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Weaning
Have any of you lot started weaning yet? I've been reading about baby led weaning which seems like a good idea but clearly I've been reading the articles that think it's great. I'd love to hear a balanced argument either way to see if I should be feeding mush or normal food.
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I like the idea of Peter feeding himself and choosing his own food, as well as the convenience of feeding him the same food that we are eating from the start. It fits with the philosophy of feeding on demand for breastfeeding that has governed how I have fed him to date. But I am exhausted at the moment because of his erratic sleeping. I am off to the clinic on Thursday to talk to the hv, so we will see. I'll let you know what we decide, but I really am hoping that I will be able make it to six months and try BLW.
She loves it! I started off early....she will be 5 months on 3rd Aug because shes really gone off her milk feeds and just seemed to want something else and she eats it all up with a big smile on her face. I think Im just going to try and leave her on this until shes 6 months when Im going to switch to finger foods and a rough BLW system as spoke to my HV about it all last week and she said that should be fine, even if we do start to introduce a few fruit and veg purees before then it will still be ok to go onto finger foods from 6 months like you would on BLW. I am worried about choking though...although my HV assures me a good pat on the back whilst holding them upside down will dislodge the food...it still sounds scarier than just giving slop! Can see its probably better for developing babys eating habits though x
I think once she hits 6 months I will give her sticks of carrot etc but I really don't want her to be a fussy eater.
She already tries to feed herself by grabbing the spoon, and generally making a mess but she loves it!!
I'm going to give her another couple of weeks then I'm going to introduce lunch too.
Its a really exciting time, don't you think
I will be trying BLW too around about when Daisy reaches 6 months, so I'm looking forward to hearing how other people get on with it!
C xx
My main worry re BLW is the nutritional aspect. When weaning Angelo I went down the traditional route and was very confident that he was eating lot's of lovely, nutritional food and, once the first stages were out of the way, a very healthy, balanced diet. From what I gather with blw, it would be up to Nina to pick and choose what she eats and would also only be able to eat what she can handle, right? For example, a hearty soup might be a bit difficult for a long time. Would it end up being more restrictive?
Also, once she gets to 6 months I would like to feel confident that she is eating enough so we can cut out the night feeds but would she still rely more heavily on her milk to make up for it if she doesn't eat enough during the day?
I'm not sure if these are legitimate concerns so would appreciate any opinions. Mumofgeorgia hope I haven't confused matters. x
The nutritional aspect shouldn't be a problem. If you offer a wide range of nutritional finger foods she will have plenty to experiment with and will get a taste for nutritionally wholesome food. Soup might be a bit of a problem, but, if you can stand the mess, stews can be eaten with fingers. The book is really helpful on the subject of how to tackle less obvious foodstuffs.
As for the milk, she would still rely heavily on milk. A lot of children won't actually ingest enough food to drop milk feeds until about 8 or 9 months using BLW. The fact that Peter is still feeding up to four times a night is the one reason why I am debating whether to go down this road or not. I really want to, but I do need some sleep for the sake of my sanity and my ability to care for him.
Anyway, we will see what happens. In the meantime, I'm happy to let you know what the book says if you have any further questions.
Ok the milk side of it is a minus point to BLW for me. Hmm, I will really have to weigh it all up. Sorry to hear Peter is still up so often during the night. I totally understand why you are debating going down the BLW route in that case. It's so hard isn't it? Nina is up twice a night at the moment (but once is usually before I have gone to bed) and that's still too much for me.
Aw that's really nice of you. I do have another question..Is there a huge emphasis that baby eats with you? I will often grab lunch while the lo's are having their nap and we have dinner when they are in bed. She would eat with Angelo though, so hopefully that would be good enough, although I'm not sure he's always the best influence.x
[Modified by: ally_e on July 29, 2009 09:00 PM]
Yes, the book does say that eating as a family is important but the really important thing is that they don't eat alone, so I am sure feeding Nina with Angelo would work. It is really about eating meals as a social occasion. Also it says that for the first few months, because they aren't relying on solids as their main form of nutrition, they don't need set meal times. Eventually they will develop a pattern and you can adjust mealtimes to suit, a bit like getting breast feeding established from the sound of it.
Oh, and I looked up the section on soup. They recommend soup with lumps that can be fished out, but smooth or thin soups can be eaten with bread or breadsticks as dippers. Also, some babies will eat off a pre-loaded spoon, apparently. We are currently giving Peter a spoon to play with to get him used to it.
Sorry to hear that Nina is still getting you up at night. Peter has only really been up four times for the past two nights but that is two too many for me! Also, it totally mucks up his daytime naps. Hopefully it is a very short phase that he is going through as I really, really want to make it to six months if possible (only 4.5 weeks to go...)
We like our soups so that's good news!
I downloaded the guidlines from the rapleyweaning website so will have a read. Not sure if there is too much info.
I do hope it's a short phase with Peter. I think it can be a vitious circlewith day time and night time sleep being messed up. Nina's first tooth has just come through and looks like the second will be any time now. She seems in so much pain with it so maybe Peter is teething too? Wouldn't it be perfect if they slept through...
I've borrowed Annabel Karmels books from a friend and he's had pureed carrot for the past few days, and I've just pureed some pears to start tomorrow.
xxD&Bumpxx maybe you could try Kayleigh with some veg like carrot or something as it probably tastes a bit better than baby rice. You could also mix a bit of the veg with baby rice but I haven't tried that yet.
xxx