What
are the pluses and minuses of BLW?
The main plus is the caregiver gets to skip the time
and fuss involved in preparing baby food separately;
instead babies are fed foods, mainly finger foods, such
as pieces of fresh fruits and vegetables, bread toasts,
cooked pasta, soup, meat and fish pieces sans the bones
etc. From this, baby moves easily into eating what the
rest of the family are having (sans the salt and strong
flavorings which are added once baby's portion is kept
aside). That is to say there is no fuss in having to
puree, freeze, and defrost baby food day-in and day-out
which can get rather tedious for busy mothers. Baby
also gets into the habit of adjusting earlier to what
is served to the rest of the family and therefore less
likely to become a fussy eater. The main criticism however
is whether baby at this young age is able to benefit
nutritionally from the limited range of finger foods
and also the risk of choking on chunkier foods seems
higher. Further, many foods need to be spoon-fed such
as cereal, yogurt, puddings which babies will miss out
if they were to strictly follow this method.
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