Extremist...?

Does anyone else get the "wacko" face when you try and explain BLS?

I swear people think I am some sort of extremist mum for thinking its good. Why is it makes sense to me and other mums think its nuts? Most guys find it logical too.

How do you go doing it with family members? Last night I gave dd some homemade bread (Italian crusty end bit variety) and she LOVED it. Happily chewing with her gums, making it soggy, eating what she wanted.

MIL kept saying to me... "Should I mash some potato? What else can I give her? Should I make something else up?". I said no she is happy to just eat the bread at the moment. "I'm scared she'll choke!"...so I explained it all again. Nope. Next minute she's getting some mashed up potato put in her mouth :wall:, which she spat out. FIL said "she doesn't want it! Leave her with the bread!"

Really not sure what's so strange/hard/unusual about BLS!?

It scares people. You are right, guys all seem to get it, and my FIL loves watching it. My MIL offered to mash up potato for DD and 20 minutes later wanted to give her a Tim Tam. Most of the mums in my mums group

Awesome premature DD post. The mums in MG are all battling with their Mums who are scared to let the bubs have anything other than purée. It's different to what they did and it scares them. Thank goodness my mum dud it with all of iui

Gah, I give up. No more posting while bf'ing.

My dad LOVES telling strangers all about it, he thinks it is brilliant. My mum always does the "Are you SURE I can give her x? Are you SURE she won't choke?" but is supportive and follows my lead. It isn't extreme or odd but it is different to what they used to do so there can be apprehensive but I know my mums concerns come from love so I just understand and reassure. One of my SIL has now done BLS with her second and asked me some advice. Don't think I've really discussed it with many people, I just sort of do it. I think most mums I know either do it or are aware of it.

I did this a bit with my DS, just didn't follow any real program. But gave lumps to him and let him chew bones etc. Now he's eating exactly what we eat. I just purred fruit to put in his cereal and yoghurt. And make mashed vegies, to put with meat and pasta etc or make into salmon patties. DS loves feeding himself and eating finger foods. But my SIL has four kids, and her dd who is only 3 months younger than DS hates lumps and still gets given a lot of purees. Oh well, each to their own.

Yes, lol. My grandmother was really against it! I personally couldn't even fathom why you would get so worked up about food. It didn't seem strange to me at all. But you know what!!!! That same Grandmother now tells people all about it and how great it is!!!!!!!! And how she has never seen my kids choke on things the way hers did when they were learning to eat!!!! The proof is in the pudding...or bread :)

No-one seems to get it. My mother has been offering to feed DS for the last 2 months. We haven't started BLS yet, but he's getting really interested.

Nobody here gets it. Hubby is always slipping in mouthfuls of stuff- to make sure she gets fed lol
In the early days people seem so eager to push food into a baby. My mil put dd off rice totally for about 6 weeks because of her inability to "let it go" and then filled her up on choc bics. Needless to say, I keep dd away from her if we are eating with them. She still spoon feeds our 4/5 year old!
baby knows and learns at their own pace :)

Yeah, it usually comes from the need to 'know' how much food they've eaten, and it's usually related to stuffing them full so they sleep :(

Our experience has been mostly BLS with the odd fork mushed plateful, or spoon feeding rice etc. We have great eaters now that eat anything and everything. We didn't get trapped on the puree roundabout at all.

I tell people that you only need to puree food if you start solids early. Once they're 6 months they can do finger foods. Since we start solids after 6 months, we have no need for puree. I do use the odd jar of pureed fruit to sweeten up a bit of muesli, but that's about it. People are amazed when I pull out a little box of finger foods for a baby, when it's common to take along squeezie packs of yoghurts or fruit purees.

You should see the shocked faces when I tell them I don't introduce water until 12 months! LOL. Not on purpose usually btw... just happens that way here, that 12 months rolls around I go 'oh.. I spose I should get you a sippy cup or something soon'. All drinks are breastmilk otherwise!

I also get comments (mainly from IL's) about what bub is eating. We don't give bland food here.. they get family food. So if it's got chilli in it, they eat chilli. They eat curries and spices and all those goodies. I've never understood the need to make baby food bland. How boring!

My Mum thought it was all abit wierd when i started bls with DD. now she has seen dd and more recently DS start this way, she loves it and talks it up to others.

i wouldn't be happy with anybody forcing food into my kids mouths, or going against what i have decided.

My mum is super scared about choking so I tend to give softer options like banana and watermelon when around Mum otherwise she sits on the edge of her seat, she doesnt say anything negative but I know how she feels

Must admit I dont 'follow' BLS or puree we mix and match with what suits. Some days I dont want to deal with the mess of BLS so we do puree, or if Im busy in the kitchen she has solids, depends on what food we have at hand too and how much time we have.

Liz we also get funny looks when I say they had the smae as us be it curry, thai, mexican. If they dont like it they wont eat it especially when they are feeding themselves. DD has not eaten some foods Ive offered but had extra breast feeds, they dont go hungery

Most family has been really supportive and thinks it's great, bar one SIL who is terrified of choking. She can't watch DD eat.

Strangely it's been my younger friends that find it strange.

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Gah, I give up. No more posting while bf'ing.

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Lol!! DD used to do this, fling her arms around and hit buttons :)

Most people were great with us doing BLS. Last Christmas, my Mum was concerned DD wasn't eating enough so was trying to coax her to have more until I explained she'll have as much as she needs/wants. FIL was a nightmare though. First he wouldn't watch because he was certain she would choke, then he was worried she needed something mashed because she wasn't eating enough. He didn't listen when I said she'd get everything she needed from breastmilk to make up for 'not eating enough'. At one point I caught him putting his finger in her mouth with mayo on it. Obviously much better for her to eat than the veggies she was playing with!

My mum actually came across bls and told me about it so she's all for it! The people I have issues with are FIL, who thought is DS1 was eating normal food, not puree, he could have sticky date pudding with cream at 6mths! :wall: also DHs gma who still stresses about DS1 getting enough (hes 16.3kg at 2.5yrs, I think he's fine!!!) & eating food he needs to chew or chop up.

My DD is just past 4 months and has no interest in food yet. I asked my Mum what she did for me but she can barely remember so is not fussed how we do it. Oddly the in-laws haven't said anything at all yet. I wonder what they'll think? Thankfully lots of the Mums in my mothers group are doing bls

It's so normal to me that I get surprised seeing spoons of puree now :) and have to remind myself that that is what most parents still do.

The sooner they're actually chewing and eating the better!

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It's so normal to me that I get surprised seeing spoons of puree now :) and have to remind myself that that is what most parents still do.

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That's how it seems to me - so normal and logical, I don't get why people make/buy purees. But even though it's normal for me, it certainly isn't for others and I'm amazed to see so many people saying other mums in their group do it! I was the only mum out of 14 doing BLS with no purees, and one other did a combo.

My mum was quite ok with it. FIL and MIL I think thought we were odd and MIL kept freaking out that DD was choking. But SIL has done it with her DD now too and I think they totally see the benefits. But MIL still has a mini panic if she hears a slight cough etc during meal time!

to me it is just so normal that I get taken aback when ppl question me, or ask if it is ok if the baby is ok eat that. DD2 grabbed a lamb chop from my plate and started gnawing on it at 4.5 months. totally unprompted and so i followed her lead. the only puree she ate really was from those squeezy packs when we travel hahaha.

my mothers group would get freaked out but with me being a 'homebirther' they just let me be and put it down to another crazy hippy thing hahaha.

ive been lucky so far. no neg comments. it makes way more sense for me to do it this way. this way she learns to chew before she learns to swolllow (with mash/puree they swollow before they chew) plus im lazy, this is so easy.

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my mothers group would get freaked out but with me being a 'homebirther' they just let me be and put it down to another crazy hippy thing hahaha.

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:rofl: so true.

With ds the Inlaws and dh would freak out and get grumpy at me because sometimes he would choke and puke a bit but he got there in the end I do a combination though

This is where living away from our families is handy, they know DS has started solids and we've sent pictures of him with food from head to toe but not had to explain exactly how it's being served to him!

It doesn't help that lots of people confuse gagging with choking, yeah.

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It doesn't help that lots of people confuse gagging with choking, yeah.

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Yeah they are two very different things

We only got questioned once, by friends if DH. We were up there for dinner and got asked what to put on DDs plate when she was about 7 or 8 months. Told them just a mini version of ours. She automatically smooshed everything and Dd looked at her plate and refused to eat. I handed her something off mine and she gummed down on it. They were shocked and asked why we did it that way, what we were teaching her (yeah, cos teaching her to eat real food is bad, right??) and how did we expect to make sure dd was nourished. Hmmmm. Well it is more "real" this way, we are teaching her to eat what she feels she needs to and ummmm food is fun until she's one. All she NEEDS is breast milk ( and that got the big eyebrow raise - even when she was a matter of weeks old and I dared to not hide away!).

This couple were late 40's so not that old either

Older friends and family were more understanding or bit silly enough to question me lol

Initally yep. DD1 wasn't the first grandchild on my side and my sister did what mum told her. My mum has since changed her tune and was doing BLS with my youngest nephew (whom she cared for 7-5 5 days a week).
She was the first on DH's side and they expected me to do what they thought....they have since put up or shut up lol.

Now....call me lazy but it's the easiest way to go I reckon.

No one thinks any one thing I do is any more weird than everything else now, so I guess they'd all be surprised if I did something 'normal'. LOL What with the homebirthing, full term breastfeeding, babywearing and BLSing, there's plenty to wonder at. Lucky cloth nappies are not uncommon around here!

In my own family, DD1 was the first on both sides, watching her and DD2 has led both my sister and SIL to do BLS with their babies. Not sure about my second sister, because her bub is still too small for food, but probably.

It's also led my mum to adjust her feeding of the foster babies she cares for, although that is probably because my sister does BLS too and she lives nearby.