Any negatives to BLW?

[beanster]

Think weaning a baby involves mess HOWEVER you do it!!!!!! Either puree all over the face, chair floor ect or broccoli all over face, chair, floor etc lol.

 

[Sarah13]

Think weaning a baby involves mess HOWEVER you do it!!!!!! Either puree all over the face, chair floor ect or broccoli all over face, chair, floor etc lol.

Your right there! You just get the mess a bit sooner with BLW I guess!

 

[MrsR]

I think the negatives are probably dealing with other peoples opinions of it, the mess and also if you struggle to get your head around food only being for fun and then gagging. If you can understand and cope with these things then IMHO there are no negatives! Definitely no negatives from my perspective tbh! I didn't struggle with opinions and I grasped the concepts easily!

 

[whibs]

What is BLW?

Sounds like fun, and that has to be a good thing

 

[Hunnie]

Being a first time mum and not having any prior knowledge of weaning, why are there people with negative opinions on blw and what do they generally say about it?

I'm really interested in going down the blw route. What are the strengths and weaknesses of both types of weaning?

 

[MrsR]

Being a first time mum and not having any prior knowledge of weaning, why are there people with negative opinions on blw and what do they generally say about it?

I'm really interested in going down the blw route. What are the strengths and weaknesses of both types of weaning?

I can only share the strengths of blw. As I said above the only negatives are other peoples opinions and the mess. You also have to grasp the difference between gagging and choking and the fact that food is only for fun at the beginning. The positives/strengths are;
It's so enjoyable-for baby and adult!
It's more natural as babies explore and learn by using their hands and mouths. A blw baby explores food at their own pace and eats when they're ready.
They learn about the food. A baby that is allowed to feed them self learns about the look, smell, taste and texture of different food and how the flavours can work together-purées mix all the tastes into one. Blw baby can learn what flavours they do and don't like and can select not to eat that flavour rather than refusing the whole meal (as can happen with purées) even with things like a casserole.
They learn to eat safely.
It uses all the baby's senses to learn and relate things together and get a better understanding of the world (ie through texture, weight, size, shape etc etc)
Feeding themselves allows babies to practice hand-eye coordination, helps improve dexterity and chewing food (rather than just swallowing purées) helps to develop facial muscles.
It encourages confidence not only for baby but also between parent and child.
Blw babies rarely show suspicion of food as they are allowed to use their instincts.
They are included in family meals which is fun for baby and allows them to copy the behaviour seen.

I could seriously go on and on. Honestly I would say buy the gill rapley blw book and read it and do research. That's basically what we did and blw was our choice.

 

[Sarah13]

I think people can be negative because they are used to the norm which is filling babies up by spoon feeding purees so think the baby will be hungry and not get enough nutrients but all they need is milk up until 6 months and then milk should still be their main source of food for a while after the 6 month mark. I agree with mrs R the gill rapely book is a really good read, I'm starting to think there aren't really any negatives as babies make a mess however you ween!