BLW didn’t really work for us, for the same reason- my baby LOVES food. I do give him things he can manage well (bread, bits of veggies) but he has to have his purees/mashed food, or he’ll have a meltdown.

Good for you for choosing to do what is best for your son – and your sanity – and not be afraid to admit that your first try didn’t work out. I thought about doing BLW with baby #2 (5m old), but I’m too nervous about the choking, and my first baby did the whole puree-to-solid transition, and he is a fabulous eater. If it ain’t broke… ;)

http://www.thehappinessofrainydays.blogspot.com

The single best piece of advice that I ever got out of my Mommy & Me program’s introduction to solids class which was based on BLW, was that as long as your kiddo is making noise (any noise even like coughing) then they are not choking. silence means no air is getting thru then they are choking. the first few times we heard out kids do the cough/gag it freaked us out but we trusted that they were ok and it worked! trust your mommy instinct :)

Not everything works for everyone. I went the puree route and am quite pleased with how much nutritious food I can get in a single serving. If I went the BLW way, I don’t think my son would choose half of the foods I’m able to hide in his purees. You can check out some of my mixtures on my blog:

http://www.thestorkandthebeanstalk.com

ashley

We did purees because I didn’t even realize BLW was a “thing” until after my son was eating solids for several months. He was like Arlo, he wanted grown-up food and he wanted it NOW. He actually cried when I would not share my hamburger with him, and he was only 3 months old! I wanted to wait until 6 months for solids, but he was leaning forward in his bouncer and opening his mouth like a baby bird every time DH or I ate something, so I caved and started at 4 months.

my sweetpea also loves his food & he too gets frustrated gnawing on chunks of vegetables as most of invariably ends up on the table rather than his stomach. Soft fruits such as melon & peach have been more successful, but on the whole I find BLW an unnerving adventure. The gagging freaks me out no end! So we’ve decided to do a combination of purees & continue to offer some foods in chunks. Baby steps. I really don’t think transitioning from purees to fingers foods over a period of months creates fussy eaters, nor do I believe that spoon-feeding leads to obesity.

I honestly do NOT get the hype behind BLW. We give our children purred foods to begin with for a very common sense reason: they do not have enough teeth to properly mechanically digest their food. Also, their reflexes are not developed enough to properly chew and swallow. They learn these things progressively, starting with purees, starting with having the food in their mouths, swallowing, doing it all with still breathing properly and NOT choking or gagging. Eating, like everything else, is a learned process for children. And, you are totally right, feeding them purees ensures they are getting the proper amount of calories and nutrition. I feel like BLW is just another hot, trendy movement. There is no factual evidence out there to show it is “better” in any way. Good for you for being Arlo’s advocate, as always, and making sure he is getting exactly what he needs rather than jumping on yet another bandwagon.