BLW diet - what is this method?
Are you going to expand your child's diet soon? Have you heard about the BLW method, but you are not sure what it is? This is a sign that this article is for you! You will learn what is BLW and what is the BLW feeding method. We invite you to read!
Proper nutrition of a child in the first months and years of his life is very important. It influences your toddler's physical and mental development, as well as shaping his eating habits for the future. Therefore, the time of expanding the child's diet with new products is a challenge for parents who want them to take on the best possible solution. Currently in Poland, officially recommended by specialists is the infant nutrition scheme developed by the Nutrition Section of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition for Children.
However, for several years now, an increasing number of parents are choosing an alternative way expanding the infant's diet using the BLW method. You may have heard this abbreviation more than once, but you are not sure what it means and "what it is with". If so, this article will answer your questions: what is BLW, since when you can use the BLW method, what is the expansion of the child's diet through BLW.
What is BLW, or what is behind the slogan Baby Led Weaning?
BLW is an alternative model expanding the infant's diet, different from the standard schemes of supplementing the child's menu with new products. BLW is an abbreviation of Baby Led Weaning, which in translation means expanding the diet guided by child. However, in our country it is customary to translate Baby Led Weaning to a simpler slogan: "Babas Likes Choice".
The most important aspect of the BLW method is to encourage the child to eat independently from the very beginning, i.e. from the moment he is able to sit up by himself. The BLW feeding method is also about allowing the child to decide at what pace the expansion of his menu takes place.
BLW feeding - the most important assumptions
BLW feeding allows your baby to eating pieces of soft food with your hands (raw or cooked) suggested by an adult. BLW can be used when introducing new products to the toddler's menu, to supplement spoon-fed foods mashed with a fork or finely chopped, but it can also be used on its own, bypassing spoon-feeding, but not before from 7 months of age.
The BLW method involves introducing new foods one at a time and observing the child. The BLW diet does not recommend purees, purees, mousses, or soups, but instead includes foods the child can grasp with their hands, so-called "finger foods" (e.g., cooked carrot sticks, broccoli florets). Cooked vegetables are welcome in the BLW diet, e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsley, celery, beets, pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, and cooked pasta.
Expert advises
Parents who decide to feed their child with the BLW method should offer their child a variety of foods to choose from. The child can then get to know their appearance, taste and smell and decide which of the proposals to eat and in what quantity. Moreover, the BLW method assumes that the child eats only with the fingers at first, and then gradually becomes used to using a spoon or fork. Expanding the infant's diet with the BLW method, of course, does not mean giving up breastfeeding or formula milk.
BLW method - since when?
The standard infant feeding regimen involves complete breastfeeding (or formula feeding, if the child's situation so requires) for the first 6 months of life, and only after that the gradual introduction of products other than mother's milk.
When should you start introducing new foods using the BLW method? From the moment your baby can sit up on their own, which is usually around 7 months of age. However, the prerequisite for starting BLW feeding is not only the ability to sit up but also the child's proper nutritional status.
BLW feeding method and the potential benefits for the baby
It is believed that the BLW method may reduce the risk of developing obesity in childhood and adulthood. This is probably due to the fact that BLW feeding better shapes the ability of children to self-regulate the mechanisms of hunger and satiety than the traditional method, in which the parent has control over the child's meals and often encourages them to eat more than the child actually needs.
BLW feeding method it also makes the child's diet more varied, which in turn may have a positive effect on the formation and consolidation of healthy eating habits and on the child's greater openness to various food products in the future.
However, it should be emphasized at this point that the number of scientific studies on the subject expanding the infant's diet using the BLW method it is still too small to consider this method completely safe for a child's development, therefore it is still treated as an alternative infant feeding regimen, and not as officially recommended by specialists.
Extending the diet with the BLW method - are there any risks?
The main concern for parents who want to feed their baby BLW is the fear of choking. Most babies are sufficiently developed to eat solid foods by around 6-7 months of age. However, each child is different, has a slightly different pace of development, so when you first try to give your child finger foods, you should carefully observe how your child is dealing with them. According to the creators of the BLW method, it is enough to follow certain safety rules and provide properly prepared products, and the risk of choking will be very small.
Examples of security rules are:
- start BLW feeding only when the child can sit steadily with or without a backrest;
- always be with your baby when he eats a meal;
- do not talk to the child while eating, do not turn on a fairy tale or read a book - let him focus on the meal;
- do not feed hard products (e.g. whole nuts) and products with a circular cross section – e.g. cut cooked carrots into sticks, not slices.
Nutrition specialists, on the other hand, wonder to what extent the expansion of an infant's diet using the BLW method satisfies its energy and nutritional requirements, such as vitamins and minerals. Further research into the BLW feeding method will provide the answers.
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