BLW book - what a revalation! Sort of a review I guess :)

Sherlock

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OH got it as an early Christmas present and due to having had my op today and now required to rest for 48 hours at least I've been busy reading it.

And what a great book :) Informative, well written and I'm pleased that it takes the time to explain all the reasons why weaning before 6ish months isn't really necessary for most babies. Just that its become the accepted thing in more recent years (Rapley covers early weaning and how it has changed over the years in some detail and is not condemning weaning before 6 months). She explains that due to no change in the advertising laws when the Government guidelines changed in 2003 (recommending not weaning before 6 months) companies are still allowed to advertise purees and foods as 'suitable from 4 months'. They are still operating from laws that were passed when guidelines were to wean from 4 months (changed from 3 months). So, food companies are not breaking any laws but many parents are not fully aware of the changes in the guidelines as companies can still advertise from 4 months. Reading all about it made real sense and the more I've read of Gill Rapley's book the more I can understand and appreciate her principals on why BLW is a good way forward.

This is not a post to diss parents who weaned on purees or before 6 months. Its to express my delight at finding a book that is helpful, answers my questions and makes me think about why going with BLW with my son is the right way for us both.

I liked how Rapley made me look at Galen's development and made me put weaning into context along with all the other things he does and how he learns. To think about how we don't make our child walk before they are ready, but that our child does so when they reach that point to do it themselves and are happy to try. That looking at trying foods is along the same principal. Wait until baby is ready and can do things for his or herself and that its not about baby eating because baby is hungry or 'needs' food but about trying what we try, being curious, learning to co-ordinate and manage food themselves without need for an adult to do it for them.

That by waiting till Galen was ready (and not mistaking various baby growth phases as needing solids to fill him up) and letting him set the pace was good for him and us. I loved how she broke down and explained why and how spoon feeding purees might not be the way I wanted to go and that eating what we eat makes for less stress and hopefully a less fussy baby who is happy to try new foods.

I don't know, I'm still tired and a bit woozy ( longer op than I thought it would be and therefore a lot more of the old knockout drugs) and I'm excited reading BLW book finally.

Has anyone else read it? Got it on order? Planning to read it? Please please please share your thoughts on it here and let me know if it opened your eyes to anything you didn't know before or if it changed your opinion/mind on when and how to wean your baby.

This is the book I am on about, written by the woman who brought BLW into the light and made it something that could be talked about and as a different appoach from the more conventional and traditional puree weaning. I appreciate she took the time to explain the ins and outs of puree weaning and why it has become the more usual way to wean. I also appreciate that she looks at it from a babys point of view and opened my eyes as to how they might see a spoon with mush on it at 4 months over veggie sticks, fruit and meals that we are eating at around 6 months. I understand much about how baby develops so having a better understanding of this aspect has helped immensely and made me very happy we have gone with BLW.

I also am far more relaxed about the amount Galen is eating already and that his use of a spoon himself is as good as it is and that we are ok going as we are with it for him. Seeing him eat spaghetti bolegnese tonight was wonderful and he got his hands in the bowl, picked up the pasta and meat and chomped away happily. He loves his grub and is one of those babies who doesn't want to play with his food but really wants to get stuck in and eat it all :lol: We tried pitta pockets with Dairylea yesterday, along with blackberries for the first time. He loved both. Then spag bol for tea. And today he had it again and was really keen to feed himself. Tomorrow its fish pie for tea with us :)

OK, drug induced ramble over :lol: Going to zonk out in a bit once I've caught up on here. How I am going to sleep tonight with a lower back/top of bum full of stiches and a large chunk of me missing is anyones guess :shock: Suffice to say the Docs advice to sleep on my back to put pressure on the bleeding made me laugh in his face as I came round after the op :oops: :lol: I shall try but oooo bloody hell it hurts doing that.

No boobie feeding till the morning now either. Have to express boobs out again (hossie pump was AMAZING and I want one). My pump isn't going to be anywhere near as good but at least it'll get some out.

OKies, stick a fork in me, I'm done :lol:
 
Its an amazing book, my only complaint is that it wasn't published sooner. After doing the BLW route with Cally I am really regreting not doing it with Seren. I didn't have much confidence and my HV kept on at me to wean her (at 14 weeks ffs) and I held out till 19 weeks and then gave her puree which she then refused. I stopped and restarted her on finger foods at 5 1/2 months. I wish I had not given her the purees now, she was always a great eater and very good at eating normal food from a very early age but I just wish I could have done BLW. I see Cally now and meal times are so much fun as I am not stressing if she's eaten much or if she has had enough. I also highly recommend this book for anyone.

Hope the op went ok and that you are not too sore Sherlock.
 
Sounds like a great book - I'll be reading it before weaning number two.

I kind of did a mixture of BLW and purees (from 6 months) with Evie and although I read about BLW as much as I could on the internet, I didn't really feel I had any kind of reference point iykwim. Useless HV said my baby would just choke herself when I said I was going to BLW, had never heard of it :roll: so that knocked my confidence a bit.

Baby number two will be banned from baby rice!!! :)
 
I've ordered this book to get prepared! I was recommended it by my la leche group- we watched the video that accompanies it a couple of weeks ago- made me excited to try it but have a bit of time to wait!
Theres also a website to go with it- baby-led.com
Theres also supposed to be an interview or debate between annabel karmel and gill rapley somewhere which is supposed to be interesting- but not sure where that is.

Hope you manag to rest tonight :hug:
 
I have it ordered from Amazon and was hoping it would arrive yesterday, it didn't, today, it didn't, so I'm hopeful for tomorrow! Excited to read it, definitely, and will hopefully lend it to my sister in law who, having weaned her son the traditional way, doesn't believe that my daughter with one tooth sat down today and ate mini weetabix with banana for breakfast, cheese on toast followed by a pear for lunch and macaroni cheese followed by a yoghurt for pudding. Love it love it love it!
 
Im ordering it now, purely so when people start pestering me ( a theyve already started) about weaning at 3 months odd i ca shove it onto them to read !

Also i was suprised about how little about BLW there is out there so, definately my weaning bible i think !
 
I've read the book... i enjoyed it and it just re enforced the reasons why i didn't want to spoon feed my baby. Also i feel relaxed in the amounts Cooper will be eating as maybe i might have worried otherwise. I must admit tho reading the BLW blog on here, listening to everyones stories and opinions on BLW and reading the links posted by people i don't think it really taught me anything else. I have give it my mum to read tho as she wasn't too sure on how Cooper would manage from going from only breastmilk to sticks of carrots. lol.
 
I might buy it for my mum to read. She says she's never heard of it and it sounds silly to her and what about choking etc, and I try to explain it I really do but I just can't explain it articulately enough! I'll have a look in WHSmiths today when I'm out.

FWIW I don't have anything against the puree way of doing it, after all people are always changing the best ways to do things! But BLW makes sense to me and sounds easier and more interesting!
 
Mine arrived last week :cheer: I ordered it from amazon as was reccomended it by purple13 8) I also ordered the finger food recipe one and got both for about £12 :D

Ive only read the first 5-6 pages but found it really easy to read and great for getting straight to the point on what BLW is about and how its good for baby. After attempting to explain the idea of BLW to OH and getting a rather :? look, I read him some of the quotes from the book today and he says 'ah that makes sense, its definately better then' so now we can both understand. :clap:

Im now excited about BLW in less than 2 months! :dance: xx
 
i started giving weaning food baby rice porridge once day at 4 months 1 weeks and to be honest he was a happier baby for it :) im not going to debate it but different strokes for different folks. 8) :D
dont like the puree food :puke:
im now BLW as i prefer Collier to chose what he eats and how much at his own pace :dance:
but im not going to beat myself up for starting (the wrong way)
Colliers really enjoying BLW so this will be the route we will take from now on :cheer: :cheer:
 
midna said:
Although baby led weaning can be allowed to start at 6 months it still dosent mean they are necessarily ready at 6 months. By following thier lead as I have with Wednesday she has only just taken to solids within the last couple of weeks. I introduced her to finger foods at 6 months but she clearly wasnt interested so didnt continue. Although she has had a couple mouthfuls here and there it was nothing significant and can say she has pretty much been exclusivley breastfed in the first year! Ive allowed her oppertunity to take it from my plate as and when she wants it which before 2 weeks ago was never. Now shes become really interested and it feels so right. Im glad I went down the baby led weaning route, its been all her decisions but at the same time Im kinda sad that shes looking for the independance herself now. :( In a proud sorta way too ...omg wheres my baby gone!! She still breastfeeds loads the transition will be very slow which Im so pleased about it means I got lots more feeding time. Feeding a toddler is just amazing..I cant wait for her to start asking for milk by words instead of just pulling on my top lol. She talks to my breasts plays with them ..they are her best friends haha. Ive not read the book although Im sure its a worthwhile read ...Ive much followed my instincts and let her lead me all the way...which is basically BLW. Im glad more and more people are deciding to do it, it makes sense.

Thats useful to know cos Reggies doing really well just on breastmilk at the moment and i was wondering what would happen if at 6months he was still not really interested in food when we started BLW, so i was wondering if its ok if it takes longer than 6 months for them to start properly, thanks. Havent got that far in the book yet!xx
 
Hey Midna, good to see you and congrats on year!

If Galen had not been bothered when we started BLW I'd have been like you and left him to decide when he felt like it. As it was with him he took to it like a duck to water and is loving his grub.
 
Interesting what you have said Midna :think:
Calleigh i think would get by quite fine on booby milk, i just cant seem to get her into food. She has nibbles and thats it. There have been occasions that she will eat more than just a nibble but this hasnt been the case for a week or so. She totally refuses food from me on a spoon except for fruit and yogurt. All her finger foods are generally played with some dont even go anywhere near her mouth. She will have a good ol suck and gum on her toast of a morning but lunch and tea are now becoming a little bit of a challenge, i end up just binning it :(
If i wasnt returning to work i wouldnt be so concerned as i would be here for her milk, god damn so angry that i have to return to work.
 
charlie84 said:
Interesting what you have said Midna :think:
Calleigh i think would get by quite fine on booby milk, i just cant seem to get her into food. She has nibbles and thats it. There have been occasions that she will eat more than just a nibble but this hasnt been the case for a week or so. She totally refuses food from me on a spoon except for fruit and yogurt. All her finger foods are generally played with some dont even go anywhere near her mouth. She will have a good ol suck and gum on her toast of a morning but lunch and tea are now becoming a little bit of a challenge, i end up just binning it :(
If i wasnt returning to work i wouldnt be so concerned as i would be here for her milk, god damn so angry that i have to return to work.

Hi Charlene, don't worry too much about the quantities that Calleigh eats, Maia is exactly the same. Now I know Calleigh is about 5 weeks older but I have been doing a bit more research into BLW and I visited a site that Beanie recommended called Baby Banana http://www.babybanana.biz/page28.htm. Theres an MSN group which you can access from the site(looks like no ones been on it in a good few months looking at the dates) and I had a good trawl through and looked at some of the answers and concerns. It seems that initially some babies don't eat a great deal when following BLW and usually about 2 months into BLW is the time when you will begin to notice a difference between the amount of food eaten. In the beginning it is all about letting babies pick up, play, put to their mouths, suck explore different texture, tastes, smells and colours so it important to give a variety of foods. So I wouldn't worry about the amount that is actually eaten, and I would say carry on breastfeeding as you have been but also carry on letting Calleigh experiment and play with food, no pressure to eat just to have a mess with it and if she eats some then great. Before one just for fun, is one quote that is mentioned quite a bit on the baby banana site. Ive tried to keep this in mind and I just let Maia have a good play and she seems to enjoy the food but she doesnt eat a great deal. Her favourites are definitely roasted sweet potato and butternut squash, maybe try something like this as they are easy to hold and taste quite sweet. Let us know how you get on.
 
Thanks for teh recommendation Sherlock :D

I will definitely be giving it a read and will let you know what I think. I have read bits and bobs here and there from the web links Beanie & yourself have posted and I also listened to the very funny interview on BBC radio 4 with Gill Rapley and "oh sh*t my books will go into the bargain bin" Annabel Karmel, but I feel I could do with a bit more info on it.

Been today to our local library and I was surprised to say that have got it :cheer: It is very new into the library and not yet ready to lend but it is registered on the system so once its ready they will phone me and put it on hold for me. Good to know its getting a bit more popular.

Hope your op went well and hope you have a speedy recovery :hug:
 

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