Talk to me about BLW

seamonkey0814 · January 2015

I just finished reading the book in preparation to start with DS. I didn't realize quite how radical true BLW is. I totally love the idea of self feeding and introducing LO to a wide variety of foods from the start but I'm very leery of the idea of letting him make all the choices about what he eats. I don't want to force him to eat foods he doesn't like or need, but I also want him to eat the food I prepare for him. It's just not going to work ifwe're wasting perfectly good food because he's holding out for a preferred snack later. Did anyone do true BLW and can you tell me about your LO's food choices and eating habits now that they are a bit older?

Ya Never Know · January 2015

I'm a little confused by "making all the choices about what he eats". Even with BLW, I would think you would be in control of what is served, and he would be in control whether he eats it or not. Don't serve foods that you don't want him to eat, serve what he needs and from that, he will decide what he likes. If all of his options are mommy-approved, then whatever he chooses will work.

ashiscute · January 2015

I'm not sure how BLW would be more of a concern to you than traditional purées. You still choose the menu and deliver. It's still up to your LO what they eat.

You can spoon feed puréed peas to a baby all day long but if they don't want it they'll spit out. You can't actually make them eat it. Same if you serve the regular peas you are already eating. The ball is in their court. And you wouldn't be wasting food because the idea is to give what you are already eating. It's actually less wasteful because with purées you are either buying or making food for them only and what isn't eaten is tossed.

DS had only spoon fed food that anyone would eat like oatmeal and applesauce. He did really well that way and is a good eater now. Yes he goes through stages of being picky and only wanting strawberries but that's normal.

MrsCarroll.6-10-07 · January 2015

LalaMama81 said:
Well no matter how you feed your kid, you can't force them to eat anything.

Just b/c you let them choose what to eat w/ BLW doesn't mean they get free reign of the kitchen. You make food & serve it. If they want, they eat it. It's going to be quite awhile before they're old enough to hold out for a snack later - by the time they are old enough to do that, you can be stricter about it. Plus, if you are alway offering a healthy snack, it doesn't matter much.

Anyway, I've done BLW w/ my 2nd & 3rd kid and love it. I wouldn't go any other way.

All of my kids are great eaters overall, but they still have picky phases. I attribute that to exposure, more than BLW.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say right down to the 2nd and 3rd kid.

blu-eyedwife · January 2015

I don't think you understand BLW.

The idea behind the "choice" as opposed to the typical puree feeding is that the child controls the amount of food and what they "choose" to eat. So if you put a slice of melon on the table, they may not eat the whole thing, or they may not eat the melon at all. Because you're not pureeing the melon and placing it in their mouth, the "choice" is up to them. But the same is going to hold true for all meals with your older child whether you start out with purees or BLW. You present the food and they will choose to eat it or not.

dufferoo · January 2015

One nice thing about BLW is you don't really have to worry about your child not eating the food you've specially prepared for him because... You're not specially preparing food for him! He's eating what you eat, to the best of his abilities. I suppose he might reject a certain food just as likely as he might reject baby food, but in the case of BLW, you can just clean up his scraps, or give them to your husband, because they are real, normal food. To answer your second question, we did true BLW with my son, found it very simple, though messy, and now at age 28 months, he eats about like any other toddler, has his own likes and dislikes, but is quite willing to try new foods, and he is actually probably neater and more efficient with utensils. I enjoyed BLW as a mom because I thought it was cool to share meals as a family and silly to make such a huge fuss about preparing special meals when my son was perfectly happy to enjoy real people food.

seamonkey0814 · January 2015

Maybe I don't totally understand yet. When I read the book I understood that it was advocating that you never encourage your LO to eat a food that they've left behind. You just offer them healthy foods and let then do what they want with it. My problem with that is that I serve meals that are well thought out to be balanced. If you just eat the fruit and leave the yogurt, for example, I have to try to remember to squeeze some dairy into you at another time in the day. I totally know that that example makes me sound crazy controlling, but the point is I just don't see the harm in encouraging your kids to try a bit of everything on the plate without forcing or bribing them to do it. Some foods just taste better than others but the less tasty foods are still important!

I guess in the end I totally love the idea of self feeding and letting LO control the quantity he's eating, but I also plan to start discussing nutrition at an early age and teaching him why we eat the foods that we do. I just don't believe in this whole "kids will eat what their bodies need" philosophy. Kids will eat what tastes good, just like the rest of us.

ashiscute · January 2015

I don't think you do understand. Say you make meatloaf, baked potatoes, and green beans for a meal. You offer your LO a serving of each and let him explore all three options.

You will never, ever have the type of control over your children's eating habits that you are describing. Your job is to prepare well balanced meals and snacks and let them decide what to eat. No one needs so many servings of a certain group each day. It's just not logical. You need to look at the way your LO is eating over a week instead of each day individually.

I guess I don't understand how you think you can control what will be eaten if you don't do BLW. Also, it's important to remember that this is a way to introduce food to your LO. But your LO will still be getting their nutrition from formula or breast milk. So at 6 or 7 months the food they are eating is all a bonus.

MrsCarroll.6-10-07 · January 2015

Also my Pediatrician said to aim for a "balanced week" not a balanced day. It takes a lot of the stress off of you. If you know they ate no veggies yesterday, try them again the next day, or dairy, etc.

dufferoo · January 2015

Ditto what @ashiscute‌ said about breastfeeding. When we started BLW at around 7-8 months (can't remember exactly, but it was the book recommendation), I was still breastfeeding exclusively, so I really didn't have any worries about nutrition. My son was getting perfect nutrition already, so food was just for exploration at that stage. I offered him healthy foods and I felt zero pressure to push him to eat. I felt like making food such a non-issue really set my son up for long-term healthy eating habits like trying new foods, only eating to the point of satiety, taking his time to chew thoroughly and swallow, taking part in family meals that are both social and nutritious, etc. Overall, from reading your posts, I think you are probably legitimately too controlling to really execute true BLW, and that's fine, but in the name of helping you understand why others might choose this route, it's essence is to take advantage of baby's developmental stages and set him up for long-term healthy eating habits. Another thing to keep in mind is that BLW really works best for families who already eat pretty healthily. That's why you hear so many cute stories about little BLWers eating poached salmon and spinach lasagna and such. We get it about kids getting balanced nutrition, and we model it to our kids.

blu-eyedwife · January 2015

ClaryPax said:

If you are leary about it then you don't have to do it. There are a whole lot of room between being sort of forceful with purees or reagular food and sitting back and letting your child eat doughnuts at every meal (over exaggeration of course!).

And to add to this, because I agree with @ClaryPax and don't think she's advocating for doughnuts at every meal ;-) If you don't want your kid eating crap, don't offer them crap. If everything you offer is balanced, nutritious, dare I say, healthy, they won't have a choice but to eat balanced, nutritious, healthy foods.

*Disclaimer - I'm not touching on legitimately picky eaters with actual sensory issues, failure to thrive, or behavioral components to their food intake.

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