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val555
11-05-2016, 09:53 AM
Hallo Everyone
Am just interested to hear views about baby led weaning. I've searched threads on the forum and most posters seem to advocate it.
Just wondered - am I the only child minder who thinks this idea is a lot of mushy hokum (pardon the pun). I ask because an 8 month old baby has recently started at my setting and mam has been baby led weaning her.Despite my doubts I thought I'd respect her choice and gave it a go for the first week. Mam wanted her to feed herself off a spoon, even though I doubted she was physically capable of this(she is tiny). Anyway I watched baby closely.Food flying around everywhere-in hair,on face,high chair and eventually on floor- but at no point could I actually see any going in or near her mouth. Mam says she prefers 'big food' rather than puree. Day three I cooked a chip sized carrot until it was soft(recommended size for baby led weaning).Baby squashed it in her hand and then held bits in her mouth.She has few teeth and no ability to chew.Upshot is baby nearly choked! this was not a gagging action which I understand is common with baby led weaning, but a proper choking fit. Eventually the poor baby coughed up pieces of carrot along with most of her milk. During the whole week she ate practically nothing but mum said that was ok because she was filling up nicely on milk ( has bottle every 3 hours). I understand that the concept is that baby has lots of different tastes and so becomes a less fussy eater- but can't they have lots of tastes with pureed or semi pureed food with sensible finger food on the side? I'm afraid I have told mam that, although I respect her choice, I do not advocate baby led weaning and will not be carrying it out at my setting.This will probably lead to mam taking her elsewhere because she really believes in this-I totally respect that.It seems to me that babies just fill up on milk with this method and eat very little- I would be very concerned about their iron intake and the risk of choking is just too great for me. What do others think. has anyone had success with this? and is there anyone out there who actually agrees with me???

natlou82
11-05-2016, 11:28 AM
Personally I still prefer to mix both methods, purée - chunky to make sure baby has eaten plenty but with plenty of opportunity to try/experiment with finger foods. I've not had any parents doing baby led weaning but I would listen to their opinion, add my thoughts and try and come to a workable solution. Like yourself if parents felt strongly I would be prepared to give it a go but if I didn't feel it was working I would have a chat. Good luck, it would be a shame to lose LO over something you could perhaps resolve with a good chat :-)

Lal
11-05-2016, 11:38 AM
I'm pro baby led weaning and always find it odd to have to spoon feed a baby. My daughter got on really well with it and it worked for us. I found the Baby Led Weaning Book really helpful and worth a read. (I view the whole 'baby food' market as unnecessary and over commercial)

But, you do have to run your business in the way you are happy to. Hope it goes well with mum.

mama2three
11-05-2016, 12:20 PM
The main premise of baby led weaning is that until 12 months of age milk provides all the nutrition needs , and that other food is offered , explored , tasted sometimes.... Its messy no doubt , and doesnt fit in with traditional points of view , but is a perfectly acceptable parenting choice.
As with most things there are different points of view. I think whats important here is that youre not willing to offer what mum wants , and so she needs to find someone who can offer what she decides is best for her daughter.

Maza
11-05-2016, 12:32 PM
At 8 months she 'should' be past the puree stage anyway, so I would have thought lumpy food and finger food would be about right, whether she was baby led or not.

I don't think babies who are 'baby led' necessarily fill themselves up on milk - if they are given the opportunity to do that, then yes, they might. How much milk is she given? Three hourly milk sessions does seem to be quite a lot at her age.

I don't mind baby led weaning or the opposite - whatever that is called. The issue is the wider attitude to meal times and food in general which has a greater impact. 'Baby led weaning' can be interpreted in many different ways so we shouldn't just write it off as a concept, because there are other factors which come into play which could be why it doesn't work for a particular child.

Could you make smaller portions so that their is less scope for mess?

How would you like to feed the child?

singingcactus
11-05-2016, 01:06 PM
None of my three boys ever had pureed food. Back when my eldest were little it wasn't known as baby led weaning, just as weaning. I had great success. They all fed themselves really well with a fork, learned to use knives quite early on, forgot about the existence of cutlery at the appropriate stage and used their fingers, but returned to cutlery before school age. Oh, and their health was always really good, only ever went to the docs a handful of times during their entire childhood.

Here I always allow the babies to feed themselves. I don't spoon feed any child (so far none with additional needs requiring that kind of support), I allow them to touch, play, squish and taste all their food on their own.....and yes I moan in my head about the mess, but I'd rather have the mess and an independent feeder than an infant who requires spoon feeding meaning I don't get any food. I do rather like my food.

I've never really had any, except my most recent baby mindee, who preferred to fill up on milk. But even my little milk guzzler is doing fine development wise, he is 2 now and is on track with his health and development, other than a specific additional need he has.


I am an advocate of allowing babies to feed themselves, not so much an advocate of silly trendy names and all the rules that those names incur though lol. Give yours a week or 2 and he'll be a master, and you'll get to eat your lunch too.

Mouse
11-05-2016, 03:57 PM
Since becoming a mum, many many years ago, I've always said the worst part of bringing up children is spoon feeding them - I hate it! I'll do anything else that needs doing - changing stinky nappies, wiping snotty noses - but I hate sitting shovelling food into babies' mouths!

A few years ago I looked after siblings who had been baby-led weaned. It was fantastic. From an early age I could sit them in the highchair, hand them their food and let them get on with it. There was a lot of mess initially, but that stage didn't last for long.

When my grandson was ready for weaning his mum tried him on purées to start with, but he really didn't like them. I suggested she tried giving him whole, proper food and letting him get on with it. She was doubtful at first, but gave it a try and says it's the best thing she ever did. Now at 9 months old he eats anything. He'll have porridge or cereal for breakfast (spoon fed), sandwiches or jacket potato at lunch time (used his fingers) and an evening meal of something like chicken, potatoes and veg, again, eaten using his fingers. The only time there's ever much mess is when he he's had enough and throws it on the floor. He's cut his milk down, although this week has been drinking more and eating less as he's been unwell.

I guess with lots of things, it works for some but not others. One thing I have found is that children who are baby led weaned tend develop much better fine motor skills.

k1rstie
11-05-2016, 05:12 PM
Since becoming a mum, many many years ago, I've always said the worst part of bringing up children is spoon feeding them - I hate it! I'll do anything else that needs doing - changing stinky nappies, wiping snotty noses - but I hate sitting shovelling food into babies' mouths!

I know what you mean Mouse. I find it really hard to feed two different babies with two different bowls and two different spoons, ensuring that I never get mixed up! I imagine if you had your own twins, you would use one bowl and one spoon!

chris goodyear
11-05-2016, 05:49 PM
I say different to everyone so far and I'm with you Val555. I can see both sides and if you're a mum at home yes that would be fine but in a setting when you have others to care for no I wouldn't do it. I'm all for giving babies lots of different tastes to combat fussiness later on but why do they have to feed themselves at 8 months? Society is just pushing and pushing for children/ babies to grow up too quick, why can't we enjoy them being young?

Mouse
11-05-2016, 06:03 PM
I say different to everyone so far and I'm with you Val555. I can see both sides and if you're a mum at home yes that would be fine but in a setting when you have others to care for no I wouldn't do it. I'm all for giving babies lots of different tastes to combat fussiness later on but why do they have to feed themselves at 8 months? Society is just pushing and pushing for children/ babies to grow up too quick, why can't we enjoy them being young?

I have to be honest, I always thought it was just a fad, or an excuse for lazy parents not to have to sit and feed their baby!

But the more I looked into it, the more I realised it benefited the child and, considering the mess involved, it certainly isn't for lazy parents! I don't see it as pushing children to feed themselves, I see it as an alternative way to feed a child. I know that in the case of my grandson he actually prefers eating proper food and would turn away if you tried giving him a purée.

I'm all for babies staying babies for as long as possible, but this is one area that I do think really benefits some of them :thumbsup:

loocyloo
11-05-2016, 07:43 PM
I've generally always given babies finger food and meals to feed themselves, sometimes spooning food into mouth of necessary. It never crossed my mind that weaning wasn't messy!
It's only recently (after 25 years!) that I've realised that what I did was 'baby led weaning'.

I find it so much easier and it means we can all eat together.

I've only had one child who refused to feed himself and that was the one and only child whose mother told me she followed BLW !

bunyip
11-05-2016, 07:46 PM
I would not write BLW off on the basis that I've only had a handful of client parents try it, which is hardly a representative sample for me to make any sort of scientific judgement.

I am, however disinclined to favour BLW. I very much agree with the gist of val's original post.

Nowadays, when someone mentions BLW, I'm tempted to ask, "shall I save time by throwing the food straight in the bin, or would you prefer me to trash the dining area, choke the child and leave them crying first?" :p

I've not seen it benefit a single child, and I feel it has been absolutely disadvantageous for some. In one case, mealtimes were just one instance of raised stress and frustration for a child who was already having big problems settling.

By far the worse case is with a lo I've had for nearly 2 years. I firmly believe she still suffers from the ill effects. She still doesn't chew properly because BLW encouraged her to nibble everything on her front teeth. She took an unreasonably long time to learn how to move food around her mouth properly: most the time she'd nibble it, then use her fingers to push it back towards her throat. :( We had several instances where she was close to choking, despite us begging mum to bring her off the blw fad. She still doesn't know how to deal with different foods. Now she is chewing, she tries to chew everything: ever seen a lo trying to chew a fromage frais? It's still quite worrying to watch. :(

I think the real problem is that parents get fixated on fads/techniques/systems and they become a bit of an article of faith. They trust the system so much they refuse to accept it just might not work with their child (and all children are different) so they won't respond and change when it is clear to an outside observer that it is not working. :(

I do feel sorry for parents in this sort of position. There are too many experts, writers, media types out there trying to put pressure on mums and dads to follow their pet system as if it were all so easy and solved everything. I think we need to demystify the whole business of bringing up children and try to take some of that weight off parents. Sadly, I think 'professional' childcarers can sometimes tend to do the opposite. We're the 'professionals', so therefore mum and dad must be the 'amateurs' - just because we've done the odd course and hold a printed certificate. :(

val555
12-05-2016, 06:50 PM
Thanks for all replies.It does seem to be a dividing issue! I'm staying true to myself on this one!! Looks like baby will be leaving me anyway as mam
wants to take her to a setting where she can 'socialise' more (she is the only young baby at my setting)Shame really as she was just settling in after 3 weeks of tears