Baby Led Weaning

Sometime around the time that George was about 5 months old, I came across a pretty great web site on Baby Led Weaning.  I was still nursing but was becoming very aware that our little guy was very interested in what we were eating.   The more that I read about the idea of baby led weaning (BLW), the more excited I became about the transition to solid foods.  The general idea was that we just fed our child food.  We forget the mush and blending and arduous task of actually getting it into the baby with a super tiny spoon and just give him actual food.  BLW suggests that

"The key difference between BLW and traditional weaning,when you think about it, is in the order that children learn toeat. With a puree, they learn to swallow first and then chew,which works fine until they meet a lump. With BLW, the babieslearn to chew first and swallowing might come some time later."

George's First Food: Steamed Broccoli

George and I have REALLY enjoyed this on-going experiment!  He is eating everything and doing really well.  I know you must be thinking "but what about choking?".  We have not had any major issues.  Again, the idea is that the child learns how to figure out the inner workings of their mouth (chewing, moving food around their mouths, swallowing, etc.) rather than mindlessly moving mush around with the hope that some of it will eventually be swallowed.  Honestly, there have been a few rare times when he was trying to figure out rearranging food in his mouth and began coughing to project the food forward in his mouth.  I have never been fearful of him choking with BLW.  What I keep in mind is that food processors and baby food storage products have only been around for the last 60 years and people have been figuring out how to feed their babies for far longer than that.

Every single parent I have ever met has an opinion on how and when and what children eat. This blog post is not an effort to alienate others by giving off the "Look how perfectly I'm parenting my child" vibe.  Parenting is not a competition and my way doesn't have to be wrong for your way to be right.  Honestly, I could care less how you choose to feed your child, but for those interested, I wanted to share our personal experience.

Zucchini

Apple

Red Pepper

Watermelon

Blackberry

Interested in Baby Led Weaning?  Here are some resources!

Guardian

Article in the British Medicine Journal

BBC and Spoon Feeding Article

UK Campus