self-feeding/baby-led weaning support thread... - Page 2

[Anandamama]

My DD is 9 mos and hasn't seemed too ready for solids until the last two weeks. I introduced some pureed and mashed foods starting at 6 mo. but she was barely interested and when she did take in a tiny bit she would gag. So it's been very gradual, and like others here, I've been totally paranoid about choking. I did go ahead and order one of those "baby mesh feeder" things (mainly with the idea of using ice in it for teething). DD has been using it mainly for banging on things, but today I put some banana in it and she finally put it in her mouth to eat some banana. So if you're worried about choking, that's an option. I have given her big pieces of fruit, bread and sweet potatoe. She now has teeth and will bite on it, but I'm not confident that she won't choke on little pieces. So I've watched her very carefully while she eats it... (I'm sure this phase will be a short one). It seems like "baby led" is the only way eating is going to happen, because she basically won't let me put anything in her mouth. Anything going in that direction is quickly intercepted by baby hands to be grabbed or slapped aside. Now that she's showing more interest, I'm much more motivated to give her things to eat. And I'm not sure yet, but it seems like my milk supply has already decreased, even though the solids she's eating are very minimal (like 2t a day)! Anyone else notice that?

[Queen of my Castle]

After religiously following a set schedule of cereals and puress ( with ds, I have decided to do this approach to solids for dd. I love it! So much easier, and more pleasurable, without worry of giving her the 'wrong' food! At 7.5 mos dd has had food for about a month. I began with sweet potato, avacado and banana, mostly cooked soft and then frozen. It was essentially mashed, which she had fun with, but she would suck on frozen chunks. Now she's eating most foods, as long at they're soft, as I can see her moving them around her mouth, chewing, expellin tougher peices and swallowing of course.
She has choked, and I've had to do the finger swipe a few times. But I allow her to try to bring it up with her natural relux, and if unsucessful, I swipe. I'm calm now, but it freaked me a bit at first, and of course I backed off for awhile every time it happened.
A

[jeannie0603]

I saw someone else ask about our LO's weaning early because of starting solids... that's a concern of mine... I want to BF as long as possible... Anyone?

[ShyDaisi]

I have been offering food to my ds for a little over a month now. I offer soft food in larger chunks so he can suck/gnaw on them. A couple of days ago I gave him a plate with honeydew melon, cucumbers (he doesn't have teeth, so this one was mostly for texture), peaches, pears, and pickles....He didn't actually ingest all that much, but he had a blast (I didn't realize what an odd combination until just now ). I have noticed that although he doesn't actually ingest that much, he has been getting better at manipulating the food. He slurps or gums it in, moves it around, but if it goes back too far he just gives a small cough (semi-gag like) and then out it comes I think it is so neat to watch such a little baby eat like this. I am so glad that I discovered BLW.

As far as the supply goes, I think that if you allow the babe to eat at their own pace, it shouldn't be a problem. Offer the breast first, then allow dc to explore the food, then offer the breast again. I don't have any experience, per se as my son hasn't been doing too much eating, just playing, but I haven't noticed a dip in my supply...whenever he wants it, its there

[ShyDaisi]

Oh, and I LOVE this thread!! It will be nice to swap notes, ideas, ask questions, get answers, etc.

[Shannie77]

We started self-feeding just after our DD turned 6 months. We just gave her french fry shaped pieces of sweet potato, banana, apple, pear and avocado. We have also done broccoli. She gagged so bad she threw up the first time, but after a week her gagging basically dissapeared. She still actually eats very very little, but she really enjoys biting pieces off and moving them around in her mouth.

Pretty must every thing she eats comes out the other end in her diaper. Does this happen to anyone else? Is that OK? Any thoughts or suggestions?

[ChelseaG]

Loving this thread - we kind of did self-feeding with my DD - though I didn't really know a lot of the research behind it before. We started around 7 months - her first foods were avocado & banana, but we also offered applesauce in a spoon (I wonder if that's why to this day she still hates applesauce!) My DS is just going to be 5 months this week, but he is sitting on his own for a few seconds unsupported - and he can sit in a high chair and has gotten really good with grabbing things lately and even grabbed my plate at dinner last night and pulled it toward him
Maybe I'll try to put an apple slice in front of him soon and let him experiment with grabbing it and bringing it to his mouth.

[laneysprout]

Subbing!

[Arwyn]

Baby sleeping on me, will be back later with a real post.

[addiemom'07]

Quick tip:

Don't give a baby jello (thanks DH). It's not real food anyway. DD loved to squish it in her hands and spread it all over the table. Poor waitress at the buffet was hovering, trying to keep up with the mess DD was making Mommy went and got her a couple of apple slices which seemed to make her just as happy and was definitely less messy.

DD loves mini carrots, just the right size for her to hold

[jojo16]

There's a great book that I've been reading called 'Super Baby Food' by Ruth Yarron. Not only does it give groovy recipes for porridge and other baby foods, it also has a lot of basic information about safety (I'm thinking of all of those size of bites questions).
So...check it out.
That said, is self-feeding basically NOT spoon feeding pureed food? I'm not familiar with the term.

[acp]

Originally Posted by addiemom'07

DD loves mini carrots, just the right size for her to hold

Do you steam them, or just give them to her raw? DD doesn't have any teeth yet, and I've given her steamed carrots once or twice which she mostly just sucked. I figured she was at least sort of getting the taste (which she seemed to like).
We tried avocado yesterday and it was an incredible mess but lots of fun. I joked at one point that DD was finger painting, not eating. She had a great time smooshing it around her high chair, squishing it between her fingers, and occasionally getting a bit in her mouth. Tonight I gave it to her again but in a mesh feeder - the first time I've used it. She certainly was more successful at eating it with the feeder - the slices are so slippery that they were really hard for her to pick up well and hang onto. But is that not really self-feeding? Maybe i should try giving her, say, an entire half of an avocado rather than slices in hopes that that would be less frustrating for her to try and pick up. Still pretty slippery, though....
How do you all give your LOs avocado?

Her other new favorite: pear. We just give her a whole one that one of us has taken a few bites out of, and she manages it pretty well.

[ChelseaG]

Originally Posted by acp

We tried avocado yesterday and it was an incredible mess but lots of fun. I joked at one point that DD was finger painting, not eating. She had a great time smooshing it around her high chair, squishing it between her fingers, and occasionally getting a bit in her mouth. Tonight I gave it to her again but in a mesh feeder - the first time I've used it. She certainly was more successful at eating it with the feeder - the slices are so slippery that they were really hard for her to pick up well and hang onto. But is that not really self-feeding? Maybe i should try giving her, say, an entire half of an avocado rather than slices in hopes that that would be less frustrating for her to try and pick up. Still pretty slippery, though....
How do you all give your LOs avocado?

When I did avocado with my DD - I cut it into slices but left the peel (rind?) on - it made it easier to hold onto without being too slippery. Did you ever get the avocado out of your mesh feeder? I ruined one by not rinsing it right away after having avocado mush in it - and it was brown and disgusting and I could never get it clean again

[addiemom'07]

We give DD raw carrots. She sucks on them and scrapes them across the roof of her mouth. She just got her two bottom teeth, I'm excited to see how her eating changes.

DD absolutely hates avocado. 100% return everytime we give it to her. She's hell on bananas and fortune cookies though She gets so mad when we pry the mushy. soggy glob of whatever she's been playing with out of her hand, like she was saving it for a midnight snack:

[onyxravnos]

Oooooooo subing.

we gave ds a little food at 7 mo but we've only really started to give him solids on a regulary babsis now. (almost 10mo) breastmilk is still his main food of course but i'm a little lost on giving him solids. he tottaly digs the mesh feeded but for the most part we spoon feed him. i'd rather he self fed but he has no teeth so he cant bite anything and if i put food on the table and let him have it it ends up everywhere but defently not in his mouth

should i be just letting him making a mess and trusting he will figure out he can eat it? he seems to respong well if i offer food im holding or on a spoon but doesn't put it in his mouth on his own....

[acp]

Originally Posted by jojo16

That said, is self-feeding basically NOT spoon feeding pureed food? I'm not familiar with the term.

Self feeding is basically skipping both spoon feeding and pureed foods - letting your LO feed him or herself chunks of fruits, veggies, meat, or whatever the rest of the family is eating, once they're showing all the signs of being ready to try solids. In the beginning that might mean that little or none of the food actually makes it into their stomach, but the idea is that solids at this age is all about experimentation, socialization, flavor, etc, not nutrition - your baby is getting all the nutrition it needs from breast milk or formula.

I think people do it different ways - some might do a combo of spoon feeding and self feeding, some might still chop or puree things a bunch and some might just do bigger chunks their LO can grab hold of. Some people are really careful about doing single fruits/veggies at first, avoiding allergenic foods, and waiting several days between introducing a new one - others just give some of whatever the family is eating, no matter how "adult" it might seem.

Here's a good blog about it:
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/
And an interesting article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/

I'm still totally new at this (hence the reason I'm participating in this thread! I have a lot of questions) so I don't know if I described that all right, but that's how I understand it at this point.

[Arwyn]

I've said this in another thread about feeding, but I think it's relevant here: One of the differences in philosophy that I see between self feeding and spoon or parent feeding is what the point of it all is. In spoon feeding, the point seems to be to get them to eat, and a meal is a "success" if the baby actually swallows food, and is a "failure" if they don't. In self feeding, as I see it, the point is to let them experience food in whatever way they wish. It doesn't matter whether they actually consume any of the food. A "meal" is a success if they experience food - touch it, taste it, lick it, gum it, mouth it, spit it out, whatever. They've had the opportunity, and that's what matters. They'll eat when they're ready.

I don't actually think either of these is BAD, although I obviously have a preference. And certainly there are times when it really is necessary for them to "eat" (I've been spoon feeding my child a pill every day since he was a week old - you betcher bottom dollar it matters that he actually consumes all of it, not just smears it all over the place, and I'll use every spoon feeding trick in the book to make that happen). But in general, especially for a breastfed (or mama milk fed) baby, it isn't, and so I think self feeding is preferable.




Ack, want to add more (Naked Baby LOVED the chard stalks we had tonight!), but gotta go.

[Arwyn]

This might not make sense if you don't follow the strip, but I stumbled on this tonight, and had to share.

[tankgirl73]

Haha! Yes, I love Kevin and Kell and I remember that particular strip, I think I posted it to the BLW yahoogroup when it came out.

Just a few points that have come up in the thread:

1- Letting baby self-feed does not lead to early weaning (in the definition of "stopping breastfeeding"). Self-feeding means allowing baby to self-regulate and trusting their instincts. Their instincts are to nurse for several years! The risk of early weaning is greater if you do the 'recommended' routine of spoonfeeding purees, since baby is getting greater quantities of solid food, and nursing less. In fact, most of the 'schedules' out there were designed with the goal in mind of having baby completely weaned by 12 months.

2- learning to feed while making a mess. Just let them go for it! It's lots of fun, and a bath afterwards is also fun. DD is almost 12mo and is working on learning to use a spoon. For yogurt, applesauce, etc, I used to load the spoon then give it to her, at first helping her guide it then leaving her to do it. Now I'm just giving her the spoon and the dish of yogurt. She did a great job today! She's more 'dipping' the spoon than 'scooping', and just as much ends up on her bib as on her, but she totally understands what she's trying to do and eats most of it, all by herself!

3- for the benefit of lurkers and 'newbies' to self-feeding, the whole idea of pureeing and hyper-concerns about 'safety' stem from the time when babies were started on solids at a young age when they were not developmentally ready yet. By waiting until baby is ready, well, then they're READY! I like to say, when they're ready for solids, they're ready for SOLIDS.

Another way to think about it, is that eating is such a basic, essential requirement of LIFE, that biologically speaking it should not require a ton of work on the parents' part to "teach" their child how to eat, or "trick" them into doing it! It should be instinctive and natural, otherwise, the human race wouldn't have survived very long!

[babyluvr]

subbing! we did this with our 1st, not as much with our 2nd, and are really loving it with this baby (our 3rd). he loves spicy food, like Indian or Mexican and is so cute shoveling in the fistfuls and chewing now. just a couple weeks ago it was mostly slurping but he really chews now (just 2 bottom teeth, but the gums you know). and it's fascinating to see how well they can really EAT. i'm not nervous about giving him chunks anymore now that i've seen him handle all kinds of textures and sizes. i wish more moms could see other babies eat like this so the fear would be gone.