MCHN says NO to BLS until atleast 9-10 months :(

Im abit confused. I was talking with my MCHN the other day (the fill in one)about soilds. I told her i wish to go the way of BLS and dont really fancy giving Mia that farex or tin stuff etc. But she wasnt impressed. Saying babies need to start with allll pured (sp) food and shouldnt be having any whole food until atleast 9-10 months.

Needless to say i was shattered. So i can only give her stuff when its blended?? She also said she cant have kids wheetbix till 10-12 months (cant remember when she said exactly).

Mia isnt on solids yet but now im just more than confused than ever..

MCHN are notorious for getting it wrong.
if BLS is the way you want to go do your research and do it.
i di the pureed thing with DS and the BLS with DD. BLS was sooo much easier. and she has a great appetite now unlike DS who i co-oerce (sp) him in to eating

call the ABA as they have great info on BLS (it doesnt matter if your not breast feeding they are a great help)

This is an article I have written -

My MCHN recommended it, so it really depends darl.

Introducing Solids ? Baby Led Weaning

The age of introducing solids is a much debated topic amongst mothers and infant health professionals across the globe. The current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations are that infants should be exclusively breastfed until the age of six months and then complementary foods should be introduced with the continuation of breastfeeding, noting that breastmilk is the ideal food to meet nutritional requirements until this age.

Current Australian recommendations are that infants should be introduced to solids at around the six month mark, however, some babies may be developmentally ready a little earlier (2003 National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents). The important thing to remember about early introduction of solids is to keep to the mantra of ?food is fun until I am one?. The early stages of solids are not to offer much nutritional benefit to infants, but are for learning and fun, and both parents and babies should enjoy this time.

The age recommendation for solids introduction has progressed from the mid 20th century, when originally the recommendation was for infants aged three months and onwards, which was later moved to four months and now to six months. However the way we introduce solids is still heavily geared towards the younger infant. Many mothers of young babies, will wean their children onto rice cereals (such as Farex), or single fruit purees, slowly introducing mashed and more lumpy textures after several months.

With that in mind, there is an increasingly popular approach to the way mothers are introducing solids. It is referred to as Baby Led Weaning.

Don?t be confused by the term ?weaning?, it is simply an exclamation of solids being a complementary food; because the introduction of solids is the beginning of customizing the child to the general family diet. The introduction of solids should not be the cessation of breastfeeding (or the use of a breastmilk substitute), and in fact breastmilk should still be the main source of nutrition until your child turns one.

The main signs of developmental readiness for the introduction of solid foods are;
? Loss of the extrusion reflex (tongue thrust) ? so when babies become able to push food to the back of their mouths for swallowing
? Steady head control and the ability to sit, with control when supported
? Teeth are also considered a sign of readiness however it is not always the case. And as for babies that don?t have teeth ? those gums know how to do the job!
Signs that your baby as an individual may be showing in terms of readiness include consistently watching you eat, grabbing for food and/or becoming unsettled around food when the rest of the family is eating. A lot of these signs become evident at around six months.
By the age of six months an infants? hand-eye coordination and dexterity will also be more developed and they are generally able to grasp things in their palms.

Rather than introducing babies to rice cereals and purees, baby led weaning takes the direction of weaning babies straight onto finger foods, and skipping the spoon-feeding stage altogether (until your toddler feeds themselves). Many parents who have taken the baby led approach recommend beginning with foods that are easy to grasp with the palm as babies at that age are yet to develop a pincer grip. Some examples of these foods are broccoli and cauliflower (especially because they have the stalk), carrot sticks, zucchini, banana, toast soldiers. The list is endless and is only as limited as your imagination.

The BLW approach allows infants to make their own discoveries and explorations with food, focussing on infants mimicking the actions of others and thus their desire to experiment with new things. This approach ensures that the transition to solids is out of curiousity rather than hunger ? which is an element often overlooked, even though we are continually reminded that breastmilk should remain the primary nutrition for infants until twelve months. BLW also allows the baby to set the pace of their progress ? just as breastfeeding does; which is why the BLW introduction to solids is the perfect, natural accompaniment to a breastfeeding relationship.

One of the key concepts of BLW is trust. Trusting that your baby knows what they are ready or able to eat, and trusting them to know when they have had enough. It allows your baby to develop a natural sense of appetite awareness, and for this to occur you need to trust in what your baby is capable of.

The first few times that food is offered, an infant is most likely to just play with it, eventually progressing to putting it in his/her mouth. The transition from putting it in the mouth to actually chewing and swallowing may be quick, but is likely to last a couple of weeks. A lot of babies tend to mush the foods with their tongue and spend a lot of time tasting and sucking on the food before spitting it back out.

It is also important to keep offering foods even if they are not eaten, for the purpose of both encouragement and familiarity. In the beginning babies are likely to only choose to eat one food. Eventually they will try more of what you offer and as it becomes more familiar to them they will be able to finish a plateful.

Lastly be prepared for a mess! This is the best part of BLW ? seeing how much enjoyment your little one gets from it. It can be advantageous to buy a plastic mat to put underneath their feeding area to make clean up a little easier on yourself.


Frequently Asked Questions:

But won?t my baby choke?
It is quite a common concern that starting babies on finger foods will cause them to choke. This is simply not true. Observation of babies has shown that if they are able to sit upright and have lost the extrusion reflex, enabling them to push food to the back of their mouths, then the risk of choking is minimal. Babies should never be left unsupervised when eating as a precaution.

Do I need to offer my baby any other drinks?
If the baby is breastfed, then no. Continue to offer the breast as per normal, as breastmilk is a drink as well as food. As a feed continues the fat levels in the milk increase and this is how the baby learns to control his milk intake. If it were simply for a drink you would find that baby would have a short feed and possibly from both breasts, however were it a breastfeed for food he would continue drinking.
Formula fed babies should be offered water after solids to assist with the clearing of their throat and to aid with digestion.

Are there any reasons why I should not take the BLW path?
If your baby was born prematurely, or if your family has a history of food allergies, intolerances or digestive problems it is wise to consult your doctor first. If your baby has special needs (such as chewing skills or fine motor skills that are impaired), BLW may not be suitable for him.

My MCHN was all for it and loved having a chat with me about BLS when I said that's what we were doing. Yours just doesn't know about it. Do your own research and do what you think is best. FWIW my Nanna said she read a study that said starting children on rice cereal was causing terrible problems!

How did something as simple as solids get to be so complicated? If your baby is breastfed - your milk is all she needs for at least the first 6 mnths. If she is bottlefed, she might benefit from the earlier introduction of solid foods, if she is developmentally able, to make up for the deficits in nutrition that fully formula feeding entails.
Have a taste of the pureed jarred and tinned baby foods. Blah! Babies need real food. Most experienced mothers will tell you that by 9 or 10 mnth a baby will just about eat the ham sandwich out of your hand. Watch your baby. She needs to eat the same heatlhy family foods you eat and will enjoy them much more if allowed to explore them herself

Honestly Mia is starting to show some signs of being ready for solids but with so many "dont do's" out there its makes me just want to keep her on Milk for as long as possible. She still has a slight tongue reflux but does allow things to go down, for eg.. i have given her a little pumpkin on my finger and she swallowed it straight away. She is also able to tell me when she full now and sometimes she will only drink about 80mls and refuse to have more. Which i dont mind, she will eat if shes hungry.

Thats right tho barb, how did food become so complicated. I feel the health system isnt up to par with whats going on in this century.

As you have prob all read my other posts, Mia doesnt keep down much of her milk anyway so i KNOW she wont keep down anything like farex which is mixed with milk. Just give her more toruble than its worth i think.

i did read all that ash thankyou :)

this is also the same MCHN that said the earlier u start solids the better... something to do with speech. She reccomends 4 months.

Even tho Mia is showing some signs, i KNOW shes not ready and i refuse to let anyone tell me otherwise.

well Ashton is 5.5 months and yesterday he had a bit of toast with vegemite, half a banana (didn't like the skin :lol: ) and i tried him on broccoli but he didn't go much on the texture hehe

Sounds like your MHN has no idea ;)

I just wanted to say I am envious of being able to do BLS - my DS1 is anaphylactic and in our family history we have hayfever, eczema, intolerances, etc etc - so I do have to do the one bit at a time and cant give my kids a range to pick from etc

Any ideas on this one - I would love to be able to just give him a finger of banana/toast/cooked carrot etc - but i need to watch for any reactions and give the same food for 3 - 5 days depending.

?????

Hollye - sorry to hijack lol :)

Oh, i also forgot to say I am confident Z is interested and nearly ready - he sits ina highchair with us at the dinner table and has starting having hissy fits watching us - very interested and if on our laps, tries to grab whatever out of our bowls/plates ... i'm thinking another couple of weeks ....

Seriously i wouldnt be taking too much notice, shes you're child you know her better then anyone as to what she is is and isnt ready for. just let her take the lead and she will let you know.

Sami - babe, get ye to the BLS chatter thread on here mate.. lots of ideas and suggestions there.

didnt even know there was one ...... thanks!

Sami you can still offer finger foods one at a time. Like banana for a few days then carrot for a few days. No reason why it still has to be purred ;)

I found it odd that they suggested in the article, not doing it for allergy kids. Of course it makes no difference if it's pureed carrot or a carrot sticK/?? Im just saying that because we've had allergies, and I can't see the benefit. My kids are both fussy so I'd love to try this way with the next one. Very interesting.

Mumma2Girls the reaosn it is not suggested with a family history of allergies is ebcause generally you would offer a plate of food. So carrots, broccoli, bread and cheese.

If it is likely or a possibility that the child would be allergic, you are supposed to only one food at a time for a few days at a time. Thus, it still can be done BLS but it would bw very slow.

yeh ash i have been told that too, if there is a fam history of alergies then you are meant to for eg; give carrot for a week by itself and only when you have seen that there are no reactions to carrots then add one more food for a week etc.
If u give a bub a meal of all diff things and bub has an alergy, u dont know which one it was!

Can you start BLS before 6 months? (yes i KNOW what the reccomendations are) im talking say.. 5-5.5 months?? not now.

Yeah of course! It's generally not recommend in really young babies, because a key element is the ability for them to sit up so as not to choke, but if at 5 months she has sturdy head control and can sit with your support (or in the high chair either way) there is not too much reason not to. Part of BLS is following when your bab y is ready, if she is ready at five months, go for it, but in some cases you may need to backtrack to mashed textures! Banana is a great one to start with!

thanks hun! u reply so quickly and i love it :)

Ash is 5.5 months and I started him yesterday :) So far he has had toast, banana (which was a BIG favourite), potato, sweet potato and broccoli.

and he had no problem Mel?

I saw my MCHN yesterday and she asked whether I was feedign solids yet or not. I told her I was doing BLS and she yelped with delight! Told me I was her role model and poster girl from now on. She gets really frustrated with people not wanting to try it.....

I started Jett just after 5 months, because very suddenly he started stealing food from my plate and stealing my husbands spoon at breakfast so we decided very quickly that it was time. We have never looked back, he eats and chews the food and doesn't actually play with it heaps, but enjoys trying all the different foods that we offer. He doesn't necessarily eat alot of the food, but certainly gives it all a go!

That was something else my MCHN said, that every child has a different start time and some people start it all too early and some start it all too late. Her advice is to watch for a few signs that your baby is ready, such as the intently watching you eat, grabbing for food and utensils, being around 6 months of age among others. But her thing was start when your baby is ready, not necessarily when you are.

Nope no problems Hollye :) He loves them! I sat down this morning with my breakfast and the boys breakfast planning on sitting with Ash after and giving him his toast so I could supervise (he has no high chair, just a bumbo) and he screamed at me lol

Notice how quick their dexterity improves hun, it's amazing ;)

MummyTummy - when I was in hospital in Nov-Dec I ordered adult meals for DS because I refused to feed him the pureed crap. After a detailed discussion about it with the MCHN and unit manager about what it is, the benefits etc, they have changed their whole unit policy and now do BLW with all the older babies that go through there. I was so impressed!

well i will be seeing "my MCHN" tomorrow for Mia's 4 month check, ill be finding out what she thinks. If she doesnt agree and support my decision to do BLS then i will be going to another clinic. I would like support from this as i find there is stuff to learn and i dont want to ask her something if i know Im going to get frowned down upon.

I think we need younger MHN's. Coz most of the older ones still have in their head "when my kids was a baby, we did this....."

CookieMonster - That is fantastic!! So they should too, but brilliant that they have now seen the benefits! Good on you!

Holly - I really think it is the individual MCHNs. Mine aren't young, but they seem to be up with all the latest research and really tend to be forward thinking. I haven't had any problems with them, even with Jett being small my MCHN looks at him as an individual and hasn't batted an eyelid about his lack of weight gains compared to the charts.

But certainly if you feel you aren't getting the support from your MCHN tell her to check it out with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They recommend it!

Hollye- The prob with MCHN's is that alot of their advice is actually based on their personal opinion and experience ratehr than current research. Yes, babies used to only have pureed food, but as the article shows new research shows that there are many advantages to BLS. We started BLS at 5.5months and DD has done really well.

Like someone else mentioned, if there is an allergy issure, you can still offer just one finger food at a time. There is no difference between a carrot that is whole and one that is mashed.

Sounds like your fill in MCHN is a bit 'old fashioned" Might be worth seeing another one (if there is one). It is nice to get support for your choices rather than funny looks and dissaproving tones.

just spoke to my regular MCHN.. and i told her i wish to start Mia on BLS when she starts soilds and u should have seen the look she gave me. So she gave me a lecture about how everything needs to be purred and then gradually increase thickness and lumpyness and no whole foods till this is done. So still about 9-10 months. Im shattered.. I dont know what to do. Im just sick of being judged.. and i dont want to go through it again IYKWIM..

Just tell them to get stuffed! If you take control of the situation and say this IS what i am doing, instead of suggesting it they can say whatever they want, just bit them right back.

If you want any official articles, google Gil Rapley - and take it to your MCHN. If she is going to keep judging just don't go back! You don't need MCHN, they are there for support, but it isn't a necessity!

thanks ash :)

Its hard not to listen to them coz being a 1st timer i feel like i should be doing what im told etc. But you are right.. stuff her!!!!! and there are other clinics i can go to.. so i might hunt around and see who else i can find. I just like taking her to get her weighed and get her reflux and stuff checked.

But...

having said that.. i dont see her again till Mia is 6 months and she will be on solids then and she wont be around to tell me what to do. Im getting to the point where i just agree with her and i think in my head.. "oh just shut the hell up, u crazy woman".

all i can say is....... BLS here we come!!!!! (soon.. mayb days.. mayb weeks.. mayb months)

Good on you Hollye. You do what ever you think is right. They don't make the rules they are supposed to be there as a guide and support. I don't think i even discussed BLS with MCHN, i just did the research and found my own way. I am sure you will do the same and be just fine. ;)

Or just do what I was going to do if I thought I wasn't strong enough to defend my decision

"Have you started solids yet?"
"Yes"
"How's it going?"
"Good"
etc.... little information of a very vague nature!!

I know what you mean about being a 1st timer wanting to do it right and not be judged for your choices....but that is where the support of BB can come to the rescue. Here you can research many different methods of raising your child and pick and choose what is right for you and know that whatever choice you make, you have made a well informed choice that is right for you. MCHN's only tend to follow their own training and the rule book that they are supposed to follow, rather than give you choices. It is only off their bat that they may offer you other options.... even mine who fully supports BLS never offered it as a choice. If it wasn't for BB I wouldn't even know it existed!!

Hollye I went today to see mine and when I told her about BLS cos she had NO idea, she pulled out her stupid book and started mentioning farex which I said no no no 3rd time around im not stupid and I told her to google it :lol: She said she would so maybe I have got her onto something new hehe she is young too :) In her 30's.

well my MHCN doesn't even want to see us again until 8 months.... go figure huh. At least I can just go ahead & start BLS on my own! lol.

Hollye - I reckon definitely go with what feels right for you. Your MHCN can say what she wants... but hey, if you only see her maybe once a month... whereas you're mothering Mia 24/7... not her baby, YOURS! And you've got to live with what's going on - not her. Trust your instincts :hug: And if you can find a different clinic/nurse I reckon go for it! Would be great if you could have an MHCN who is more collaborative & supportive.

:

---

just spoke to my regular MCHN.. and i told her i wish to start Mia on BLS when she starts soilds and u should have seen the look she gave me. So she gave me a lecture about how everything needs to be purred and then gradually increase thickness and lumpyness and no whole foods till this is done. So still about 9-10 months.

---

phooey! I started DS with purees at 6 months & got so sick of him fighting the spoon from me (he's very independent) that we went to finger foods at 7 months. I just steamed vegies really soft (they were soft enough to squish between my tongue & the roof of my mouth without chewing). I watched him really closely at first & just kept offering him different foods as he was ready (eg it took him a few months to perfect toast - it always seemed to end up as a hard ball).

I would be waiting until closer to the 6 month mark though to do BLS.