Tell me more about BLW

SusieBW

Hi!  I lurk here a lot but almost never post.  But now I'm looking for more info, and hopefully you guys can guide me.  We have a pedi appointment on Friday, so I'm going to talk to her about it then, but I'm looking for some input from you guys too.

LO is EFF now, after EBF for the first 4 months, and then a couple of weeks of transition with mixed BM/F bottles.  Our plan has always been to skip baby cereals and go right to veggies and fruits, but we had always planned to start with purees, and were thinking around 6 months.  Lately, though, LO is grasping really well, and wants to stick everything she grasps into her mouth.  She's not able to sit up completely unassisted for very long, but she's close, and she sits in a high chair or a bumbo seat just fine.  Also, she has been reaching for my food, and stuck her face in my OJ glass yesterday.  She watches people eat with complete and utter fascination.  So I'm starting to get the feeling that she might be ready for more than just formula, but I'm not really sure she's up for more than purees just yet.  She'll only be 5 months on Friday, so I know it's sort of early yet, I'm just getting this feeling from her . . .

At what age (average - obviously all babies are different) is BLW appropriate?  Or what indicators should I look for to know it's a good time to start trying?

What foods do you start BLW with?  The same soft stuff as you would for purees, just in tiny chunks instead (avocado, sweet potato, banana, etc.)?

What other useful info can you give me?  Can you direct me to a good website/book on the subject so I can do some more research on my own?

Thanks you guys!

 

SusieBW

Just to add one more thing - DD is just 5 months old, but she's already sort of feeding herself with her bottle, too.  I hold it in front of her, sort of angled toward her face and she grabs it and sticks it in her mouth.  then she pulls it away when she's done.  Sometimes she loses her grip or doesn't hold it up high enough and of course I help her, but she's already pretty independent about her eating.

I just did a little Google research on BLW, too and it looks like I'm backwards about the size foods to use - bigger is better, so LOs can sort of gnaw on them and learn how to chew?

Anyway, thanks for any advice you have for me!

SilliRy

This is just my opinion, but I'd probably hold off for a little bit longer. I think there are good reasons why BLW is not recommended until 6 months. My DD also grabbed at food and paid very close attention when we ate...but she also regularly put her foot in her mouth and would be just as happy chewing on a teddy bear at that age! She didn't know at that age what food was, or that food could have an effect on hunger. 

We waited until she was closer to 6 months (although we did start a little before 6 months, and she was able to sit up on her own at that point).  We started with soft foods like bananas and avocado, but we also did purees. 

I really liked wholesomebabyfood.com. There is also a BLW book (I'm pretty sure the title is Baby Led Weaning) that I thought was kind of helpful in explaining the physiology behind BLW.

Good luck! 

Amitchell0626

I wouldn't start until 6 months. DD will be 7 months in a few days and just this week she has started actually eatting the food.

Here's where I've found some info https://www.babyledweaning.com/

 

SusieBW

Thanks guys.  I didn't mean to imply that I was planning to start right away - unless the pedi says we need to start now, we're planning to wait until she's at least 6 months and sitting better on her own.  DD's weight gain leveled off last month at her healthy pedi visit, so we had to increase the amount we were feeding her, and she goes back this friday for a weight check to make sure she's back on trach now.  If she's still not gaining adequately, the pedi has already warned me that my plan to skip cereals and to wait on starting solids may be out the window.  So we'll see.

Thanks for the links!  I love and recommend wholesomebabyfood.com for info about DIY baby food and purees, but I've never seen stuff on there about BLW - I'll have to check it out again.  And I'm going to request that book from my library to try and decide if this would be a good fit for DD, and so my DH can learn more about it too.