Baby LED WEANING (BLW): Advantages and Disadvantages of Breisy Course

In the first weeks of life and months, babies are only breastfed or fed with the bottle. Around the sixth month of life, we parents decide that it is time for complementary foods. Classically, many then start with the introduction of baby porridge. This is intended to replace breast milk or bottle milk step by step.

The decision to introduce complementary food does not have to make the parents at all. With the "Baby Led Weaning" method, this decision is literally put in baby hands. Because the child begins to be interested in the food of the parents or siblings, then, the supporters of BLW believe, this is the time when you should also get the baby to the family table and share the family meal with it. BLW is a porridge -free constriction.

The breastfeeding as needed is probably known to most parents. It means that you do not breastfeed the child for a "firm" timeplant, but whenever it shows that it is hungry. You don't have to wait until the offspring cries and cries from hunger.

Instead, it is important to watch the baby carefully and to interpret the signals. For example, a hungry child will smack or suck on his fist. If the parents comply with the need for drinking, one can say that the child drinks self -determined.

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Baby Led Weaning is also about this self -determination in food intake. (Although, however, we explain that even more precisely, the food intake at BlW is not in the foreground at the beginning.)

Not the parents decide when the child receives which fruit or vegetable porridge, but the child shows when they are ready for complementary foods and decides for themselves what they eat. At BlW one also speaks of the porridge -free complementary food, because the food comes from the family table in the form of finger food (partly cooked or steamed, but not puree too porridge).

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BLW is not new, because there have always been cultures where there is simply no baby porridge. The children sit at the parents' table from a certain age and try through the different foods.

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The "Baby Led Weaning" nutritional form made the British midwife and expert in baby food Dr. Gill Rapley. In 2010 she published her book "Baby Led Weaning" (Order here directly from Amazon*) and explained in the fact that it is better for the development of children (and parents) if they sit with the parents' table and use the food independently and lead them into their mouths instead of being fed by their parents. You decide what you eat or spit out again.

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Dr. Gill Rapley recommends an age of around six months in her book. Then children are already able to sit a little, can keep their heads persistent and safe and the hand-eye coordination is so far that they can push something into their mouths independently. All the prerequisites for successfully starting Baby Lead Weaning.

And you guessed it, there are also children who can do it a little more, and there are children, with them it takes a few weeks longer. None of this is a problem. As a parents, you know your offspring best and can make sure what is good for him and what may overwhelm him.

It is important that the child already shows interest in eating the other family members before trying out BLW. Because curiosity is also an important prerequisite for starting with a baby-guided diet.

It is very crucial that the child can take the food alone and put in the mouth. If it has no interests (yet), or if it is not yet possible, parents should definitely resist the urge to help him.

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Provided that your baby is already interested in your food, so watch you how to eat and imitate the chewing movements, you can put it at your large table. This can be in a high chair that supports sufficiently while sitting or for the beginning on your lap.

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And then you can offer your child a selection of suitable dishes. For children who do not yet have teeth, there are, for example, fruit and vegetable sticks. It can suck on them, or if they are soft (cooked), crush them with palate and tongue. It can also try bread edges.

The first BLW tests are less about eating than trying it out. Your child looks and feels exactly the differences in the different dishes. They will crush and crumble, mud and maybe swallow a little.

The food is not yet in the foreground here. Therefore, it is important that you continue to breastfeed it. First of all, you ensure that your offspring receives all important nutrients.

Over time, it will learn that what gives him so much joy in the parents' table is really also about eating. And until your child eats so much that you no longer have to breastfeed or give it the bottle afterwards, it takes a long time.

Children who already have their first teeth will of course also try to break down things. It is therefore important that you make sure not to offer them anything you can swallow. For example, for the Beisiel Raw vegetable sticks, cooked should be replaced. The danger that a piece can be bitten is too great that can be cheated.

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Important:Opponents of the BLW method above all perform the risk of swallowing as a counter-argument. Children with six, seven or eight months are simply not that far to eat “firm” food. In fact, it shows oneStudy from New ZealandHowever, the danger is not greater than in children who are fed with baby porridge.

Children who were introduced to solid food with the BLW method, the study shows that they have become "safe eating" faster. In general, all babies tend to choke quickly - whether they get baby porridge or raw food. This is a natural reflex that protects you from swallowing.

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Babies are very curious at the beginning of their lives and also impartial when it comes to food. The older you get, the more skepticism you develop compared to different foods. Therefore, you can try to offer your offspring as many and varied dishes as possible.

It is important that the food is so large that your child can easily grab them. So orient yourself on the hand of your child. If you fit into his fist, you are a good size. It is also important that they are foods that you can crush with your chewing or tongue and palate or on which you can (safe) suck. Are suitable:

Even if things have to go quickly with the food, you will never get babies Fast Food. These foods are too greasy, too spicy and they also contain far too few nutrients. Strongly salted foods such as olives or feta cheese, as well as very sweetened or fried things are also taboo.

Raw fish and raw egg are prohibited, as are raw milk cheese products. Nuts also do not belong on babies menu.

If your child already has teeth, you also have to be very picky with the raw food. A piece of apple or lettuce cucumber is quickly bitten. There is great danger that your child could swallow up with it. The same applies to (hard) bread pieces, rusks or lye pretzels.

And honey also has nothing to look for in babies. Honey can contain the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which in the intestine of infants and babies out of severe poisons and can lead to infant botulism.

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the BLW method. For example, pediatricians express criticism that this diet can quickly lead to deficiency symptoms in children. It is difficult to see what exactly a child really eaten or what it only sucked on. So important nutrients for the development of children fell by the wayside.

In a conventional baby porridge, on the other hand, it is precisely understandable what is in it and how much was eaten. The composition of baby porridge is also adapted to the needs of children of different age. This is the only way to ensure that the opponents of the OBLW's arguments are ensured that they receive enough vitamins, iron and other nutrients.

Another disadvantage in Baby LED WEANING is that weaning takes longer. Precisely because children don't eat much and sufficiently solid food at the beginning. It must continue to be breastfed to ensure the child's care with all the nutrients important for development.

And one more thing should not be ignored: the chaos that arises when babies eat alone. Because in the first few days and weeks, more food is guaranteed to land on the ground than in Baby's mouth. It is best to ensure and put a wipeable film under the children's chair. Also advisable are bibs including the sleeves and collecting shell. One or the other food can still be saved.