Baby Led Weaning?

Das Kitty

I've heard this phrase bandied about a good bit and I'm wondering what exactly it is. I did a cursory google and I got a bit about a banana test where you give a baby a banana and see if they eat it.

Now I'm almost certain that James would put it in his mouth and have a good munch for himself but for various reasons we want to do our best to wait until 6 months before we introduce solids and he seems content with his milk feeds for now.

Is there anything else to it other than the baby telling you that he or she is ready to eat? Has anyone tried it?

Moonbeam

My little girl would rob the food off your plate and scream if you ate in front of her.
We baby led weaned her to an extend.
We cut up small bits of food and left them in front of her and let her explore and eat them herself.
No bread until she was about 13 months though.

January

I've actually been reading about this and want to try it on Saoirse. Are you still breast feeding Das Kitty or have you switched to formula feeds? I've heard that the new guidelines for weaning babies is 6 months whether breast fed or formula fed.

Addison is quite good with her finger foods and loves chomping bread, chicken, pork chop, toast, big pieces of carrot and pepper, broccoli and apple slices.

bogtotty

I've been doing a mix of baby-lead weaning (blw) and spoonfeeds with my lad since about a week before he was the 6 months. He's just gone 9 months now. Really, it's just a fancy name for giving them scraps, albeit it nutritionally balance and baby-friendly ones! We started with things like the organix range of rice cakes and other finger foods. They dissolve quite quickly in the mouth so that there's no chance of them choking on them.

The wee lad goes mad for things like steamed veg (florets of broccoli, carrot sticks, cubes of sweet potato), fruit (slices of soft pear, steamed apple, bits of banana, crushed berries etc) and whatever else is going - pasta, shredded meat, bits of cheese, whatever. He loves the different flavours too - went mad for chicken korma the other day. I give him a spoon feed for breakfast and lunch and he has 'real food' for dinner. It's brilliant for improving his hand coordination and pincher grip. I used to just leave the food on the tray of the high chair and let him work away, but now it goes in a bowl and he brandishes a spoon at it for a while before dumping the contents out on the tray or over his head. Good fun.

I do a mix rather than all out BLW as I'm still breastfeeding and want to be sure the wee man is getting enough iron etc. You never really know how much they've eaten with BLW. I like the reassurance of the spoonfed solids.

If you decide to try it, just watch out for a few things:
- make sure any food you give is soft enough that they can crush it between their gums.
- make sure that if the food can break up (like cheese) it crumbles rather than goes into chunks.
- it's normal for them to gag at the start. It's just a reflex and they soon learn to deal with it and swallow. Be vigilant, but don't freak out every single time they gag.
- be careful when introducing new foods that might cause an allergic reaction (strawberries, kiwi etc).
- get one of those bibs with sleeves and a plastic mat, some newspapers or a dog for the floor- it is hugely messy.

There are books you can get with recipes for BLW foods, but really, just give them whatever you're having (before adding salt or butter), there's no need to be buying books.

bogtotty

Meant to add - go easy on the bananas at the start, they can cause awful constipation.

And as for signs that the baby is ready to start solids - give them a small piece of food and watch for their tongue thrust reflex- if their tongue immediately pushes food out, they're not ready. They may watch you eating and look like they want some, but this is just them being socialised and learning to mimic everything that you do. They should have strong head control, be able to sit solidly in the high chair and have started to make pinching movements with the thumb and forefinger before they are physically ready to start trying finger foods.

gowayouttadat

Have been doing a mix of it here too. For baby led weaning you have to wait until 6 months so the baby is old enough to pick up the food etc
I had to wean Jack at four and a half months because he had reflux so did it the traditional way but between reflux and teething he went completely off food so we started baby led weaning. We basically offered him everything we were having. He is such a stubborn little fella that he wanted to be completely independant so we'd put food on his tray and he'd eat away himself. Toast in the morning, sandwiches, scones, fruit, pasta you name it and he'd try it.

Very, very, very, very messy!!! But quite funny to watch. Since his two teeth came through he's back to eating like a horse again so he gets his snacks as finger food and has his three meals a day.