i am doing babyled weaning fo a number of reasons: firstly its much easier IMO...for all the reasons claire pointed out but also i think it leads to a much healthier mental relationship with food.
A biggy for me tho is that i want Kian to stay in touch with his body's signals abt being full. i know that might sound weird but me and DH never know when to stop! I am scared of forcing Kian to eat past the point of comfortably full if i was spoon feeding (i'm concerned i wouldn't know the difference between a normal battle of wills over food or him trying to stop because he's had enough).
i also think BLW is great for making u look at ur own diet and for not making foods forbidden (and there fore desirable).
there is alot more to BLW than just skipping purees. theres some great psychology behind it.

Ever other skill that babies learn (rolling over, crawling etc) is baby led...they learn by us allowing them the opportunaty (i.e giving them tummy time) and then they do the rest. So i think it makes sense to do the same with weaning. u offer them foods and they learn by watching u and by experimenting. the concept of making a child eat by feeding them seems strange to me.

you have a good point there, I don't have a 'Full-ometer' either!!

So far Myles just doesn't open his mouth when he has had enough though or just turns his head away and then I stop

Double post

Like Helen1234, I also did both traditional and BLW. I started on the traditional route on the advice of HV and GP due to poor weight gain and I have to say I found it very stressful. I spent so much time coming up with recipes, cooking them, pureeing them, freezing them only for Aisling to point blank refuse to eat some of it and being at a loss over what else to give her. I found myself getting very stressed that she wasn't eating enough and mealtimes were becoming a battle quite quickly.

Things have been great since moving on to BLW. My main reasons were:
- Aisling was and still is breastfed and in that has always been in control of how much milk to take. If I trusted her to take the right amount of milk (and not having a bottle have no idea how much that is), then why shouldn't I trust her to take the right amount of food she needs.
- LOs tend to eat more slowly with BLW which means that they're more likely to receive the full signal from their brain at around the right time. If they're being fed puree, there's more of a chance that they were actually full long before they receive the signal from the brain (takes 10 minutes for adults)
- I was an extremely fussy child and if there's anything at all I can do to encourage Aisling to have a different relationship with food then I'll do it!
- I love the fact that Aisling is a part of family meals, it feels like this is how it's meant to be instead of her having to eat on her own

We do BLW and cannot praise it enough.

In just 3 months, there's little that my LO can't eat without much trouble. She'll try anything offered, she loves exploring and learning about food (different textures, different tastes, different ways to hold things, the strength of her grasp on 'squishy' food and hard food etc.). Meal times are a great learning time for her, as well as eating.

She loves mealtimes and being 'involved' in mealtimes. She loves watching us eat the same thing she is, at the same time as her.

Like many of the others have said, there's much more to BLW than just "skipping puree". I'm really hoping this leads to a healthier relationship with food for her as I was (and still am) a very fussy eater. I'll do whatever I can to help avoid that issue with my LO.

I have trusted her to have milk when she wants, how much she wants, to reach milestones in her own time etc. Why should I suddenly "be in charge" when it comes to food? Why should I suddenly stop trusting her to take what she wants? Babies do not need mush to 'learn to eat' - it's a skill that develops when given the opportunity.

To me, BLW is a much more natural way to wean that "traditional" weaning and I'm so glad I found out about it. I agree so much with the theories and psychology behind it, it's 110% the best route for us. I've never tried spoonfeeding and never will.

(this is just my opinion... not preaching or saying one is "better than the other" etc - just my feelings on the subject)

We do BLW, and the girls above have put it perfectly well. She has fed herself from my boobs for 6 months, so why shouldn't she continue doing this with her 'proper' food??

xxx

OT but congrats babyshambelle!!

We did traditional weaning as I didn't know much about BLW and also Charlie has only started to put things in his mouth the last couple of weeks, he didn't even put toys in his mouth before then or anything!!! Since he was about 7 months we have given him finger food in addition to purees but he never put it in his mouth, ever!!!x

Fankies Claire

I completely agree with everything you said.

Jasmine is a fine eater, I started with baby cereal, then purees, then mashed and then chopped etc. I did start giving rusks and toast in the process for her to have a chance of first finger foods. I also had a "le nibbler" for fruit which I set up.

She is never forced to eat anything, im not sure how, when people are reasoning BLW, they think traditional fed babies are somehow forced to eat purees and are unhappy...

Jasmine is perfectly happy, healthy etc... And the traditional way is what worked for us! She also likes feeding me now which is cute and we take turns.

Babies are only babies for so long and rely on us to help and teach them... I dont know why people want them to grow up so fast and eat by themselves.