'I will be doing a mix of BLW and puree'. Discuss.

[chelseatash]

Thank you all for the reassurance. I just want him to be happy and healthy. This whole thing has really upset me and made me feel useless. I think I'll take him to a different clinic in future, and I'll try and find a cafe/group too.
He's full of cold atm, but babbling away and crawling to places he isn't allowed and trying to pull himself to his feet to try to reach things he isn't allowed - and giving a cheeky smile when I move him away

[sabrina fair]

Honestly? He sounds happy and healthy to me!

[mamapup]

I honestly think that hvs have a competition to see who can either say the stupidest thing/write the rudest thing in the red book. At the puppy's one year check the woman wrote 'mother claims father is at work'?????? Um, what? How offensive. So, please just ignore their idiocy. And as everyone else has said, trust yourself, he's your son. My puppy was also early with milestones and barely put on weight between 6 months and 18 months, I'd say because he's always been super active and never very interested in food but because I already have a pretty strong disdain for HVs, I never took him to see them so never really got told off! Trust yourself.

[Sallie]

Has he actually lost weight or has his weight gain merely slowed down? What was the interval between weighings? i.e if he lost weight compared to last week, no big deal, if he's weighing less than he did 6 months ago, maybe there is an issue?!

I wouldn't stress too much about the mother 'claims' comment - they can't really write anything in medical notes other than what they can verify. They can't verify you are feeding him (or that husband is at work) unless they've been watching you do it. They can verify that you've told them. I'm only saying this to reassure you - she wouldn't have meant that as a judgement but is just saying what she can verify.

Having said that I would be immenseley pissed off if I were you as it sounds as if they have been very insensitive to your feelings as a mother. I'm also shocked that any health professional would suggest giving a baby jars of food, but let's face it, being a health visitor doesn't necessarily mean you are immune to marketing, and like any profession, some practitioners are a bit more up to date and conscientious about things than others.

[catkin]

What was the interval between weighings? i.e if he lost weight compared to last week, no big deal, if he's weighing less than he did 6 months ago, maybe there is an issue?!

This. Also are you sure they had the scales correctly calibrated etc both times and wrote the right numbers down? I'd say flattening out on the centiles is to be expected from a crawling 7 month old, wouldn't expect them to lose weight but if it's only over a short period "losing" weight could just be a big feed or poo.

[chelseatash]

He went from 8.81 (19.7) to 8.72 (19.3) in the space of 5 weeks. He's on the 98th centile for height and was always on the 97th for weight until the latter of the weigh-ins (in between the two was when he really really started being mobile (mastered crawling etc)

[oriel]

Wait, so almost every other healthy baby his age weighs less than he does, and they're worrying that he's lost 100g?! As Catkin says, that's just the difference between having just eaten and having just pooed.

[oriel]

And my red book says babies over 6 months shouldn't be weighed more often than every two months, as doing so 'may cause unnecessary concern'.

[DIMDongMerrily]

WSS ^^ I'd stop the weigh-ins if I were you. If you looked at your baby and didn't know how much he weighed would you worry about him? From what you've written I am guessing the answer is no - he sounds very well-developed, active and happy to me! I had a similar 'issue' with my younger son - he never actually lost weight AFAIK but gained so slowly between about 8 weeks and around 7ish months that he dropped from the 75th centile down the the 9th. He rolled at ten weeks though, was making an effort at crawling by 4.5 months, and crawling properly by 5.5 months.. he was just burning calories super fast! The HV got in such a flap about his weight, wanting to refer me to all sorts of people and telling me I needed to give him formula (he was EBF), or start spoon feeding instead of BLW, etc.. so I don't see her anymore you don't HAVE to go, just stay at home and don't worry about it. You'd know if he was losing weight and it was a problem because he'd look unhappy/undernourished.

Don't worry Mama, it sounds like you're doing it just right

[weasley]

For what it's worth, I haven't had Ducks weighed since he was 6wks old I wouldn't have a clue what he weighs, weather he has lost weight or what centile he is on BUT, he is happy, responsive, reaching milestones (too blinkin quickly) and has regular wet and dirty nappies. I have no plans to weigh him in the near future...

[chelseatash]

Just a little update, in the past 4 weeks my baby has gone from 8.72 (19.3lb) to 10.01 (22lb) - and back to "what he should be" - however, due to feeling like a terrible person last time, i have been doing a mixture of spoon and blw. I want to try and drop the spoon feeds and do blw again, but I am worried that the same thing will happen again...

[Kitcameron]

Try it and see, if his weight picks up again so easily anyway. A previously said it doesn't sound like he lost much weight in those five weeks. I think my dd has lost that much in about the same amount of time as well. I wouldn't worry about it. If he's happy and healthy and you want to do BLW the go for it and chuck the scales out.

[pepomntpat]

I never did purees with my daughter at all. She is now three and eats the occasional applesauce pouch for convenience. With DS we started out with BLW and he loves his food. But we have had such trouble with constipation that I tried adding in some pureed pouches which he adores. And it has helped a ton. I don't know why it would help, but it has. I like the pouches though since he holds it himself and still self feeds, but he's getting mush once a day along with his table food. I don't know if that counts as a mix or not. I just have learned that to be a purist simply on principle is not helpful to anyone.

[Kitcameron]

If it helps, it helps, I don't think we always need to know why and if it works for you, and your lo and yourself are happy then stuff what anyone else thinks.

[popwatson]

Well it's taken me all day to read this thread but I've learnt a lot about what BLW is and what it is not!! I live in the Netherlands and the advised age here for weaning, after going from 4 to 6 months, is now back to 4 months. So I'm looking forward in the weekend to offering the babe a few cucumber strips and some steamed sticks of sweet potato. Yay! My only concern however is daycare. The babe goes 2 days a week to the nursery and is there from 8-5am - she usually has 2 feeds of expressed breastmilk there. Is it better to do strict BLW at home 5 days a week and only let them feed her milk at nursery? They will think it's strange but maybe I can I just tell them we aren't starting with weaning yet. Or is this totally unrealistic? Will she get angry if not offered food on those days when other kids are eating it? (maybe not now at 4 months but i guess in a few months it'll be unavoidable). I know that they blend up their own mixes of fruit etc (they're very proud of that) and of course for them getting the baby fed as quickly as possible is their main priority because they are busy people! So I can't expect them to deal with what sounds like a lot of mess and time with BLW.... Anyway- advice appreciated so that I can avoid having a baby who is forcefed puree whilst her mother claims to be following BLW...because as we all know, this is BAD.