baby led weaning...

Emily - posted on 10/18/2009

My little guy is 15 1/2 months now and we've BLW since he was 6months. It's been completely stress-free and easy. We've only had a couple of instances where he didn't chew well enough and choked a little - it took care of itself, he coughed the food up quickly and once I swept the back of his throat with my finger to help him (those lifeguarding skills from my teenage years do come in handy occasionally)! He's a good eater now and still nurses first thing in the morning and right before bed. When he started daycare (at 14 months), he was still nursing before his nap. I pumped for a while but that was getting really challenging. Our daycare provider tried rice milk for naps which has worked beautifully. Now I nurse him before naps on the weekend and he has rice milk or expressed milk during the week. He enjoys eating with us and trying new foods. One thing I've found interesting is that, while he certainly explores objects with his mouth, he never tries to eat non-food items... I think that's due to his experience with BLW.

Jamie - posted on 10/18/2009

Here's my take. I'm totally in to baby-led-weaning, but now my son, who will be 3 in January, is showing no signs of letting up. He nursed through the pregnancy and now I tandem nurse. So, at some point, if he doesn't stop, I will have to start gently nudging him that way. He only nurses now at nap and bed time, so it's really not bad, I'm just almost ready to be done, personally. I nurse two and pump once a day to donate my milk, so I feel like a cow some days. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love it. It's so sweet to watch them nurse together and I feel they have really bonded. With that said, though, I'm getting close to encouraging conner (gently) to stop nursing so that I just am nursing Madi (BTW- I've been tandem nursing one year).

Erin - posted on 10/18/2009

I am baby led weaning. It's been so stressfree! While others are trying to "control" their children/nursing all the time, we let nature do it and it's so laid back. :) My little one is almost 4 and still nursing everyday. Sometimes only once a day now. I plan to try to get pregnant very soon, so we will see if I will be tandum nursing or not?! :) I hope so, but whatever she does is fine with me.

Elanor - posted on 10/18/2009

I've heard a few people say 'it didn't work, he wasn't interested' but I think they obviously didn't understand BLW fully, as they are not supposed to be filling themselves up on food right away. Reading the book, it totally makes sense. I look forward to it, as it is no stress.

Dawn - posted on 10/18/2009

Quoting Elanor:

I met Gill Rapley (author of Baby Led Weaning) at some Unicef breastfeeding training. If you can find the book it's brilliant!!! My eldest was 1.5 when I learnt about BLW.
But he only liked lumpy foods, so we had done a bit of BLW.
My little one is 4 months, I will certainly be doing BLW. No more mashing foods up!
The important thing to remember is that for the 1st year your breast milk will give bubba all the nutritian she needs, so they may not look as though they are enjoying it, but it's all about exploration from 6 months. I really recommend the book, I am reading it at the mo, and it's completely fascinating. Good luck! let me know how you get on!!!

i'm half way through reading that book and i think its great too. i bought all the stuff for puree'ing foods and storing it before i heard about blw.  i'd been told about blw weaning but until reading the book i wasn't 100% convinced. 

i'd like to get different opinions on blw as so far i've only heard good things so i'm thinking there must be some negatives some where along to way.  i guess i want to make sure i'll be doing the right thing.

Elanor - posted on 10/18/2009

I met Gill Rapley (author of Baby Led Weaning) at some Unicef breastfeeding training. If you can find the book it's brilliant!!! My eldest was 1.5 when I learnt about BLW.

But he only liked lumpy foods, so we had done a bit of BLW.

My little one is 4 months, I will certainly be doing BLW. No more mashing foods up!

The important thing to remember is that for the 1st year your breast milk will give bubba all the nutritian she needs, so they may not look as though they are enjoying it, but it's all about exploration from 6 months. I really recommend the book, I am reading it at the mo, and it's completely fascinating. Good luck! let me know how you get on!!!

Katie - posted on 10/18/2009

Im not sure exactly what you mean by baby lead weaning, but i do know that a child left to self wean may nurse for as long as 2-3yrs. for my kiddos I introduced solids and cups (when they seemed to be ready for them) and as their interest grew in the solids they nursed less and less often. My oldest and youngest both were finished nursing by 11-12 months. I guess that would be baby lead weaning lol. My middle daughter though wanted to nurse longer but I choose to wean her at about 14months old or so. But for her personality, even now at 9yrs old she is one to hang on to the things she does for longer then most children. If that is what baby lead weaning is then I would certainly recommend it! it was great! no real hassles, and since it was a gradual stopping my milk flow slowed and there wasn't to much of a problem with engorgement! Just realize that some children want to nurse longer then others and their may come a point where you may decided to take over and direct him/her to wean! Good luck!! and way to go on nursing!!! to many moms don't want to try!