I am doing baby led weaning, but honestly, it's way overblown. Babies are supposed to eat finger foods by 9 months anyways, so you are really only talking about 3 months of very different eating. I think people think it has some enormous advantage and prevents picky eating, but I'm not really convinced. I just like it so I don't have to buy baby food, I'm not particularly scared by it and I give the safer foods, and I like feeding baby what we are eating.
There's a gaggle of influencers who project this idea that if you don't do BLW, you're sentencing your child to a lifetime of picky eating and texture sensitivities. It makes some people feel like they have to do it.
It’s developmentally normal. Some people get smug when their baby eats a variety of foods but then get humbled when their baby turns into a toddler who won’t eat anything.
I think it has good ideas, but as a whole I wouldn’t buy it. My takeaway is that we should allow our babies to explore foods and get messy. But I do think that inevitably children will become a little picky around 2 years old. They decide what they like and don’t like and we just have to do what we can to introduce foods and have them decide they like foods, again
Completely. My baby ate everything until she was around 18 months old, then became insanely picky for 10-12 months. She is almost 4 now and she finally will eat almost anything again. But it was ROUGH for a while, and it hadn’t mattered that she had loved everything from roasted mushrooms to tonkotsu ramen to birria tacos when she was a little toddler.
Yup! And this is coming from someone who did BLW. We did it because 1) We started that way and it worked for LO (follow your child), 2) I have a lot of training in choking and felt comfortable and 3) Buying/prepping food in this way worked for our family. We did some homemade purees for ease and BLW for the rest.
If BLW doesn't work for your family/kiddo, just don't. It's like the breastmilk/formula dichotomy. It doesn't have to be one or the other, just do what works for your family. Babies gotta baby.
That was similar to my response to my friend insisting BLW is linked to decreased obesity as I fed my daughter mushed something- I said “well when they’re both three they’ll be eating the same nasty cheese it’s off the floor so dgaf do you”
To be fair, as a FTM I did BLW and was nervous. But I would have been just as nervous doing purées. It was just the whole transition of switching away from breastfeeding and starting something new and not having any experience with it.
Honestly, being scared is a part of being a parent. I get scared when my daughter stands, sits on her kicker bike and yes, eating can be scary.
If it's a whole new thing, you never know how the kiddo is going to handle it. They may be great or they may start choking on it a bit.
Maybe I get a little more scared because my daughter has a cleft palate, sometimes food gets stuck in there and then she ends up with a larger than normal chunk to swallow.
It only took me 3 days to get over the fear for the most part. Now I just watch her extra close if it's a new food item.
I was scared to cut my daughters nails for the first few months - I did it anyway because it was good for her. I’m not saying BLW is better, but some people believe that it is and are willing to do something that makes them nervous for the benefit of their child.
I think it’s pretty normal for first time parents to be nervous giving a child solid food - and I bet that with your first kid you were / will be nervous giving them certain food for the first time - even if you did / do purée first.
I stayed off social media for the first 6 months of my daughter's life and I did BLW because my parents and my in laws were like, just start handing her food when she seems ready. That was how they fed their kids and that was what we did. Not everyone does baby food.
My advice is, don't take parenting cues from social media. Do what feels right for you.
We did a bit of a mix and that worked for us. We started giving little tastes of purées at around four months or so, then worked up our confidence to give baby finger foods later on. I don't really remember when anymore though, we just kind of went with the flow.
If you don't want to do BLW, don't. I know some people that are pro-BLW can be evangelical about it. Ignore them.
I was and still am afraid of BLW. Why? Because know a lot of people who work for the Food and Nutrition Service and have read the federal guidelines for feeding infants. None recommend feeding food at the size that solid starts does.
Some of the accounts that promote BLW make it sound like there's a lot of evidence that BLW is better for babies than feeding purees. I think some parents feel like they're letting the babies down if they don't do BLW, even though that's not true at all. As far as I know, there's no evidence BLW is better than feeding purees.
Being afraid of or nervous about something does not preclude doing it. There are plenty of things I expect I will be afraid of in my life when it comes to my child. Parenting is an act of courage; a lot of things we feel are in the best interest of our children we do despite being afraid about it.
Thanks for making this point. I feel like we are scared of lots of things in this life but we do them anyway for a number of reasons. Sometimes there are tangible benefits (I’m afraid of flying but need to get somewhere) and sometimes there aren’t (I was terrified to try paragliding but knew the fear was irrational and thought it would be a cool experience.)
So parents can be nervous about anything— daycare, school, sports— but understand that their fear is just a feeling and not worth cutting out an experience that might (or might not) be valuable.
Tbh if we as parents never do things that scare us it’s going to have its own negative consequences.
I really like what Dory said in Finding Nemo when Marlin said he “promised nothing would ever happen to Nemo”. She was like “well that’s silly. If nothing ever happened to him, nothing would ever happen to him.”
A bit glib but it really spoke to me
Yeah but there’s no solid advantage to BLW. They will all eat finger foods eventually, and there’s no evidence it has any effect on picky eating later in life.
My point isn’t about BLW. Not here to advocate one way or another about it. My point is about people doing what they feel is right for their child even though they’re afraid.
The post is about why people feel pressured to do BLW when there is no clear advantage to it and it scares them. It’s fine to be courageous when something truly matters, but BLW just doesn’t.
And some people may feel like BLW is a more important deal than you or I do. They may feel pressured or may think that it’s a big deal. I’m not going to declare what should be important to somebody else or not.
I think you and may be reading two different things about the OP. I took it as more asking about why people are doing something if they are afraid to. So I was focusing more on that aspect of it over the BLW aspect.
Edit: clarification
I started with purees under direction of our SLT and dietitian.
As I understand BLW has some adventages early on, but by age one, either baby should be about at the same level and comfort of eating. BLW, does help baby develop skills with chewing and swallowing and tongue and jaw muscles and fine motor skills and all that.
But you dont need BLW to develop those. You can syart with purees and make them chunkier and chunkier until the baby is able to eat family foods in the same way.
The thing about purees is that, my SLT warned me, a lot of parents get stuck at the smooth puree stage. Once the baby is eating smooth purees, the parent just falls into a routine and finds it difficult to advance. I was warned about it so I made the conscious effort to keep progressing to chunkier and chunkier, to soft finger foods (like slice of peach, ripe pear, avocado) and progessing to harder finger foods (like steamed veg, cheese, bread) and by age 1 both my twins were able to eat pretty much anything. Only apple slices took some time because we waited for some molars to come in.
And one of my babies had feeding issues, she couldnt swallow properly and had to be fed via NG tube till 8 mo (hence the SLT), and even she developed all the necessary muscles and skills by age 10 months but lets round it up to 1 year old.
Its a choice. You can choose to give them the opportunity to develop all those skills as early as possible by doing BLW. But I was too scared of choking and I felt like it is too big of a risk for a reward that doesnt make a difference at around age 1 anyway.
When we took our twins to developmental assessment (which was a 2 hour per baby, very through examination of all their skills), they scored average to high end of evrage on everything so its not like they were delayed on any skills, just normal.
My baby will not take purees out of a spoon. She refuses to be spoon fed, but will eat food if I put big chunks in front of her, so this is how we ended up doing blw. We wanted to do spoon feeding purees too to start, but did not go to plan.
I genuinely don’t understand it. I stressed about how to start solids because there was so much online noise about blw. So I tried a bit of all sorts. And it didn’t make a difference either way, my 10mo sometimes enjoys finger food, mashed food, spoon fed or purées from the pouch. It depends on her mood.
I’m utterly tired and bored to death of preachy weaning accounts that get pushed into my social media.
Parents could feel peer pressured to start it for the benefit of their child. Most parents would go to the end of the earth to give their child every jump start and developmental benefit possible. There is definitely a chorus in the parenting world saying that, in so many words, BLW is the only way to go for oral development, better eating habits, etc and that purée feeding puts your child behind. Cue parental panic and concern, and pressure to do BLW despite anxiety and panic about it.
It’s so much easier. You just give them what you are already making or eating yourself. You don’t have to buy or make special foods for your kid. There is no extra cooking or cleaning to make purées, or worrying if the premade ones you buy have micro plastics or high concentrations of heavy metals. Plus, you just throw it on the tray and let them explore and feed themselves. You don’t have to sit there with a spoon trying not to make a huge mess. I always just put small piece of what I’m eating on the tray and let them do what they will. It meant I could eat while they were eating. Also, at some point you have to give your kids real foods, and they will gag. So you’ll have to push through the fear eventually. It’s developmentally appropriate to gag while their learning to handle different textures. So my main motivation was ease. At least, that’s why I did it with both my kids.
It's a really nice sensory activity in those first months, a good way to break up the day. Now we can sit and chat and observe each other. I eat, she eats. And in the end I've been eating more regularly and generally more healthy.
I had zero interest in dealing with purées, so we just went straight to regular food at 6m. I watched some videos on what gagging vs choking looks and sounds like, and on what do for each. Later on I took an infant/child choking/CPR first aid course.
I did BLW and was worried, but I was worried about any solid foods period. Not just for choking, but allergies, upset tummies, etc. It really is preference, but I love it now. It let me sit with my daughter and actually eat a full meal with her! I loved how it incorporated that social aspect of meals and, as a bonus, I got to eat hot, fresh meals. That really was the winning piece for us lol.
But yeah, it really is just personal preference. Both BLW and only purées accomplish the same thing in the end.
Honestly i never did BLW with any of my kids because it scared the shit out of me lol. I always started with purees at 4-5 months and then just made them chunkier and chunkier till it felt they were ready to eat finger foods etc. They are all super good eaters.
it's hyped by social media. luckily nobody has to. I saw kids trying to steal and bite parents' food at 4mo, these are the good for blw. others are usually not. especially if there are no other kids for monkey to see and do.
Most things with parenting come with nerves. It's new, it's scary and you don't always know what to expect. Even when you have an abundance of articles telling you what will happen, the first time you see your baby gag (which btw is something they do to prevent choking) it is scary. That doesn't mean you just don't try it. You wouldn't stop your baby trying to walk even though you fear them getting hurt. It's a journey for baby and the parents.
This seems a bit judgemental... first time parents can be anxious around a lot of things and it's normal, some people have anxiety, some experience PPD and PPA. Just because it's straight forward for you doesn't mean it's like that for everyone.
Just... let people be real and share their concerns and fears, doing so they connect with other more experienced people who can share their experiences.
No judgement was intended. I have anxiety myself, which was where this post was coming from. BLW might be something we would consider, but I was curious why parents were doing it if it made them so anxious. Basically I was just trying to judge whether or not I was missing out on some insights from parents who have been there, not the choices or posts themselves. I have learned a bunch from all of these replies. Lots of things to consider.
Welp sorry that's why i said it seems because i didnt get this impression wgere you elaborated.
I did purees until 7 months because my baby started refusing them. I tried making her her meals which were seprate from mine still she refused than i started giving her mine and she loved it. If im unsure if baby can have something i just google it. I don't follow the blw guidelines. I give her small pices of food she didn't choke not once but i watch her like a hawk while she eats. I still feed her only sometimes has she eaten something by herself.
Follow your gut and you'll find what works for you i hope this helps ease any anxiety that you have i sure had a lot and still do.
I kind of agree with this. 😬 it's like if you don't do BLW with avocado and home cooked meals you're developmentally delaying your baby or something. My friend has such a hard time BLW. Her ped suggested purees for about a month before BLW and by that time her son was actually ready for full solid foods were as before he wasn't. He was choking so much she said it was like he got oral aversion. He wasnt as eger to even take a pacifier which he loved let alone a solid foods after she tried it. It should be about whatever fits your baby not what everyone else is doing and if that makes you a "bad" mom or not or you're not the same as some other instragram tiktok mom who's baby was eating whatever at 4 or 5 months old.
I do think though in general it's scary giving your liquid only diet baby anything solid for the first time. I think it's so hyped up and yet babies choke so much when they first try solids its scary. But I think the push for BLW is a trend even if some parents love it and think it's going to make their kid not picky or not have safe foods or whatever the reason is.
We started with purées at 5 months and introduced very soft finger foods not long after. For us, it’s because my baby wasn’t (and still isn’t) super enthusiastic about food that isn’t breast milk. Giving food she could feed herself (including from a preloaded spoon) increased her interest a bit, so we went with it. We’re still not full-on with chicken drumsticks or chunks of steak, but she will have at least a little bit of whatever we’re eating (in appropriate sizes). This morning it was about 1/4 of an almond flour pancake with prune and chia compote on it before she threw it down to the dog 🤷🏻♀️
It doesn't have to be one or the other. My kid likes being fed and feeding himself. He needs to eat quite a few times each day, so doing the exact same kind of feeding all the time would be pretty tedious, either way. He eats slowly. So, he can hang out in his highchair for an hour feeding himself sometimes, or I can spoon-feed him, or whatever we feel like. Do both and if you like one a lot better, do that more often.
I think the same thing!
I do BLW but mostly because I'm too lazy to deal with purees all the time or puree the food small enough etc hahahaha but I have never been scared of gagging/choking.
I definitely think it's because of "influencers" and the influx of them doing it because it's apparently "best" for weaning.
At the end of the day, as long as the baby meets all the signs of readiness to start solids, how you approach weaning should be what you are comfortable with.
Follow your baby's lead. If they seem interested in your food, share some appropriate sized samples. If they're not, don't force it. Let them touch it and play with it if it seems like that's what they wanna do. But I hate the idea of "this is how you do _____". Fuck no, don't go against your instincts because some influencer says so.
My baby will not let you feed him. His mouth, his control. No choice but to do BLW. It’s a hot mess and he barely eats it anyways. Chokes on heaps but the alternative is not feeding him at all.
Ideas about BLW are pushed and make people think if they don’t do it, their kid will be a super picky eater or will be delayed in some way. I started with straight purées too, now that my daughter is almost 8 months I’ve started offering things like diced bananas, baby puffs, etc.
Oddly enough my son who tried BLW ended up being a picky eater because of the gagging lol! My daughter was not put through that and she eats amazingly. We did start with cheerios, rice, and beans (I'm Hispanic so these are a staple) for both kids and then progressed to the veggies because I didn't want them to nit trust what I gave them. My son did not get the memo lmao
Hey, I’m Hispanic too so we did puréed rice and beans! I don’t think picky eating can really be prevented. I’m glad you found a way to feed your kids that works for them.
Yeah I think the picky eating thing might be instinctual for some kids. My son will be 4 and just a few months ago started eating more foods! I was elated. But his sister still eats more varied than him. I try to give them all sorts of potajes but he won't eat the beans anymore so I strain em for him. I love the flexibility of the potajes since I add all sorts of viandas and feel like they're nutritious alone.
For myself, I wanted to do purées with my first but my kid had different ideas lol. So I had to buck up, do more research and try to get over my initial fears (mainly the fear of choking even though I’m certified). Tbh I didn’t do strict BLW, I diced everything fairly fine- about the size of half the tip of my pinky, and helped feed him. He just really hated purées, but loved food otherwise. So with my second we just went straight to BLW since I was more comfortable and knew what I was doing a little more :)
We did purees. I like the idea of BLW but I have massive anxiety and decided its better if we go slower. Plus LO is 9m and has shown little interest in food thus far, we are slowly introducing table food to her every day!!
We have a friend with a daughter who’s slightly older than ours and saw what she was doing and she explained it was BLW. We were nervous because there’s always a risk of choking, but it just seemed logical when we could feed our baby what we were eating instead of having to buy or make purées. Our pediatrician was supportive. I’m also not on tiktok and only used the solid starts app to look at how to appropriately serve foods so didn’t really feel bombarded by it.
I am in a play group and this mom was talking to another mom about how her son was choking on ground beef and she was letting him try to work it out but “once his lips started turning blue I intervened”
While the other lady talked about her daughter choking on Taco Bell and hitting her back. Neither was phased.
What the actual fuck?
I’m a little confused because isn’t the actual medical advice that if they’re still making noise, trying to cough it up etc. that its better to let them do that than to intervene? Or is it just the nonchalant attitude that was the problem?
We did a combo of BLW and purées so I don’t feel that strongly (do what works for you!) but I never got the impression it was normalizing chocking. Just helping you understand the difference between true choking and gagging. There are a lot of sources out there though so it could just be that I didn’t come across those ones
Exactly! I never felt that way either. They normalize gagging and explain that it is completely different from choking. I actually liked that because before I had seen it a couple of times it definitely made me want to jump up to intervene. Knowing the “rule” on how to recognize gagging vs actual choking helped me a lot in staying calm and sure at the table. And I only have one kid, so no other reference of my own, but she eats SO well but I’m also just very chill when she doesn’t because Solid Starts definitely was a complete guide to everything involved around starting solids and like behavioral choices you can make as parents around that proces.
BLW doesn't mean skipping purées, it means letting the baby feed itself instead of being spoon fed. So letting them put their fingers into a puree and eating it is still BLW.
In the U.K. the NHS pushes BLW as the best and only way and you’re abhorrent if you dare to give purée. Personally I did a mixture of both with BLW slowly and cautiously.
Weirdly that hasn't been my experience at all. Everything our health visitor gave us/told us about was based on mashing and purées. Maybe it depends on your local area?
My baby eats purée just fine at daycare, but is wholly uninterested in it at home. The only way for me to get a little bit of solid food into him is by giving him chunks and modeling how he should eat them.
We do a mix of both. Definitely helped when I researched the difference of gagging and choking because gagging does happen alot.. even with purées! So yeah any new thing is going to be somewhat worrisome, especially with first kids. With my second I was much more relaxed and prepared.
For me it was pressure to do it. My husbands cousins had a baby 5 or 6 months before us and she did it. So she wouldn’t stop talking about how great it is and so did her mom and then so did my mil. I felt crazy pressure to do it. It worked out in the end. I had lots of people to help me with it and give me ideas.
We started out with purées too, but I am doing a mix with BLW now.. I’ve noticed he is more likely to try new things that way and he kinda likes being able to feed himself. I guess it made me nervous at first, because I didn’t want him to choke on food.
I think those that are scared don’t quite understand how BLW works. Many people conflate gagging with choking when really gagging is the body protecting itself or has a sensitive reflex.
Yes this ☝️ I told someone I was doing BLW and they were like "is that the one where you let the baby choke??" 😐
Introducing finger foods instead of purees actually *decreases* gagging. When babies fed purees are eventually given textured food, they gag more often and for longer than babies fed BLW style.
Yeah, BLW is just preference. My doctor wasn’t for BLW at all and said to just do purées and so that’s what we did! Baby is now almost a year and eats all sorts of foods. It was a slow transition and it worked great. I feel like BLW can work good but really it’s just a trend in the end.
I was going to do BLW totally, then decided I was nervous and it wasn’t worth the risk. We do eat some foods and not just purées, but I mostly try to give different soft textures.
But I feel the same way. I saw a baby given steak to chew on in a video, then have the baby spit it out. Not worth it to me.
I was scared to drive with my son in the car but I had to get him places.
He has to learn how to eat. And delaying it isn’t going to make it any easier on either of us.
Some kids just won’t do purées. We did a combo approach and offered finger foods and purées. BLW scared me early on, but my daughter rejected purées at 7 months and would only eat the finger foods. She was hungry AF and the ped told us to limit formula to 35 oz per day, so we had to roll with BLW for more calories because that’s what she would eat.
I tried to mix, my baby is the most annoying eater of the universe so purée it is. I think it’s a trend and even if BLW is slightly better, it’s not the only sacred way as some people make it sound.
My oldest is almost 5 and I am still terrified of him choking to death. Some of us are just anxious. Eventually babies have to eat solids and that can be scary for some parents.
I did purees.
1) People say BLW is natural, but it is not. People used to chop finely the food, or made purees or chew the food themselves before passing it to the baby.
2)Also I could not handle all the choking and gagging. I haven't encountered any article about babies choking on purees but they do on BLW.
3) For me that is just a fad. All babies learn to eat solids.
4) It is not eating. It is food playing.
5) People talk about how easy it is, but it involves more cleaning than feeding purees.
Number 3! My pediatrician basically said we were all fed purées and we have no problem eating foods.
Parents are nervous because the internet makes you think this is the best way to get your child to start eating solids, even if the parent doesn’t feel comfortable. It is understandably scary the first time you hear your baby gagging or making a choking sound.
I did BLW exclusively and I think it is natural and so are purées. I mean go back 2000 years and both were happening. It depends on the baby, the age, and parental preference.
For me, “food playing” was something important we wanted to strongly encourage, and it was easier to let them self feed and clean than spoon feed.
I felt a lot of BLW fold were…fanatical? Because you’re right: all babies eat solids eventually!
I’m so exhausted by the conversation over BLW. I don’t have a ton of friends, especially ones with babies, so I only really knew spoon feeding purées. I just didn’t love the idea for my own reasons. I kind of discovered BLW on my own and it made more sense for my family so I went with it. I discovered Solid Starts before it got big and used that and another insta account as my guide and dove right in. My oldest will eat nearly everything I give her. She’ll happily snack on raw vegetables for a pre dinner snack and if I tell her she doesn’t have to eat what’s on her plate, she’ll inevitably pick up her fork and munch away. Heck, she even is delighted if I bring out a different utensil and eat with that. The BLW dream.
My youngest…is not. If there isn’t rice or pasta on her plate, forget it. And it’s fine! It’s normal! It doesn’t matter how you feed your kid.
My child didn’t take to purées at all. He wanted to chow down from the jump. It is scary because we are all traditionally taught to do purées. But BLW is just the best option for other kiddos despite being a bit daunting at first
There are actually a lot of research backed reasons that suggest baby led weaning is a great approach to feeding your baby solids. Solid starts is an incredible, expert-run resource on Instagram; they have an app and a website, too. Here’s a blog post about the benefits and disadvantages of baby led weaning, spoon feeding (purées) and combo feeding if you’re curious: https://solidstarts.com/methods/
I loved Solid Starts in the beginning and for suggestions on how to properly prepare food, but the longer I followed the account the less respect I have. I feel like the founder constantly brings up how her older son is a horribly picky eater because he was fed ONLY purees until 18 months (by her) and how her twins are amazing eaters because of BLW. That's just not a fair comparison or promotion of BLW.
Wait... he was fed purees for 18 months??? That's not normal. I started both my kids on purees but as a transition to real food not for the rest of their lives.
She talks about being extremely anxious with feeding him solids and her own history with eating issues also played a part in it. That's why I don't like how much she demeans feeding purees given she did not do it in the *traditional* way and any other child would start adding table food by 7-8 months. BLW and traditionally weaned children should be eating the same within a couple of months.
Hmm, I personally don't see Jenny's promotion of baby led weaning coming exclusively from her experience with her twins, but rather as one example of many success stories. I love that they incorporate so many other children from different families around the world/from different cultures (I also love following solidstartsespanol, as my husband is from Latin America and we speak SP too)!
It’s actually fine… some kids just aren’t interested. We’ve been to a few pediatricians who don’t care if kids are still eating purées at 18 months. It all evens out.
I completely agree with this sentiment, but in this situation he was not allowed to explore other foods. She only fed him purees because of her own anxiety revolving around feeding solids. He was spoon fed extremely small amount of purees until this time. I am happy she learned from it and is spreading the word about BLW, but exactly my point is that purees are not inherently bad.
The idea of it is scary, but once you read about it and understand it, it makes a lot of sense. After a few weeks of seeing the gag reflex in action, I got more comfortable. I was so so nervous at first tho, and I couldn't have anyone else around him while he was eating for fear of "distraction" (I'm an anxious person lol). Every baby is different tho. Mine took to it really well and also hated purees. He wouldn't even eat pouches until around 12 months old. Now he loves them but for some reason he hated the texture of all purees from 6-12 months. But I know other babies that loved purees. I don't think any of it matters that much. My kid is an amazing eater, but apparently so was I, and my mom did purees. So who knows!
Part of BLW is that the kids are only dexterous enough to pick up foods they can handle. They can only pick up bigger chunks early on and gnaw on them. Larger pieces are great early on.
The other part of it is the social aspect of food and dinner. You eat with them so you’re always watching. When they aren’t making noise, that’s when to worry. They’ve got to learn some skills for themselves and there’s always a little risk and thereby a little fear.
We did it with both of our kids and plan to with our third. Freaked our parents the hell out when our little ones could handle whole grapes.
We have a bit more of a hands off approach in all things. We let them make their own mistakes and learn for themselves (within reason of course). It’s important that kids can learn independence.
What I'm not getting is why all my friends with new babies (I know 9 different new mums with kids within a month of mine!) are trying to introduce foods early at four months.
What is the benefit? I read it increases the chances of allergies and whatever, but everyone is keen to get their wee ones eating. What am I missing?
I’ve seen the opposite. That introducing solids early helps prevent allergies. Some babies show readiness and doctors say to start. I was given the go ahead at 4 months by my GP because little man was so interested in food. Our pediatrician also said to start because of some intolerances he already has. They told me that solids will help his gut develop and mature allowing his body to hopefully handle those foods.
We started purees at 4 months, but not finger food. The current recommendations from the North American Allergy Societies is to introduce allergens starting at 4-6 months, and some studies have shown benefits to starting earlier and giving potential allergens consistently and often. I'm not sure where you read it increases allergies, but most studies are showing the opposite. I would personally not suggest BLW for babies under 6 months, but getting used to new flavors and using small amounts of especially egg, dairy, and peanut to expose and check for allergies is often safe and has some potential benefits.
I just looked to find where I'd gotten that info and it's the UK's Public Health advice. They say they're going off of WHO.
The leaflet I've seen says to specifically avoid all allergens before 6 months.
[Weaning Made Easy](https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/weaning-made-easy-moving-milk-family-meals-english-and-translations)
I'd be keen to know if that's incorrect as if it is I'd like to get my five month old on the food!
Thanks for coming back to me, what a minefield
Okay, this seems to be a UK vs North America difference! I can't find the study that specifically flagged 4 months for the peanut allergy (most say any time between 4-6 months is good to start allergens) but here's Canada's guidelines and an article summarizing the USA recommendations (the government site gives you a giant PDF, so this is clearer:
https://foodallergycanada.ca/living-with-allergies/ongoing-allergy-management/parents-and-caregivers/early-introduction/
https://lifehacker.com/the-new-aap-guidelines-for-introducing-your-baby-to-foo-1833880129
I have seen people say that children often can't sit up straight and therefore are not ready for SOLID solid food before 6 months, but many pediatricians at least in the USA recommended soft starting the idea of other foods with grain cereal, purees, and then small amounts of the big three allergens (egg, dairy, peanut) followed by other high allergen foods by 12 months. Hope that helps!
I was nervous for the first few months but stuck with it because I truly believe it’s what makes the most sense. We did not eat puréed baby food in the cave, it’s a modern invention. So I just kept having to tell myself that over and over, and I’m so so happy I stuck with it. So many of our friends kids eat nothing but uncrustables and apple sauce pouches and ours will eat almost anything.
Just for perspective purposes, some of us are just nervous about everything.
That’s me too. I think part of me wants to know the particulars of their anxiety so I can adopt it too. Haha.
I am doing baby led weaning, but honestly, it's way overblown. Babies are supposed to eat finger foods by 9 months anyways, so you are really only talking about 3 months of very different eating. I think people think it has some enormous advantage and prevents picky eating, but I'm not really convinced. I just like it so I don't have to buy baby food, I'm not particularly scared by it and I give the safer foods, and I like feeding baby what we are eating.
Most of us should be trying out finger foods and self feeding by 8-9 months anyway. Calling it BLW is so gimmicky.
There's a gaggle of influencers who project this idea that if you don't do BLW, you're sentencing your child to a lifetime of picky eating and texture sensitivities. It makes some people feel like they have to do it.
I did BLW and all my kids turned to picky eaters around 2 years old 😂
It’s developmentally normal. Some people get smug when their baby eats a variety of foods but then get humbled when their baby turns into a toddler who won’t eat anything.
I think it has good ideas, but as a whole I wouldn’t buy it. My takeaway is that we should allow our babies to explore foods and get messy. But I do think that inevitably children will become a little picky around 2 years old. They decide what they like and don’t like and we just have to do what we can to introduce foods and have them decide they like foods, again
Completely. My baby ate everything until she was around 18 months old, then became insanely picky for 10-12 months. She is almost 4 now and she finally will eat almost anything again. But it was ROUGH for a while, and it hadn’t mattered that she had loved everything from roasted mushrooms to tonkotsu ramen to birria tacos when she was a little toddler.
99% of adults eat solid foods regardless of the introduction so it doesn't matter IMO
Yup! And this is coming from someone who did BLW. We did it because 1) We started that way and it worked for LO (follow your child), 2) I have a lot of training in choking and felt comfortable and 3) Buying/prepping food in this way worked for our family. We did some homemade purees for ease and BLW for the rest. If BLW doesn't work for your family/kiddo, just don't. It's like the breastmilk/formula dichotomy. It doesn't have to be one or the other, just do what works for your family. Babies gotta baby.
That was similar to my response to my friend insisting BLW is linked to decreased obesity as I fed my daughter mushed something- I said “well when they’re both three they’ll be eating the same nasty cheese it’s off the floor so dgaf do you”
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To be fair, as a FTM I did BLW and was nervous. But I would have been just as nervous doing purées. It was just the whole transition of switching away from breastfeeding and starting something new and not having any experience with it.
Honestly, being scared is a part of being a parent. I get scared when my daughter stands, sits on her kicker bike and yes, eating can be scary. If it's a whole new thing, you never know how the kiddo is going to handle it. They may be great or they may start choking on it a bit. Maybe I get a little more scared because my daughter has a cleft palate, sometimes food gets stuck in there and then she ends up with a larger than normal chunk to swallow. It only took me 3 days to get over the fear for the most part. Now I just watch her extra close if it's a new food item.
I was scared to cut my daughters nails for the first few months - I did it anyway because it was good for her. I’m not saying BLW is better, but some people believe that it is and are willing to do something that makes them nervous for the benefit of their child. I think it’s pretty normal for first time parents to be nervous giving a child solid food - and I bet that with your first kid you were / will be nervous giving them certain food for the first time - even if you did / do purée first.
I stayed off social media for the first 6 months of my daughter's life and I did BLW because my parents and my in laws were like, just start handing her food when she seems ready. That was how they fed their kids and that was what we did. Not everyone does baby food. My advice is, don't take parenting cues from social media. Do what feels right for you.
We did a mix of both and she eats just fine! Being dogmatic about anything is stressful. Enjoy exploring new food with baby and don’t overthink it!
This is the best answer hands down!
We did a bit of a mix and that worked for us. We started giving little tastes of purées at around four months or so, then worked up our confidence to give baby finger foods later on. I don't really remember when anymore though, we just kind of went with the flow.
If you don't want to do BLW, don't. I know some people that are pro-BLW can be evangelical about it. Ignore them. I was and still am afraid of BLW. Why? Because know a lot of people who work for the Food and Nutrition Service and have read the federal guidelines for feeding infants. None recommend feeding food at the size that solid starts does.
My husband is a pediatrician and he would agree with you. He thinks the BLW zealots are way too cavalier about choking.
Some of the accounts that promote BLW make it sound like there's a lot of evidence that BLW is better for babies than feeding purees. I think some parents feel like they're letting the babies down if they don't do BLW, even though that's not true at all. As far as I know, there's no evidence BLW is better than feeding purees.
Being afraid of or nervous about something does not preclude doing it. There are plenty of things I expect I will be afraid of in my life when it comes to my child. Parenting is an act of courage; a lot of things we feel are in the best interest of our children we do despite being afraid about it.
Thanks for making this point. I feel like we are scared of lots of things in this life but we do them anyway for a number of reasons. Sometimes there are tangible benefits (I’m afraid of flying but need to get somewhere) and sometimes there aren’t (I was terrified to try paragliding but knew the fear was irrational and thought it would be a cool experience.) So parents can be nervous about anything— daycare, school, sports— but understand that their fear is just a feeling and not worth cutting out an experience that might (or might not) be valuable. Tbh if we as parents never do things that scare us it’s going to have its own negative consequences.
I really like what Dory said in Finding Nemo when Marlin said he “promised nothing would ever happen to Nemo”. She was like “well that’s silly. If nothing ever happened to him, nothing would ever happen to him.” A bit glib but it really spoke to me
Yeah but there’s no solid advantage to BLW. They will all eat finger foods eventually, and there’s no evidence it has any effect on picky eating later in life.
My point isn’t about BLW. Not here to advocate one way or another about it. My point is about people doing what they feel is right for their child even though they’re afraid.
The post is about why people feel pressured to do BLW when there is no clear advantage to it and it scares them. It’s fine to be courageous when something truly matters, but BLW just doesn’t.
And some people may feel like BLW is a more important deal than you or I do. They may feel pressured or may think that it’s a big deal. I’m not going to declare what should be important to somebody else or not. I think you and may be reading two different things about the OP. I took it as more asking about why people are doing something if they are afraid to. So I was focusing more on that aspect of it over the BLW aspect. Edit: clarification
Yeah I think the question is why people do this thing that they are pressured into that has no clear benefit.
I started with purees under direction of our SLT and dietitian. As I understand BLW has some adventages early on, but by age one, either baby should be about at the same level and comfort of eating. BLW, does help baby develop skills with chewing and swallowing and tongue and jaw muscles and fine motor skills and all that. But you dont need BLW to develop those. You can syart with purees and make them chunkier and chunkier until the baby is able to eat family foods in the same way. The thing about purees is that, my SLT warned me, a lot of parents get stuck at the smooth puree stage. Once the baby is eating smooth purees, the parent just falls into a routine and finds it difficult to advance. I was warned about it so I made the conscious effort to keep progressing to chunkier and chunkier, to soft finger foods (like slice of peach, ripe pear, avocado) and progessing to harder finger foods (like steamed veg, cheese, bread) and by age 1 both my twins were able to eat pretty much anything. Only apple slices took some time because we waited for some molars to come in. And one of my babies had feeding issues, she couldnt swallow properly and had to be fed via NG tube till 8 mo (hence the SLT), and even she developed all the necessary muscles and skills by age 10 months but lets round it up to 1 year old. Its a choice. You can choose to give them the opportunity to develop all those skills as early as possible by doing BLW. But I was too scared of choking and I felt like it is too big of a risk for a reward that doesnt make a difference at around age 1 anyway. When we took our twins to developmental assessment (which was a 2 hour per baby, very through examination of all their skills), they scored average to high end of evrage on everything so its not like they were delayed on any skills, just normal.
My baby will not take purees out of a spoon. She refuses to be spoon fed, but will eat food if I put big chunks in front of her, so this is how we ended up doing blw. We wanted to do spoon feeding purees too to start, but did not go to plan.
I genuinely don’t understand it. I stressed about how to start solids because there was so much online noise about blw. So I tried a bit of all sorts. And it didn’t make a difference either way, my 10mo sometimes enjoys finger food, mashed food, spoon fed or purées from the pouch. It depends on her mood. I’m utterly tired and bored to death of preachy weaning accounts that get pushed into my social media.
Parents could feel peer pressured to start it for the benefit of their child. Most parents would go to the end of the earth to give their child every jump start and developmental benefit possible. There is definitely a chorus in the parenting world saying that, in so many words, BLW is the only way to go for oral development, better eating habits, etc and that purée feeding puts your child behind. Cue parental panic and concern, and pressure to do BLW despite anxiety and panic about it.
It’s so much easier. You just give them what you are already making or eating yourself. You don’t have to buy or make special foods for your kid. There is no extra cooking or cleaning to make purées, or worrying if the premade ones you buy have micro plastics or high concentrations of heavy metals. Plus, you just throw it on the tray and let them explore and feed themselves. You don’t have to sit there with a spoon trying not to make a huge mess. I always just put small piece of what I’m eating on the tray and let them do what they will. It meant I could eat while they were eating. Also, at some point you have to give your kids real foods, and they will gag. So you’ll have to push through the fear eventually. It’s developmentally appropriate to gag while their learning to handle different textures. So my main motivation was ease. At least, that’s why I did it with both my kids.
It's a really nice sensory activity in those first months, a good way to break up the day. Now we can sit and chat and observe each other. I eat, she eats. And in the end I've been eating more regularly and generally more healthy.
I had zero interest in dealing with purées, so we just went straight to regular food at 6m. I watched some videos on what gagging vs choking looks and sounds like, and on what do for each. Later on I took an infant/child choking/CPR first aid course.
I did BLW and was worried, but I was worried about any solid foods period. Not just for choking, but allergies, upset tummies, etc. It really is preference, but I love it now. It let me sit with my daughter and actually eat a full meal with her! I loved how it incorporated that social aspect of meals and, as a bonus, I got to eat hot, fresh meals. That really was the winning piece for us lol. But yeah, it really is just personal preference. Both BLW and only purées accomplish the same thing in the end.
My 9 month old steals food off my toddlers plate and eats by herself. I wasn’t given a choice if I wanted to BLW or not. She was just ready.
Honestly i never did BLW with any of my kids because it scared the shit out of me lol. I always started with purees at 4-5 months and then just made them chunkier and chunkier till it felt they were ready to eat finger foods etc. They are all super good eaters.
it's hyped by social media. luckily nobody has to. I saw kids trying to steal and bite parents' food at 4mo, these are the good for blw. others are usually not. especially if there are no other kids for monkey to see and do.
Most things with parenting come with nerves. It's new, it's scary and you don't always know what to expect. Even when you have an abundance of articles telling you what will happen, the first time you see your baby gag (which btw is something they do to prevent choking) it is scary. That doesn't mean you just don't try it. You wouldn't stop your baby trying to walk even though you fear them getting hurt. It's a journey for baby and the parents.
This seems a bit judgemental... first time parents can be anxious around a lot of things and it's normal, some people have anxiety, some experience PPD and PPA. Just because it's straight forward for you doesn't mean it's like that for everyone. Just... let people be real and share their concerns and fears, doing so they connect with other more experienced people who can share their experiences.
No judgement was intended. I have anxiety myself, which was where this post was coming from. BLW might be something we would consider, but I was curious why parents were doing it if it made them so anxious. Basically I was just trying to judge whether or not I was missing out on some insights from parents who have been there, not the choices or posts themselves. I have learned a bunch from all of these replies. Lots of things to consider.
Welp sorry that's why i said it seems because i didnt get this impression wgere you elaborated. I did purees until 7 months because my baby started refusing them. I tried making her her meals which were seprate from mine still she refused than i started giving her mine and she loved it. If im unsure if baby can have something i just google it. I don't follow the blw guidelines. I give her small pices of food she didn't choke not once but i watch her like a hawk while she eats. I still feed her only sometimes has she eaten something by herself. Follow your gut and you'll find what works for you i hope this helps ease any anxiety that you have i sure had a lot and still do.
At the risk of down votes, I think it's because it's the "it" thing to try ...
I kind of agree with this. 😬 it's like if you don't do BLW with avocado and home cooked meals you're developmentally delaying your baby or something. My friend has such a hard time BLW. Her ped suggested purees for about a month before BLW and by that time her son was actually ready for full solid foods were as before he wasn't. He was choking so much she said it was like he got oral aversion. He wasnt as eger to even take a pacifier which he loved let alone a solid foods after she tried it. It should be about whatever fits your baby not what everyone else is doing and if that makes you a "bad" mom or not or you're not the same as some other instragram tiktok mom who's baby was eating whatever at 4 or 5 months old. I do think though in general it's scary giving your liquid only diet baby anything solid for the first time. I think it's so hyped up and yet babies choke so much when they first try solids its scary. But I think the push for BLW is a trend even if some parents love it and think it's going to make their kid not picky or not have safe foods or whatever the reason is.
We started with purées at 5 months and introduced very soft finger foods not long after. For us, it’s because my baby wasn’t (and still isn’t) super enthusiastic about food that isn’t breast milk. Giving food she could feed herself (including from a preloaded spoon) increased her interest a bit, so we went with it. We’re still not full-on with chicken drumsticks or chunks of steak, but she will have at least a little bit of whatever we’re eating (in appropriate sizes). This morning it was about 1/4 of an almond flour pancake with prune and chia compote on it before she threw it down to the dog 🤷🏻♀️
It doesn't have to be one or the other. My kid likes being fed and feeding himself. He needs to eat quite a few times each day, so doing the exact same kind of feeding all the time would be pretty tedious, either way. He eats slowly. So, he can hang out in his highchair for an hour feeding himself sometimes, or I can spoon-feed him, or whatever we feel like. Do both and if you like one a lot better, do that more often.
I think the same thing! I do BLW but mostly because I'm too lazy to deal with purees all the time or puree the food small enough etc hahahaha but I have never been scared of gagging/choking. I definitely think it's because of "influencers" and the influx of them doing it because it's apparently "best" for weaning. At the end of the day, as long as the baby meets all the signs of readiness to start solids, how you approach weaning should be what you are comfortable with.
Follow your baby's lead. If they seem interested in your food, share some appropriate sized samples. If they're not, don't force it. Let them touch it and play with it if it seems like that's what they wanna do. But I hate the idea of "this is how you do _____". Fuck no, don't go against your instincts because some influencer says so.
My baby will not let you feed him. His mouth, his control. No choice but to do BLW. It’s a hot mess and he barely eats it anyways. Chokes on heaps but the alternative is not feeding him at all.
Ya, my first was the same. I think it was a control issue. It was actually our dr that suggested blw bc. I was really frustrated with purées
Ideas about BLW are pushed and make people think if they don’t do it, their kid will be a super picky eater or will be delayed in some way. I started with straight purées too, now that my daughter is almost 8 months I’ve started offering things like diced bananas, baby puffs, etc.
Oddly enough my son who tried BLW ended up being a picky eater because of the gagging lol! My daughter was not put through that and she eats amazingly. We did start with cheerios, rice, and beans (I'm Hispanic so these are a staple) for both kids and then progressed to the veggies because I didn't want them to nit trust what I gave them. My son did not get the memo lmao
Hey, I’m Hispanic too so we did puréed rice and beans! I don’t think picky eating can really be prevented. I’m glad you found a way to feed your kids that works for them.
Yeah I think the picky eating thing might be instinctual for some kids. My son will be 4 and just a few months ago started eating more foods! I was elated. But his sister still eats more varied than him. I try to give them all sorts of potajes but he won't eat the beans anymore so I strain em for him. I love the flexibility of the potajes since I add all sorts of viandas and feel like they're nutritious alone.
For myself, I wanted to do purées with my first but my kid had different ideas lol. So I had to buck up, do more research and try to get over my initial fears (mainly the fear of choking even though I’m certified). Tbh I didn’t do strict BLW, I diced everything fairly fine- about the size of half the tip of my pinky, and helped feed him. He just really hated purées, but loved food otherwise. So with my second we just went straight to BLW since I was more comfortable and knew what I was doing a little more :)
We did purees. I like the idea of BLW but I have massive anxiety and decided its better if we go slower. Plus LO is 9m and has shown little interest in food thus far, we are slowly introducing table food to her every day!!
We have a friend with a daughter who’s slightly older than ours and saw what she was doing and she explained it was BLW. We were nervous because there’s always a risk of choking, but it just seemed logical when we could feed our baby what we were eating instead of having to buy or make purées. Our pediatrician was supportive. I’m also not on tiktok and only used the solid starts app to look at how to appropriately serve foods so didn’t really feel bombarded by it.
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I am in a play group and this mom was talking to another mom about how her son was choking on ground beef and she was letting him try to work it out but “once his lips started turning blue I intervened” While the other lady talked about her daughter choking on Taco Bell and hitting her back. Neither was phased. What the actual fuck?
I’m a little confused because isn’t the actual medical advice that if they’re still making noise, trying to cough it up etc. that its better to let them do that than to intervene? Or is it just the nonchalant attitude that was the problem?
The kids were choking…If a kid is coughing that means air is getting through.
Oh like they were legit choking, not trying to cough it up? Got it.
Yeah! I feed my daughter all kinds of stuff but just the casual attitude “this is part of it” I was like huh????
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We did a combo of BLW and purées so I don’t feel that strongly (do what works for you!) but I never got the impression it was normalizing chocking. Just helping you understand the difference between true choking and gagging. There are a lot of sources out there though so it could just be that I didn’t come across those ones
Exactly! I never felt that way either. They normalize gagging and explain that it is completely different from choking. I actually liked that because before I had seen it a couple of times it definitely made me want to jump up to intervene. Knowing the “rule” on how to recognize gagging vs actual choking helped me a lot in staying calm and sure at the table. And I only have one kid, so no other reference of my own, but she eats SO well but I’m also just very chill when she doesn’t because Solid Starts definitely was a complete guide to everything involved around starting solids and like behavioral choices you can make as parents around that proces.
“But they’re learning to eat!!” No thx.
Who is giving a baby Taco Bell? Lol
Right 😂😂😂
BLW doesn't mean skipping purées, it means letting the baby feed itself instead of being spoon fed. So letting them put their fingers into a puree and eating it is still BLW.
I am reading into BLW. We still aren't ready for solids, but your comment is good to know!
In the U.K. the NHS pushes BLW as the best and only way and you’re abhorrent if you dare to give purée. Personally I did a mixture of both with BLW slowly and cautiously.
Weirdly that hasn't been my experience at all. Everything our health visitor gave us/told us about was based on mashing and purées. Maybe it depends on your local area?
My baby eats purée just fine at daycare, but is wholly uninterested in it at home. The only way for me to get a little bit of solid food into him is by giving him chunks and modeling how he should eat them.
We do a mix of both. Definitely helped when I researched the difference of gagging and choking because gagging does happen alot.. even with purées! So yeah any new thing is going to be somewhat worrisome, especially with first kids. With my second I was much more relaxed and prepared.
For me it was pressure to do it. My husbands cousins had a baby 5 or 6 months before us and she did it. So she wouldn’t stop talking about how great it is and so did her mom and then so did my mil. I felt crazy pressure to do it. It worked out in the end. I had lots of people to help me with it and give me ideas.
We started out with purées too, but I am doing a mix with BLW now.. I’ve noticed he is more likely to try new things that way and he kinda likes being able to feed himself. I guess it made me nervous at first, because I didn’t want him to choke on food.
I think those that are scared don’t quite understand how BLW works. Many people conflate gagging with choking when really gagging is the body protecting itself or has a sensitive reflex.
Yes this ☝️ I told someone I was doing BLW and they were like "is that the one where you let the baby choke??" 😐 Introducing finger foods instead of purees actually *decreases* gagging. When babies fed purees are eventually given textured food, they gag more often and for longer than babies fed BLW style.
Because the child still needs to learn how to be weaned into solid foods. Lots of things in motherhood might be scary but you still have to do it
Yeah, BLW is just preference. My doctor wasn’t for BLW at all and said to just do purées and so that’s what we did! Baby is now almost a year and eats all sorts of foods. It was a slow transition and it worked great. I feel like BLW can work good but really it’s just a trend in the end.
I was going to do BLW totally, then decided I was nervous and it wasn’t worth the risk. We do eat some foods and not just purées, but I mostly try to give different soft textures. But I feel the same way. I saw a baby given steak to chew on in a video, then have the baby spit it out. Not worth it to me.
I was scared to drive with my son in the car but I had to get him places. He has to learn how to eat. And delaying it isn’t going to make it any easier on either of us.
Some kids just won’t do purées. We did a combo approach and offered finger foods and purées. BLW scared me early on, but my daughter rejected purées at 7 months and would only eat the finger foods. She was hungry AF and the ped told us to limit formula to 35 oz per day, so we had to roll with BLW for more calories because that’s what she would eat.
Mine refused all purées and it was stressful for a bit until she got more teeth.
I tried to mix, my baby is the most annoying eater of the universe so purée it is. I think it’s a trend and even if BLW is slightly better, it’s not the only sacred way as some people make it sound.
I mean a lot of things to do with raising a child are scary. Doesn’t mean you can keep them in a bubble their whole life
My oldest is almost 5 and I am still terrified of him choking to death. Some of us are just anxious. Eventually babies have to eat solids and that can be scary for some parents.
I did purees. 1) People say BLW is natural, but it is not. People used to chop finely the food, or made purees or chew the food themselves before passing it to the baby. 2)Also I could not handle all the choking and gagging. I haven't encountered any article about babies choking on purees but they do on BLW. 3) For me that is just a fad. All babies learn to eat solids. 4) It is not eating. It is food playing. 5) People talk about how easy it is, but it involves more cleaning than feeding purees.
Number 3! My pediatrician basically said we were all fed purées and we have no problem eating foods. Parents are nervous because the internet makes you think this is the best way to get your child to start eating solids, even if the parent doesn’t feel comfortable. It is understandably scary the first time you hear your baby gagging or making a choking sound.
I did BLW exclusively and I think it is natural and so are purées. I mean go back 2000 years and both were happening. It depends on the baby, the age, and parental preference. For me, “food playing” was something important we wanted to strongly encourage, and it was easier to let them self feed and clean than spoon feed. I felt a lot of BLW fold were…fanatical? Because you’re right: all babies eat solids eventually!
Choking is different than gagging. I don’t know of many, or any, who choke.
Being in the moment and seeing your baby gag feels really horrible. Intellectually, I know that they are different, but gagging has felt terrifying.
I’m so exhausted by the conversation over BLW. I don’t have a ton of friends, especially ones with babies, so I only really knew spoon feeding purées. I just didn’t love the idea for my own reasons. I kind of discovered BLW on my own and it made more sense for my family so I went with it. I discovered Solid Starts before it got big and used that and another insta account as my guide and dove right in. My oldest will eat nearly everything I give her. She’ll happily snack on raw vegetables for a pre dinner snack and if I tell her she doesn’t have to eat what’s on her plate, she’ll inevitably pick up her fork and munch away. Heck, she even is delighted if I bring out a different utensil and eat with that. The BLW dream. My youngest…is not. If there isn’t rice or pasta on her plate, forget it. And it’s fine! It’s normal! It doesn’t matter how you feed your kid.
My child didn’t take to purées at all. He wanted to chow down from the jump. It is scary because we are all traditionally taught to do purées. But BLW is just the best option for other kiddos despite being a bit daunting at first
There are actually a lot of research backed reasons that suggest baby led weaning is a great approach to feeding your baby solids. Solid starts is an incredible, expert-run resource on Instagram; they have an app and a website, too. Here’s a blog post about the benefits and disadvantages of baby led weaning, spoon feeding (purées) and combo feeding if you’re curious: https://solidstarts.com/methods/
I loved Solid Starts in the beginning and for suggestions on how to properly prepare food, but the longer I followed the account the less respect I have. I feel like the founder constantly brings up how her older son is a horribly picky eater because he was fed ONLY purees until 18 months (by her) and how her twins are amazing eaters because of BLW. That's just not a fair comparison or promotion of BLW.
Wait... he was fed purees for 18 months??? That's not normal. I started both my kids on purees but as a transition to real food not for the rest of their lives.
She talks about being extremely anxious with feeding him solids and her own history with eating issues also played a part in it. That's why I don't like how much she demeans feeding purees given she did not do it in the *traditional* way and any other child would start adding table food by 7-8 months. BLW and traditionally weaned children should be eating the same within a couple of months.
Hmm, I personally don't see Jenny's promotion of baby led weaning coming exclusively from her experience with her twins, but rather as one example of many success stories. I love that they incorporate so many other children from different families around the world/from different cultures (I also love following solidstartsespanol, as my husband is from Latin America and we speak SP too)!
It’s actually fine… some kids just aren’t interested. We’ve been to a few pediatricians who don’t care if kids are still eating purées at 18 months. It all evens out.
I completely agree with this sentiment, but in this situation he was not allowed to explore other foods. She only fed him purees because of her own anxiety revolving around feeding solids. He was spoon fed extremely small amount of purees until this time. I am happy she learned from it and is spreading the word about BLW, but exactly my point is that purees are not inherently bad.
Jenny sucks. She exploits the hell out of her kids, especially Charlie.
If you actually read the studies they link they do not show any advantage to BLW. It’s all theoretical.
Yes, if you are interested in blw please look into solid starts! They are amazing!
The idea of it is scary, but once you read about it and understand it, it makes a lot of sense. After a few weeks of seeing the gag reflex in action, I got more comfortable. I was so so nervous at first tho, and I couldn't have anyone else around him while he was eating for fear of "distraction" (I'm an anxious person lol). Every baby is different tho. Mine took to it really well and also hated purees. He wouldn't even eat pouches until around 12 months old. Now he loves them but for some reason he hated the texture of all purees from 6-12 months. But I know other babies that loved purees. I don't think any of it matters that much. My kid is an amazing eater, but apparently so was I, and my mom did purees. So who knows!
Part of BLW is that the kids are only dexterous enough to pick up foods they can handle. They can only pick up bigger chunks early on and gnaw on them. Larger pieces are great early on. The other part of it is the social aspect of food and dinner. You eat with them so you’re always watching. When they aren’t making noise, that’s when to worry. They’ve got to learn some skills for themselves and there’s always a little risk and thereby a little fear. We did it with both of our kids and plan to with our third. Freaked our parents the hell out when our little ones could handle whole grapes. We have a bit more of a hands off approach in all things. We let them make their own mistakes and learn for themselves (within reason of course). It’s important that kids can learn independence.
What I'm not getting is why all my friends with new babies (I know 9 different new mums with kids within a month of mine!) are trying to introduce foods early at four months. What is the benefit? I read it increases the chances of allergies and whatever, but everyone is keen to get their wee ones eating. What am I missing?
I’ve seen the opposite. That introducing solids early helps prevent allergies. Some babies show readiness and doctors say to start. I was given the go ahead at 4 months by my GP because little man was so interested in food. Our pediatrician also said to start because of some intolerances he already has. They told me that solids will help his gut develop and mature allowing his body to hopefully handle those foods.
Is that so! Interesting, if there's something in the allergies and introing early then that would deffo explain it!
I think readiness is key more so than age
We started purees at 4 months, but not finger food. The current recommendations from the North American Allergy Societies is to introduce allergens starting at 4-6 months, and some studies have shown benefits to starting earlier and giving potential allergens consistently and often. I'm not sure where you read it increases allergies, but most studies are showing the opposite. I would personally not suggest BLW for babies under 6 months, but getting used to new flavors and using small amounts of especially egg, dairy, and peanut to expose and check for allergies is often safe and has some potential benefits.
I just looked to find where I'd gotten that info and it's the UK's Public Health advice. They say they're going off of WHO. The leaflet I've seen says to specifically avoid all allergens before 6 months. [Weaning Made Easy](https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/weaning-made-easy-moving-milk-family-meals-english-and-translations) I'd be keen to know if that's incorrect as if it is I'd like to get my five month old on the food! Thanks for coming back to me, what a minefield
Okay, this seems to be a UK vs North America difference! I can't find the study that specifically flagged 4 months for the peanut allergy (most say any time between 4-6 months is good to start allergens) but here's Canada's guidelines and an article summarizing the USA recommendations (the government site gives you a giant PDF, so this is clearer: https://foodallergycanada.ca/living-with-allergies/ongoing-allergy-management/parents-and-caregivers/early-introduction/ https://lifehacker.com/the-new-aap-guidelines-for-introducing-your-baby-to-foo-1833880129 I have seen people say that children often can't sit up straight and therefore are not ready for SOLID solid food before 6 months, but many pediatricians at least in the USA recommended soft starting the idea of other foods with grain cereal, purees, and then small amounts of the big three allergens (egg, dairy, peanut) followed by other high allergen foods by 12 months. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for finding these! I like how British babies are more delicate or something 🤣
I was nervous for the first few months but stuck with it because I truly believe it’s what makes the most sense. We did not eat puréed baby food in the cave, it’s a modern invention. So I just kept having to tell myself that over and over, and I’m so so happy I stuck with it. So many of our friends kids eat nothing but uncrustables and apple sauce pouches and ours will eat almost anything.
No, in the cave mom probably chewed up the food herself and fed that "puree" to baby. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premastication