weird visit with health visitor

[NIfirsttimer]

took Rubes to baby clinic to have her weighed today, (shes 20lb!!! - height 99.6th centile, weight 99th - so all good!)
i said i wanted to speak with her about weaning, and she immedietly said 'shes ready' now.... i do think she is close to ready, but how did she say that based on a 5 min chat about other stuff, and weighing and measuring her??

i said i wanted to do BLW but wasnt really that sure about when to start .... i feel we should be starting now, but everything says 6m'

she said 'all id say is be very careful with BLW as ive seen it go so wrong'
?????????

she was banging on about not getting what she needs, and developing food aversions as there is such a narrow window of oppertunity for trying new tastes & textures.....
but i thought that was the point..SHE chooses what she wants to try and when, and avoids food aversions / issues by being in control?

she gave me a weaning leaflet, and basically said jill rapley was great, and BLW idea was great but in reality they need a mix of both???? i said yep im hoping to do some purees too but on rice cakes etc, and she said 'a spoon is important too' i told her i was happy to give roo a spoon to feed her self with and she said ' no they need fed too'
i dont want to be shoving spoonfuls of stuff into her.. making aeroplane noises, and doing the whole 'one more spoon for mummy' thing........

is she just weird & old school, or what?
shes our community BF support HV too,,, calls her self feeding advisor, so surely she should be clued up on these things? shes only in her 30's so not like shes ancient and not aware of blw??

im confused now

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

LOL your HV sounds EXACTLY the same as mine. Had never heard of BLW, but approved of Gill Rapley. She kept trying to tell me to use a spoon, and kept asking how I was going to 'get her to eat meat'. She also told me that big babies need weaning early and you know and I know that that's nonsense. (mine is now 21lb10oz!)

No they do not need to be fed. My Ruby refuses to be fed anyway. BLW removes the need for all those stages of weaning, there isn't a narrow window of opportunity at all. She probably knows that with traditional weaning some older babies won't accept lumps because they weren't given them early enough, but this doesn't apply to BLW whatsoever because they have all textures from the start.

Don't let her put you off please! Come join the BLW support sticky at the top

 

[NIfirsttimer]

its weird...surely as Hv's they should be clued up on all types so that they can support parents in whichever way they decide is right for them!!!

im still gonna go for it... i just would have liked her support, as i know there will be loads of questions... im just gonna have to torture you girls instead!!

i did come way feeling a bit disheartened tho.. really when you think about it, its the most natural way, so why do you get made to feel like a weirdo for doing it!!!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I think people are just very dismissive of things they don't understand.

 

[Lu28]

I have read that there's quite a narrow window of opportunity where kids are happy to accept new foods and tastes rather than just textures but was under the impression that you had until at least 9/10 months so at the earliest before that was an issue. I think some HVs think BLW is going to be a very restrictive diet of steamed veg and that's about it, they don't seem to realise that they have everything we have. This week Aisling has eaten spag bol, lasagne, cottage pie, fish fingers and scrambled eggs - hardly restrictive! Come join us in the sticky hon

 

[princess_bump]

tbh i've always found my hv unhelpful on the weaning subject and i gave up with her in the end and turned here for lots of 'real life' different experiences. we actually did a combination of both, and it's worked really well for us, maddi eats everything (expect potato as she's allergic )

i say follow you gut instinct and that of your baby and it will all fit into place xx

 

[Kitten]

The 2 health visitors and nursery nurse in my area had never heard of blw but my hv is so laid back she wouldn't give a monkeys what I did unless it harmed him obv!

 

[cheeselover]

Both sets of grandparents are horrified at our approach!!