixed with porridge with the aim of adding 1 meal a week one food at a time. Next week I'll add breakfast of pureed apples and the week after carrots. Then every week I'll try another veg. By the way does this sounds ok?

I always thought I'd go the BLW route but (and I'm sure lots of people think this) I'm convinced he will choke and I'm so scared of it.

My brother's lo is 3 and they still cut his food up and feed him and this is what I'm scared I'm going to cause going thus pureed route.

My lo loved the butternut squash though and I let him dig into the bowl and feed himself as much as he wants he also licked the bowl after

I guess I'm asking if there a way to incorporate the two? Or is there another solution?

 

[Murphy98]

Well, don't you eat by yourself? You were almost certainly "traditionally weaned". My first son was given puree at first and no harm has come to him. He eats everything without any help from me.

I take the approach of starting with purees but upping the texture as quickly as possible, puree - fork mashed, grated, rough grind, chopped, pieces/sticks...and so forth. I dedicate lunch to finger foods where the focus is touching and self-feeding. When I feed him purees or yogurts I load his spoon and let him try to get it in himself while I work a different spoon. I think the key is being relaxed, letting them explore, encouraging self-feeding and providing a wide variety of food and texture from as early on as possible.

Outside of forums on the internet, I think the vast majority feed with a mix purees and finger-foods.

 

[MummyMana]

I am traditionally weaning, finger foods and self feeding is a very big part of traditional weaning, I've recently been giving her bits of finger food here and there (sometimes with meals, sometimes as a snack or a "meal" in it's own right although most of it gets screwed up and goes on the floor) if I'm having something the right size or I think she can grab I'll give her a couple of bits off my plate while I eat

The first finger foods I offered was Organix sweetcorn rings, because they dissolve in her mouth so I wasn't to worried about it making her gag, now I give her things like toast, green bean, breadstick, ricecake...

Just offer a few finger foods here and there and give the mush, then gradually build up the finger foods

 

[kittylady]

If you have your heart set on BLW then you could go on a baby first aid course, I love the fact my daughter is 13months and feeding time is so relaxed, no issues, no how much has she eaten because she eats until she's full, no fighting her because she wont take food off the spoon and the gagging reflex is a temporary problem, and I say gagging as opposed to choking as they're different, I also think there is more problems transitioning from pureed food to finger foods because there is a tendancy for babies who have been puree fed to such food immediately to the back of their throat.

As for TW making children not want to eat themselves I can see where your coming from as I do see a lot of mum's and dads still feeding 4/5 year olds when they wont eat, however I think this is a parental problem as my sister TW and hers fed themselves from 12months

She's currently getting to grips with a knife and fork at the moment.

 

[MindUtopia]

I think you never know what will work for your baby (and you!), but realistically, TW babies can choke just the same as BLW babies...and you're going to have to feed lumpy food and finger foods eventually, so your baby will still have to learn how to deal with them (and that's always going to involve a degree of gagging and choking). So learning how to deal with it is the best route.

You have to do what feels right for you, but if you really want to try BLW, why not add in a few finger foods and see what happens. We've only done BLW (never made a puree) and my baby has never choked and only really gagged a few times in the very early days. She's not done it at all in probably a month. It may seem daunting at first, but once you understand how it works, it's really not scary at all.

Also, regardless of what you do, you don't need to add in one food at a time. You can feel squash and carrot and apple all at one, whether pureed or not, if that's what you want.

 

[felix555]

Thank you very much for the replies, very helpful.

Can I just ask what those of you BLW'ing gave as first foods?

 

[CoffeePuffin]

We had to do TW for medical reasons but months later, when we tried finger foods, she took to it like a pro and now she'll only let me spoon feed her yoghurt. All her meals she eats herself, by hand.

 

[Fliss]

They work out spoons etc themselves - it's amazing honestly.

Nathan was a prem baby so we did TW as he was into food at 18 weeks old - far too young for BLW.

He loved it and was feeding himself by 11 months - and once he started he wouldn't stop - he's not perfect at it now and sometimes I wish he'd let me help him - if only to spare my carpet, but honestly they work it out for themselves x

 

[AnneD]

Can I just ask what those of you BLW'ing gave as first foods?

Banana. Roasted sweet potato. Cucumber. Softly cooked carrots, broccoli. Melon.

Cut the food into chip-sized sticks so the baby can grab them. My baby squeezed everything in her hand (to assess the texture etc., I guess) before taking it to her mouth. A lot of it was just smushed and dropped at the beginning. I let her taste and eat things at her own pace. It took her a while to really start eating/swallowing food. At the beginning, she just gummed and sucked on things. Cucumber was great for teething, as was melon.

 

[felix555]

Thanks! I think I am going to finish these purees that I have made and after that do this, give him good cut in chunks.

He's actually loving the puree and tries to grab it himself so I think he would love feeding himself