Why I Don’t Follow Baby-Led Weaning (and you probably won’t either)
Turns out the Baby-Led Weaning book is trash. *Subscribe* https://www.youtube.com/unnaturalvegan?sub_confirmation=1 …
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Website dedicated to first-time mothers
Turns out the Baby-Led Weaning book is trash. *Subscribe* https://www.youtube.com/unnaturalvegan?sub_confirmation=1 …
source
We are not following BLW. But I wounder how many studies are done about traditional spoon feeding purees!?
This feels like another way for some moms to mom shame others.
I think as a general concept baby led weaning is OK. but the way some people present it can be problematic. i.e. this book is clearly not well researched.
Thanks for making this video. I was looking forward to doing BLW until my twins arrived and I was totally overwhelmed. Our pediatrician recommended the solid starts app (which I do think is helpful!) and I was watching 6 month old babies self feeding on their Instagram while my twins had zero interest and would even stick out their tongue so I could place a puff in their mouth. We were also not really even able to have sit down meals because we were barely surviving with no local family and full time jobs. It was way easier to just buy purée and I felt so guilty and like I failed especially since I was to able to keep up with pumping for them either. I was worried they wouldn’t even be able to eat cake on their first birthday. Right around their birthday they suddenly did start picking up their puffs and we had a great cupcake smash on their birthday. So they just did it when they were ready. I will say the solid starts app was super helpful as far as ideas to feed them and how to safely cut things. It sounds like a much better option than this book for people curious about BLW. Feeding is such a sensitive topic, thank you for providing a thoughtful review. ❤
A mom that decides how much another body wants to feed it self and shoves a spoon as much as she wants it is just …..beautiful ?
We started solids at 5 months old with my daughter because of a rarer ecoli infection and it helped. It was purées but at 6 months we switched to BLW and it was amazing. My daughter loves all foods and isn’t picky at all. She’s 4 now and thin trim and healthy. We can all have different opinions but if done right BLW is wonderful
Can't even say how relieved I am. I just want to thank you so much for doing this research. I didn't do BLW with my first because I was too afraid of choking but felt the "fear mongering" from those who do it. My now four year old is still picky we will see about the newborn when it is time for solids.
The only problem I have with baby led weaning is how some parents just think that any food is safe to give them whole. Like un chopped grapes, banana, which is renowned for getting stuck in the throat.
We are doing BLW with our child currently. I am doing it because we had to really force bottle feedings and so i want to give more choice with solids. I also love that we can all share meals together even though sometimes (especially im the beginning), we had to serve our child a modified version of the meal. Now, he only wants to eat exactly what we do. We do offer spoonfuls of puree, but they will grab the spoon from us and feed themselves. It has worked for us do far and i wouldnt change it at this point, but i think blw is MORE work overall. We had to adjust our meals to have wat less salt and sugar (which is good for us but involved finding and trying new recipes). Sometimes i have to make a separate similar meal that excludes honey or maple syrup or added sugar. And sometimes it is not possible to share a meal- like hot soup and then baby is not happy.
I tried this at 7 months and it was horrible. He was great with picking up the food, but he didn't understand that he had to finish what he had in his mouth before putting more in his mouth. He started choking after the second bite (thank God I'm a nurse) and I never did that again. He's 10 months now and I let him grab the snack from my hand and wait until he's done with the first piece before I give him the next one. My son eats a variety of food, but I still like to blend it.
That's right no votes for u as their dad later
Thank you so much for this vid!
As a Paediatric Dietitian here. You do make some valid points however you miss the role of our senses in learning to eat new food. Often babies who are almost entarley spoon fed do not get enough opportunity to play with food. There is also evidence that babies who are introduced to variety of textures by age 10 months are less likely to be fussy eaters. The "how" is definitely important. I recommend youtbube channel by Emma Hubbard to learn more about the "how".
Please do a video on the new Netflix documentary Hack Your Health / Tim Spector / Zoe tracker
A responsive parent with the spoon is not a problem. A parent who is not reading their kids’ cues, with a spoon, can create pressure for a kid. But you don’t know what you don’t know right? The benefit of having dedicated time and space carved out to observe your child with food and no pressure, is beneficial for parents who are learning to read and then trust their kids’ cues.
11:22 a rare West Virginia win
This makes me feel so much better. I’ve never been comfortable with the pure BLE approach and I’ve been told several times that I’m hindered my child’s development… it’s v stressful!
could you please react to some Jenny Mustard's videos? I'd love to hear your comments because she seems to eat in a very balanced way and is an ethical vegan, but she's so different from you ahah
What always confused me about BLW was that it was marketed as this super revolutionary parenting philosophy while all families in my life (including my own growing up) practiced some degree of "letting the baby sit at the table and have what you're having".
Edit: Holy moly, I just got to the "giving your baby mushed food is abuse" part and apart from the obvious WTF, it reminded me of something: Parenting advice in the GDR (post-war socialist sector Germany) advised mothers to give their babies pureed fruits from 3 months onwards to avoid vitamin deficiency disorders (which were common after the war). This was explicitly NOT about "offering", but there was a whole technique for fixating your baby on your lap in a way that restrains their arms and how to swipe the spoon through their mouth in a way that triggers their swallow reflex. Now, I can see how THIS way of puree feeding might cause trauma and eating disorders, but OBVIOUSLY there is a giant spectrum of baby feeding protocols that isn't this method! I wonder why these (esp. American) parenting books can never be nuanced about anything and make everything a life-and-death doctrine…
I did BLW with both of my kids and it worked really well for both. They both started feeding themselves with spoon & fork v. early. Also both of them had soups from the beginning- just drinking them from the cup.
Both of them are eating really well, were breastfed until self weaning and I never worried if they eat enough.
Both of my kids were VERY different – first started eating A LOT since day 1. The second one didn’t actually start eating until she was 8 months old.
Can't stand the book and can't stand the Facebook groups around BLW. That being said, did BLW with 2/3 kids. Loved it. For me, it was the simplest way to feed my children. I had to do purees for the 3rd and it was so much more work and annoying (for me).
I did baby led weaning with both my kids and although I really liked it and it worked for us, I don't think it's some magic bullet. Every child and every family is different so different food approaches will work for different people. I didn't read this particular book….I had a different one that I felt was actually pretty good. Anyway, I encourage people to try it if they want, but it's not a be all end all thing.
I google scholar searched “complementary feeding and development of chewing muscles” and found some good articles. You should check out Simione et al. 2018; Differing structural properties of foods affect the development of mandibular control and muscle coordination in infants and young children
I mean I guess you can start with overboiled carrots and stuff if you breastfeed for a long time.
Ya know. The carrots that turn to mush before you even bite down.
Still a great channel. Love your content!
This video was suggested to me, probably because we have followed BLW. Although the book you talk of seems to share misinformation, but I think you do too! Presenting BLW as if it relies only on this book, by these authors, bashes the work of the many health practitioners that recommend BLW for many, experience-backed reasons/benefits, and are able to provide safe guidelines. at least in my area. Why not just say it is not for you and your family?
Can you please do a video about kids being animal based. I have seen some of the people that are carnivores have animal based diets for their kids. One channel is Kyndalls Carnivore Channel
In the UK parents are told that "food before 1 is for fun" and there is a very limited emphasis on the kinds of food you feed your baby. The majority of their nutrition should be from milk still. The general guidelines is that weaning is for exploration and learning how to chew and swallow, not for meeting their daily iron requirements for example. That's not to say we're encouraged to feed them "junk food".
OK this comment is totally off topic and probably won't be seen but I just noticed you've got the labyrinth worm and it brought me joy. That's it. That's my comment. Fellow labyrinth worm owner here to say hi.
I breastfed both of my kids. At 6 months I added homemade purees to their diet. The first kid enjoyed the experience, but the second kid wanted nothing to do with solids until 7 months when I started offering things he could pick up himself. I never read the BLW book but that was basically the approach we took from that point.