Purees then BLW... Is it possible?

N had his first taste of food yesterday, some mashed carrot, he wolfed it down and it obviously digested as we had a nappy explosion today!

I had planned to wait until he's 24 weeks to BLW but judging by yesterday my gut feeling is to start maybe on a few teaspoons of purees a day now as he's definitely interested.

I was thinking I can try him on pureed veg and fruit now then give him finger foods from 24 weeks whilst also giving the purees and as he gets used to BLW then phase out the purees... But does that make sense? Had anyone started on purée and kind of mixed between BLW and purees?

I must admit I am very confused about how to go about it but my mummy instinct says N is ready to give food a try...

I have read the BLW book but no books about weaning other than that one!

?!? Xx

How old is N? I guess if you apply the basic principles of BLW and he's ready, he's ready. I started with porridge for a few days as E was reaching for food but she rejected it and just started eating small pieces of cooked broccoli etc at about 25 weeks.

You can definitely mix finger foods and mush, but then it isn't technically BLW. The principles of BLW mean allowing the child to discover all foods for themselves, so spoon feeding mush doesn't really have any place in the 'pure BLW' approach.

Having said that, we did a bit of both - mostly finger foods but spoon feeding things like porridge and yoghurt (basically because I'm too lazy to do pre-loaded spoons)

I can't believe N can't be anywhere near old enough for weaning yet though? He's still a newborn surely???

But seriously, if he is showing all the signs (sitting up unaided, able to put food in mouth, interest in your food, no tongue thrust reflex) and passes the banana test (able to pick up a chunk of banana and gum it) then go for it, but do be prepared for LOTS of mess...

 

I think BLW in itself is a purist approach with baby leading the weaning, feeding themselves what they can, when they can, with no spoon feeding at all.

However, you can definitely mix mush and finger foods.  We waited until 6 months to introduce solids but did a mix of mush and finger foods from day one.  I used the BLW principles to consider which finger foods I felt he could cope with (and for tips on how to cope when I thought he was 'choking'), and added some spoons of mush to help fill him up.  This worked really well for us and would take this approach again.

Not sure if that helps?!

I don't see why not. After all,'if you were planning on just BLW the guideline is to start at 26 weeks/6m ish, because that's when you can start finger foods anyway. You might find though that if he loves purees he might not like BLW as he won't get as much. Can I ask how old he is? Izzy was ready at 21/22 weeks, she was sitting unaided etc, and so we started very slowly BLW, if she was up when we ate she had a piece of broccoli/steamed carrot/baby corn, but if she was asleep we didn't give her any specially. It was once a day, if that.

We tried blw but L was getting very frustrated so we tried purees which he much preferred. We continued offering finger food with his meals - bread sticks, fruit etc and now at nearly 10 months he is happy to be spoon fed or feed himself so we are all happy.

Sorry should gave said, N is 21 weeks now!

He's showing all the signs and the spoon we give him to play with without food on it always finds it's way to his mouth. My gut feeling is that he's ready to try food I think, I just don't want to get stuck on the purée route IYSWIM?

Is it too early to give steamed finger foods and banana/fruit pieces?

I started with baby rice at 5 1/2 months and then moved on to blw at around 7 months. I just needed to build up the confidence forst to give 'real' food. It helped that he wasn't really interested in purees other then fruit and took to blw like a dream.

Banana would be a fab first food to give him.

No, per my first post we gave Izzy steamed veg or fruit to start with at 21/22 weeks. He needs to be sitting well though in line with signs in BLW book. Izzy's firstfood was banana.

BLW is one way of weaning, purees and finger foods are another way of weaning.  If you do purees it's important to give finger food as well to help with development, especially the chewing helps with speech.

I did a mix of purees and finger foods from just before 6m, he could sit up well, could take food to his mouth etc so knew what to do when given finger foods but would also happily take a spoon as well which suited us.

If you start now then it can be quite boring as you should limit it to just fruit and veg pre 6m then you can introduce dairy, wheat etc.

We did a mixture of purees and finger foods for E and it worked well for us. He was a very hungry baby and would get very cross and frustrated over trying to get things in himself, so I would have to spoon stuff in (as quick as humanly possibly before he had a meltdown!) and then give him fingers foods to chomp on once the initial starvation(!) was satisfied. My boy has no patience though!

sarah started 'emergency weaning' at 21 weeks after she started refusing to take milk. She was too little to eat finger foods on her own (especially as she was relying on food as her only nutrient source) so had purees but i also put down finger foods from the start - so if she had carrot puree i'd also give her sticks of cooked carrot etc. It took a while for the finger foods to make it to her mouth but they were always there for investigation. We only gave her fruit and veg and yogurt and the odd bit of baby rice at first (and the rice caused major constipation) but by the time she was 9 months she was off purees completely and wasn't having any milk either. It was a natural progression and was led by her - she gradually started showing more and more interest in the finger foods (especially once she discovered meat and fish!) and refusing the puree. Now at 14 months she eats what we eat but is happy for me to feed her from a spoon which is handy - in fact she'll sometimes hand me the spoon so i'll feed her if she is feeling lazy! We had planned to do BLW but now my personal opinion is that mixed feeding gives you the best of both worlds and i plan to do the same with #2

I originally wanted to do pure BLW but I've found that I prefer doing a mixture of purees and finger foods. E takes a spoon really well but also loves finger foods so it's working really well for us.

Thanks all, sorry I meant to reply sooner but my phone has been juiced!!

I read the BlW book cover to cover again over Christmas and upon further thought I think I may do purée mixed with finger foods instead but I need to understand that route a bit more. Can anyone recommend any other weaning books?

I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed by this weaning business! Xx