Tw/blw

[twinkles]

Can someone explain these to me in simple terms?! Thank u x

 

[Les1504]

BLW- baby chooses from a range of foods on their tray and feeds themselves. TW- spoon feeding! I think this is right anyway! X

 

[beckyboo1]

Traditional weaning is based on babies starting off with purées and gradually working up to lumps in food and then onto 'proper' meals the same as what you would eat.

TW is generally started earlier than BLW (hence why the old advice was to start weaning at 4 months)

BLW is generally introduced around the 6 month mark- finger food s are introduced straight away and with the exception of a couple of things (honey being one of them) baby eats pretty much the same food as us straight away.

The theory is that until 6 months milk is enough and by the 6 month mark babies are able to deal better with finger foods as they are mature enough- therefore no need to start with purées

It's fab to watch Harry just eat exactly what we do and he loves his food!!

 

[KarenC]

^WSS

BLW you don't give any purees. You wait until LO shows they are ready by being able to sit up unaided, and being able to bring food quickly and accurately to their mouths without help. You just start offering food that they can pick up and they start eating when they are ready, which is usually around 6 months old. That way they get to explore what real food is like, they get choice and can eat as much as they want. They have more control over what they eat and are sometimes less fussy eaters than TW babies, and may even have better appetite control when they grow up. They will gag and retch a bit at the beginning as they learn to handle food in their mouths and it's a messy business but I love it and couldn't recommend it enough. Tilly will try everything and seems to be really enjoying it.

TW you start with smooth purees at around 4 months and then introduce lumps in it, and only start offering finger food later on.

Nothing wrong with either method. Just do whatever suits you, I say. Hope this helps xxx

 

[Froslass]

Wss^^^

I did a mix of both, I let my LO feed herself, but still fed her yoghurts and cereal and soup myself - she's a great eater x

 

[twinkles]

Thanks girls! I love the sound of blw! Lo is 17 weeks and seems happy enough with bf still so hope to carry on as long as possible, gives me time to research this!

Any book recommendations? Is it worth doing both, tw to encourage blw or is that not needed? X

 

[Hope81]

They say that BLW may be dangerous (or harder ) if a baby learns to shallow first before chewing (that happens with TW). In BLW they first learn to chew without much else going on and a bit later to actually eat what they chew.

I am in a process of research too lol...

 

[KarenC]

Yeah, I guess if LO's become used to swallowing purees they can find biting and chewing quite difficult as they have only learnt to swallow food at that stage. That said, I think if you want to combine the two, if you choose the right foods to give to LO to feed themselves, it wouldn't be too dangerous. Hopefully they will work it out pretty quickly. I have no experience of this, though, so I'm not sure. Tilly finds banana, soft pears, melon, lightly cooked apple wedges, omelette etc. all quite easy to eat. Maybe avoid harder stuff at first if LO has had purees? Someone else might be able to help with this more.

The Gill Rapley books are good on BLW, if a bit repetitive and slightly preachy about the benefits of BLW over TW. I found reading them quite reassuring, though. There are lots of websites on BLW and facebook pages for questions and answers. xx

 

[l_maclean]

just to point out - even with TW, current uk badvice '(based oon WHO) should NOT start at 4months, it should be 6! xxx

 

[cosmicgirl]

Yeah, I wouldn't wean much before 6 months personally x

 

[Les1504]

They say that BLW may be dangerous (or harder ) if a baby learns to shallow first before chewing (that happens with TW). In BLW they first learn to chew without much else going on and a bit later to actually eat what they chew.

I am in a process of research too lol...

I'm having this problem! LO is so used to swallowing he is struggling with finger foods! I wish I had done some more research beforehand! But hey we will persevere! X