...if BLW will be right for you and your LO? We are really interested in the idea of doing BLW with Toby when the time comes and i'm in the process of looking into a bit more but i'm wondering how others decided it was right for them?

My main concern, i think, is that i demand breastfeed Toby, which means he feeds approximately 2-4 hourly round the clock and although that's fine and we're all happy with that, i do worry as i will be going back to work when he is approx 8/9 months old, and if we do BLW then will he actually be EATING that much by then?

As i understand it, at first it is more about exploring food and less about actually consuming it, which is great but if he is still getting ALL his nutrition from his milk feeds at that point and i go back to work 2 nights a week i can see us running into difficulties in terms of OH having to try to give Toby bottles of EBM 3 hourly throughout the night then heading out to work and then me coming in from a nightshift and Toby still needing to feed 3 hourly throughout the day, and us all eventually collapsing from sheer exhaustion?!?!

I mean, i know it's difficult to say but how much food is he likely to be taking at that stage? Is there an average of how much longer BLW takes compared to traditional weaning?

I'm not in a hurry to give up breastfeeding at all and could (easily) express at work if i am still doing it when i go back but it's really the frequency of the feeds (particularly during the night) that would become an issue i think.

I do love the idea of BLW though. I'm just feeling pretty confused about it all...

I don't think it helps that now he is 3 months people with an "old school" attitude are already talking about weaning when we're around (i.e. my Grandma eating a banana says to Toby "You'll be able to have one of these mushed up soon"...you get the picture) Also, because i don't feel i know enough about BLW i am not even confident that it's the right choice for us, so when people are going on about baby rice i can't even say "we won't be doing that" I just feel a bit i think!

rebecca I'm in the same position, we plan to try BLW too and everyone looks at us like we are mad and my Mum keeps going on at me to give him baby rice etc and start spoon feeding him and it is driving me nuts! I got the book baby led weaning by Gill Rapley it's very interesting reading with lots of stories from Mums and pictures too. Also Kat is doing it this way with Ruby and she is having great success with it, Ruby is doing so well and really enjoying her food, that combined with reading the book and stories on here have definitely helped us make the choice for when the time comes.

I think BLW is right for most babies - it's just not right for all parents, in that some people worry about choking a lot more than others, and others are less comfortable with letting LO take the lead, so they prefer traditional weaning.

About LO starting solids more slowly - you can't guarantee LO would take to spoon feeding so they wouldn't necessarily eat more this way. For example, my LO refuses to be spoon fed (she HATES anything being put into her mouth apart from a bottle/dummy) so she would not have eaten any more any sooner via trad. weaning.
Ruby started eating significant quantities of food at 7 months.

Another thing to consider is that eating solids is any form is unlikely in itself to stop night waking/feeding. I know several girls in the BLW support thread whose LOs are eating and still feed at night. Out of my 8 friends from antenatal class (babies of 9-10 months) half the babies still feed at night, all traditionally weaned.

Thanks ladies

I really really need to know more about it so i think i'll have to buy the book but i am keen to give it a go, i'm just nervous about the whole weaning process full stop i think!

The feeds should ease off at 5months if your LO is anything like mine. He took demand feeding quite literally and I couldn't see an end in sight but now he can easily go 4-5hours without a feed and he did 12hours last night. We're BLWing and he's still not taking significant amounts of food but I've tried feeding him out of interest and he's having none of it so I feel like if anything traditional weaning wasn't for us rather than BLW

We weaned Annabelle early on doctors advice, she wouldnt pick the food up so we went for traditional weaning, it took a long time for her to eat herself although i always offered it, she was probably about 8 months before she would do it herself since then she feeds herself and i just help with last bits on plate or bowl but now is she older she is now trying to master to fork and spoon LOL

Lou
xxx