Spoonfeeding thread- reply for nancy

[hollyes]

Hello there! That's exactly my mum stance! Women have been successfully bringing up babies for 1000's of years! Experience has a lot going for it. Most of her research has been just about studing patterns in feeding and looking at why babies behave in relation to feeding the way they do. For example she filmed hundreds of mums feeding their babies and found that babies are very good at reading even the slightest disgust expression on mums face. So if you think that pureed broccoli looks horrid, baby will pick up on it and refuse to eat it, so yummy expressions all the way even if it looks disgusting! The 6 month guideline was the one they claimed was a misprint in the end but apparently haven't had funds to issue new ones. So your instincts are completely right!

Been speaking to mum recently about baby led weaning as she personally has some reservations. The woman who developed the idea apparently hasn't really got her theory together and there has been no research into any possible benefits. But at the end of the day it's all down to how mums want to look after their babies.

One of the other problems with the 6 month guideline is that she has also shown through longitudinal studies that the wider the range of tastes introduced between 6 and 9 months the less fussy eaters children become. Which is obviously hard to do if they're only getting the basics at 6 months as different tastes need to be introduced gradually.

I think the soft veg at dinner sounds like a good idea. Hope she enjoys it!

 

[nancy]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. What your saying makes a lot of sense to me. The reason for trying the BLW is because clearly she's ready to eat if she can pick the food up and put it in her mouth, plus with Sophie around I'd like her to learn how to cope with pieces of food asap.

The mis-print doesn't really surprise me considering the government we have running this country. I thought it was rather strange to suddenly jump to 6 months randomly.

 

[hollyes]

That's ok, time is something I hava a lot of at the moment and after lying here for the last 8 1/2 weeks going crazy with worry it was good to think about something else. Just hope it was helpful! And all the best!

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

No benefits in BLW! well to name a few how about increased motorskills, much more comfortable eating a wider range of foods to name just two!

I have spoken to MANY women who BLW their second child and they said the health and motor benefits were so so clear from raising their first child on purees and the allowing the second to work out food for themselves

purees from jars contain preservatives, and are sweetened and have salt added to make up for the blandness created from mass production

BLW allows the mother to eat dinner at the same time as the child meaning that the child learns and understands what food does at a much earlier age

it doesnt take mass study, it just takes having a look and a bit of common sense! If the NHS guidelines say a baby is ready for food when it can pick up a bit of banana and put it in its mouth then surely it makes more sense to give it bits of banana than mash it up into a puree??

There are lots of benefits to BLW and i really think that the OP has not researched it enough to make such a sweeping statement

 

[Terrie]

i waited until 6months and BLW with both my children. there are lots of benefits and my children have better hand eye co-ordination than any of the children in their nursery! they are not fussy eaters, they are perfectly healthy and have most certainly benefited from not being spoon fed.

this post shocks me.

not that im against spoon feeding in any way but to say there are no benefits of BLW just goes to show the OPs lack of research on the matter.

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

also please remember that humans have been eating food for much much longer than purees and formula milk have been around so to imagine it is somehow 'unnatural' or 'new fangled' to BLW is just ridiculous

 

[Tonks]

The 6 month guideline was the one they claimed was a misprint in the end but apparently haven't had funds to issue new ones.

I guess the research of the World Health Organisation was an accident?

Who claimed it was a misprint, and who said there were no funds to issue new guidelines?

 

[hollyes]

I am quite upset by this response, I was only putting forward an opinion not saying anyone should do things one way or another, at the end of the day we all do what's right for each of us. I was certainly not saying there are no benefits or advocating formula milk or jars, we cook everything from scratch in our house and at 6 months most babies ready for finger food anyway.

My family and I are going through hell at the moment, we don't know if our baby will survive and will probably have serious health problems if we do make it. I came onto this forum to look for support, along the way I have tried to give support to others, I thought that was the point, not to make each other feel bad.

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

Holly dont get upset or make more out of this than it is, you gave an opinion but you cannot expect all your opinions to be taken as scripture

i personally felt that if i had not replied to your rather strong (and in my eyes very misguided) opinion about BLW, i would be allowing ill-founded advice to be offered unchallenged

i am sorry about your personal circumstances i really am, but whenever we post on forums, we have to expect our opinions to be challenged and discussed, especially on something as personal as our childrens eating habits

I hope things get easier for you, but no one has attacked you here, just suggested that your thoughts about BLW are not correct and that in lieu of research to the contrary, perhaps we arent all wrong

 

[Terrie]

Holly dont get upset or make more out of this than it is, you gave an opinion but you cannot expect all your opinions to be taken as scripture

i personally felt that if i had not replied to your rather strong (and in my eyes very misguided) opinion about BLW, i would be allowing ill-founded advice to be offered unchallenged

i am sorry about your personal circumstances i really am, but whenever we post on forums, we have to expect our opinions to be challenged and discussed, especially on something as personal as our childrens eating habits

I hope things get easier for you, but no one has attacked you here, just suggested that your thoughts about BLW are not correct and that in lieu of research to the contrary, perhaps we arent all wrong

i second this responce completely..

 

[hollyes]

Tonks, WHO guidelines were adopted by government even though they were meant for those working with mothers in developing countries not developed countries such as us. Not sure which department was involved- probably shouldn't have given people this info. But those involved in taking on guidelines to promote own political motives tried to minimise what they'd done by claiming it was a printing error which should have read 4-6 months.

 

[hollyes]

Well it seems you are agreeing with me after all seeing as my only reservation was that there has been no research nothing more than that. I wish you all the best

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

no Holly i am not agreeing with you, there have been tons and tons of research done on BLW and it has shown that by allowing a child to feed itself you are improving its motor-neuron skills AND incouraging it to eat a wider variety of unprocessed foods

which is very very good for a child

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

Tonks, WHO guidelines were adopted by government even though they were meant for those working with mothers in developing countries not developed countries such as us. Not sure which department was involved- probably shouldn't have given people this info. But those involved in taking on guidelines to promote own political motives tried to minimise what they'd done by claiming it was a printing error which should have read 4-6 months.

WHO = World Health Organisation... not Developing Countries Health Organisation but the whole World

and we are a part of that world, i am wondering where you get your information from Holly? Is it possible that you can link us to a website which shows us the WHO guidelines are for developing countries?

Also WHO guidelines are re-written all the time, so a printing error is a moot point, for example the WHO guidelines suggest no child should be vaccinated before the age of six months, yet the NHS in this country states they should be vaccinated from 8 weeks

both of those things are subject to change and particuarly the WHO guidelines change all the time

so could you please cite your sources so we can all take a look? I have tried to google 'WHO wrong about weaning age' and WHO Weaning Six month' but got nothing back... a link would be great x

 

[hollyes]

No WHO put out guidelines for developing countries- they have not made any mistakes. These guidelines were meant for practitioners to prevent infant mortality in countries with babies with low birthweight due to poor nutrition and no access to sterilisation equipment, our government then tried to adopt the guidelines for the uk. I don't have the link, I have only spoken to my mum who is a consultant whose area of research has been infant weaning for the last 25 years.

And there have been no actual comparison studies or comprehensive scientific studies into blw, to state that is no slight on it as a way of weaning. This information comes from the scientific community but that doesn't mean it doesn't suit a lot of people.

I wish everyone luck and happiness.

 

[nancy]

To be fair to Hollyes, this is her mum's research which I asked her about in another thread. I've weaned 2 children and am about to wean another and have always been interested in various methods so I was interested to hear about what her mum has to say.

Like others have said, it's ultimately the mummy's decision as to what route she feels is the best one to take after getting all the information that she possibly can. Every single baby is different and so are the families involved so certain methods don't suit everyone and sometimes a baby is ready to eat ealier and some later.

I have read the government advice and taken it on board but I'm afraid that I don't actually trust the government or their advisors so I only take on board the stuff that I agree with or that makes absolute sense. There is no government advice about BLW that I am aware of, they suggest purees and baby rice at 6 months - all my children could cope with a puree much earlier than that. If I follow government advice and stay breast feeding exclusively until 6 months I would most certainly be going down the BLW route as babies are usually capable of dealing with chunks and finger food at 6 months - or before in Ellie's case by the looks of it.

When I weaned William I was completely anal about organic home-made dinners, he tried a variety of different veggies and fruits etc but that hasn't made him any less fussy or less inclined to favour the junk food, I can't even get him to eat veggies and fruit most of the time. I was much more relaxed with Sophie and gave her a combination of jars and home-made food, finger foods etc, she'll now eat everything on her plate and actually favours veggies and home cooked dinners!

I'm sorry to hear you've been having problems Hollyes, I had no idea as I only read certain parts of the forum. I really hope everything goes ok for you and baby. Don't take what the girls here have said as a bad thing, open discussion and swapping/challenging ideas is a good thing as that's how we can learn to do the best by our babies which is the main thing we're all here for I imagine. xxx