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We did both - some purees and some BLW -

Maybe hardcore BLW'ers say its all or none??

If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have done a combination of purees and BLW. I was deathly afraid of choking, it's a huge fear of mine in general and I feel as though I contributed to my son's eating issues by not giving him enough challenging food.

I think you can really do whatever you want. It might not be "proper" BLW if you offer purees but eh.

FWIW, when we took our guy to the GI specialist, he encouraged solids to teach them about flavor, textures and eating, but he stressed that ounce for ounce, formula/breastmilk are more nutritionally complete and calorie laden. Like a whole jar of puréed carrots has the same calories as like one ounce of formula. Those aren't the exact numbers but that was the idea. Obviously your situation is unique due to food refusal but I thought it was interesting just generally.

You can do a combo. We didn't at first, but we also didn't have any weight issues. After a few months, though, we would give him those pouches with pureed fruits and veggies. He still mostly fed himself, though.

we had major feeding issues too, and our doc recommended finger foods (though not necessarily full on BLW) as a solution, and it has been very successful for us, although any BLW purist will tell you we did not do BLW at all. we did wait until after 6 months. we now do a combination, and we still don't do BLW properly at all - but she loves to feed herself and it's going great. she is SUCH a good eater! let me know if you have any questions about what we did and what worked for us

I don't understand the all or nothing mentality, we did a combo of the two, just whatever was convenient at each meal. We are doing the same thing with our #2.

We did a combo as well. We started with foods that were easy to chew like avocado and worked from there. My son had some health issues and was a slow gainer so I liked knowing he was getting something with the purees.

We started with purees at 4 months and quickly added in other solids. Of course they were tiny or mashed up. LO refused to eat purees by 5.5/6 months so it's been all real solids since then.

I apologze...I didn't read the comments already posted so disregard if this has all been said

Blw is a philosophy....letting baby "wean" themselves from liquid to solids. That inherently means that feeding them from a spoon means it's not blw. When you feed baby you are taking away their ability to feed themselves.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a mix of finger foods and purees, but by definition that is not blw. That's where the confusion comes in I think. You can't technically do a combination of blw and purees because one contradicts the other.

That said, my ped gave us the ok for solids at 4 months and knew nothing about blw. We did it anyway and i felt better about waiting until 6 months because that is when their tummies are more fully developed. New research points to this, but old school peds (mine included) still go by old guidelines, even though the aap recommends 6 months I think.

Also, if your reason for starting solids is calories, you might want to wait. Formula and breast milk are nutritionally balanced and more calorie dense than any amount of solids baby consumes at such an early age, so with purees they get full on something less calorie dense and actually take in less calories overall.

We did both finger foods and purées right from the start - started a week before 6mo (he was starting to growl at us when we ate in front of him!) and now at 8.5mo he still gets an option of both at each meal. I did intend to do pure blw, but I couldn't bear how upset and frustrated he got when he couldn't get the food into his mouth at first. The book says this bit doesn't last long and it's important to let them get on with it - but I couldn't resist helping him out.

He usually picks away at his finger foods for a while, and then starts grunting at me to feed him some purée - then will go back and do a bit more self feeding afterwards.

As Mrs Lion said it's not true blw - but I think whatever works for you and baby is fine. The way I am doing it can be a bit of a hassle (as I have to prepare him both kinds of food for each meal!), but for us it works and he is eating plenty, enjoys his meals and is really good with his fine motor skills from all the self feeding.

@Mrs. Sunshine: We did those too But since I let LO feed them to himself instead of me putting a spoon in his mouth I still considered it BLW. Maybe I am wrong haha!

@Mrs. Sunshine: meh, mostly I was just lazy It was easier to clean him up at the end rather than be on standby with the spoon. Plus he is such an independent soul, once I let him have the spoon he never would have let me take it back Even now, if I try to give him a taste of what I am having from my fork, he closes his mouth tight. But if I hold the fork out to him he will take it and shove it in his mouth. Stinker

@Mrs. Lion: my LO just throws her spoon, & if I try to feed her from my fork she takes the food off with her hands lol i don't know if she will ever use a utensil!

@Mae: Hardcore BLW people say no purees, because it can cause choking when the baby is eating non-purees. With BLW, baby's learn to chew/mush and then swallow. With purees, they learn to swallow, then chew.

We started with BLW. She wasn't interested until 6.5 months. There are some foods like soup, applesauce, or fun squeeze pouches that are best on a spoon, so we give them to her on a spoon. It's fun to watch her "eat" from a pre-loaded spoon.

So yeah, we weren't strictly BLW. We did what we're comfortable with, and it's been awesome. I don't like how hardcore BLW people will give a baby a big banana, or raw apple. Some things really are a choking hazard, so we steam a lot of raw fruits and veggies or put them in a mesh feeder.

Food before 1 is for fun. Baby's guts aren't always able to handle food before 6 months (which it sounds like you know that), and I wonder if your ped would recommend formula or more breastmilk/formula over introducing solids as a form of nutrition.

@Mae: I've heard you can do purees to start, especially if you start on the younger end of the range, and introduce BLW at or after 6 months, when their motor skills are a little better and they have the grasp down? Honestly, if I've learned anything it's that there is no black and white. You can do what works best for you.

Can I just add ... I was in a BLW on FB that I ended up leaving. It was so dogmatic, and I just couldn't handle it. I ended up joining "Baby Led Weaning : Our Way", and I find them to be so much kinder, and full of awesome knowledge on mixing BLW and purees.

As with most things related to raising babies ... It's all about what works best for your family! I know you'll figure out what works for you!! When our babies go to kindergarten, no one will know if they started on purees or solids. Or if they were formula fed or breastfed. I don't give an eff if a hardcore BLW advocate judges me!

I don't want to get into the conversation of what is BLW vs just finger foods, etc. for fear of being wrong

But we had to do purees for daycare, they wouldn't allow anything else. And when home we gave Olivia large chunks of avocado or sweet potato, etc.

By nine months she was eating everything we ate for dinner. We'd throw it on her high chair and she'd go to town.

She also knew to bite, spit out too big of bites, and chew.

Her friends at daycare had a hard time eating solids. The other day, daycare gave them a muffin (at a year old) and the kids started shoving the whole thing in their mouth - they don't yet understand to bite off pieces. Olivia was just fine.

I think you can do both - and I am really glad we did!

@Arden: Totally not arguing with you, as I agree with your post. Just curious what you mean by "work the same way as BLW"?

@Arden: I see. I was looking at your "work" thing about the overall purpose of BLW, which is teaching your child to eat food ... With that overall view, it doesn't matter if you do BLW, purees, or a mix. Eventually, they will all "work". Thanks for explaining!!

We decided to do BLW for the same reasons you did. Now that she's 8 months old, I'm comfortable introducing a spoon for self-feeding. It's pretty awesome to watch her swirl it into a puree or food on the tray, then "take a bite".