Baby Led Weaning

The local mom email list exploded last week with the conversation of baby-led weaning (BLW). We had been all set to prepare purees, but the BLW concept just seemed right for us, given Lily's reaction to food and spoons.   Here are some of the highlights:

• Feed baby with breastmilk first before offering solids, so that she isn't frustrated and starving while trying to figure out how to eat.
• With BLW, food isn't meant to be a source of nutrition this early.  It is about learning the mechanics of chewing and how to eat, with or without teeth.  Baby might not actually eat much of what's offered for a while. He might smear it all over, smell it or throw it on the floor, but not eat it.
• Foods like applesauce, oatmeal, yogurt, and soup can still be fed with a spoon. 
• Don't have to make special food for the baby.  She can just eat what we eat.
• It is very messy.  Food has the potential to get all over her face, hair, hands, arms, outfit, the high chair, and the floor.  Dogs are good sweepers.
• Parents worry about babies choking, but the parents on the email list didn't have any issues with that.
• You give larger pieces of food at first, and the baby might cough to move food around their mouths.  
• Give her something that is long enough that the baby can hold onto it in his/her grubby little hand and still get a piece in her mouth.
• Can help settle into a routine meal time where the family eats together.
• Spicy food is okay.  It may prevent a picky eater.  Then again, it may not.

Exploring more of this BLW stuff these past two weeks as we continue to experiment with solid food.  So far, Lily has tried banana, avocado, carrot, sweet potato, hasbrowns, chicken, hamburger, and bacon.  It is very much a success with our whole family, and we all love it.  Lily especially loves to feed herself.