I haven't tried BLW so can't help you with that side of things but I didn't find making purees difficult at all, I used to make up bulk loads of various fruit and vegetable purees and then freeze them. I started before 6 months, once Joseph got to 6 months I was told by the HV he could eat what we ate without the salt, so I used to just give him a pureed version of what we were eating, and as he got older his food just got lumpier. Now he is 14 months old and for the last couple of months I have just cut his dinners into small pieces, no blending or mashing needed. I also started giving him toast, carrot sticks, pieces of cucumber etc once he was 6 months old x

I would say it depends on the personality of your LO. Mine was happy to be spoon fed for about 3 weeks then decided that he had to do everything himself so we switched to BLW. I would definitely recommend BLW but be prepared for it to take months (if you're lucky weeks but seriously it took us months!) before they eat properly, so if you are not the patient sort then maybe its not for you. I would definitely recommend reading the BLW bible by Gill Rapley (see if your local library have it if you don't want to spend moneyon it) - it provides a lot of good advice and looks at weaning from a different point of view. On the plus side if you do BLW you can always go out for dinner with LO and eat the same meal at the same time - a lot of my friends are very jealous since they have to have a disjointed meal whilst spoon feeding their LO's! If you are going to BLW then don't be tempted to start much earlier than 6 months otherwise you will both end up frustrated. Good luck with whatever option you choose - there's plenty of good advice on here.

I would just bung in that (purists forgive me) there is no reason you can't combine the two. NHS guidance is to introduce finger foods at 6 months anyway even if you are pureeing - http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/babies-.../Whattodo.aspx

I spoon feed Patrick sloppy stuff (like porridge, yoghurt or soup) but let him take the spoon if he wants to (which he does most of the time) and I just load it up for him and I let him eat a variety of finger foods too.

I agree..

I started out at 4 months old with the traditional weaning method of purees ect......which was really easy. Once Jac got to 5 months old i started introducing finger foods slowly...started with rusks and moved to toast and so on. At 6 months i introduced some lumpier foods and finger foods at each meal ....with lunch being nearly all finger foods.
I've just followed Jac's lead really and combined all sorts of methods to what suits us both.
It's good this way as he likes feeding himself as well as being fed so we do a bit of both.

xx

I agree with this as well, Alex is on puree at the moment, hes totally loving it and has even mastered getting the spoon to his mouth.
I plan on doing BLW but in my own unique way lol

Way i see it is that there is no right or wrong way every baby is different what works for one doesnt work for another.

Good Luck xx

i would def say get the BLW book before u make a decision...i haven't started weaning yet so can't really comment on anything from experince but i've just finished reading the book and its great.

i think a brief sum up of some of the pros to BLW (imo): It helps fine tune LO motor skills. i personally find the concept very natural and it sounds much easier because u dont really have to think abt what to introduce and what stage etc (with traditional weaning, especially if ur doing it before 6 months, u r meant to introduce one thing at a time etc then move on from mush to lumpy to finger foods) and u dont have to worry abt making them drop feeds/ eat certain amounts.
i'm particularly intersted in the benefits to future weight/health...OH and i both struggle with our weight and in particular i struggle to know when i'm really full/hungry and not to eat until i'm too full! i think BLW is great for teaching babies/children to stay 'in tune' with these natural body sigals...i think with spoon feeding u risk pushing 'one more spoonful' on a child and teaching them to go past the point of 'full' and eventually struggle to tell where that 'full point' exists. i think BLW creates a healthier relationship with food. (dont get me wrong i am aware there r lots of perfectly healthy people that have a great relationship with food, who were spoon feed...i just think 'sometimes' spoon feeding can cause issues with food which i really want to avoid).

The pros to traditional weaning: its safer to introduce food in this way if u intend to wean earlier than 6months. if u r concerned abt letting ur LO take the lead then u can controll this method better (i.e u feed ur LO so u can see what/how much they r eating and when they drop certain milk feeds). if u have a diet that would b really unsuitable for LO than batch cooking seperate 'baby food' or buying jars might b appealing (i personally dont find this a pro but i can see y it might b). apparently its less messy than BLW!

erm thats all i can think of...have tried to do pros for both but i personally think there r far more pros to BLW.

def read the BLW book tho!...good luck making ur decision x

There's certainly no reason not to combine purees and BLW, it just might be that LO takes a bit longer to master BLW but that's not a problem. Finding something that works for you guys is all that matters