Does anyone do partial BLW?

[Adaline'sMama]

So, being here on MDC has got me thinking about BLW. I had neve heard of it before, and I was really excited about making my own baby food. Ive done it a few times, and mainly she just likes to play. We started experimenting with solids because she was reaching for our food when we were eating. Right now, she eats maybe 4-8oz food per week. So, she is still getting 98% of her nutrients from breastmilk.

I like making the food for her, but part of me thinks that if she was ready to eat food, it shouldnt have to be pureed. Id still like to experiment with it though, mainly because she likes tasting things. She has probably tasted at least 50 things by now, lots of it being our food/bev.

So, I am wondering, if I should just drop the solids completely and just wait until she can eat our food, or is it good for her to experiment 2-3 times a week with the food that isnt so much of a choking hazard?

[Dov'sMom]

My son is two weeks older than your daughter and he is fine with non-pureed foods. I don't know how many foods he's had, but for hte most part it's softer things (banana, avocado, cooked carrots, potatoes, beets, parsnip, etc.). We just cut it up pretty small and sit him in the high chair. There is no playing with my son -- if he is hungry he is EATING! FEED ME! MORE! MORE! (well, he makes this loud 'mmmm' sound as he stuffs the food in his mouth) and when he's done he just wants out.

[Adaline'sMama]

Dov's Mom,
Ive been scared to give her those foods solid. I guess Ill jsut try it. I usually mash them with a fork (so, its not really pureed, its just mashed up). She has just started to sit unassisted (like, as of yesterday), so maybe we'll try that in the next week or two. Nice to know what to look forward to. She is FEED ME! FEED ME! at the boob all the time.

[tzs]

i guess i kind of did at the beginning. i think because #1, i had inherited some awesome homemade organic purees, #2 because sometimes we just really didn;t have anything baby appropriate around (and yeah, she ate what we ate but caesar salad which is basically only romaine leaves....just wasn't going to cut it), and #3 i DO believe solids at the beginning is just for taste and texture and experience and so i guess sometimes i wanted to allow her to have some of the tastes and textures that she wouldn't have if i just gave her chunks of food. stuff she couldn't eat herself for whatever reason sometimes i would feed her. this awesome carrot ginger soup is one thing i can think of off hand.
i don;t see why you would have to be all or nothing. it should be fun and it's not a science by any means although the books would make it out to be.
but for the most part we did blw.....you just have to give it a shot once you think they're ready and realize that although gagging is scary, if they're making noise then they're fine. i think we only really gagged twice in all.
good luck.

[Adaline'sMama]

tzs,
Thanks! The gagging does scare me, but Im willing to try solids pretty soon.
I couldnt help but notice that you have an Ada. We call DD Ada most of the time. Is yours an Adaline, or something else, or is it just Ada?

[Nicole730]

I would say we are doing partial BLW. We had apple-plum sauce with dinner for a few meals, so I would load her spoon up and give it to her. She gets the spoon in her mouth most of the time. I've put soft cooked chunks of veggies/soft fruits on her plate, she attempts to get those in her mouth, but she is not as effecient as she is with the spoon. I am taking a very relaxed approach to solids though, somedays I offer, some days I don't. When I do offer, it is just once a day.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama

tzs,
Thanks! The gagging does scare me, but Im willing to try solids pretty soon.
I couldnt help but notice that you have an Ada. We call DD Ada most of the time. Is yours an Adaline, or something else, or is it just Ada?

cool! it's just ada. it was a yiddish name from a grandmother...i wonder if adaline is related.....
do you call her ada potata' as well?

[SubliminalDarkness]

I would not feel comfortable doing partial, but I do feel comfortable doing BLW.

Part of the process of BLW is defeated when you also teach a child to accept eating at someone else's pace, and a food that does not have a normal texture. This contradicts the principles of BLW.

[Knitting Mama]

For me the big thing about BLW is that we're not teaching a child to ignore what their body says (either "I'm not hungry" or "I'm hungry") by pushing them into our notion of when it's time to eat. I would rather my daughter learn to follow the signals her body gives than to push her into "mealtimes."

[jsh7809]

I plan to partially BLW, by letting her play with solids that I think are safe (soon, not quite yet), much her fingers in purees and slurp them if she feels like it, mooch little bits of my meals, etc. I'm really excited about it! (says the first time mom who's never had to clean up a solids-eating baby yet )

I am looking at it as a natural progression - allowing her to experiment and play and enjoy food at her own pace. I will probably make some purees, which I think is fine (I mean, I eat soups and cereals and things too sometimes!), and will let her takes bites from a spoon if she's into it. If not, no big deal, as we'll likely keep breastfeeding for her main nutrition for a good while yet.

I'm hoping that making food fun will encourage her to be a courageous eater later in life, but I don't think I can control it, so we'll just have fun at her pace. Right now she wants to put everything in her mouth, so in another month or two, I'll let her try food, too. And we'll just see what happens.
Trust your gut

[SilverFish]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness

I would not feel comfortable doing partial, but I do feel comfortable doing BLW.

Part of the process of BLW is defeated when you also teach a child to accept eating at someone else's pace, and a food that does not have a normal texture. This contradicts the principles of BLW.

really? if you breastfeed, you are "giving" your child food, but most mothers are very capable of reading the signals their child sends about when they are hungry and letting the child direct the feeding. not sure how those same mothers are suddenly incapable of reading their child's signals just because the food is on the end of a spoon. and you could argue that breastmilk doesn't have a "normal" texture, either. they are certainly receiving nutrients in a form and source that they will never experience after weaning. pureed or mashed foods aren't "abnormal", they are just one of the many ways people get food substances into their bellies. now i am pretty much against never feeding a child anything but thin bland purees, strapping them into a reclining highchair and dribbling food into their mouths from 4 months onwards. but i think there is a place for a mashed or pureed food specially prepared for a baby to eat once in a while.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by SilverFish

really? if you breastfeed, you are "giving" your child food, but most mothers are very capable of reading the signals their child sends about when they are hungry and letting the child direct the feeding. not sure how those same mothers are suddenly incapable of reading their child's signals just because the food is on the end of a spoon. and you could argue that breastmilk doesn't have a "normal" texture, either. they are certainly receiving nutrients in a form and source that they will never experience after weaning. pureed or mashed foods aren't "abnormal", they are just one of the many ways people get food substances into their bellies. now i am pretty much against never feeding a child anything but thin bland purees, strapping them into a reclining highchair and dribbling food into their mouths from 4 months onwards. but i think there is a place for a mashed or pureed food specially prepared for a baby to eat once in a while.

I disagree. A bottle does not allow a baby, especially a very young baby, to entirely control their eating. A baby cannot be forced to breastfeed, nor in most cases does a breast drip/leak/spray on it's own. The baby must work to get the milk.

Food should be textured. A pear is not mush. Meat is certainly not mush. If a child is only able to handle the consistency of mush, they are not yet ready to consume foods and should remain on a breast only diet(barring, of course, major issues in an older child).

I did quite a bit of reading on this years ago, and it emphasized the importance of teaching a child to control the pace of their eating. That cannot be fully achieved with someone else feeding them. The same would hold true if the child was being fed solid foods.

[HappiLeigh]

We do all of the above. I would never deprive my mother or MIL (or, it turns out, my DD) of the pleasure of spoon-feeding DS mushy or pureed food sometimes, and I let him play in purees himself, with a suction-cupped bowl and a spoon. But we mostly do foods he can gnaw on and feed himself, so I guess we do both. His favorites so far seem to be anything spoon-fed by his sister and black-bean chili quesadillas, fed by himself.

[octobermom]

I'm planning on doign a partial BLW my LO is 6 months old up till just a week ago 100% on breast only. Were doing the Kellymoms reccomended introductions of solids (bannana sweet potato ect VS rice cereal ect) At this time if I try giving her things in "solid" non puree form she is not realy intrested but will take a small amounts in puree form. And I in my lazy stage am using some jared food.
This is fine for me because for us were just kinda exploring tastes and textures.. I'm not at six mnths intrested in actually replacing breastmilk with foods. So like we did 5 days of sweet potatoes as her first food she got it pureed and "cold" from a jar, warmed and mashed from a real baked one cut in fry shapes and allowed to eat through her mesh feeder.. Diffrent success and enjoyment or lack of with each but shes got maybe the equivlent to a table spoons worth a day.. Just enough to start experiencing some tastes.. I'm using the time too see what she seems to like textures ect and watching for allergies.. This week were doing bannanas DD jsut got finished gumming a chunk of bannana I cut for her while I made Lasguana for dinner
Its likely not a necessary way but after the horrible experiences we went through with my first (shes apraxic and we learned years latter after we were getting soo frustrated with her NEVER eatting that she physically couldn't ..) I'd rather take it slower and kinda combien a bit of "mainstream" with child led... Another part of me wants her to accept a spoon feeding as well as self feeding.

Deanna

[NSmomtobe]

I try to do this. I let DS feed himself as much as possible, but since DH is really worried about choking, I only give soft, mashed foods for now. Once he gets the pincer grasp, I will try small pieces instead of mashed foods. I tried to give him ground beef last week, but he gagged a little too much for my comfort level. I do occasionally use a spoon, but I let him guide it.

[jsh7809]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness

I disagree. A bottle does not allow a baby, especially a very young baby, to entirely control their eating. A baby cannot be forced to breastfeed, nor in most cases does a breast drip/leak/spray on it's own. The baby must work to get the milk.

I know I'm the exception, but just to play a little devil's advocate: my oversupply and super strong let downs mean that the baby doesn't have to work at all to nurse... She gets a bottle of pumped milk when I have to work or want a break from getting up through the nights, and she actually has to work much harder to get the milk from the bottle, because she has to continue to suck constantly to get milk. She will much more often fall asleep on the bottle than on the breast because she can comfort suck without having to gulp as she does on my boob.
But I really think that anything you do to feed the baby is great as long as her comfort and experimentation are first and foremost. It doesn't sound like the OP would be trying to shove food down her baby's mouth, but to encourage her to try a wide variety of foods, including purees. That's what I'll be doing, and I'm very comfortable with my decision. Breastmilk will still be first, but nothing's wrong with purees too.

The way that "graduates" processed meals are packaged and marketed is another story to me... I saw them at the store the other day and got really sad. I understand that it's hard to home cook every meal, and I definitely don't (though I will for the babe for as long as possible), but to see basically blander, processed versions of adult meals sold in a box for a toddler... that is just weird, weird, weird and kinda gross.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness

I would not feel comfortable doing partial, but I do feel comfortable doing BLW.

Part of the process of BLW is defeated when you also teach a child to accept eating at someone else's pace, and a food that does not have a normal texture. This contradicts the principles of BLW.

i also respectfully disagree. a spoon-fed baby that is ready for solids has many ways to let you know they are done or that they want more and faster. they turn their head, they push the spoon away, they can be taught to sign "all done," they start acting distracted.....come to think of it, it's pretty much the same signs that my self-feeding babe gives me to let me know she's dome with her meal as well. yes, there are people that force runny purees down their kids' gullets but it's not necessarily so.

also, the times that i spoon fed dd all textures were "normal." just because it's on a spoon doesn't mean it's been pureed and watered down to no end. up until recently i still spoon fed her yogurt, soups, etc...all normal textures and i've never altered taste or seasoning for her or taken the cuisanart out to blend something down. even if you slightly mush an avocado or banana with a fork.....that's still texture. in fact, it's probably the same texture as you'd get with blw once the kiddo smooshes it in his fist on the way to the mouth.

and sometimes it was just for convenience as well but still constitutes "partial" blw. if we were guests at somebody's house or out where there was no highchair and she was in lap (which happens fairly often in seems) i would put food on a utensil and feed her. for sure. not going to spread out food on somebody else's table linens to let my kid drop food all over their floor and me.

[octobermom]

Yea while we are doign some spoon feeding there is deffiently no forced feeding I watch her cues and if she was to gag for bid that I'd stop and not try for a while cause that to mean means she is not ready. She is just tasting right now and that includes her trying to hold the spoon and feeding herself or the foods given in diffent forms.
I did the CLW with my first after dealing with her apraxia and food issues though I want a slightly more actice role with my current so I can see sooner if there is potential issues.


Also I eat foods in diffrent texture forms... Like right now my DD is experminting with Bannanas we've had them from a baby jar (I've eatten bannanas in say a smootie form very smooth and thin)
FWIW she didn't like it that way

Weve tried it "real" but mashed she was more open to this
I do this and eat it on bread with PB

We did it slightly frozen and in a mesh feeder she LOVED this
I eat frozen bannana pops

Deanna

[akind1]

I agree with the above posters that spoon feeding doesn't equal force-feeding, or necessarily things that are an "unnatural" texture. I feed DS things on a spoon all the time that are things I eat: ice cream, frozen yogurt, miso soup, applesauce. Just last night I fed him from a fork (we were out at a restaurant, and DS doesn't do so well straight from the table, how come restaurant high chairs don't have trays?) cinnamon apples, a little chicken, and he can feed himself french fries.

We do partial. The finger foods we have that he enjoys (potatoes, asparagus, green beans, peas, etc) I let him have and welcome. BUT I also try to do some jars, he may eat 4 or 5 a week, and rarely the whole jar. I follow his cues and when he is done, I don't force it. I do them because we don't always have food that he can really have (steak and salad, not so much, you know?) Spicy Thai Currry, not so much, though he did like the rice with a little of the curry sauce on it, much to my surprise.

Do what feels right and comfortable to you.

Also, those gerber toddler trays freak me out too. they just seem really weird. (and kind of a waste of money)

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

After reading Baby-Led Weaning, I'm convinced that purees are not for me or my baby. Of course, neither of my babies have ever consented to take anything purees off a spoon anyway, so that makes the decision easier!

I tried purees with DD and she hardly ate anything until she could handle finger foods at roughly 7 or 8 months, then she started eating with gusto.

DS seems to be the same - I did try purees a couple of times with him, and he refused them - but he is happily self-feeding Farley's cereal cookies (I know... I'm learning how to make home-made!) and loves sucking on veggies and fruits. Now I get how gagging works vs. choking, I'm totally okay with finger foods under careful supervision. And he is a LOT happier.