Baby led weaning

[Aabbcc]

I don’t understand people saying that there is no mixing baby led and spoon fed.

You totally can mix them, except by spoon fed, you give the baby a preloaded spoon and they feed themselves with it, rather than you putting the spoon in their mouth. You work with (at least) two spoons on rotation. It also helps them learn how to use a spoon.

Of course it’s even more messy because the food will generally fall off the spoon or get flung but it’s all a learning curve. You can also use preloaded forks.

Baby led is about seeing and understanding the signs that baby is finished eating rather than trying to force more food into their mouth. Trusting that your baby understands their body’s cues to tell them they feel full rather than you telling them they need to clear their plate etc.

The hardest part for me is making sure I eat good meals to offer to my kids. I’m good with the evening meal but I barely eat breakfast or lunch so I sometimes get to lunchtime with barely any time to prepare and lockdown is making it harder for me to make sure I have suitable options in. (I don’t do the food shop like I used to!)

 

[Platypusfattypus]

Did it with all of mine. Really easy, they had what we had, we don't eat high salt foods but obviously you have to make sure that you have foods suitable for baby. Gill Rapleys baby led weaning book is good for the theory and the reasonings behind it. There's loads of cookery books but you don't need them, the beauty of blw is that baby just eats your meals. They just started weaning by themselves, picking up the food.

Choking wise, traditional weaning is more of a choking hazard as by using a spoon you can bypass babies natural gag reflex. My three did gag noisily on food at times but that wasn't scary because that was their tongue thrust reflex doing its job. Its also messy but easy to clean up. It's funny to see a six month old eating a sandwich

 

[Kim Mild]

I think it's a bit of a myth that 'food before one is just for fun' , babies do need to start eating in small amounts to get a balanced diet .

You get some proper blw nazis lol . My babies have all had sloppy porridge for breakfast cos that's what I eat most of the time.

 

[SunshineSally]

If I could go back in time and repeat the weaning process with my son I would as I was a stressy mess the whole time. You can't do a mixture of spoon feeding and BLW - it's one or the other. I recommend BLW whole heartedly and remember, and really remember (unlike old me), food before one is just for fun.

 

[KateToTheParty]

If I could go back in time and repeat the weaning process with my son I would as I was a stressy mess the whole time. You can't do a mixture of spoon feeding and BLW - it's one or the other. I recommend BLW whole heartedly and remember, and really remember (unlike old me), food before one is just for fun.

This - there is no mix of spoon and ‘baby Led’ you may use a mix of spoon and finger food but you can’t mix spoon feeding and BLW. Baby led us when you basically put the food in front of the child and wait for them to feed themselves. This is impossible if you are spoon feeding them:

I exclusively BLW (the only way it’s properly done) about 7 years ago, found it really simple and easy.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

Thank you sooo much ladies.
we’ve decided to move forward with blw. Baby is 6 months.
I’ve done a baby first aid course. I’ve read the Gill rapley baby led weaning book - we are ready!!

Have fun. I loved the weaning stage (as did my dog)

 

[Definitelyme]

Have done blw with all of mine. The main advice I have is read up about the difference between choking and gagging. Gagging is normal, and is a way of them learning how to manipulate food. Obviously choking is not. If you’d feel safer, take a baby first aid course beforehand so you’re comfortable in case the worst does happen.

None of mine have ever gotten even close to choking.

We just do straight up family food from the outset. I would also recommend looking up the division of responsibility, and maybe following someone like family_snack_nutritionist on Instagram as that’s a great way to prepare yourself for feeding kids in the long term.

 

[Carrie2019]

Thank you sooo much ladies.
we’ve decided to move forward with blw. Baby is 6 months.
I’ve done a baby first aid course. I’ve read the Gill rapley baby led weaning book - we are ready!!

 

[Tree_]

I did blw with both and they're good ish eaters. They'll try anything, whether they'll eat it all is another matter lol. I don't think there is a right way to wean between traditional or blw just be relaxed and I think most babies will do fine. And just remember whatever you think now most of us will be bribing our kids to behave with a happy meal in a couple of years anyway.

 

[Platypusfattypus]

I don’t understand people saying that there is no mixing baby led and spoon fed.

You totally can mix them, except by spoon fed, you give the baby a preloaded spoon and they feed themselves with it, rather than you putting the spoon in their mouth. You work with (at least) two spoons on rotation. It also helps them learn how to use a spoon.

Of course it’s even more messy because the food will generally fall off the spoon or get flung but it’s all a learning curve. You can also use preloaded forks.

Baby led is about seeing and understanding the signs that baby is finished eating rather than trying to force more food into their mouth. Trusting that your baby understands their body’s cues to tell them they feel full rather than you telling them they need to clear their plate etc.

The hardest part for me is making sure I eat good meals to offer to my kids. I’m good with the evening meal but I barely eat breakfast or lunch so I sometimes get to lunchtime with barely any time to prepare and lockdown is making it harder for me to make sure I have suitable options in. (I don’t do the food shop like I used to!)

Blw does not just mean finger foods and traditional weaning equal purees and thats it. It's the fact that blw equals the baby feeding themselves. If you preload spoons and the baby places them in their mouth you are blwing. If baby is feeding themselves only you are blwing. If you feed baby at any point you are traditionally weaning. It's the theory not the actual food.

 

[SunshineDreamer]

We didn’t do baby led weaning because no matter how much people told me it was safe o was paranoid that one of them would choke so I preferred ding the purées etc. That being said we didn’t stop them from playing with the food and putting their hands in it and in Their mouths.

 

[xoxo GG]

I don’t understand people saying that there is no mixing baby led and spoon fed.

You totally can mix them, except by spoon fed, you give the baby a preloaded spoon and they feed themselves with it, rather than you putting the spoon in their mouth. You work with (at least) two spoons on rotation. It also helps them learn how to use a spoon.

Of course it’s even more messy because the food will generally fall off the spoon or get flung but it’s all a learning curve. You can also use preloaded forks.

Baby led is about seeing and understanding the signs that baby is finished eating rather than trying to force more food into their mouth. Trusting that your baby understands their body’s cues to tell them they feel full rather than you telling them they need to clear their plate etc.

The hardest part for me is making sure I eat good meals to offer to my kids. I’m good with the evening meal but I barely eat breakfast or lunch so I sometimes get to lunchtime with barely any time to prepare and lockdown is making it harder for me to make sure I have suitable options in. (I don’t do the food shop like I used to!)

Exactly. Sometimes I’d preload a spoon and go to give it to my LO and she’d pull my hand into her mouth instead. Would I say I didn’t strictly follow BLW? No, because it was all her decision. I realised that she was working out the quickest and easiest way to be eating, more often than not it would be her favourite part of a meal that she wanted in her mouth quicker. The difference is following babies cue as opposed to feeding them even if they are full, don’t like it etc.

 

[chocolate choux]

I did a mix of mostly BLW with some spoon feeding. I thought BLW was great and preferred it. The best advice I could give is to relax and treat it like play - your baby doesn’t need to be eating much at first as they are still getting the bulk of their nutrition from breast milk/formula. Make it fun, don’t stress if most of it ends up on the floor because the goal isn’t just to get food in them, but to let them explore the food at their own pace. Also keep offering the same foods - my daughter literally would not even touch cheese for months before finally trying and enjoying it. Different textures keep things interesting, I found that cucumber and melon would go down well with teething. Also found that she would gag/choke (which is normal) less if I offered her very large pieces of solid food (big enough so she could hold it while nibbling) as she’d gnaw on it rather than trying to put a whole smaller piece in her mouth

Try not to stress out about it, I know it’s easier said than done but in a few months you’ll be wondering why it was such a big deal

 

[Shivers]

I chose to do traditional style weaning, so essentially spoon feeding with finger foods. My little one was never fussed on her milk and took to food straight away. So by 7 months was having three puréed meals a day. Then started introducing lumpier, then mashed, then just chopped foods gradually over the next few months. She’s 13 months now and does really well and feeds herself most of the time (with her hands, we’re still working on her using a spoon herself). I do think she was slightly held back by lack of teeth until literally about a week ago though!

I really liked the Annabel Karmel book. The recipes and meal guides literally take you through each phase from purées to just normal meals.

 

[Naataaliiee]

I loosely followed BLW. Started off at 6 months with very soft boiled veg (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot batons) and stuck with this for 2 weeks or so. Then did the same but with soft fruits, e.g banana. I found that using finger foods encouraged my little one to be more independent and she could choose from the start what she wanted from in front of her. At around 7 months I gradually introduced foods such as toast fingers, scrambled egg, roasted potatoes cut into fingers, omelettes...basically whatever we were having. My little girl is an amazing eater and will now eat anything I put infront of her, however whether this was down to my approach I’m not sure as me and her Daddy are massive foodies
Just experiment and find what your little one prefers at first to make eating fun. If its purees, so be it! Don’t stick firm to a belief as I genuinely believe some children are good with food and weaning; some aren’t, regardless of how you choose to approach it. Some of my friends’ babies hate ‘sloppy’ textures like yoghurt after BLW, some won’t eat solids til they’re ready. Just give plenty of options, lots of different textures and remember it’s something like a baby can take 12 attempts at one food to decide whether they like it or not, so plenty of exposure. Also remember ‘food is for fun’ before 1 year old so don’t stress, enjoy it and go with the pace your little one wants!

 

[Imainlylurk]

Exactly. Sometimes I’d preload a spoon and go to give it to my LO and she’d pull my hand into her mouth instead. Would I say I didn’t strictly follow BLW? No, because it was all her decision. I realised that she was working out the quickest and easiest way to be eating, more often than not it would be her favourite part of a meal that she wanted in her mouth quicker. The difference is following babies cue as opposed to feeding them even if they are full, don’t like it etc.

I agree with this, but I've never been much for strictly following just one theory when it comes to parenting. I am pretty sure my daughter could not have fed herself weetabix when she was 7 months

 

[SunshineSally]

Happy I’ve found this thread as I’m struggling with this! With my son (now 2.5) I did strictly purée food at first as i was terrified of the idea of BLW due to choking! So when my daughter turned 6 months at the beginning of this month I was confident we would do that to, however she just refuses the spoon so am kind of being forced into BLW! does anyone have any tips or advice on best foods to give her? The thing is I’ve just started slimming world so don’t really think my meals will be appropriate for her

Let her have what you are having but just make sure that it is low salt and, obviously, not overly processed

 

[LittleMy]

I did BLW with both my children, and if I had any more kids I’d do the same with them. It takes the stress out of feeding them because they can then have the same meals as the rest of the family (although slightly altered to suit them depending on what it is) and it’s surprising how well they manage on their own. Nowadays my 2yo will at least try most foods, but 5yo is far pickier with foods due to ASD. My mum tried to spoon feed 2yo as a baby when keeping him overnight once (she wasn’t for BLW) and she ended up wearing it.

 

[Keepitw0nky]

Yes it’s good, be relaxed with it, don’t expect them to eat much to begin with - ‘food is fun till 1’ is the saying I remember and don’t worry if they gag, it’s normal.

 

[Whaaaaat]

I did a mix of both purées and finger foods.

With finger foods started out with things like toast fingers or little bits of really soft pasta.

It worked well for us but my son is a brilliant eater — always has been since that first taste of carrot. Just do whatever you’re comfortable with. There’s no right or wrong way and all kids take to weaning at their own pace