Baby Led Weaning

Okay so like I said I am just starting to explore this but I like the idea of the concept so a few people have expressed interest so this is what it is. It seems like a good definition from what I gathered so far...

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyledweaning.htm

So what exactly is Baby Led Weaning as relates to solid food introduction? In short, Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is skipping thin and runny purées and not feeding your baby with a spoon.

Baby Led Weaning means offering your baby (age appropriate) foods that are soft-cooked and cut or mashed into small easily manageable pieces. These foods are then given to your baby to eat. You do the cooking, the dicing or mashing and the offering of the foods and your baby does the rest.

As with breastfeeding on demand, Baby Led Weaning is a method of introducing solid foods that leaves it up to your baby to decide when and how much to eat. While not necessarily a "hands off" approach, Baby Led Weaning does advocate allowing your baby to make all food choices for him or herself.

While Baby Led Weaning does encourage the infant to lead the way, parents must realize that they need to help guide and direct their babies through the weaning process. It might be easier to think of Baby Led Weaning as paying strict attention to your baby's cues rather than trying to establish set feeding schedules and set portion sizes. Watch your baby as she experiments with the food and if need be, show her how to guide the food to her mouth. You will not be spoon-feeding your baby, rather your baby will be feeding (or smooshing and squishing and tossing) herself.

They refer to this website as "the bible" of babyled weaning :http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html
again I am just starting my research so I am being flexible and openminded about how we start the solids

Are there anytime tables for foods given? Like what they can and can not eat and when?

Yeah both the first and second link have the time tables and does and donts. From what I read you can start right around 6 months still...you need to give foods that are large enough for them to grasp. I thought they needed the pincher grasp but it seems like they just need to have something big enough to hold like a broccoli head with the stem still attached and whatever food is soft enough to gum...

I'm investigating this too! Just seems "right" to me. Glad to know I have someone to bounce ideas off of.

Amanda: Yay! It seems right to me too. I tend to skip steps that I think are unneccessary though LOL like with E. we never used a sippy cup we only used straw cups because we never had to take that away and he could use a straw til he was 100. He caught on right away

I've actually cheated a bit just to feel this out. I let Maxie gum on some apple slices (she didn't get any pieces, just sampled the texture and taste) and a piece of melon. I got those mesh feeders and put the melon piece in one to make sure she didn't eat much of it since I didn't want to introduce solids yet. I held the apple slices in my hand since they weren't that big.

I probably screwed up by letting her taste some sweet fruits first instead of veggies, but oh well!

I'm very interested in this as well! Anyone know of some non meat iron rich foods? We don't eat lots of meat, and to me it seems weird to give it to a baby, but I want to make sure he gets enough iron if it's not from cereal.

I don't think you need to worry about fruits before veggies...They say breastmilk is far sweeter anyways and breastfed babies have a large palate as the taste of bm changes with what you eat.

I am anemic because although I eat red meat I dont eat enough..but anyways I was always told to eat eggs or beans. Kidney beans or refried beans would be soft enough for baby to gum (although from what I understand babies can gum stuff that is harder than I thought!) spinich is huge on iron. We can look more into that. Great idea to think about non meat gummable food!

Amanda: how did it go with the food?? did she like it?? I agree about it not mattering about fruits and veggies order in fact..nerd that i am...Top 25 things about introducing solids said "dont worry about introducing veggies before fruits". I think babies just naturally like sweet things because breastmilk is sweet

Oh she loved it! I first tried an apple slice when her gums were bugging her and she just happily rubbed her gums all over the apple and it really helped soothe her. She sucked away on the cantaloupe in the mesh feeder and really enjoyed it. Glad to know it was OK to give her some fruits. I tried a piece of raw squash and she looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm ordering this book from Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0091923808/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Great recommendation!!! Will totally check it out!

Hmm I really like the idea of this. I think I want to combine this and some spoon foods. I don't see anything wrong with mixing it up...

Amanda- I can confess to something similar! I LOVE frozen bananas (trying to avoid indulging in ice cream...) and Chase was very very interested in mine the other day (he always tries to grab anything near him and pull it to his mouth) so I let him lick it He didn't get any pieces but just like you said got to experience the texture and taste really. He smiled... either b/c he "won" the grabbing battle or b/c he liked it..I am not sure which lol

ithappened wrote:Hmm I really like the idea of this. I think I want to combine this and some spoon foods. I don't see anything wrong with mixing it up...Amanda- I can confess to something similar! I LOVE frozen bananas (trying to avoid indulging in ice cream...) and Chase was very very interested in mine the other day (he always tries to grab anything near him and pull it to his mouth) so I let him lick it He didn't get any pieces but just like you said got to experience the texture and taste really. He smiled... either b/c he "won" the grabbing battle or b/c he liked it..I am not sure which lol

That is what parenting is all about Take what you like and leave the rest.

I TOTALLY love frozen banana's although currently am living on smoothies...YUMMY. they seem so decedant but are made with ice/bananas/berries/nonfat milk/lowfat yogurt and a bit of juice. They seem like a milkshake with WAY less guilt

Mmmmm those sound so yummy!!!!!

I have been eating frozen bananas for ever! My lil bro and sis (twins) had SEVERE dairy allergies until age 16 so my mom had awesome non dairy recipes and treats! Bananas are great as they are but frozen they are even better and sometimes I cheat and dip them in caramel sauce

Yeah Frozen bananas are my true love come fair/festival time That is great that your mom was so creative and now you get to benefit from the "fruits" of her "labor" sorry I am dilirious from the heat I think LOL

Love the pun!!!