Baby led weaning advice please.

[Happyred]

So with DD I weaned as normal per the guidelines at that time and started at 16 weeks. I had no problems and she has no food allergies at all.
I' ve looked into BLW this time and quite like the idea of it, but Im not sure if im missing something or not.
With BLW can you not offer them things that arent solid as they cant use a spoon, or can you combine the 2 iykwim.
My lo is almost 18 weeks and although she is not "needing" food, she is showing a real interest in it. She sits in her high chair at the table with us and watches us eat and I would love to give her some food to play around with. But is it too early? I guess what im wondering is how long does it take for them to go from playing with the food to actually putting it in their mouths?
My lo has the motor skills as she puts everything in her mouth and always puts her own bottle in her mouth and holds it. (I need to support the weight of it, but she moves it about herself)
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks. Xx

 

[l_maclean]

You can mix the two, but the idea is that they learn to chew at the same time as they learn to swallow, so if you really want to do BLW I'd be inclined to stick
Mostly with finger foods to start.

The full rapely book is good for 'true signs of readiness' to wean - but everything in mouth is a normal mile stone.

We started BLW at 4.5 months as G was def ready, she struggling to pick some food up from her tray at first, but if we handed her something it went straight in and chewed. She was def picking up before 6months, but every child is different.

If she can sit unsupported, put things quickly and accurately in her mouth, then there's no harm in trying her. Many people will tell you their gut isn't mature enough till 6months, but I think some will be ready earlier and if you are unsure giving her finger foods to play with will mean a lot less goes into her wee tummy than If you spoon fed at 18weeks (this was our reason for BLW at 4.5months)




On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[Happyred]

Thank you. I'm happy to not spoon feed for now as I'm not fussed about her actually eating at the moment. But I just feel she is really interested in food just now and i would like to encourage it. I think I will go with my instincts and give her some banana or something to play around with while we are eating our dinner.

 

[Loula]

My lo is just about able to pick food up and put it in her mouth at nearly 7 months and weve tw since 4.5 months probs my fault but i just cant deal with mess. id try lo on banana or carrot sticks that are soft or someyhing similar as theyre limited to fruit and veg until 6 months z

 

[TORino]

You could start by giving her something soft to play with to see if she puts it in her mouth.

I waited a bit longer myself as I didn't think she was ready and I didn't want to risk subjecting her to all the problems that potentially come with early weaning,

We do a combination if blw and tw. I started off at first only giving things she could pick up and feed to herself though. And I made sure she had something she could feed herself every meal. I don't fully blw as I wanted to cut down on the breastfeeding and leaving her to it at every meal would

1) take an age
2) mean she wouldn't eat enough

So I would spoon some food in after she had fed herself some stuff.

My kid has been able to pick up rice/peas since 7 months old. She eats pretty much anything we do and can chew very well despite having no teeth!!