The funny thing about BLW is that when my DS was at the weaning stage I attended a short weaning course offered here (government funded, giving the advice from the NHS) where the woman started off by warning us all that BLW was dangerous and we must not do it at all, only bad parents chose this method!!! I was horrified as I had planned to do BLW with DS. She went on to tell us all about the NHS recommendations which included introducing finger foods at 6 months - at which point I questioned the difference between BLW and finger foods (there is no difference). The woman had some very misguided ideas about BLW. I was seen as quite maverick in choosing the BLW method but to me it was just skipping the purees and mash and in other parts of the country the HVs were pro BLW. Just shows how people have different ideas and how guides are constantly changing.
I was letting my baby have baby biscuits and puffed snacks and now I was told to not do wheat.
Whilst some baby biscuits contain sugar (even the reduced sugar rusks have lots of sugar in the UK) there are also brands/options which are totally sugar free and will do baby no harm. I freshly made the majority of DS's food but the packs of sugar free cookies/biscuit type things I could get here were handy to have once in a while. Similarly the regular puffed snacks might be high in salt/sugar but again I occasionally bought the baby variety here which were totally free of salt and sugar and were made of puffed corn, not wheat (not that wheat is a problem from 6 months). Anyone who has given you negative comments doesn't necessarily know exactly what you're feeding your LO.
I knew that honey was off limits
There are a few other guides too.
Salt and sugar have already been mentioned
Avoid whole grain foods (because they can be too filling and baby may not be hungry enough for milk - but a little is ok)
Boys can have up to 4 portions of oily fish per week but it's best to limit girls to 2 portions
No low/reduced fat foods
Don't add bran to cereals or use bran enriched cereals as they can interfere with child's ability to absorb iron
No whole nuts (choke hazard) it's ok to give ground nuts or nut butter
Avoid shark, swordfish and marlin (high levels of mercury can affect baby's growing nervous system)
No raw shellfish
hmm...I think that's all.
I gave DS all sorts of foods, including some spices etc from a young age. I don't think you need to be offering bland or uninteresting food at all (mine was eating a full roast dinner in a restaurant at 6 months, I took home steamed veggies so they would be salt free but let him join in with a hunk of roast beef, a Yorkshire pud, a bit of gravy etc). I did alter my cooking to accommodate DS (stopped using salt, chopped veggies etc into larger chunks so they could be easily picked up, made curry milder than I might have otherwise made it) but we had the same meals and still do. Big fan of BLW and I thoroughly enjoyed our weaning journey.
This thread has been quiet for a while but it could spring back to life if you wanted to post there and share your journey with others
Baby Led Weaning support thread #12I hope you can put this negative experience behind you and thoroughly enjoy this next stage in your baby's development