A little clarification/explaination on BLW please

LaurensMomma1105 · July 2013

Hey all! I'm in NO WAY being judgy about people who do this, but I would like a little more detail about BLW.

My LO is 8 months and I tried to give her teeny tiny pieces of bread the other night and she wouldn't swallow it down. She was gagging and looking mad about it so I fished it out of her mouth.

After that I did some research on BLW and the website said, "No more blenders, potato mashers, or food processors!". I thought, "well, my baby isn't an inconvenience so I have no problem pureeing her food if need be".

Is that the only benefit? Not having to puree? I know that people say that there is a difference between gagging and choking and if she's only gagging, that's okay... but I don't really want her gagging either. Shouldn't eating be a pleasant experience?

What is the general concensus on BLW and are there any benefits to my LO?

Thank you!!!

*LrCg* · July 2013

I'm a 3rd time mom and I didn't really research BLW when I gave solids to our first nor had I heard of the term. I delayed introduction of food until @8-9 months old because I didn't see any reason to give anything other than BM (plus I have issues watching babies gag on purees when they are 4-6 months old- it just seems very unnatural) so when they were that age, I felt it pointless to do baby food since they were almost a year old anyways so I just gave them our table food. When our 2nd came to be honest I can remember thinking thank goodness we don't do baby food because it was much easier using regular food (my first 2 are just a little over a year apart)- to think of packing baby food when we go out to eat (how do you heat that) and of course they always want what your eating anyways....

kerbear135 · July 2013

We're doing BLW and I don't see it as convenience issue. To me, it's just what worked best for DD and us. She doesn't like the texture of pureed food- she spits it right out but with BLW, she'll move it around in her mouth for awhile, although she may or may not eat it. Sooner or later, every child has to learn and adapt to the textures that come along with "adult" food, some of us just prefer to start there, while others prefer to use purees as an in-between...I don't think one way is "better" than the other, it really just depends on the baby.

st.augbride · July 2013

I'm trying to understand this too. I get the gagging vs choking thing, but the truth is that as you develop you learn how to move things around your mouth better, so I would think the choking risk would be higher for a young baby. There just isn't research looking at this quite yet. I'm interested in it, but will probably do purees until she develops more control with her hands and mouth.

pb_bride · July 2013

I recommend reading the BLW book by Gill Repley. It's easy to read and will answer your questions about BLW.

I read the book but decided I wanted to start DS on solids before 6 months, so we were doing puree from 4.5-6.5 months. At 6.5 months, DS started refusing the spoon, so we switched over to BLW (except for oatmeal/yogurt which I spoon-feed DS).

Some of the benefits of BLW is that babies learn to handle solid foods/chew before they swallow. They control how much food they want to eat. They get to see & feel the real textures of different foods.

As for gagging, it only happened to DS for the first 5-7 days. Now he rarely gags. I personally think it's a GOOD thing that he has learned how much food he can chew/swallow.

But as I mentioned above, the MAIN issue was that DS refused to be spoon-fed. It was a battle at meal time trying to get him to eat. Now, that was NOT a pleasant experience. After we switched to BLW, DS is so much happier. I honestly did not mind pureeing foods (I still have a freezer full of homemade purees), but I must admit I now enjoy MY meal times more because I don't have to spoon-fed him. WE just all sit at the table and enjoy our foods.

P.S. There are other foods that DS loves, and you really don't get the full flavor/texture if you puree it. For example, he loves bread speared with French Brie. I don't think it'll taste the same in a pureed form!

CCooper73 · July 2013

i have also heard that some people choose baby led weaning because they learn to chew then swallow, where with purees they learn to swallow before they learn to chew.

nanabanana06 · July 2013

I did pourees with my DD. At some point between 6 and 9 months she decided that purees pissed her off and wanted finger food. So we switched her to finger foods. She did great and really mastered the art of chewing. There was no gradual progression as with purees. No fine puree so they dont "choke", no small lumps, big lumps, ect. There is not need to treat babies as if they cannot handle textures. So, with my son I skipped purees and just gave him what we eat. It's so nice so see him experience a full range of fruits, veggies, and REAL food. Last night he had spaghetti with us and loved it! The act that he eats what we eat means he gets to experience all the different types of foods, textures, ect and learn how to properly chew. Babies don't learn how to chew correctly by force feeding a spoon. It's been such a lovely experience. Takes so much pressure off of making him east X amount of purees each day, meals, ect. In our house food before 1 is just for fun. He'll be getting his diet from formula until he decides he's ready to wean.

kjsmith9 · July 2013

I certainly don't think DD is an inconvenience, but I'm pretty excited that I don't have to spend time making purees every weekend. I just don't have the time (we don't live near ANY family to help with babysitting, DH and I both work full time, etc)... and I also don't want to pay for baby food.

We started BLW when she was 1 week shy of 6 months. I don't think she actually swallowed anything until about 3 weeks in, and she rarely gags on anything anymore. She's never choked.

It's nice that meal times are low key, and I'm not constantly worrying about how many ounces of baby food she's eating. I don't keep track of her consumption - if she just wants to play and throw stuff on the floor, oh well. If she eats everything, great! Plus, when we go to restaurants, I just order a plain veggie off the side dish menu... I don't have to take special food for her, and I don't have to worry about her being crabby and bored because she can't have what we're having.

SurpriseAt39 · July 2013

With DD I started with pur?es at 4 months. She spit them out.a.lot. But she ate them. I made my own because I couldn't see the sense in spending so much money on jarred stuff that I could make a lot cheaper myself. And I was a SAHM at the time, not that it took a lot of time to prepare them. And, I could offer a lot more variety than what I could find in jars.

I don't recall when she switched to finger foods, but I always served her whatever we ate once she started on table foods. If she didn't like it, she didn't eat it. And she was breast fed until 11 months.

This time around, (11 years later) with DS, we started BLW at 5.5 months. He had been sitting well unassisted since 4 months, mimicking chewing and reaching for our food at meal time. He has done awesome. Rarely gags, enjoys eating everything and has an awesome pincer grasp at 7 months. When he eats yogurt or soup I thicken them because, like DD, he spits them out otherwise.

Now, when I think back, I bet if I had thickened DD's food, I bet less of it would have come out. I think the texture makes a big difference. DD always preferred thicker stuff.

DS amazes everyone with what he eats. And restaurants are so easy. No jars to carry around, no baby spoons to lose. I wish I had known about BLW when DD was a baby.

dufferoo · July 2013

Beyond just being convenient, baby led weaning is supposed to teach kids to moderate their own eating and learn their own hunger/full signals. With spoonfeeding, you are in charge of how much they eat and parents have a tendency to keep persuading their baby to eat more, whereas in blw the baby eats as much as he wamts and then stops. Also, it takes advantage of baby's developmental skillset at the time of starting solids: ability to pick stuff up and put it in mouth, desire to gnaw on stuff and explore different textures, etc,

Also, the idea of blw is to start off giving babies larger pieces of food so they can hold it, gnaw on it and learn to chew so that by the time the baby develops his pincer grip, he already has the hang of chewing before swallowing. If you've always fed your baby purees, he hasn't really had to learn to chew yet, so if you just decided to give him little pieces of bread one day, it's no wonder he gagged.

jennygirlmt · July 2013

DD1 refused purees. So that led me to discover BLW. DD2 also hates purees and won't let me near her with a spoon. So we do BLW with her. I'm a texture freak so I'm not surprised my girls are like this. Both girls gag, but their gag reflex is so good that it barely phased her. Neither has ever choked.

Purees are simple to make so I doubt anyone's reasoning is that. I think for most it's that they feel their LO enjoys it, learns self control and capacity, dexterity and ability to chew and an early love of flavor and food.

Dd is 8 months and ate orange peppers, edamame and burger tonight and was a happy little eater. She eould have fought a spoon abd been angry. I think it's important to do what works for your LO.

vettymama · July 2013

MichieU79:
jociejones:
Beyond just being convenient, baby led weaning is supposed to teach kids to moderate their own eating and learn their own hunger/full signals. With spoonfeeding, you are in charge of how much they eat and parents have a tendency to keep persuading their baby to eat more, whereas in blw the baby eats as much as he wamts and then stops. Also, it takes advantage of baby's developmental skillset at the time of starting solids: ability to pick stuff up and put it in mouth, desire to gnaw on stuff and explore different textures, etc,
Also, the idea of blw is to start off giving babies larger pieces of food so they can hold it, gnaw on it and  learn to chew so that by the time the baby develops his pincer grip, he already has the hang of chewing before swallowing. If you've always fed your baby purees, he hasn't really had to learn to chew yet, so if you just decided to give him little pieces of bread one day, it's no wonder he gagged.
This!  

All this. I recommend the book Baby Led Weaning if you are curious.

dufferoo · July 2013

One other thought on blw: I think of it as an alternative to spoonfeeding, but not necessarily better. I'm obviously into it, but if you're not, and purees are working great for you, I don't see any reason to switch. The whole thing just felt really organic to me and I kind of started before I'd ever heard the term "baby led weaning." Eating real solids made my baby happy, which in turn made me happy. Reading the book helped me defend my choice to my mom and mother-in-law, but I never thought of it as the bible of feeding and I don't necessrily adhere to every principle as set out by the author.

linzeek44 · July 2013

LaurensMomma1105:
What is the general concensus on BLW and are there any benefits to my LO?

I don't think there is a "general consensus" on BLW. It's just one more parenting choice, like cloth or disposables.

We do BLW and I think there are benefits for our family. I do like not having to puree, and I love how we eat meals together-- we eat together, rather than me eating and spoon feeding him at the same time or at a time outside of meals.

I also love that he has autonomy over what he eats and how much. I don't worry about ounces, I don't worry if he doesn't want the choice of the day, and I don't worry about a power struggle. I don't have to coax him to open his mouth, and there's no "here comes the airplane" kind of things. I put the food on the table, and he either eats it or doesn't. So simple.

We started at 6m and he was ready. His first meal was banana, and he picked it up and ate it. It was amazing to me. I'd say in almost 4 months he has only gagged four or five times, and it's not scary. It's more like a bit of coughing and the food comes forward in his mouth and he either tries again or spits it out.

He eats everything, which is really great. I love sitting down and sharing black bean quesadilla, or spaghetti with ground turkey, or lemon pepper asparagus.

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A little clarification/explaination on BLW please

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