- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Attachment Parenting
nahokulele
member
BLW - hybrid method? Iron?
nahokulele
member
Hi ladies, I went back several pages and didn't see anything about this, so I'm hoping I can get some insight here.
I'm interested in BLW for DD, who just turned 5 months. She is very interested in food. She is currently EBF. Was planning to wait until 6 months, but I'm experiencing a drop in supply and pedi recommended starting her on iron-fortified cereal around 5 months.
Does anyone do a little bit of spoon feed plus self-feed? Like can I start spoon feeding her cereal so that she gets iron but also let her start trying smushed avocados by herself? What I read online seems to be strictly one method or the other...I'm looking for more of a hybrid method b/c I want to make sure she gets iron and I'm also a little nervous about the choking I read about surrounding BLW.
Any recommendations? I am new to the BLW concept.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: BLW - hybrid method? Iron?
Yes, we did.
Per the advice of my pediatric GI doctor, we started solids at 4.5 months. We did a multi-grain cereal on occasion. When LO hit 5 months, we started with BLW.
I agree with PP that I don't necessarily buy into the iron deficiency thing, but if you want to give cereal you sure can. One suggestion I've heard is to roll the slippery foods (avocado, bananas) in a bit of baby cereal. It helps them be less slippery.
I will also say that we did a hybrid with my son because his in home day care provider wasn't comfortable with BLW since she had multiple kids to watch. He did fine.
We never did iron - but had her tested at her 9 month and 12 month appts. She was never deficient. They just do a finger prick - it's not a full blood test.
If you do cereal, I would recommend a whole grain version as opposed to a white rice.
We did BLW for the most part, but gave kiddo things like applesauce and the occasional pouch. She mostly played and sucked on food for a LONG time, and finally really started eating around 15-18 months.
She did gag a number of times, which is totally nervewracking, but they really are not choking. They are gagging. It's hard to watch, but you need to just leave them alone and they end up spitting out the food. Choking is a whole different story, and there was never any choking involved with our kiddo.
There is some good information out there on kellymom and LLL about whether to give iron fortified foods to an EBF so early. There is some evidence that it interferes with iron absorption from BM, from which it is readily absorbed. If you are concerned about anemia, it's a very quick finger poke and a 5 minute test in the dr.'s office to find out if her levels are normal, which she probably is.
I did both spoon feeding and BLW for DD. She ate very, very tiny quantities of solids (maybe a tsp or so), most days refusing them altogether, though she always appeared very interested. Just keep in mind that it's not for calories at this point. It's just for them to get used to textures and tastes.
In the most practical sense, if you'd like to go the BLW route but still offer some foods that your baby physically can not feed himself yet (ie - cereal, or in my case soup), then you can put the food on the spoon for baby & hold the spoon within reach. If you baby's interested, he'll reach out, grab your hand & bring it to his mouth & eat what he can/wants.
Sometimes when we're out, food items like I give her at home aren't cut the same shape/size that would allow her to hold on, so I hold it, she grabs my hand & brings the food to her mouth. When she's done, she pushes the food in my hand away & I respect her wishes. So the spirit of BLW is still followed, at least in part. Of course handling the food is part of the BLW experience, so when the shapes/sizes are done appropriately, we just let her do her thing.
Like you, we started a little earlier than 6 months because my daughter was demanding her share at every meal and she showed all the signs of readiness.
Good luck!
First of all, I would get the doctor to actually check your LO's iron before starting on cereal just for that reason. Docs will tell you that your LO won't be able to get adequate iron from just BM, but that was not the case for me, and I didn't ever use fortified/formula and didn't start any meat til 10.5 months.
As far as BLW, the part of BLW that is of utmost important to *me* is that through BLW you can ensure your LO isn't actually ingesting food before their guts are ready for it. If you are spoon feeding or putting cereal in a bottle, that isn't the case. DS already had food allergies so I wanted to be sure his stomach was ready. We started with finger food only at 6 months (a few days shy, really), and his poop didn't change (to show ingestion) until about 7 months. Around 7ish months, my MiL watched him overnight and gave him lots of spoonfed food. She was completely freaked out by BLW (She also gave him a TON of rice cereal against my wishes...omg constipation!). He really enjoyed being spoonfed, so I made some pureed fruits and veggies and he had an assortment of finger foods and purees every day after that until he started refusing to be spoon fed around 9 or 10 months.
I started with this approach, too. We started solids a little before six months even though that was not my original plan.
After just a couple days, my LO was taking the pre-loaded spoon from my hand and feeding himself. He loved the independence and control he had over the situation. 
I highly recommend reading the book Baby-Led Weaning and/or researching it online. It explains the gagging/choking issue very well. Also, I suggest waiting until six months to try BLW. That's what is recommended and for good reason. Your LO will be much more ready for it at that age, trust me! GL!
The AAP, WHO, etc. all recommend nothing but BM until 6months. There is not a blanket need for iron fortified cereals at any age. Frankly, that advice is a bit outdated. I wouldn't start with cereals at 5m just because Pedi said so. If you're genuinely concerned about it, they can test for iron deficiency but the iron in BM is very easily absorbed so it's pretty rare for it to be an issue for a healthy full term infant. Furthermore, if you're concerned about your supply, feeding LO things like cereals may only make matters worse.
Lots of babies are interested in food before 6m, because they are becoming more aware of the world so they are interested in everything. One thing to keep in mind, babies don't know what food is or that it tastes good or fills their tummy. All baby knows is it's new and interesting and mom/dad are doing things with it so they want to also.
We did a combination of purees and finger foods. MIL insisted on buying baby food and feeding him with a spoon every time she saw him, even though we repeatedly told her it wasn't necessary. And we spoon feed him things like yogurt and applesauce that aren't easily self-fed. He has increasingly wanted to hold the spoon himself though so we'll put food on it and let him practice. Sometimes he gets frustrated and just wants us to feed him. He loves feeding himself though. We started offering foods after 6m, he really didn't care much about eating until around 7.5-8m, and now loves food most of the time. There are days/meals that he's less interested in eating and times he can't seem to get enough. We never did cereals, I have tried offering him bites of my regular oatmeal and he wants nothing to do with it. I think it's too plain, he seems to prefer foods with flavor.
I don't think it has to be all one or the other. At some point all kids will transition to finger foods, it's just BLW starts that sooner. I would recommend you wait until LO can sit well independently before starting foods. So many studies show the benefits to waiting to start feeding solids. While it's exciting and fun to see them eating "real" food, they have the rest of their life to try all the wonderful foods available. They only have a few short years, if even that long, of getting the perfect nutrients in BM.
You can definitely spoon feed and do BLW. I did all BLW at home and a mix of BLW and spoon feeding at daycare. LO did well with both methods.
We skipped cereal all together. DD was deficient in iron and my very AP, nutrition-minded pedi suggested that we give DD an iron drop in addition to making sure she was getting foods high in iron, which we were doing. She was EBF but even when we started BLW she was still low in iron. My pedi checked her iron levels each month (when we were in the office for vacs--we do a delayed schedule) and eventually her levels were normal and we were able to stop the drops.