BLWbaby

Baby-led weaning DVD

2006-11-26T18:40:00.000Z

I was just reading back the emails that I have missed in the past 2 weeks from the BLW Yahoo Group, and looks like the long-awaited baby-led weaning DVD is now available for anyone to purchase!

I would heartily recommend it to all health visitors as well as new mothers considering starting the weaning of their little one. Here's information about the DVD from Gill Rapley herself:

A 17-minute DVD/video about baby-led weaning will be available from 1st November. It explains what BLW is, why it is a sensible and logical way to approach weaning, how to go about it, and the benefits it brings. The cost of the DVD/video is £25 (GBP) plus postage and packing, which will normally be about £2.50 for a single copy in the UK. For the USA, the cost is approx $45 (US dollars), plus overseas carriage.

It is available from Mark-It TV. To order a copy, simply phone, fax or email your requirements (number required, in which format – DVD or PAL video) to Mark-It Television, at:

Mark-It Television
7 Quarry Way
Stapleton
Bristol
BS16 1UP
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (117) 939 1117
Fax: +44 (117) 939 1118
Email: sales@markittelevision.co.uk

You can read more about the baby-led weaning DVD from the company's web site, and they have it available on video too. More information about ordering copies of the film can be found on the order page on the company's website.

I'm going to get the DVD for myself just for future reference, even thought I'm already a full converted and somewhat experienced BLW mum myself. I'm planning to spread some more BLW love overseas, since some Irish and Finnish mums might be interested in it too.

A few changes

2006-11-26T17:08:00.000Z

It's been awfully quiet, if not dead here all month! I've been taking part in the NaBloPoMo challege with my two other blogs, so I've had no time left to update the baby-led weaning blog. I still think it's a very important and interesting subject though, but in the last few weeks my interest has been directed towards toddler breastfeeding issues, breastfeeding in public and lactivism in general.

During the last month I realised that I might have taken a bit too much upon myself, thinking that I could maintain a portal of 5 blogs, write thorough articles about baby nutrition and everything else related to BLW. As much as I would love to dedicate more time for promoting BLW, I need to stay rational and split my time evenly between this and my other projects. Otherwise I'll end up abandoning the whole blog for good!

I have split the links-blog into a few separate posts, and the link from the top menu will show you all the links categories. The blw photo blog has been scrapped, because all the photos and lots more can be found in the Flickr Baby-led weaning photo pool for your viewing pleasure!

I have also had to close down the Information-section, because I just don't have the time or the resources to write full articles right now. If I write up any articles, I will publish them here instead. I'm hoping to swap over the Blogger Beta someday, so that I can add categories in the blog to make the navigating easier for you (imaginary) readers.

Enough is enough is enough

2006-10-30T13:06:00.000Z

Smelly_pugsley wrote a post in the Yahoo B-LW group about mixed feeding (partly spoon-feeding, partly finger food), that got me thinking about out current arrangement. Basically, her daughter goes to daycare and to reach a compromise with the daycare staff, they allow her to have food spoon-fed to her while in daycare. She was just very interested in spoons, which resulted to her eating too much low-calorie food (as opposed to breastmilk), and she suffered from tummy aches and made lots of dirty nappies.

Lukas has been pooing incredible amounts for the last couple of months. He sleeps really well in our bed, but recently he had been waking up 2-3 times in the 2 hours between when he goes to bed and when we go to bed. He's been eating his porridge, mixed with 1/2 a banana and a little dollop of yogurt with a great appetite, but for some reason I was suspicious. His stools often smell of yogurty porridge, and after reading smelly's post I decided we'd leave the evening porridge out unless Lukas insisted on having it (which of course he wouldn't).

We've gone without the evening porridge, and with minimal morning porridge, for 4 days now. Every one of these nights he hasn't really woken up at all (except once last night, when someone banged a door), there's a been a lot less straining and he seems happy as ever. His stools seems to arrive in more reasonable intervals, and he has started to eat more during his dinners.

This just goes to show that every weaning experience (not just baby-led weaning) is a case of trial and error. There is no one way of doing it right. Rather than developing a comfortable routine and sticking to it, it's much more important to constantly observe your baby and his or her signals. The baby's development is constant, so what works for him this week, mightn't be welcome at all in two week's time.

Baby-led weaning in the Blogosphere

2006-10-25T11:19:00.000+01:00

I have done the rounds in the blogosphere this morning again, and I found a few new posts/blogs and threads about the subject of baby-led weaning:

Blogposts:

Blogging history day at What we did on our Holy days
Baby-led weaning at big saucer
Baby-led weaning now with added mess at miniTwig Land of Wonder
Tommy Tipped Out and Pears beware at Roryworld
8-14 October 2006 at Mummy and Daddy Clark

Threads:

Baby-led weaning - Rapley - anyone done it?
Baby-led introduction to solids?

I have been thinking about the subject of handling criticism for our parenting choices lately. Baby-led weaning included, we seem to have made a few decisions that aren't quite mainstream and since I have no peer support network to discuss them, I've been searching the internet for any sort of advice on the subject. Today I finally came across a useful-looking article on the website of Dr. Sears. I know it's written in relation to fussy (high maintenance) babies, but many of the suggested advise made sense in from our pov as well.

Handling criticism at askdrsears.com

What's for dinner? 9 months

2006-10-20T00:02:00.000+01:00

Lukas is nearly 10 months and still in the stage where broccoli and cauliflower are the biggest hits. Other favourites include rye bread, avocado, parsnip (nice and sweet), salmon, slices of homemade pork patties, cottage cheese, plums, nectarines, pears and banana. His appetite seems to have gone down during the last month, but his food preferences still remain the same, with a few added things, such as the meats.

If he seems uninterested in something I offer him, I tend to give him a little bit of something he likes (only a little, to "get him going") and after that he will accept foods that he was just throwing about earlier. Sometimes I think his dislikes have more to do with texture rather than the taste. He clearly thinks raw bell peppers are ace, but after the first taste he soon loses interest in them, because they're a bit too much work for his 6 front teeth. I still boil all the vegetables, but I try to make them al dente rather than total mush.

I often offer new foods as snacks first, because he seems to be more adventurous in a less formal feeding situation. I make a plate of snacks for him and leave it within his reach, or offer more messy stuff on my hand. New tastes seem to be easier to handle when he's a bit distracted, and when he he's gotten used to them I can introduce them as a part of his meal. This has so far worked with all the meats and cheeses he's ever had (although he still doesn't like cheese very much but I don't even offer very often) and rye bread.

The best new thing this month were definitely raspberries, but unfortunately after a few portions he got a little bit of rash on his face where the raspberry juice went. I suspected he might've had some oral allergy from it as well, and we had to leave them for the time being. He loved them though, but as you know, without added sugar raspberries often give your mouth this sour sting before the nice taste arrives, and we had lots of fun watching his expressions when he was stuffing his face with them. After every raspberry he made this face as if he was screaming from the top of his lungs, but made no sound. Soon, the nice taste would kick in and a wide smile would spread across his face.

No early birds in BLW

2006-10-15T14:49:00.000+01:00

There is one thing I worry about the information about baby-led weaning spreading through "word of mouth" in the internet forums. Every now and again I come across a post where a mother, anxious to give their little ones a taste of something else than breast milk or formula, is happily talking about starting to give their child foods to hold from as early as 18 weeks.

It is actually dangerous to start baby-led weaning too early. It's amazing what small things babies manage to scoop in their mouth with the palmar grip, but a baby's eagerness to put food in her mouth does not automatically mean that she is ready for it. When babies are in the oral development stage, they will put everything in their mouth – regardless whether it is food or not.

Unfortunately the parents should wait until their child starts developing the pincer grip. This developmental stage usually coincides with the fading out of the tongue-thrust reflex, which means that the food is no longer automatically thrust at the back of the baby's throat like in suckling.

Like in many other start-of-weaning conversations in the forums, also many mothers considering BLW express their keenness to start solids prematurely. This can be backed up with a variety of excuses, most common ones being "the baby seems hungry/ready/eager" and "the relatives are asking why I haven't started her on solids already". The fact is, that breastmilk (and formula) have far more calories than any solid food you can possibly offer a child, and therefore they will be perfectly happy waiting until past 6, or even past 8 months. It's usually the mother who is in a hurry to start.

Mothers who are in a hurry to start weaning their baby are missing a very important point of baby-led weaning. The whole point of the method is to delay the start of the weaning until the baby is ready for it. This means the puree phase can be skipped, because pureeing the food for the baby is only necessary for the while they are not developed enough to handle pieces of food. Although the method is baby-led by definition, it is down to the parents to make sure that the baby is developmentally ready to start eating solid foods. Exclusively breastfed babies are "nutritionally sound until 8-9 months", so there is absolutely no reason to hurry the start until they show all the signs of readiness.

Read more about the signs of readiness at Kellymom.
An article about baby nutrition by Linda Folden Palmer.

Baby-led weaning in blogs

2006-10-14T19:20:00.000+01:00

I've spent today looking for baby-led weaning related posts around the blogosphere to find out if there's any other bloggin' BLW mamas around. Turns out there is quite a few of us!

The full list of blogs that mention baby-led weaning can be found in the Links-page, but here's a shortlist of new links I discovered:

I probably will do another round around the Blogistan some time in the future, but meanwhile I'll be keeping myself busy reading these ones! I might have missed some, so if you have a blog or a website and do baby-led weaning, I'd love to hear from you!

Links-page and other info

2006-10-12T19:46:00.000+01:00

I finally managed to root through my Firefox bookmarks, and have organised my most useful BLW-links under a few loose categories for you at the Links-section!

I am constantly trying to find new BLW links, information about infant nutrition, recipes and the likes. I'm more than happy to include any links you have found useful that aren't already on the list, just drop me an email at blwbaby(at)gmail.com with your suggestions.

The information page is still in a total state, I'll start work on it as soon as I have time to write an article. At the moment I'm trying to finish research for an article that would map all the different recommendations for when to start offering which foodstuffs. If you've looked into it, you'll know what a huge task it is to take on, so assume it'll be a while before it's completed.

I'll have to share a little dark secret with you: I don't believe in recipes and I'm lousy in writing them. However, I try to add recipes onto the archive slowly but steadily, to the best of my ability. If you see an interesting recipe name on the sidebar but it's just a dead link, just email me and I'll add it in the first instance. I've also decided to remove the age recommendations and leave it up to the readers decide what ingredients are suitable for their babies at which age. I'll just put a link up to the promised foodstuffs chart article once it's ready.

I re-discovered my travel journal from the start of Lukas' weaning (late June-July when we were in Finland), I might be back-posting a few extracts from it later on to fill the massive gap between the 1st and the 2nd post.

Importance of being online

2006-10-10T13:44:00.000+01:00

I am totally amazed by the potential and the rapidly-growing size of the baby-led weaning online community. It wonderful that there are so many people in the parenting forums and especially in the Yahoo B-LW Group that dedicate their time to promote what they believe in. The more experienced posters often offer expert advice and reassurance for mothers who are just starting BLW, and give them many useful tips. There's no doubt, that without the online community baby-led weaning would not have spread so quickly and gained so much interest in such a short time.

There is a general air of friendliness in the forums, too. Everyone wants to be nice to each other and, obviously, no-one wants to be too strongly contradicted. This is a common phenomenon in female-led internet communities, another example of which is the Finnish blog community. No-one wants to be criticised after exposing their opinions (and consequently themselves) in a highly public forum, and if/when such thing happens the response is often somewhat defensive. Therefore, it's often difficult to point out where someone might be going wrong without publicly humiliating them.

This unfortunate "silent code" of not-disapproving sort of defeats the purpose of those forums. To be a reliable source of information, mothers should be free to express their opinions and advice, as well as criticism. Unfortunately, where there are peers, there's always pressure.

I when I said no-one likes to be publicly criticised, I meant everyone, including me. Having said all this, I have to save my own a**e and note that of course I'm not reading all the forums regularly and there might be individuals out there in the BLW community who actively challenge other BLW mothers' differing views. I would like to actively encourage this sort of behaviour, not just moan that there's no-one out there doing it. I feel that the community would benefit from a stint of fierce conversation, whatever the subject. If the conversation remains too amicable, there is a danger that it will grind to a halt very soon.

Is there no spoon?

2006-10-06T10:57:00.000+01:00

I know that the spoon issue causes a lot of talk from time to time on the Yahoo B-LW forum. I've never taken part in the conversation there because I don't feel that other people should share my views, but I thought I'd let you in an approach, that have worked for us.

For us, baby-led weaning does not equal finger foods only. At first I too was sceptical about using a spoon to give Lukas what we had, but this was before the Health Visitor interfered to our routine. 2 weeks of intermittent spoon feeding as prescribed by the HV) taught us one good lesson, and it was that the baby can be in charge of the amount he eats, even if we are using a spoon to give it to him.

At present, the only things we give to him with a spoon are porridges, soups and other stuff we would eat with spoons ourselves. I don't see any problem with that, and neither does my baby. Mind you, Gill Rapley says in the IWMM web chat that she has heard it said that people were not meant to have foods with watery consistency in the first place (or something to that effect). Since she didn't state her sources, I keep the pureed veggie soup in my recipe book. The alteration of finger food and the occasional spooned meal does not seem to confuse him the slightest: he is still fully in charge of how much spoon-fed food he has.

If he opens his mouth, he will get a spoonful of porridge, for example. When he doesn't want any more, he stops opening his mouth and shakes his head. If he's happy sitting in the chair for a while longer, we might offer him a couple of more times after a little break or a sip of water. Sometimes he changes his mind and goes for a little bit more, but if he's finished, he'll let us know.

This goes with my belief that baby-led weaning is not an exact science, nor should it be. I see no reason not to use a spoon every now and again when it's needed, but it's very important that the baby is still in control when the spoon comes out. It's not as easy when you give him food with a spoon, but I just try to think myself as his extended hand. Would his hand put food in his mouth if his tummy didn't want it? You have to be tuned in to your baby's messages to do this, but that's not so complicated. Just stop, look and listen and they will tell you – and spoon-feeding becomes baby-led weaning.

Will the baby-food empire strike back?

2006-10-01T23:07:00.000+01:00

BLW is such a 'new' phenomenon that it hasn't gathered many opponents yet, if you don't count the initial resistance from the narrow-minded.

However, there is always the certain someone who's going to lose out if mothers start doing it the natural way - the baby food industry. I'm not expecting the gospel of BLW to take on so quickly that the jar-makers would go out of business, but they have a very valid reason to come up with several reasons why BLW might be dangerous for your baby. At the same time they conveniently ignore the WHO's recommendations of 'postponing' weaning till 6 months - the earlier you start spooning it in, the better.

It's unlikely that the jar-makes are going to start bribing the health visitors to speak against BLW, at least on the same scale it happened with formula makers and GP's in the past, but unless some academic research is done soon the baby food brands are probably going to fund research of their own that will concentrate on the disadvantages of BLW. Then again, I might just be too cynical. Maybe times have changed and the baby food industry are going to adapt the 'McDonald's approach': if you can't beat them, join them. Expect to see lots of ready-made baby finger foods in your nearest (and largest) supermarket this time next year.

About the author

2006-10-01T16:45:00.000+01:00

lauranen: Laura is a 26-year-old Finnish mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland with her Irish partner and their son Lukas, who was born in December 2005. She is currently self-employed and working from home, looking after Lukas as well as managing several recreational online projects.

Lukas started having solids at 6 months, and his feeding has been baby-led from the start. He is also breastfed frequently, also during the night while sharing sleep with his parents. Apart from a 2-week stint of spoonfeeding around 7 months, he has successfully been feeding himself finger foods. He still occasionally has porridges and soups with a spoon, but is anxiously waiting to take over the spoon-handling in the following few weeks.

Laura is a member of the Yahoo B-LW group. Her other interests include literary fiction, poetry, theatre, languages, cooking, healthy eating, knitting, various genres of popular music, traveling, stand-up comedy, indie cinema, board games, modern & jazz dance, hip hop, street art, photography, rugby union, F1's, alternative medicine, recycling, freecycling, web design, Ireland, photography and current affairs.
She dislikes unfamiliar dogs, talking to strangers, daytime television and steep staircases.

This site is developed and maintained on voluntary basis. If you would like to help to contribute as a writer, please get in touch by email, lauranen at gmail dot com.

Daycare doubts

2006-09-28T19:29:00.000+01:00

Today's inspiration comes from the Yahoo B-LW Group. Every now and again you see mothers mentioning that their nurseries have been suspicious about giving small babies finger foods, and today one mother told in her message, that the

"daycare fought us about not feeding her purees from a jar (...) and ended up phoning up [my child's pediatrician] when she gagged on a piece of potato".

I find this sort of behaviour very unprofessional from the nursery teachers. My first reaction was, are they trying to tell this mother that they know better what's best for her child? That shows a serious lack of respect, something that she shouldn't have to deal with with the current prices of daycare in the UK.

On any other field of service industry, companies are falling over themselves to stay tuned to the marketplace and to understand what their customers want in order to improve their services and make themselves more attractive. Childcare professionals (along with the health professionals) should finally start doing some research, follow what is going on in their industry and get themselves up to date on the latest parenting trends.

With all the fuzz about healthy food, Jamie's School Dinners and the child obesity concerns, nurseries should be the first ones to look into how they could improve their services to comply with the most recent scientific research. Looking after babies doesn't need to be rocket science, but if you're going to tell someone you're not providing the service they are asking for, you have to be prepared to lose that customer. There will always be a demand for daycare places for children, but no business should ever take their clientele for granted, not even nurseries.

There isn't much information available about baby-led weaning in printed form, but you can find links to the the Guidelines article here and there. Googling "baby-led weaning" brings up several links telling you that gagging is really quite normal and doesn't put the child into any kind of danger. Lukas gags more from sucking his forefinger (apparently it's habit-forming :) than from any food I've ever given him.

In the little story we started off with, the nursery teacher had resorted to ringing the pediatrician for advise. In essence, that was probably the right thing to do, but telling to the mother about it just reaks of martyrdom and sneers, especially if after they had already openly disagreed with the mother about the subject. I just hope the doctor explained the caller the difference between gagging and choking.

Wikipedia entry for BLW

2006-09-27T15:02:00.000+01:00

I have been quietly complaining about the low quality of the Wikipedia entry for BLW for ages. I am delighted that someone went through the trouble of creating one, but it's had a "requires cleanup"-tag for ages and I just wish someone would have done the job already. Actually, I have had my Wikipedia account for a while now, but I couldn't possibly take such a heavily loaded task upon myself! Or could I?

The only reason I even started re-organising, re-wording and finally re-writing the entry was, that I'm getting sick of building my own BLW emporium here at the BLWbaby. I've managed to get the recipes section half-heartedly up an running. This means drawing up a plan for it, building a frame (which is what you see if you click on the "Recipes"-link on the top panel) with links to all the nice stuff that's going to be there one day, then losing concentration and interest for a few days. It's still very unfinished but I'm hoping to get all the promised stuff up there the month is over.

There is a strong admiration of Wikipedia in our little family, but I wouldn't have thought to be contributing to it in a million years. It seems so big and full of intriguing information, that the idea of writing or even modifying an article seemed daunting. I don't consider myself an expert in any subject (well, in maybe a couple of very, very specific subjects), but I could think of a good few ways to make the article more informative for someone who has never even heard of baby-led weaning before.

After all, the article doesn't have to be perfect - if there is a problem with it, anyone is free to correct, delete and add in the article as they see fit. At least I have done my part, and it feels nice.

Disclaimer

2006-09-26T16:44:00.000+01:00

Issues around infant feeding traditionally incite heated conversations and arguments, but the opinions reflected in the BLWbaby blog posts are in no way meant as personal attacks to any one person or their beliefs.

The information in BLWbaby blog is written by a total novice, and should be purely of recreational interest to its readers. It has not been reviewed by health professionals, and should not be taken as advise. Despite continuous research on the subject and the ambition to provide accurate and useful information to the readers, the author cannot be held responsible for any incorrect information that is printed at BLWbaby Blog, BLWbaby Information, BLWbaby Recipes, BLWbaby Links, BLWbaby Photos or About BLWbaby.

Anything you read or see here is intended for interest and enjoyment ONLY. If you choose to use the information you find here, please consult your health professional before introducing any major changes to your child's diet.

HV's - best left in the dark

2006-09-25T12:33:00.000+01:00

I'm sure that anyone who has done their research on BLW would agree with me in that it seems to be a perfectly safe and sensible approach in introducing your own child to the wonderful world of solid foods. Then, why are the Health Visitors so against BLW? All I read is negative experiences of mothers who have accidentally let it slip to their health visitors that they have skipped the purees and moved straight into the more hands-on approach for the baby.

The more I think about it, the clearer it becomes in my head: Health Visitors are just being careful about the advice they give to the new mothers. There is no research or long-term practical knowledge available about BLW, so by expressing their doubts about the method they are really only covering their own back. Many mothers religiously believe every golden drops of wisdom that passes their Health Visitors' lips, so the HV's can't afford any mistakes. They're best off sticking to what they know, at least with puree-feeding they have something to refer back to.

Health Visitors' advice is often vague and based on what they think, not what they know. Even what they know mightn't be up to scratch - who knows? There is so much conflicting information about weaning available in books, on the Internet and in conventional media. We have decided to just do my homework on babies' nutrition needs and provide him everything he needs, in the way I see fit. 3 months down the BLW road, I know my son's chewing abilities well enough to know in what form I can give foodstuffs to him to be confident in myself.

For example, last week I saw someone mentioned in their post in the Yahoo B-LW forum, that a health visitor had stated that babies should be fed purees "at least 2 weeks" before introducing finger food. I have ever since put my (advanced, if I may say so) googling skills to test, while I've been searching for any sort of basis or justification for this comment. Needless to say, it's all been in vain - the time-frame certainly has a slight made-up twang do it.

The question of Health Visitors disapproving BLW became a personal matter to me when I made the mistake of informing our HV of my baby's diet. As a result, she organised 4 counselling-type home visits with me and gave me quite strict orders to reduce breastfeeding(!) and start spooning the solids into my son. For a few weeks I did as she told me, but as soon as the haze lifted we went back to finger foods. I realised I actually didn't have to do as she told me, but as we felt was best for Lukas.

I know now that for us, the best way to do BLW is to do it without the Health Visitor knowing about it. However, this is not something I openly recommend to anyone, it's our own decision and I realise the responsibility it carries. I still go to the monthly weighing, but unless something alarming comes up, I will just have to alter the truth a little bit if she asks how Lukas is eating. I can list what he eats, but I just won't mention that it's not me who's scooping it all in.

When I first started learning and doing BLW, I had these big dreams that if I educated myself enough, had a first-hand experience and wanted to spread the word, maybe I could offer my HV to come and give a little introduction speech about BLW in their weaning discussion groups. I have since become disillusioned - I don't think it's the time for that in another few years, but maybe one day. I won't be here then, but wherever I am, I would like to help.

Politics of breastfeeding

2006-09-08T08:53:00.000+01:00

Like the new look? It took me hours but it's finally nearly done, some tweaking is still required and I'm going to change the header image as soon as I can take & make a better one, but this one will have to do for the moment.

Here's the rant about breastfeeding re: Aitch's post yesterday that I promised in the last message. I better start off by saying that even though this is a bit of a rant, I did not write it to criticise mothers who give their babies formula. If in doubt, please read through carefully.

I've had some rough opinions in the past about bottle-feeding and "posh mothers whining about how much they would've loved to breastfeed but just couldn't", but yesterday Aitch's post made me think again. Her story was so genuine and my heart goes out to her and everyone else who have had no choice but to give their child formula. It immediately made me regret some of the 'statements' gave a couple of months ago.

Well over the toughest part of breastfeeding, I hope I can finally muse upon the subject without being too subjective. It broke my heart even to give Lukas even those few bottles when he was screaming his hunger in the dead of night during the second month. I was terrified when during the first meeting with my health visitor she told me Lukas is such a big baby that I will probably have to use formula regularly to supplement and wondered if he was going to last past 3 months without solids. Now despite our differing attitudes around feeding, I still think my health visitor is a great lady, don't get me wrong.

I still believe that the lack of support is the biggest problem to women's inability to breastfeed in the UK, and the health personnel have a habit of very eagerly telling women that only the most fortunate of mothers are able to breastfeed. I think I've already mentioned the several times the wonderful book I read during my pregnancy, Gabrielle Palmer's Politics of Breastfeeding. I'm not even going to start to summarise it here, but you can probably guess the message of the book. The cultural factors and the support of the society have everything to do with the success in breastfeeding.

Despite the heavy promotion of breastfeeding in the UK, there is a serious lack of follow-on and real support you get from the health professionals. This includes midwifes, doctors, GP's and health visitors. Breastfeeding is pushed on the level of principle, but when women find it difficult and encounter problems during the first weeks and months, the quick solution - formula - is often offered first. Even if other routes are explored (as Aitch mentioned in her post), the seed of failure is planted in the mother's mind.

Midwifes, ante-natal group instructors and even breastfeeding counsellors are so careful not to push their message in case they might offend someone, that "everyone should breastfeed" often becomes "technically we recommend that breastfeeding is best for the baby, but not all mothers can breastfeed, there are so many things that can go wrong, so if it doesn't work for you don't feel bad about it". I have nothing against formula-feeding, if that's the mother's choice, but it shouldn't be a choice the society makes for the mothers.

The results of the discrepancy between the campaigning and deficient support are well reflected in the endless breastfeeding/formula conversations in the Internet parenting forums. Breastfeeding advocates who word their opinions a little less carefully are called breastfeeding 'fascists' and 'terrorists', probably by mothers who been left on their own struggling with breastfeeding and are now having difficulties coping with the "failure". I think most those who support breastfeeding would agree that there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving your baby formula, as long as you're not doing it for selfish reasons. In my opinion, even doing it for selfish reasons is OK, if it's your own conscious decision.

Bottles and BLW

2006-09-07T16:58:00.000+01:00

It's been awfully quiet dead here since the first post. I guess the start was surprisingly smooth, and I had nothing to write! We went holidays for nearly a month, I got a big translation project and I've been struggling to keep the main blog running.

However, my BLW enthusiasm is back stronger than ever! While I don't have so much to write about what Lukas is eating every day, I discovered today that I have lots of opinions about BLW… Some of which mightn't interest the readership of our new.browne blog, so I thought I'd resurrect this thing. Meanwhile…

Aitch had written about going BLW on bottle-fed babies in her blog, and of course I can't help commenting. I had so much to say about the lack of breastfeeding support in the UK, that I'll leave post my rant about after this, but first things first.

She took up the subject because on the Dutch BLW guidelines page it says that BLW isn't recommended to formula-fed babies and that you should consult your health visitor before going BLW.

In my experience, when it comes to discussing BLW with your health visitor, they are most likely to advice you against it, regardless whether you breastfeed or not. My health visitor managed to convince me that BLW must've been the reason for my budding post-natal depression - what b*llocks.

It took me a couple of weeks to come to my senses though. Fair enough that giving him more solids helped me to overcome the exhaustion caused by the constant breastfeeding of the toddler-sized baby, but I should've known that the point we are now would've been as easily achieved with finger foods. In fact, Lukas eats more now that he's back to finger food. So much for the health visitor's advice then.

It'd be nice if you could as _someone_ about BLW and formula-feeding, though. Surely babies can learn to control their own feeding at 6 months too? I think the warning is just a precautionary measure more than anything else, but one that shouldn't be overlooked.

The whole idea might seem so revolutionary to some that maybe the note was necessary so that it wouldn't come across as totally irrational and irresponsible. I don't think so, but it's easy to see why someone might. Many people like to stick to “the way it's always been done” and for some new approaches like this are difficult to digest. And by this I don't mean only grannies and mother-in-laws! :)

Mothers who are actively search information about what's best for their babies are often more aware of their babies' wants and needs. Hence whoever is open-minded enough to try BLW, has probably already allowed their child to develop a more independent feeding rhythm.

I can't wait until research results are available and we have some more credible and reliable information about the method that I can back up my arguments with when discussing the topic with people I know.

No-one I talk to has even heard of baby-led weaning before I have brought it up. The only reason I know there are other people BLW is because of the Yahoo B-LW group and the likes. For the moment we just have to rely on peer support from the BLW online gang.

Links on baby nutrition

2006-08-02T16:42:00.000+01:00

Baby nutrition

9-month nutrition (Linda Folden Palmer)

Nutrition for babies & infants (Dr. Greene)

When is it safe to feed my baby...? (BabyCentre)

Baby nutrition beyond breastmilk by Sian Porter

Feeding first solids Kathy Fray touches the problem with starch

No starch for infants by Dr. H. M. Shelton (quite an extreme view)

Links on when to start weaning

2006-08-02T16:28:00.000+01:00

When to start weaning?

Kellymom on starting solids

Delaying solids until 6 months? from Cleethorpes Natural Nurturing Network

Foods and Supplements for the Nursing Baby by Dr. Jack Newman

Starting solids short article from Pure Healthy Baby

Personal experience by doula Mona Harris

Single blog posts about BLW

2006-08-02T16:27:00.000+01:00

Blog posts about BLW

2 years ago at Moogyboobles

A Baby-Led Approach to Introducing Solids at Boob Nazis

Not Ready Yet! (Now with Article!) at Peach & Pearl

Makes sense to me at Julian Ridley Schrock

Mange, mange, bebe at Life Love Family Joy

Just A Taste at Addition Problems

Baby-led introduction to solid foods at Mmmm, Brains

News: Breastfeeding rate grows... at Organic Jac

Yum at Girlfiend

Attachment Parenting is Uncool at A Passerby's Trail

NCT stuff and a little bit more on allergies at Blog of the Pies

Mila - 8th September 2006 at www.copic.nl

Gearing Up for Pizza at LP and LB

Baby-led weaning (sort of) at miniTwig Land of Wonder

"On Tuesday (1st August)..." at Being Eva's Mom

His first banana at Sebastien Messager-Lee

Things that don't need to be so complicated. at Provider Guardian

Update that is longer then expected at confession time

Bring me the Lobster Thermidor and a bucket.. at Roryworld

BLW - Day 2! at The Smell of Little Pong

Blogs on baby-led weaning

2006-08-02T16:26:00.000+01:00

BLW-related blogs

Baby Led Weaning (dedicated to BLW)

Jenson led weaning

Roryworld (regular BLW updates)

Baby-led weaning forums and threads

2006-08-02T16:24:00.000+01:00

BLW forums & threads

Yahoo B-LW Group

iVillage BLW forum

Natural Parenting AU (thread)

UKparents.co.uk (thread)

Various BLW-related threads at Mumsnet.com

Baby-led weaning articles

2006-08-02T16:17:00.000+01:00

Baby-led weaning articles

BLW Guidelines by Gill Rapley adapted by Stefan Kleintjes

ABM article about baby-led weaning study

Baby-led weaning article at BabyCentre with references

UK Baby Friendly Initiative's position

Lactivist.co.uk article by Laura Park

BBC Radio 4 BLW discussion with Gill Rapley & Annabel Karmel

IWMM Webchat with Gill Rapley

Before starting

2006-06-16T13:50:00.000+01:00

Lukas will be 6 months next Thursday. We're going for his monthly check on Tuesday, and we're looking forward to getting the new height and weight measures. So far he's been on the top end of the scale, but his height and weight have been increasing hand in hand, so the health visitor has been delighted with his development.

We have been exclusively breastfeeding for the last 6 months, with the following exceptions. Around the 2-month mark he was so hungry that we had to occasionally give him a bottle, when he would refuse the breast as "too empty", screaming for more in the dead of night. I think we got past that phase with a grand total of 10 4 oz bottles. One sunny day about 2 weeks ago he also had some baby-led watermelon, but after the incident we've made sure not to leave anything at grabbing-distance, as we would prefer to wait until the magical 6 months is up before introducing solids to his diet.

Lukas is sitting really well on his own - and he has done for the last couple of weeks. When grabbing and holding things, he usually manages the pincer-grip (where he uses the thumb and the index finger to hold objects), but it's easily forgotten when he gets excited! I think the tongue-thrust reflex is going too, he seemed to be munching the water melon and at least it didn't come "spitting" straight out. All these are tell-tale signs that he is now ready to start trying solid foods.

For the past few weeks I have been trying to gather as much information about baby-led weaning as possible. It seems to me that most of the information is still delivered from mother to mother in the Internet discussion forums, although there are a couple of articles that you see the ladies constantly referring to. I will link them up here when I have more time.

What can you expect in this blog in the future? Updates on Lukas' progress and general information about baby-led weaning. I'm constantly searching for information from discussion forums and web sites, and will post any findings here little by little.