Hi there

We found BLW to be fantastic with both of our children.

Bubs let us know each time when they wanted to feed less from me (both in terms of amount and also in terms of frequency) so we didn't "wean" in this way - but we were intentional about generally offering food before feeding from me, or EBM.

That way, they weren't experimenting with food when already full, if that make sense.

In terms of actually swallowing more etc, it would have been around 12 months before that started happening. Obviously they were eating and swallowing before then, but it really was just experimentation.

The main thing for our children seemed to be them understanding the connection between food and the feeling of fullness - and that took around 5-6 months. Until then, they were just exploring, and learning to love the taste and sensation of food.

It was a lot of fun. A huge amount of mess and wasted food, but they are now well and truly set up for good eating habits, which makes it worth it And they've always been able to feed themselves, and try new things a lot more readily than what I've seen from others.

Good luck!