What is the point of BLW?

KateLouise

I think I get the general idea of what it is and how it works.

My question is, what is the theory behind why one "should" BLW?

I intend to follow LOs cues in terms of offering food with a spoon and if she seems ready for it or not, and will continue BF to at least a year and possibly longer.

I feel like I've heard the idea that if "LO is old enough to feed themself then they're old enough for solids" but that doesn't seem entirely logical to me.

I mean my LO isn't big enough to get to the breast on her own and organise it into her mouth, so I help her.

Anyway, just wondered what the reasoning is, and what the negatives are of not doing BLW.

Thanks. 

Tonya_G

I mean my LO isn't big enough to get to the breast on her own and organise it into her mouth, so I help her.

My LO has gotten good at doing this- right around the time she started grabbing food off my plate. lol

Having started solids with one kid "traditionally", and doing BLW this go around... I think you can choose either option and your kid will turn out just fine. DS eats just about everything, especially his veggies (even though he's going through a picky stage right now- our rule is you have to take a taste- usually, that'll remind him, oh, hey, this is yummy!) and I started him on solids at 4m with purees and being spoon fed. Part of the reason I chose to do BLW this time around is, truth be told, laziness and frugality. It's cheaper to do BLW- she just eats some of what we've already prepared. I don't have to go to the store and worry about keeping inventory of what jars I have on hand. It's less work, overall.

KateLouise

oh ok. I thought perhaps there was some AP theory around it.

penguingrrl

I think some of the theory is that it's easier to start children on what you're eating instead of getting them used to the taste/texture of purees just to move on to solids.  Basically just skipping a step.

I made my own baby food for my older daughter and it was pretty cheap and very easy.  I spent maybe an hour a week and she was finished with purees pretty early (before a year) because I was able to make them a bit thicker each time and slowly transition to solids.

I had planned to make baby food again for my second, but she flat out refused to eat purees.  I tried them for a bit and she wouldn't eat them.  Luckily I had heard of BLW on here and realized that I could feed her solid foods or I would have been really nervous!  She's 100% on whatever we're eating (minus peanut products, honey, and soy and dairy as she only recently stopped reacting to those in my diet) and I have to say it's sooo much easier.  I do keep things like baby food cubes of potato leek soup so I have a ready made meal from her if I'm having something she can't eat because of her dairy and soy issues, but otherwise this is the easiest thing I've done.

When we have #3 I'll likely offer purees to start but move much more quickly to solids.  With my first I was worried about choking, but now I realize that I was underestimating her abilities.  BLW is certainly easier than making, packing, heating baby food!

Tonya_G

KateLouise:

oh ok. I thought perhaps there was some AP theory around it.

BLW isn't an actual tenet of AP. It's more that it goes along with the AP philosophy of following your child's lead and letting them develop on their own schedule.

KimberJEB

We did BLW only b/c my ridiculously independent 6 month old wouldn't let me feed him.  He would FREAK out.  So I stopped trying, and a couple months later started letting him take healthy stuff off my plate.  I think he was a) ready for solids a bit later (he wasn't really getting much nutrition from solids until 13 months) & b) happy to be in control - of what he ate, how much when (which is what I consider an AP-like aspect of it)/  .

I will likely do BLW with my next child as well.

bexie

KateLouise:

I think I get the general idea of what it is and how it works.

My question is, what is the theory behind why one "should" BLW?

I intend to follow LOs cues in terms of offering food with a spoon and if she seems ready for it or not, and will continue BF to at least a year and possibly longer.

I feel like I've heard the idea that if "LO is old enough to feed themself then they're old enough for solids" but that doesn't seem entirely logical to me.

I mean my LO isn't big enough to get to the breast on her own and organise it into her mouth, so I help her.

Anyway, just wondered what the reasoning is, and what the negatives are of not doing BLW.

Thanks. 

Why isn't that logical to you?  Babies sit up when they're old enough to sit up.  Babies walk when they're old enough to walk.  So why should solids be any different?  There is a good description in the book of how the ability to be able to hold different sized objects coincides with the baby's ability to eat different sized foods. 

jkalmommy2b

We chose BLW for a few reasons:

1) the baby should learn to chew at the same time she learns to swallow.  With purees, they are learning to swallow first, which makes it difficult when they switch to table foods (in theory, of course--every baby is different)

2) the baby is ALWAYS in charge of what she eats.  Even if I give her spoon food, like cottage cheese or yogurt, I pre-load the spoon and let her bring it to her own mouth.  

 3) BLW discourages the "clean your plate" mentality that can begin with feeding babies purees b/c you can find yourself saying, "just one more spoonful."

 

KateLouise

bexie:

KateLouise:

I think I get the general idea of what it is and how it works.

My question is, what is the theory behind why one "should" BLW?

I intend to follow LOs cues in terms of offering food with a spoon and if she seems ready for it or not, and will continue BF to at least a year and possibly longer.

I feel like I've heard the idea that if "LO is old enough to feed themself then they're old enough for solids" but that doesn't seem entirely logical to me.

I mean my LO isn't big enough to get to the breast on her own and organise it into her mouth, so I help her.

Anyway, just wondered what the reasoning is, and what the negatives are of not doing BLW.

Thanks. 

Why isn't that logical to you?  Babies sit up when they're old enough to sit up.  Babies walk when they're old enough to walk.  So why should solids be any different?  There is a good description in the book of how the ability to be able to hold different sized objects coincides with the baby's ability to eat different sized foods. 

because I don't agree that physical capability always mirrors eating abilities.

A baby is ready to eat milk from birth but months away from being physically capable of organising milk to their own mouth.

A child could pick up a peanut long before I would offer them such food.

My 4 mth old could navigate all sorts of sized objects to her mouth but I wouldn't give her solids yet. 

So I guess my point was because food requires parental involvement anyway, what's the difference/problem with offering puree? It seems that there aren't any particular negatives for the child, from what poster have said, but more the positives for the parent.

Which is fine. I was just curious because I couldn't think of a reason on my own. 

WyoGal

jkalmommy2b:

We chose BLW for a few reasons:

1) the baby should learn to chew at the same time she learns to swallow.  With purees, they are learning to swallow first, which makes it difficult when they switch to table foods (in theory, of course--every baby is different)

2) the baby is ALWAYS in charge of what she eats.  Even if I give her spoon food, like cottage cheese or yogurt, I pre-load the spoon and let her bring it to her own mouth.  

 3) BLW discourages the "clean your plate" mentality that can begin with feeding babies purees b/c you can find yourself saying, "just one more spoonful."

These.  The book also discusses the power/respect issue of spoon feeding by questioning if you have you ever been spoon fed.  It's awkward because you are not in control of what is going into your mouth, the depth or the amounts.  In addition to #3, it also seems to be a way to avoid encouraging a child to eat to make you happy (or not frustrated) and avoid power struggles. 

You can definitely spoon feed respectfully, but it's far easier to respect a child's abilities by offering them different foods and allowing them to explore them at their own pace.  You are not offering them one food at one time that they accept or refuse in one form, but offering a variety of foods they explore and manipulate and accept in their own time and style.  For example, M will bite off chunks of strawberries but prefers to mash sweet potatoes in his hands before eating.  He decides to some extent the texture and how much he can handle in his mouth.

KateLouise

WyoGal:

jkalmommy2b:

We chose BLW for a few reasons:

1) the baby should learn to chew at the same time she learns to swallow.  With purees, they are learning to swallow first, which makes it difficult when they switch to table foods (in theory, of course--every baby is different)

2) the baby is ALWAYS in charge of what she eats.  Even if I give her spoon food, like cottage cheese or yogurt, I pre-load the spoon and let her bring it to her own mouth.  

 3) BLW discourages the "clean your plate" mentality that can begin with feeding babies purees b/c you can find yourself saying, "just one more spoonful."

These.  The book also discusses the power/respect issue of spoon feeding by questioning if you have you ever been spoon fed.  It's awkward because you are not in control of what is going into your mouth, the depth or the amounts.  In addition to #3, it also seems to be a way to avoid encouraging a child to eat to make you happy (or not frustrated) and avoid power struggles. 

You can definitely spoon feed respectfully, but it's far easier to respect a child's abilities by offering them different foods and allowing them to explore them at their own pace.  You are not offering them one food at one time that they accept or refuse in one form, but offering a variety of foods they explore and manipulate and accept in their own time and style.  For example, M will bite off chunks of strawberries but prefers to mash sweet potatoes in his hands before eating.  He decides to some extent the texture and how much he can handle in his mouth.

thanks for this. This makes it very clear around the respect idea. 

EcoBaby

KateLouise:

because I don't agree that physical capability always mirrors eating abilities.

A baby is ready to eat milk from birth but months away from being physically capable of organising milk to their own mouth.

A child could pick up a peanut long before I would offer them such food.

My 4 mth old could navigate all sorts of sized objects to her mouth but I wouldn't give her solids yet. 

So I guess my point was because food requires parental involvement anyway, what's the difference/problem with offering puree? It seems that there aren't any particular negatives for the child, from what poster have said, but more the positives for the parent.

Which is fine. I was just curious because I couldn't think of a reason on my own. 

I think you are totally making sense here. I never read the BLW book because I was in denial that DS was old enough to eat solids We did purees and then moved on to finger food. I guess I never saw the harm in purees. I kept thinking that if I was living somewhere random where we didn't have babyfood makers, I would probably chew up the food a little and give it to him or I would still somehow mash it into smaller pieces. Giving large pieces of food just didn't feel natural to me.

I have nothing against BLW at all, and I think the concept is really interesting. I guess it just never felt all that natural to me.