who else is doing baby led weaning?

[ElliesMomma]

hi, i've been wondering if there's a support thead for baby led weaning? this is what i'm doing with my 6 month old DS -- letting him finger feed big chunks of food. he usually sucks on them. he's made some progress with bananas. i know some is being swallowed. also he seems to really like to suck on bread. he's even had a cracker. and -- gasp -- a strawberry. so far no allergic reactions! no choking scares either. he has gagged and brought to the front of his mouth a piece of the bread. i figure this is what is supposed to happen. i sit next to him and watch him closely (and retrieve the food as it inevitably falls on his lap or on the seat of the high chair). so far, so good.

could someone let me know if there's a BLW support thead and where i can find it; or if there is none, maybe others who are doing BLW can post here and let me know how it's going for you! thanks!!

[boigrrrlwonder]

I did baby-led solids with my first, and I plan to do the same with this one.

[colsxjack]

We are doing baby led weaning. It is going really well.
We didn't start out this way.
Here is our journey:
We started "solids" at 6 months by making baby food. This went well for a couple of weeks. Then we decided that it was difficult to make small batches each day and have our baby eat a variety of foods and get the right texture. So we bought some organic baby food. This went OK. Our baby wanted to feed herself, so we would fill the spoon and give it to her and let her feed herself.

Then we would try to puree some foods for her that were easy to make ourselves and she would no longer take them. She wanted only the smoothness of stage one baby food. Basically the whole experience of feeding her was a drag. We never looked forward to it. It was very frustrating for all of us.

Then we did some reading on baby led weaning and bought a book about it. That night we steamed some veg and just gave her some 3 inch long veggie fingers. She LOVED it. We have now been feeding her this way for about 4 weeks and it is a whole different experience. We all look forward to meal times. She has tried so many things.

The fist week or so she didn't really get much into her. She would bite off little bits of food and move them around her mouth "chewing" and then spit it out and go for another bite. Now about half of the food she gets in her mouth is actually swallowed. At first she would have big chunks of food in her poo. Then we started cooking the food just a bit more and it is getting chewed up better.

The only problem we are having is that the baby will no longer eat anything mushy. She doesn't like the feel on her hands and we do not give her a spoon. We have somewhat fixed this by smearing the mashed avocado or lentil stew, etc onto toast fingers and giving her that. It is working.

We were nervous about her choking. So far she gags and spits stuff out, but hasn't coked on anything. She has shoved so much in her mouth that it has made her cough...bnut she choked/coughed the food out. We feel much better about it now.
We also have started to give her smaller chunks along with "fingers" and her grasp has become much better.

[ElliesMomma]

i think you're right, colsxjack, that BLW is a lot more fun! tonight Shawn had his usual 1/2 banana, but didn't do much with it. he did, however, LOVE the zucchini squash slices. they are "finger" shaped as you describe. he really went to town on those. he sucked/ate out the soft fleshy part (left the green outer skin -- which an adult or grown child would normally eat cuz it's totally soft) of FOUR pieces!! my mom was over and she also watched him eat. she said it looked like he was really enjoying himself. every time i put down a "fresh" piece (with the full amount of the fleshy part he liked), he put down the old piece he had already been chewing on, and started on the new one.

we are only about four days into BLW. i'm excited to find out where we will be one month from now! thanks for posting!!

[Tattooed Hand]

are there good books on BLW?

[BalconyBirdie]

We've loved BLW. DD is 8 months this week and we've been doing it since 6 months. She has loved everything except blueberries, which she was indifferent to (we quartered them). I still can't believe she likes things like asparagus, broccoli, etc. She adores meat (much to the chagrin of dh who is a full vegetarian). The other night she stripped a chicken leg in about 5 minutes.

I too have worried about choking, but she sits right in front of us (in her bumpo because she doesn't clear her high-chair tray -- she's very small) and so far has not done anything worse then a little gagging.

I'm wondering if anyone else doing BLW has input about salt? I want to try her on some asian-style stir frys, etc., but the salt content of soy sauce is so high (even the reduced sodium kind). Same question about restaurant-prepared food. I would give her Indian food when we get take-out, but also worried about the salt there.

Also, in the BLW book by Rapley, she says that babies learn to dip really easily.. has that happened for anyone else? If we're doing applesauce or something then we'll load the spoon and put it on her tray or hand it to her and she eats just fine off the spoon like that. But I can't figure out how to teach her to dip things in it.

[BalconyBirdie]

Originally Posted by Tattooed Hand

are there good books on BLW?

Sorry, forgot to add.. the book that we used is Baby Led Weaning.

But I've also found this BLW forum super helpful.

[redvlagrl]

We did BLW with DD who is now 18 mths. We will also do it withe the new one.

It's such an awesome and easy way to things. DD loved broccoli trees and bananas (split into 3 lengthwise to make it easier to hold) from the beginning and she still loves these foods.

We didn't do any slow introductions or delay any foods. No allergies in DD. We went on the assumption that she woudn't be allergic to anything and she isn't. Also bear in mind that some acidic foods (tomato, strawberry) can cause redness around the mouth - this isn't necessarily an allergy but a reaction to rubbing the acidic food on sensitive skin (adults don't tend to get their food around their mouths as much!)

I didn't worry about feeding her stir fries etc because she ingested so little that it didn't really present an issue IMO. Also I don't use a heap of salt in my cokoing anyway.

Now, at 18 mths, DD is a good eater. She LOVES all fruit, cheese (especially brie) and eats a lot of veggies. She is devoted to scrambled eggs (we did these from about 7 mths). The only thing she's not so keen on is meat! She'll have maybe one bite or two at a meal.

[Heidi74]

We did BLW with DS1, who is now 2 1/2, and are currently doing it again with DS2, who is 8 months. With both, we started right at 6 months. We haven't done purees or mush with either of them. They have self-fed from the start.

I love BLW. It is so much fun, and the kids really get to explore so many different foods. I don't know if BLW is the only factor here, or if I just lucked out, but DS1 is not a picky toddler at all. He will try pretty much anything, and only has a handful of foods he doesn't care for. His appetite kind of goes in bursts; he doesn't always eat a lot, but he is not afraid to try new things. I also think he seems to regulate his own appetite really well.

I don't have time to write more right now, but just wanted to mention a little anecdote from the playgroup we went to this morning. DS2 was sitting at the table, eating bread, tomatoes, cucumber, and some cauliflower from my soup. All the other babies were being spoon-fed, and the baby across from us was making the most disgusted faces...like he hated every spoonful. That baby is exactly the same age as DS2, and he kept watching DS and trying to reach across the table for his food. It was obvious what the baby would have preferred. His mom asked me about it, and said she might try some finger foods too. I think most babies would prefer to self-feed if given the chance.

As for salt, I make every effort to limit it at home. That way, when we occasionally eat out, I don't worry about it so much. (The soup today was an example of that. I'm sure it had a lot of salt, but it is not something he gets at home.) Personally, I would not do stir-fries, at least not often. Could you take some aside before putting the sauces in, and maybe add some spices and garlic to his batch?