Child-Led Weaning, the book

[HeatherRD]

Anyone read the book Baby-Led Weaning? It's more about baby led feeding than weaning, so I'm not sure if this is the right forum or not. The book is about feeding your baby table foods from 6 months, no purees. How many moms here do that? What has your experience been with it? My baby is going to be 6 months old tomorrow, so we are starting solids now. I gave him some banana this morning, but I thought he started choking and it really scared me for a second. He was fine, but it just made me question if we're doing the right thing.

Also, I couldn't find much info on the authors, and they didn't have many sources to back up their claims

[YvonneC-M]

I haven't read that book. My experience is that you have to start with purees because learning to eat is a process, and giving a baby something solid right away will, as you saw, make them choke. My 10.5-month-old started with watery rice cereal and pureed vegetables, which we gradually made thicker as she became more skilled. Her first true "solid" was Happy Baby Puffs, which dissolve easily. She very quickly learned to pick up the puff pieces and put them in her mouth herself, which is now her favorite way of eating. If we try to feed her ourselves, she swipes at the spoon and stops this only if we give her her own spoon to play with. From what I understand, this is common. So now we give her mostly finger foods: steamed veggies, soft fruit, tofu, cheese. We still give her pureed and strained foods, but she doesn't like them as much, except if it's yogurt or fruit.

I can't imagine skipping purees and going straight to true solids. Babies have to figure out what to do with their tongues, how to swallow. It's much easier--and safer--if you allow your baby the opportunity to learn these things gradually.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Life with a Babe

[Auraji]

I've read the book and put it to practice. In the book it explains that babies gag reflex is closer to the front of their mouths than it is for adults, so they cough, gar more easily, but they manage to get whatever out on their own. If you dont hear them make a sound, that's when they are really choking.

I started giving her a bit of my food, we started with banana too and at first she just smushed things and played and would gag a lot and yeah it freaked me out, but I would see her get the things out on her own. Then we tried avocados, pears and all sort of things. She LOVES food and will eat more than my 4 1/2 year olds stepson, not only more variety, but more food. She eats spicy things too. The only things she doesnt like are applesauce, rice cakes and well not a fan of the purees. I usually spread them on bread, tortilla or something or using them as dips. I get them from WIC, if not I wouldnt do them altogether.

She's 11m and 2W now and she always wants of whatever Im eating. Today she ate some mini wheats and half of a mini whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, then she had some rotini pasta with olivel oil, garlic and parmesan and she ate some of her sweet potato puree. She had a bowl of berries and water and that has been it so far, I think we're gonna have vegetarian tacos for dinner. She loves the beans so much! Even with green chilies. She also prefers the healthier things, like I made a salad the other day and it had mozzarella cubes, chickpeas, corn, diced tomatoes and onion. She fished out most of the chickpeas and she loves brown rice and not so much white and prefers kidney beans to bread and fruits to cereal. When she has a choice Im always amazed that she goes for the not kid friendly things. I really love it and people are always amazed that she grabs an onion or a broccoli from my plate.

[LindsC]

I read this book too and we have practiced what the book talks about. We started to introduce solid foods to our daugther around 7 months when she started showing interest in food I was eating and was trying to grab things off my plate. At first, she mostly just mushed things up and a lot ended up on the floor, but now she just picks up whatever is on her tray and gobbles it down. We also started with softer foods like bananas and avacado and then moved to more textured foods.

All of my friends are amazed at how well she handles food and how she is not picky in the least.

[lisalu100]

We do the book too. I don't agree that it is safer to do purees. At nine months, DD is a very adventurous eater, and I don't worry quite so much what the toddler is feeding her, since I know she can at least handle most foods, either by chewing, or spitting them out.

[woodchick]

I haven't read the book, but neither of our girls have ever had purees. Their first foods were small chunks of soft avocado and cooked carrots and bananas. After that as long as it was soft I gave them bits of whatever we were eating.

Favorites in the under 1 crowd have been black beans, frozen peas, sweet potatoes, guacamole...

[colsxjack]

We started with the whole purees and such. But what we hoped to be a wonderful experience of introducing our DD to the world of foods and enjoying meals together soon became a drag and a chore and not at all fulfilling for any of us.
Our DD was OK with the very, very strained baby foods, but she didn't love it. After a couple of weeks we got the book and just decided to go for it. So at about 7months old we just started giving her steamed veggie spears. At first she coughed and gagged quite a bit. But like others have said (and it says in the book) it is a reflex that protects them from choking. It is rare for a baby to choke from eating. You dont want to give them something that can jam in their wind pipe, like a whole grape, but chunks of foods will not.

When our DD was 7-9 months we gave her spears of food 2-3 inches long. It is soft enough to mash around in her month while she chews but not so soft that they just mushed in her hand. Now that she is better with her pincer grip, we can give her smaller chunks of stuff and peans and beans, etc.

Since the start of BLW, all three of us have found the pleasure and adventure in introducing our DD to foods that we hoped for in the beginning.

She eats:
avocado,
sweet potato
carrots
turnip
peas
green beans
black beans
broccoli
cauliflower
red, green, yellow peppers
zucchini
cucumber
eggplant
spinach
banana
pears
apple
blueberries
strawberries
grapes
melon
mango
beef, lamb and chicken (rarer)
yogurt
LOVES cheese
toast fingers with tahini paste on it
pasta
rice

basically what ever we eat we feed her.

edited to add that she is now 9months and 1 week old.

[July09Mama]

We started with BLW at 6 months and now at 8.5 mo, my dd is a great eater! She does sometimes cough or gag a little, although not nearly as much as she used to, but she's never really chocked. Like someone else already said, the book explains how the gag reflex is farther up in a baby's mouth so they gag things out more easily, and we've really seen that with our baby.
If you're nervous about it, I'd start with soft mushy things like avocado or banana and you can mash it up a bit with your fingers too. But like I said, my dd loves everything, and her favorite is slices of apple that she takes bites off of! They really are capable of far more than you'd think!

[CBall]

I just finished reading the book in anticipation of DD starting solids and I have to say that I wasn't too impressed. There were no studies to back up the authors claims just "stories" from other moms. Which is fine, but I guess I'm just used to more than that. I remember my little brother as a very "hands on" eater even with purees and he used to choke all the time. Practically every meal. It was scary and I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with that for my daughter. I understand the authors point about how since the age you start solids has moved up that you can start finger foods sooner. But here's the thing, If you've been really sick for awhile, you would start off with liquidy food until you got used to it again, you wouldn't jump to a steak dinner. And I kind of think that a babies stomach is the same way. So I guess what I'm saying is that we're going to do both. Probably just a little bit of purees in the begining to get her used to the idea, and then moving up to soft mushy things and then moving up to harder finger foods. Just my opinion, which I could change if I saw some studies to back this BLW thing up. ; )

[tzs]

i haven't read the book. we do kind of a mix of spoon feeding and self feeding that started just b4 6 months. i knew i was skipping the cereals just b/c in my uneducated opinion they are at best filler food and at worst baby-junk food (disclaimer: i know they are a good source of some vitamins and i do add the earths best whole oatmeal cereal to anything liquidy to add iron) and i just kind of followed her lead as far as single ingredient foods to begin.

i imagine if you are worried about their sensitive stomachs it wouldn't matter if you were giving them runny bananas or a mashed banana piece or a whole banana.

i started with a more "puree" attitude but even then i was careful to leave the texture of the food since that is what first foods for us was about...learning taste and texture. but from watching her and following her lead, my babe definately prefers chunks, table foods, and doing some stuff on her own.
after doing a lot of single ingredient stuff (whole bananas, chunky applesauce, steamed sweet potatoes, avocado, melon slices etc...) now at 7 months she basically eats what we eat and i have some special stuff prepared for her in case there's nothing "baby appropriate" or i'm skipping a meal.

i guess i don't really get the need for runny purees if you are starting solids when they are developmentally ready. i imagine that whole practice started b/c people try to drip food down the throats of 4 month olds and younger (in the day) who may not know how or have any desire to chew. and from what i've heard, you have a lot of older babies that have a really hard time making the transition to any sort of texture.

but it could be that it's just how my babe operates and another might prefer runny stuff...dunno.

[Chamomile Girl]

I read the book and do the method. I was really drawn to it for two reasons: First because I am lazy and I don't want to have to make homemade purees, and second because I think most marketed baby stuff is wayyyyy to processed (including pureed foods, rice cereal, teething biscuts, puffs and the whole lot).

Our 9mo old kid eats what we eat, with the exception of stuff that he can't chew yet like raw veggies. He actually figured out pretty quick what he could swallow and what was problamatic. The range of foods that he likes suprised me really. He likes spicy stuff and super-garlicly stuff. He loves foods with a ton of flavor like Indian food. These are all things that he would not get to try if we had stick to a traditional baby diet and I am hoping that his familiarity with these tastes carries over into being a more adventurous eater as a toddler.

The only problem I have run into is that he has a tendency to become constipated if he eats too many carbs. He LOVES the carbs: pasta, bagels, bread, so I have to be careful because we eat a lot of this stuff in my family.

So far his favorites are:

Hummus on crackers (with a ton of garlic)
Bagels
Spaghetti with red sauce
Avocado with red sauce
Anything else with red sauce
Pizza
Black Beans (alone, in a burrito or in chili)
Pears (I just give a him a ripe pear and he goes to)
Cauliflower with homemade cheese sauce
Steamed broccoli and carrots
Garlic bread


Stuff he does not like:
Apple or pear sauce
Yogurt
Peaches
Rice
Pretty much anything pureed...he really does not like the texture.

[star*mora]

haven't read the book but we have been doing baby-led solids with ds2. has been going really well (just started a few weeks ago) we do a lot of softer foods - avocado, banana, sweet potato, and have been introducing other things - he'll suck on cantaloupe chunks

we do the odd puree but he self feeds. we load up the spoon and give it to him. he loves it - it is way easier than purees i find, and so far no food rejections. he's got a go-getter personality so it works really well.

[Icehockey18]

Nak
I haven't read the book, but we are doing blw. Mostly because 'food before 1, just for fun', meaning food is exploritory before about a year, which includes being hands on. If I'm always spoon feeding ds he isn't able to explore with all his senses. Plus, I know he's getting all he needs from breast milk and if he is hungry for more he will show me by trying to eat my food.... Although ds (10 mo) is still totally uninterested in food. If I fed him purees I'd have to force feed, so we are doing blw to follow his lead. Plus, he's a chunker and definately not 'hungry'.... I too usually want research to back decisions I make, but blw just feels right. It's mor about (IMO) following their lead and not feeding them till there ready, when they can handle 'real food'. Research that does support blw, I guess, is that breastmilk is enough, so you don't need to force feed purees..
Eta: I only say 'force feed' because you are more likely to give them more than they want/need when spoon feeding vs. them being allowed to feed themselves. Like everything there are always exceptions, but ime ds hates me spoon feeding him and would much rather 'do it himself' which just means making a huge mess! But he's learning and that's all I care about!!!!!

[StrongFeather]

we tried the puree route, and my LO hated it. only when I just kind of gave up one day and just gave him the whole banana to knaw on did he actually ever show interest. I mean he was showing interest in food, and that's why we fed him in the first place(just not in the spoon or us feeding him), but we have been feeding him (or trying to) since his 6 month mark, and now he's 8 months. So BLW, and self feeding, is now our choice method.

[Aufilia]

DS isn't 6 months until next week so we haven't started, but I did read BLW a few weeks ago and we are planning to do BLW and skip the purees. I hate, hate, hated the whole purees process with DD, and she didn't have much use for it either. I honestly was not the least bit interested or excited about starting solids 'til I read BLW. Now I am. I even went to the Goodwill and picked up some baby-sized cups for DS. He is really good with his hands and I'm sure he will learn to use them (probably even before he drops them all on the floor and breaks them; I only have 5).

I have a close friend who did BLW with her second so I have the advantage of having seen the process a bit from the outside.

[mamadelbosque]

I haven't read the book, but thats what we did with DS1 and are doing with DS2 - I never did purees of any sort (aside from things that are normally purees - bean dip, hummus, applesauce, pudding, etc). DS1 started solids ~7.5 months when he reached and grabbed a handful of the bits leftover from tacos off my plate and shoved them in his mouth DS2 is 8+ months now and I give him bites of whatever I'm having whenever I think about it (rice, applesauce, sweet potato, bits of ground meat, noodles that are cut up, etc). So far he hasn't gagged/choked. DS1 rarely gagged and never has choked on anything.... I remember giving him whole aples to gnaw on by around 10-11 months old

[HeatherRD]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied. It makes me feel better that others are practicing it without any problems.

[nwatt]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl

I read the book and do the method. I was really drawn to it for two reasons: First because I am lazy and I don't want to have to make homemade purees, and second because I think most marketed baby stuff is wayyyyy to processed (including pureed foods, rice cereal, teething biscuts, puffs and the whole lot).

Our 9mo old kid eats what we eat, with the exception of stuff that he can't chew yet like raw veggies. He actually figured out pretty quick what he could swallow and what was problamatic. The range of foods that he likes suprised me really. He likes spicy stuff and super-garlicly stuff. He loves foods with a ton of flavor like Indian food. These are all things that he would not get to try if we had stick to a traditional baby diet and I am hoping that his familiarity with these tastes carries over into being a more adventurous eater as a toddler.

This exactly. We started BLW when DD was 6 mo with sliced avocado. Now she will eat pretty much any fruit, veggie, or meat that I put in front of her. She absolutely LOVES eating, and she has never refused anything. I use the slow cooker almost everyday so everything that we give her is super tender and soft. I also cook with a lot of different spice combinations, and she seems to love them all. (Though it did take a few tries for her to love broccoli.) We haven't introduced any grains, dairy, or soy yet because she has a MSPI, but we are planning to after her 9 mo well-check.

As far as the purees go, I simply did not have the patience to spoon feed her. My husband is so thankful that I heard about BLW.

She has yet to eat anything processed, and I am very thankful for that. So far all she has had is fruits, veggies, and meats cooked by me, so I know that she is preservative, additive, and all sorts of icky stuff free.

[tzs]

we went yesterday to our WIC "first foods" visit. when leaving the worker mentioned something about how we'd have a "toddler foods" visit when dd turned 1.
and i'm there thinking that before we got in the car she had a lunch of salmon, sushi rice, potatoes & spinach....sounds like we're already past that!