Baby Led Weaning

littleredfish · October 2012

Who plans on/is doing baby led weaning? I've just started reading up on it because my pedi looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked her, so she didn't have much info on it. A friend of mine is doing it and loves it but my mother, MIL, and DH are all confused by the concept. They keep saying that the baby will choke on solids and not be able to take in the nutrition she needs right away since she has no teeth to chew and I can't seem to get anybody on board.

I got the same looks and reactions when I told my family I wanted to CD and now they are all on board with that and my pedi thinks they are adorable, so I figure if I want to do it I just will and they'll get with the program later on.

Who has some advice, experience, good reading on the subject to share. I'm also open to hearing bad experiences if they exist, I want to know what I'm getting myself into.

rapaulson · October 2012

My friend with 10 month old twins loves it! I tried for the past few nights and I'm not sure. Probably it'll be better when he can get food to his mouth on his own. Tonight he bit off a huge piece if avacado and did start choking! A quick thump on the back and he was fine but a little traumatized. I think I'll go back to mashing things up for awhile. Pedi said def no need to pure softer things though. Especially bc LO has reflux so he's better off the more solid things are. My pedi also never heard of blw!

picklesx · October 2012

I really wanted to do BLW and CD but it just didnt work out to get into it, and didnt really help that I also had a lot of negative "why would you do that?" Reactions from family friends about both concepts.

I hope it works out for you your LO. GL!

tjkdlhb · October 2012

I was actually going to post this last night!

DD stole some veggie dip off of my plate about a week ago, so I bought some oatmeal thinking that she would more or less fingerpaint with it. I never expected her to be able to get as much into her mouth as she did. At one point she faceplanted herself into it and ate that way. I've since tried carrots (not a hit), avocado (loves it), orange peppers (played with and licked) and she stole some asparagus from my plate which she liked as well. I'm slowing down on giving her stuff for a little while, because even though she likes it and is eating some (I see it on the diapers) I worry that her system isn't quite ready. She did gag a bit on the avocado, and I have registered for a first aid course...

I definitely love all of the good things about BLW... and the recommendation from the health dept. in my province is to give finger foods when they are able to bring them to their mouth, which she definitely can...

I don't want to spoonfeed her, but she is underweight (12 lbs, though meeting all milestones), so I have to take that into consideration too.

This is definitely the hardest decision I've ever made. I'm thinking I'm going to mix mashed food with fingerfoods, but let her do all of the putting food in her mouth, since she has done well with scooping up mash, that way she'll get some solids in her belly and still will get lots of BM. And then nobody is putting food in her mouth except her.

Here's some of the info I've been reading, plus the BLW cookbook.

https://www.rapleyweaning.com/

https://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=661474

https://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Parenting/31059?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&eun=g117131d0r&userid=117131&email=hblades@missouristate.edu&mu_id=

https://www.babyledweaning.com/ (forum there too)

https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyledweaning.htm

https://www.canadianfamily.ca/articles/facts-about-baby-led-weaning/

*****picklesx********* Cloth diapering is the best decision I've made so far for Addie. It's not nearly as difficult as people who are unfamiliar with it make it out to be. In fact I'd say it's pretty equal to using disposables except instead of running to the store, you go to the basement and throw on a load. I didn't say much to anyone about wanting to use cloth before I had Addie because I was afraid it wouldn't work out... but they work so much better than disposables (I used disposables a handful of times) People just don't understand that they aren't what they used to be. They go on just as easy as a disposable. Most of the people who were negative at first (like my sister) I think are jealous now that they've seen them that they didn't know about them when they had their kids.

littleredfish · October 2012

Interesting articles; thanks for those!

Squirrel29 · October 2012

My older son (who is just about 3) had a bad reaction to baby food and so tried BLW. I loved it, he loved it, my DH loved it. For us, it was ridiculously easy and straighforward. When he hit six months I just started putting in his highchair and giving him food while I ate. I followed a lot of the recommendations from the book on what sorts of foods to give and it took him a while to figure it out but he had a lot of fun learning. I think it took about a month before he started really taking anything in and then by 8 months he was eating full on meals, I think it was around 8 or 9 months when he was eating omelets for breakfast everyday. He never choked on anything and rarely if ever even gagged himself. I was really hands off with the whole thing and he's been a fairly good eater ever since (he eats a lot but hates veggies). I tried baby food with my DS2 about a week ago (at just a little over 5 months) and he had a similar bad reaction to it as my DS1 did so I'm going to wait until he hits 6 months and try BLW with him too.

As for comments from other poeple - just ignore them, why is it any of their business how you feed your baby, you know??

fryrat · October 2012

I had to start on the pureed stuff because DD was out eating my BM supply, but now that she's a supported sitter, and reaching for the spoon, we got her the mesh feeder. She can bring things to her mouth, and gum them all she wants without me having to worry about choking since she isn't really ready in the chewing department. Once she's got that down, we will move to things that are mushy on their own, and go that route. We are definitely following her cues.

*Side note, we brought in a pepper from the garden and were showing her, she grabbed it and tried to eat it! She may get a surprise when she tastes the inside, but that will be the first thing we put in the mesh feeder.

littleredfish · October 2012

fryrat:

I had to start on the pureed stuff because DD was out eating my BM supply, but now that she's a supported sitter, and reaching for the spoon, we got her the mesh feeder. She can bring things to her mouth, and gum them all she wants without me having to worry about choking since she isn't really ready in the chewing department. Once she's got that down, we will move to things that are mushy on their own, and go that route. We are definitely following her cues.

*Side note, we brought in a pepper from the garden and were showing her, she grabbed it and tried to eat it! She may get a surprise when she tastes the inside, but that will be the first thing we put in the mesh feeder.

For the mesh thing, do you mean like those mesh teethers you can put frozen fruits in, or is it something different? I saw those and thought of getting one since she has started teething. This is why I am looking into this now.

I know she is only almost 5 months, but she sits up very well unassisted (she can sit on the floor to play for 10-15 mins before I pick her up out of boredom, not because she falls over) and can brings things to her mouth very well. She also is super interested in us when we eat. She tries to grab our food, utensils and cups to put in her mouth. She knows how to eat from a spoon and drink from a water bottle.

sandrajean09 · October 2012

I haven't started yet, but this is the method I want to try when we introduce solids at the 6 month mark! I bought the Gill Rapley book on Amazon and have been reading it the past few days whenever I have a moment of quiet time. I did give P a piece of banana in a mesh teether today while I was making dinner, though, and she loved putting it in her mouth.

elviebird · October 2012

We started BLW a couple of weeks ago. At first she was really confused, but now she eats like a champ. We've done steamed veggies: avocado raw, broccoli, green beans, and carrots. I think the key is offering foods they can easily pick up and put in their mouths, big pieces that they can hold on to. The avocado was too mushy, but she has done well with everything else. My only question is when to add spices and salt. I don't want her to be a bland eater but they say no added salt or sugar... So I'm not sure what to do here?

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