While we were at Disney (I promise a recap is coming soon - hopefully this week), I really didn't give Will much baby food. It just wasn't convenient. We were at the parks during his normal "meal" time and it was just so much easier to substitute a bottle for baby food. When we got back to Houston, Will wanted nothing to do with his purees. He just wouldn't take them at all.
I didn't push the issue for about a week but, today, I decided that I was going to pack up the purees and attempt baby lead weaning.
You might wonder if I did any type of research on this decision.
And the answer is a big fat NO. So unlike me!
But, I had some foods that worked nicely with the BLW approach at home so I cooked some carrots and sweet potatoes and let Will chow down!
He was a HUGE fan and ate way more than I thought he would. I even cut up some avocado and gave him a piece of the chicken I baked because he was fussing for more food!
But, here's the thing. I did ZERO research on BLW. So, if you have done/ are doing BLW with your child(ren) chime in please! Let me know what you did - books you read, things you fed, your go to foods!
I am clueless and need all the help I can get with this one!
9 comments:
The amount of research I did was also minimal, but it basically boils down to: don't give them things they can choke on.
We've been really lucky that Gwen has always liked her purees, but she's also loved trying more complex things. Since June (when she got her four top teeth to match two on the bottom...no new ones since then), she's fed herself: bread, cheese, cooked veggies, plums (I give them to her whole and then just watch carefully and take the pit out when she gets it exposed), bananas, apple slices, eggs (I scramble them with pepper and a bit of milk in a ramekin in the microwave, and then cut the resulting fluff into chunks), sausages, pierogis, salad, pasta, and small bits of whatever I'm eating. I'm amazed at how efficient she is even without molars.
I'm a big fan of bananas (for her. I personally think they're slimy, gross, and smell funny); I give her one in the morning while fixing her eggs, and it keeps her occupied. She's also gotten quite good at eaten them without making a mess, to the point that when we're traveling and I know that meals are going to happen on the train, I'll pack a bunch of bananas knowing that I can give them to her by halfs whenever she gets hungry/fussy, and she'll eat it tidily enough to not make a huge mess.
I did BLW with my son and it was the best choice for us. We were also at Disney when this happened to us! Must be the Disney magic! He never went back to purees, but LOVED food and really ate a lot more and he enjoyed being able to feed himself. He was 10 months old at the time.
I also did BLW with breastfeeding. He had a severe milk allergy and his allergist recommended that he nurse as long as possible. I let him take the lead 100% and eventually he decided he was done with no tears, no asking, nothing! He's always been a kid that did things on his own time, so this really made transitions much easier than doing it when I wanted.
Can't believe Will is that big already! Seems like he was just born!!
Chiming back in to say that I just gave my son the same foods that he'd eaten as purees. I made all of his baby food, so instead of pureeing after I cooked it, I would cut it into small pieces before storing. If something is too slippery for him to pick up, you can toss it with a big of ground up oats and it makes it easier, plus throws in a bit of whole grains!
We did modified BLW with our twins (now 18 months). With a toddler (our oldest was 17 months when the twins were born) and twins, it was just too much to spoon feed two babies at each meal. We followed the recommended baby foods for each age group found on this website (the website itself is geared towards making homemade pureed baby food)
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyledweaning.htm
Basically, we just offered the twins a bit of what we were eating for our meals. We just made sure that they were cooked enough to be very soft, and gave them little pieces of each thing. We did split a half a container of baby food between them at each meal, just to make sure they got "enough" but they loved the solid food.
Just make sure to stick with age appropriate foods, and introduce new foods once every 3 days to keep track of potential allergy issues.
i did very little research as well - we gave Brycen exactly what we were eating and even know, he'll eat just about anything! just go with it - it's messy but so much fun
oh to add - google the difference between gagging and choking... the difference is VERY important to understand!!!!!! gagging is very tough to accept but it's necessary when doing BLW
Hi! My first time commenting...we did BLW with our now 1 yr old. She actually never had any baby food at all, and at the beginning I started with the same progression as you would purées...squash, sweet potatoes, avocado, bananas etc. I checked out the BLW book from the library to skim...but it's mostly just common sense! I think that Jileans point about gagging vs choking is super impt! My daughter is a fabulous eater and has great fine motor skills to boot. Eating has never been a struggle, just fun. We haven't had to deal with texture progression issues or fighting over a spoon at all. Good luck...it's so much fun! (And soooo easy at restaurants!)
Hi! we are big fans of BLW in our house. Our 2 year old hated purees as well and did really well with his solids. We basically fed him everything we ate starting right at 6 months. The only things we avoided were nuts and raisins, and watch out for salty foods - babies shouldn't over do it. He is now a great eater and not picky at all! There is a book which is helpful and has lots of advice and suggestions - I recommend it :)
The fact he just took to it is such a good advert for baby led weaning.
Would love for you to link this up at the Friday Baby Shower link party - we're focused on weaning this week, Alice x
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