BLW

amackattack

I don't think I've seen this discussion yet....and I'm starting to think about doing BLW at 6 months and skipping purees and baby food. Anyone else plan to do BLW? If so, what's your plan? Has anyone done it before, and how did it go?

Does anyone have any experience doing BLW with a daycare? Not sure if I have to provide a puree for my babe while she's at daycare, or if they will oblige me providing little food morsels for her? Just thought I'd query the group to see everyone's experiences and plans!

amackattack

amberatkins8 said:

We plan on doing BLW. If you're interested, there's a TB group for it that has been helping me prepare - you should join :-)

Thank you! I didn't know but I see it now. I will check it out

fsumom

We plan on doing BLW too.  We may start at 6 months if he's ready.

amackattack

@amberatkins8 I requested to join the BLW group a few days ago and haven't heard anything! Do you know how long it normally takes? Or does this mean they don't want me to join for some reason.... :-S

kriati03

We also plan to do BLW at 6 months. My pedi said any food we eat is ok , just don't add extra salt to theirs. I heard one recommendation to use broccoli or cauliflower in big pieces bc they can hold the stem and then gnaw at the other end.
Def need to do some more research before starting. Thanks for the tip @shiggybop‌ on learning the difference between gagging and choking!

gutsysneakers

May '14 mama lurking - My DD just turned 5 months and we also plan on doing BLW. I bought this book and it's been a great resource. The first few chapters are about if your baby is ready to eat solids, why do BLW, safety tips, etc. and then the rest of the book is recipes. 

amackattack

I am SO EXCITED to start BLW!! I have been reading a little bit of the forum on babyledweaning.com and read the discussions in the BLW group. I ordered the gil rapley book and I just CAN'T WAIT to get started! IDK why but I'm just envisioning fun family times around the dinner table and a baby who loves to eat all the foods....I think about it like every day. 

I'm so happy because I talked to the daycare and they currently have a baby doing BLW and love it and find it very interesting. Babe is 4.5 months now and gets better at sitting up every day. Almost there!

Anyone else as pumped as I am? What foods are you planning for the first meal?

Ybba0714

I'm going to do a bit of everything (jars, homemade purees and BLW). DS grabbed toast out of my hand during breakfast the other day so I let him suck on it a bit! His due date was 5-28, which makes him five months old developmentally, right? I know we are a starting a bit early, but I'm only letting him experiment every once in awhile. ***I went to a baby shower last night and left ds home with dh for a few hours. When I got home dh told me he gave ds a French fry to occupy him while he ate!! Are you kidding me? A flipping French fry!!***

amackattack

@ybba0714 from what I've read the recommended start age is 6 months, but really as long as your child is showing all the signs that they're ready (sitting up unassisted, interested in what you're eating), that's what counts! If he's ready, he's ready! So jealous! my babe is definitely not sitting up unassisted and although she loves to put things in her mouth, she will look at them, put them in her mouth very briefly, pull them out and look at them again, put them back in and so on and so forth. She never really shows interest in trying to eat things, although she loves to watch us chew.

katekat8721

I don't know what we're doing. We gave them rice cereal, they hated it. So I took my sweet potato, mashed it up, mixed it with breast milk and voila, they loved it. Does that count as a puree? lol. We're going to be introducing foods to them slowly and it'll consist of what we're eating, just a softer version.

Ybba0714

@Lcgroenewe‌ Well shoot, he's not quite sitting unassisted yet. Hmmmm. Idk. His doc told me I could try rice cereal at 4mos, and then start some green veggies before he comes in for his 6mo check up. He took one bite of the rice cereal and then screamed, that was right after he turned 4 mos. I haven't tried it since and and I'm not sure if I will. The toast was completely his doing and he didn't scream. What do you think, should I hold off until 6 mos or keep giving him bits every once in awhile. He's not really eating anything, just kinda sucking. This baby thing is kinda hard sometimes. The French fry, well, that's between him and his father Edited because I can't type!

elsa1688

So I know you aren't supposed to give cows milk before One year, but when can you give yogurt or cheese?

flojo973

If you send LO to daycare, does the daycare allow BLW?  Or do you just do it at dinner at home?  Just trying to think of when to feed DD if daycare only allows purees/cereals.

amackattack

@katekat8721 @elsa1688 @ybba0714

WARNING: Everything I'm about to say is information I've gleaned from reading BLW.com forum. I have not yet read the book, so please correct me if I'm wrong!

Feeding purees can be done using the BLW philosophy as long as the child is guiding the spoon and making the conscious decision to eat the foods, clearly showing signs they want to eat the puree. Although, there's huge debate on is it really BLW if you're spoonfeeding. My understanding is that the child can eat yogurt and cheese along with whatever else you're eating within reason (minus honey and nuts) at the 6th month mark if you're doing BLW.

The main philosophy of BLW is that you put the food down on the baby's tray and they decide how and when and what they'd like to eat. They pick it up themselves, and they put it in their mouths themselves. This is supposed to teach them to be more adventurous eaters, and to be in control of their own appetite (know when they're full and when they're still hungry), and to chew first before swallow whereas with a puree it might be teaching to swallow first. The book goes over how to cut the foods to reduce the chances of choking and also goes over gagging vs choking.

@ybba0714 I say do whatever you think is best for babe! It sounds like your doc is recommending traditional weaning with veggie purees. I myself will be waiting until babe is sitting unassisted to start giving her foods to gnaw on. I will likely start with soft foods (avocado, baked sweet potato), but probably not purees. Do whatever's comfortable for you....all our babies will eat eventually regardless what route we take

amackattack

@flojo973 I'd ask your daycare. My babe's daycare happens to have a babe currently going through BLW and they love the idea of it. I will likely feed babe real food at home for dinner through the first week and after that send some foods for them to let her choose to eat if she wants during the day. From what I've read it takes a lot of BLW babies awhile to get the hang of it. They may do nothing but play with the food for even a few months after starting BLW.

You could also do BLW foods at home and send oatmeal or other purees to daycare if your daycare is not BLW friendly.

katekat8721

Huh. I still have no idea what we're doing then haha. I'll spoon feed some sweet potatoes, but also give them the spoon to play with, but also put some on their tray to get their grub on. I'm gonna call this Mama Bear Instinctual Eating lol.

amackattack

@katekat8721 exactly! I think there are "purist" BLWers who would say that if you're spoon feeding purees than that's traditional weening, which consists of some finger foods and some purees. 

But whats in a name really. Whatever works for you and the babies!

lest12

@katekat8721‌ - I plan on doing the Mama Bear Instinctual Eating as well, lol. I am into a lot of the BLW ideas but will probably still start off mashing things with BM. But I want to give different things/textures so I'll be feeling it out and including different things, too.

elsa1688

We have done a little bit of everything so far (fingers, spoons, baby mesh feeder thing). The mesh feeder seemed to lead to the most food actually being consumed.

Julie&Micah

LO just turned 5 mo last week and we finally started a few purées, but I think I'd like to do a bit of BLW. So maybe count me in the Mama Bear Instinctual Eating group LO has been super interested in us at meal time and the last few weeks been smacking his lips watching us eat. At 4 mo appt, doc recommended holding off for a little while before purées till he had a little better sitting control, otherwise he was so ready. All food is fair game minus honey of course. Now that he's got sitting a little better we're on to food, but he's not 100% unassisted, so no straight whole foods yet. So far only have done homemade peas, bananas and starting sweet potatoes tomorrow. He also licks on apple slices. Now when he sees us eat he grunts and whines until we feed him too! I'm excited to start more of the BLW principals as soon as he's ready...but for now he wants food....so purées it is!