Another BLW question and daycare

HBear19

I'm just now starting to read up and learn about BLW, and I like what I've read so far.

 My question is, is this practical with DD being in daycare 10 hours a day? I feel like I would rather be the one watching her when she is eating in case she has some problems, and I'm not sure how the daycare teachers would feel about letting her feed herself.

Can I do BLW at home, then have her be "fed" at daycare, or is this confusing to DD?

StefandTodd

I personally think the combo of purees and finger foods is confusing.  What I like about BLWing is that it is purely introducing solid foods in a PURELY baby-led way.  Always letting them lead and control.

Many people are okay with a combo, and if that's the case for you, that's great! 

I thought we'd be in a similar situation as you as our DC is a national center that is very CYA (I had to have my pediatrician sign off on allowing them to swaddle, so yeah...), so I assumed they'd have a hard time with allowing him to feed himself.  I also assumed I would feel most safe being the only one offering large, whole foods. My plan was going to be to just do solids for dinners as a family, have them only give him breast milk at DC, until he was older and more proficient at feeding himself and they were comfortable with that.

Well, turns out, they HAD read the book and I have never met anyone who actually read the book who is opposed to BLWing.  So, they were VERY for it.  Once I realized they knew all the rules of it (not putting things in his mouth, letting him sit completely upright and govern what and how he eats, etc), I felt much more comfortable.  Also, I had done it a bit at home and could tell he was able to feed himself safely, and I trusted the combo of his feeding ability, and their knowledge of BLWing rules and CPR to allow it.  He's been getting whatever DC serves to the older infants and toddlers since he hit 6 months old.  It's actually awesome b/c he gets a bigger variety of stuff since they make his lunch and it's often things I might have not thought to make (Spanish rice recently, for example).

Anyway, in my opinion, you have several options.  You could do a combo of finger foods at home, purees at DC.  You could ask them if they're interested to read the book and see how comfortable they/you are with it after that.  You could only give solids when you're with him, and have DC do only bottles until you're all more comfortable.  Either way, solids before 1 is just for fun...so try to have fun with it.

Good luck  

memali26

I don't think it would be confusing at all. We started purees with DD1 and intro'd finger foods early and she had no problem doing both.

bluejetta

DD is in a family daycare 3 days a week.  For now we send just BM and 2oz oatmeal made with either BM or yogurt to daycare.  I do plan to talk with daycare provider next month about sending finger foods and/or letting DD sample what she is providing for older kids.  We give DD fruits, veggies, bread, meats etc on weekends when we can eat earlier with her -- on days I'm home with her as well.  On daycare days we get home at 5:30 and bedtime is 6:30 so those days we don't have time to do a dinner with her but I hope to change that when we move her bedtime a bit later.

NithyaV

We are BLW and DD is in daycare.  When we started, I did 1 meal/day so it was at home.  When I felt comfortable upping her to 2 meals, I started sending to daycare.  At that point, I felt comfortable with her eating on her own with only occasional gagging.  We are 95% BLW.  This means that sometimes I send DD to daycare with yogurt for lunch/as a snack.  She's a great BLW-eater so I know it wasn't confusing at all to her.  I'm not sure at daycare, but at home, if I give her yogurt, I let her "control" the spoon.  Most of the time, she controls and feeds herself.  

Daycare once asked me not to send sandwich for her (one slice of bread with cheese) b/c it is a little harder for her to eat but other than that, they've been ok with whatever I send.   

gy86

I send my daughter to daycare with jarred foods & infant cereal to eat there, and then at home with me, she eats pieces of whatever I'm having for dinner.  For me it was more of a "less meals I have to prepare" kind of deal... I could play the whole "I'm a single mom working full time blah blah blah" card, but I'll chalk it up to me being lazy and not wanting to pack extra lunches if I can help it! 

We've been doing this for 2 months now and I have not noticed any confusion, but my daughter is also a really good eater and will accept anything, in whatever manner it's presented to her, so long as it's food!

You could always start at home and then after a few weeks when your baby has gotten the hang of feeding themselves, then introduce it to the daycare -- that might alleviate some of your concerns about "if something goes wrong."

blu-eyedwife

We do BLW at home and breastmilk at daycare.  Right now he's in daycare 3 days a week.  Those days he has breakfast and lunch with us, and then just milk at daycare.  On days he's home he does breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Once he's a little older and ingesting food more easily (and maybe making less of a mess) I'll send him to daycare with a little snack.  But since his primary nutrition right now should be breastmilk anyway, I don't feel like I need to send food with him to daycare.