I'm confused by BLW feeding

marleysimon

Admittedly, I had to look it up to even know what it was. Why would anyone do this? What are the benefits? Does anyone's pediatrician actually recommend this practice? My DD is almost 7 months and I hardly trust her ability to eat the stage one pur?ed foods, and meanwhile someone else is giving their baby actual broccoli? What am I missing?

elampl

Some Pedi's recommend it but it's fairly new, I believe.  I'm not the most educated with it, but what I've read the benefits are: helps build small motor skills, not "force feeding" (aka spooning purees) so LO can choose how much to eat, helps LO try a wide variety of foods so LO has less of a tendency to be a picky eater.  There are more but that's what I can think of at the moment. 

I personally do a hybrid.  LO gets two meals a day.  Morning  meal is a puree that is spoon fed.  At dinner she gets some finger foods (baked sweet potatoe sticks, avocado slices, steamed broccoli (which didn't go well last night) and then some puree after she's done with the finger foods. 

IncognitoSuperhero

Our ped recommended it to us, she said it might fit our style of parenting.

We too are doing a "hybrid." He eats some purees and some actual food. With purees he spoon feeds or pouch feeds himself. We do not decide how much he eats and we don't force him to eat if he doesn't like it. He's gotten great at picking up foods and eating them himself.

We chose what we are doing not based on any "rules" about BLW but because it fits what we have been doing since he was born, which is trusting HIS instincts. We like the freedom it gives him and weve never liked the idea of force feeding spoons of mush.

You've gotta do what you are most comfortable with.

mben1119

Why wouldn't anyone do this?  Purees are a pain in the butt. Feeding LO off your plate is much easier, and teaches them eating skills that they'll actually use as they grow and develop. We did not do BLW, but I wish we had. Our pediatrician had us start DS on table food after 6 months, and I'm glad we did. He has a very well-rounded diet and isn't scared to try new things.

ETA: Purees are actually a new thing, not BLW. What do you think people fed babies before there were blenders, baby bullets, and Gerber foods?  Stuff from their tables.

littleredfish

LalaMama81:

Here's the thing, there is no hybrid BLW. Either you do it or you don't. If you are giving purees and some table food, then you are doing just that. You aren't doing BLW. Is it just semantics, sure I guess.

There is nothing new about it. It's gaining popularity, but people haven't been feeding purees for centuries.

I suggest getting the book by Rapley if you really want to know more about it. It explains why it's better that purees, what the readiness signs are, how to do it, why it shouldn't be scary, etc.  

This. Food processors haven't been around forever, this isn't a new concept. It doesn't have to be a scary process. I did my research, I know baby CPR and what to do if she chokes so I feel 100% confident about doing it. She loves it, and it gives her the tools to learn how to eat better.

Children of all ages can choke, not just babies. You just have to be smart about what you feed them and watch them, don't just give them food and walk away (obviously). Gagging is normal and necessary because they have such a strong gag reflex at that age. DD has choked on mushroom and lived to tell the tale. I just make sure her food is steamed/cooked so it's soft enough for her to chew, and cut so she can hold on to it properly. It makes my life so easy because she just eats what we eat and I just have to cut it to her size. Oatmeal mixed with pureed fruit is the only food I feed her by spoon now and only because it is her favorite breakfast.

elampl

I apologize for my wording.   The term BLW is "new".   The concept is not.

theboki

You will be less "confused" if you read the book.  And yes, many pediatricians recommend it.

danslilgrizzly

We don't really do BLW, but our ped cleared table foods at DS's five-month check up and within one or two times of us offering him non-pureed food he got the idea. He hasn't choked and has only gagged once. He's even been able to handle skin on zucchini and cucumber without a problem. It's amazing how quickly they learn -- there is really no reason at all not to do it.

marleysimon

Thanks for all the info. Some of it def makes sense. Obviously i know food processors havent been around forever, but the argument that it should be done because it is what was around before pureed foods is kind of illogical because we don't do a lot of things that people did before they had all of today's options. 

 And to the pp who suggested I'd be less "confused" by it if I read a book.... I was just trying to be polite by using self deprecating language like "confused." 

tjkdlhb

The idea is that by 6 months, babies are generally able to pick up food and put it into their mouths by themselves.  Therefore by waiting until 6 months, then you've skipped the need to puree.  We started by mashing for a little while but letting DD feed everything herself.

We've loved it. As of now, DD is a fantastic eater.  I know that this could change at any point, and every baby is different, but for her, I can't imagine doing it any other way.  It's so much simpler.  I did take a first aid course just in case, but like PP said, at some point all babies have to get used to eating solids, regardless of the method of introduction. 

I spoke to a dietician and she said that many babies and young children are having difficulty now because parents stay too long on the puree stage and kids aren't used to the textures of things like meats.

As for the choking bit, with BLW, they learn to chew first, then swallow... not like with purees, where they learn to suck everything back and then all of a sudden have to deal with different textures and don't know what to do.  Actually,she's so good at chewing, right now she chews everything, even water, which means she ends up soaked at the end of drinking!

Also, agree with PP, that there isn't really a "hybrid"....  BLW means no purees.

wheelsonthebus

I honestly didn't even know there was a term for this. I always just thought it was called "giving your baby table food." haha. DD hated baby food, so I started giving her little pieces of our food and never looked back. She feeds herself. It's less stressful. She eats or she doesn't. It's up to her. She explores the food on her own. I put the food in front of her. It's up to her to eat it. I feel like this method makes the most sense.

RioG1978

theresat858:

Just a blw question...if if means no purees, do you never eat/give LO applesauce or mashed potatoes? Or even spaghetti sauce?

 Good question.

I thought for sure I'd be very into BLW for my LO, however when the time came it was pretty obvious she wasn't ready for it.  So I could either delay the offering of food even longer, or I could help her by introducing "purees" and mashed foods that she could hold in her mouth and take a more gradual approach to introducing solids. 

As there is no "right" and "wrong" way for 99% of everything baby, this is no different.  Not all baby's are ready to pick up pieces of food, find their mouths, chew that food, and swallow it by 6 months.   And just because you feed "baby food" doesn't mean you can't introduce texture. 

catmtl

theresat858:

Just a blw question...if if means no purees, do you never eat/give LO applesauce or mashed potatoes? Or even spaghetti sauce?

I don't think it means "no purees", rather the focus is on the baby-led part - so the baby feeds himself the applesauce and mashed potatoes with his bare hands or with a spoon. 

We've only been doing it for a couple weeks but it's going well so far. At a mommy group a few days ago a few people actually said they were impressed with how well DS was chewing chunks of cheese and crackers before swallowing.

MsLs

I agree with RIO. my DS was and is not ready for full on solid food and he was definitely ready to eat more at 4 mos as he was downing his bottles and still hungry. He is 7 mos and is just now able to pick up food and get it in his mouth. So OP don't let ppl make you feel stupid or like its wrong if you aren't doing BLW it's great for some and not great for others. And FYI I happen to like making my son purees

tjkdlhb

theresat858:

Just a blw question...if if means no purees, do you never eat/give LO applesauce or mashed potatoes? Or even spaghetti sauce?

I give DD real food.  Ie, what we are eating. So if we are eating something with applesauce, spaghetti sauce or mashed potatos then yes, she eats those things too.  She dips her fingers in them or I put it on a spoon and let her use the spoon.  She loves yogurt.  I do not put the spoon in her mouth, but I do put the yogurt on three or four spoons and let her pick them up to use. 

At first I gave her things with a soft texture, like sweetpotato or butternut squash strips so that I could see how well she handled it before moving on.

I do not give her things that are unhealthy like things with too much salt.  And I am careful about the shapes, so pasta would be cut small, grapes cut into 8ths etc. I grate apple because it is a choking hazard. I watch her closely when she is eating something new and adjust from there.

I trust that she is getting a lot of nutrition from the BM, so I don't worry how much she actually eats, however she is eating really well.  I hope that she continues to eat well, but that's a matter for time. She did gag at first, but now she chews amazingly well for someone with no teeth. 

It works great for her and for us.  Hopefully if we have other children we will be able to take this route, but maybe we'll have to do something else... who knows? I totally

stanfordt04

Kimbus22:

Well, people do it because it easy and there's no reason not to.  Making your own purees is time consuming and buying them is expensive.  It's much easier to just give your kid some of what you're cooking anyway.  I personally did it because DS ate purees starting at  4 months old but by 6 months old he flat out refused to let us feed him anything and kept trying to grab food off of our plates.

I found it's made him a very adventurous eater.  And yes, my pediatrician did recommend it. He generally recommends early exposure to as many foods as possible and said that there's no reason to give purees unless it makes you more comfortable.  The baby is going to have to learn to feed themselves and bite and chew at some point, why not start with it younger?

For me the only downside was the mess.  DS gagged a lot when he was learning but he never actually choked.  A baby's gag reflex is much further up in the throat than an adults.  Most of the time they'll gag and yak the food out on their own if they take too big a piece.

this exactly. i always get a little bothered when people say food before one is just for fun. sure it is fun to watch them explore. and sure the majority of their calories and nutrition are still coming from breast milk or formula... but i think some people think they can hold off on their babies eating solids because it is "just for fun." (meaning later than 6 months) i think babies learning to try new foods and textures is so important, even if their babies are showing no interest... i say keep trying every day and your baby will "get it!"... i also think it is important for them to practice their pincer grip as well and just learn meal time behavior all together. fun...absolutely! but also lots of very important skills are being taught in their development during meal time. 

marleysimon

LalaMama81:

marleysimon:

So, if saying you were confused was you being polite, then what, you read the book and understand BLW but think it's dumb?  

No, not exactly. I have not read the book, but did already have a negative opinion about it (just as a natural reaction to the idea).  But I didn't want to start out by saying "I think this is dumb," so I said I was "confused" by it.  I know people have their reasons for doing things, so that's why I asked.