Thinking about BLW - a few questions and your opinions please

Noah is almost 17 weeks and I am thinking (admittedly still quite a way) ahead to weaning. So far we are really favouring the BLW approach, but I have a few questions, and wondered if people would mind giving their experiences / opinions / tips please?

1. Roughly at what age did your BLW'd child start to eat more and therefore reduce their milk intake? N is exclusively BF'd and I hope to continue that to about 1 year, but will be returning to work just before he is 10 months old (boo). If we go down the BLW route, I want to be able to commit to it properly, but if he is late to start reducing his milk intake a bit then I may struggle to keep up his milk feeds whilst working aswell.

2. Did you give your child any vitamin supplements on top of solids, or just trust that you were offering them a varied enough diet?

3. Which foods did you start BLW with?

4. What, if any, problems did you find with BLW?

Thanks No doubt I will be back in a few months' time to ask you for your recipe top tips!

smarties x

Hi Smarties, No experience as we are only one week ahead but I am interested in this thread as we hope to go down a BLW route. I read the Gill Rapley book some time ago and need to re-read it so I may misremember... However, I think it said that some babies would take until 8/9 months before reducing milk feeds significantly as they will often play with food more than eat it initially IYSWIM. Would you consider expressing/ giving formula for some of the milk feeds whilst you are at work? I am going back when G is one year and I had also wondered about how much she would rely on milk feeds by then too.

I wasn't planning on offering G vitamin supplements - I plan to try and offer as varied a diet as possible. Gill Rapley seems to think that they will choose exactly what they need. I was going to ask our BFC who is also an infant feeding specialist for advice on this one though, so I may change my mind!

I obviously can't answer your other 2 questions!

I am quite nervous about what to offer - I found a low salt baby gravy in boots so I am going to have to start trying to cook with that if I want G to share our meals! There just seems to be so many little things that I hadn't thought about...

El11, I'm reading the Gill Rapley book at the moment, and that's where a lot of my questions are coming from funnily enough!

Yes I would consider expressing, and had thought I would probably need to do this anyway, it just depends on how many milk feeds he is having at the time. I know all babies are different so it's a bit of a piece of string question, but am just interested in people's experiences.

On working days I would easily be able to do morning and evening feeds, so any daytime feeds I should be able to express / build a freezer stash possibly, but again depends on how much he wants / needs I suppose.

I find the idea of vitamin drops a bit faffy so I guess I am hoping people will say they didn't bother!

It took A a couple of weeks to get into eating, he was FF and went from 5 feeds a day at 6 months to 4 by 7 months and 3 fairly soon after that if I remember rightly. He is a food lover though and was fairly quick to take to it.

We didn't do any vitamins, but I don't think it ever gets suggested for FF babies. It was to some of my BF friends, but I don't think it's really necesary.

His very first food was broccoli. Other early ones were banana, avocado, pear and sweet potato.

I can't think of any real problems other than mess! I'm really pleased we did BLW, it suited him and whilst our families were a little cynical, both our mothers have since said they wish they'd weaned that way with us. He's now 16 months and has always been a good eater (but a lot of that is down to what he's like anyway I suspect). I found it a very hassle free way to wean, I can't imagine spending hours pureeing and spoon feeding, and it was a great advantage for me to be able to eat at the same time when we were out and about for meals.

Emma that's brilliant thanks. And no, from what I've just read it suggest that formula is fortified with additional vitamins that breast milk isn't so would be looking at vitamins as he is a BF baby. I think I will just make sure we offer a really varied selection then.

Expressing is another minefield for me - how much milk per feed, etc, etc. Then there is also the problem of potentially having to express at work

Someone told me that the average number of milk feeds a 4 month old baby would have is 6-8 per day. G has had 16 feeds so far today... I have no idea how the weaning process is going to work and whether it will encourage her to regulate her milk intake more or if it will all get even worse and we will have 16 feeds plus solids a day

El11:

G has had 16 feeds so far today...

Oh no, poor you! So much could change in the next few months though, which is why I think me asking these questions now is a little daft but I just wanted to get an idea. Have you expressed much up to now? We have done a bit, and I just go with roughly what the suggested amount for his age group is and then just let him have as much or as little as he wants. Generally at the moment, I offer a 7oz bottle. He will take anything from 3-4oz to the full bottle so it seems to depend on how hungry he is at the time. Helpful, no???

1.  Both of mine were certainly eating 3 good meals a day by 8 months, I'm fairly sure they'd reduced feeds to fit between meals by that point too. I went back to work when mine were 10 and 8 months respectively and they were definitely only on two day feeds by then and were fine without them (and no substitute) while I worked.

2. No, they get some tonic now when they are unwell or not eating well (my eldest), but I didn't routinely give due to weaning.

3.  Pear was a first for both, nice and ripe, peel the top half and take the stalk off then they can grip the bottom. After that it was mango, carrot, brocoli, kiwi, sweet potato, butternut squash basically anything that wasn't crunchy (or could be cooked to non-crunchy), they very quickly started eating normal family foods though.

4. It's messy!!

1. Roughly at what age did your BLW'd child start to eat more and therefore reduce their milk intake?  
I have a milk monster. I could have waited until about 7.5 mths to start if I'd had the confidence to wait until then, when he could sit unaided. He started to injest noticeable amounts at about 10 months; noticeably more once he started nursery and had a bit of 'peer pressure', plus he doesn't take BM any other way so quickly learnt to increase food intake at nursery. Reducing milk feeds - must have happened at some point but with a milk monster he still feeds when he can, particularly on my non-work days (he's almost 2 now). ETA: at 11 months he could last 8am-4 or 5pm without milk if I made lots of effort to keep offering food snacks rather than him having milk snacks.

2. Did you give your child any vitamin supplements on top of solids, or just trust that you were offering them a varied enough diet?
No, didn't bother. I trust that my breastmilk provides everything he needs that he doesn't get from solids. 

3. Which foods did you start BLW with?
Wedges of roast sweet potato, roast parsnip, roast carrot; brocolli trees; roast chicken - long stringy fibres from the thigh, as discussed in the www.babyledweaning.com blog of what she (Aitch?) gave in the first few weeks; plums - halved, stoned and microwaved for 30 sec/half to soften, cooled - he sucked the flesh off the skin; banana with some peel on for holding.

4. What, if any, problems did you find with BLW?
Can't think of any

4 months is so different from 6 or 8 or 10 months - you're in the territory of the big growth spurt for starters! It'll pan out OK :o)

smarties:

 

Oh no, poor you! So much could change in the next few months though, which is why I think me asking these questions now is a little daft but I just wanted to get an idea. Have you expressed much up to now? We have done a bit, and I just go with roughly what the suggested amount for his age group is and then just let him have as much or as little as he wants. Generally at the moment, I offer a 7oz bottle. He will take anything from 3-4oz to the full bottle so it seems to depend on how hungry he is at the time. Helpful, no???

 

I haven't tried any EBM. I find expressing really painful - partly psychological now as I had only initially expressed when I had mastitis! I can now manage about 5 minutes but only get one ounce in that time. I am not even sure if G would take a bottle... G did cut her feeds right back (OK to 9 a day!) at one point last week and I found that I really struggle with my supply regulating to suit her needs - I ended up having to express at points just to feel more comfortable and not become completely paranoid about mastitis again. And now she has went back to 16 feeds... I give up!

It is good to hear others positive experiences of BLW and cutting down of milk feeds working when they returned to work.

Thanks for posting this thread smarties - I was planning on posting something similar in a few weeks (maybe when we are at the other end of the 16 month GS - yawn...). I am really excited about BLW - A is quite a spirited wee soul - she lets us know when she doesn't want something and will turn her nose up to milk if she has had enough/doesn't want it so the thought of spoon feeding just doesn't appeal to me and I don't think it would suit her IYSWIM. I am actually looking forward to her eating with her and I think her covered in sweet potato will make a brilliant photo! Looking into getting one of these http://www.johnlewis.com/230675417/Product.aspx to cope with the mess.

fishtree:

Looking into getting one of these http://www.johnlewis.com/230675417/Product.aspx to cope with the mess.

Probably handy. I used sheets of newspaper from the 2 free local papers that come through the door each week. We had old carpet under the dining table but still wish I'd found the roll of carpet protector I knew we had somewhere in the DIY bits.

We do a mixture to be honest but C prefers BLW.  We didn't start with BLW though - I started pureeing and giving jars as it was easier.  Then when we got to 7 months, the HV said I should start giving her more lumps which she wasn't keen on but perservered mainly for dinner.  Then the lumps got a little easier to give in a puree but she wasn't sure about the finger foods and tended to throw most of it on the floor after having a taste and spitting it out.  Just kept trying her with stuff and then when we got to just shy of 11 months and all lumps from Stage 2 jars were getting spat out so gave BLW more of a chance and she was much better. HV said it was to do with getting more independent approaching her 1st birthday.  Some days she will monster through food and I can't keep up with her and other days not as bothered.

Definitely persevere with BLW when you are ready to wean but remember it can take upto 15 times for them to like/accept something but in the long run they are more likely to try everything you give them even though some of it will be spat out lol. 

xx

hi

L was BF exclusively until we started weaning at 6 months.  i then went back to work when he was 9 months and i managed to get to 12 months by expressing and still bfing so it can be done, although it is hard work as i was back near enough full time, then sitting in traffic for an hour to get home, then expressing, but we did manage.  he is now 14 months and has occasional BFs, dependant on my shifts so now instead of expressing he will have cows milk, but he will have a BF if im there IYSWIM.

anyway

within about a month he had dropped to 4 BFs a day (3 HUGE feeds and a mini feed mid afternoon)

no i never gave vitamin supplements

we started the whole thing off by sitting him at the table with us from around 16 weeks, he would play with his cup/bowl (which were empty) we just sat him with us so that he was included at meal times IYSWIM. then he gradually just began reaching for things.  i think his first propper food was broccoli, he had things like toast, broccoli, cheese, breadsticks, carrots, etc.  he always had a good go at everything, in the early days he would spit most of it out but i feel that at about 10 months i noticed that his eating had improved dramatically and he was finishing most of what was put down to him.  its obviously down to better hand eye co ordination etc

it can be quite messy, but i used to just strip L down to just his nappy, then id shower him down although it was the height of summer when we weaned.

our HV really really pushed BLW