Baby Led Weaning

I have been wanting to write about our method of feeding McKinley solid foods (Baby Led Weaning) for awhile now, but I decided to wait until she had been eating solid foods for a few months so I could give a thorough review of our experience. So here it is...

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One of the best things about waiting to have a child until I was in my 30s, is that I have a ton of mommy friends that I can ask for advice.

I love being able to pick up the phone and call anyone of them and ask them just about anything. From breastfeeding questions to thoughts on certain baby products, you name it, I have probably asked it. Let's face it, there are just some things that warrant advice from a friend, even though researching it on the internet would give you the same answer.

So when it came time to start thinking about introducing solid foods to McKinley, I welcomed any advice from my fellow mommies. A friend of mine told me about a feeding process called Baby Led Weaning that she was going to try with her son.

The principal of baby led weaning is that a child transitions from breast milk or formula straight to solid/table food. This gives the child the ability to control his own food intake by feeding themselves.

Excerpt from babyledweaning.com:

No purees, no ice cube trays, no food processor, no potato masher, no baby rice, no weird fruit and veg combos… just you and your child, eating food that you enjoy with you and your family.

This process seems completely foreign to how most people start feeding their children today, but if you think about it, this is how everyone learned to eat for centuries before there were blenders, food processors or Baby Bullets:)

After talking with this friend I wanted to learn more about BLW so I went out and bought the book called Baby Led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food and before I even finished reading it I knew this was the route I wanted to go as far as introducing food to M.

At McKinley's 6 month well visit I had a list of questions to asked the doctor about introducing foods. My first question for the doctor was about rice cereal. Rice cereal was something I had researched and unless the doctor told me otherwise, I had come to the decision not to feed it to M. Thankfully the doc and I were on the same page about that topic, so rice cereal was out.

My next questions were about solid foods. Here are my questions & the doctor's answers:

1. What were her thoughts on the BLW method: the BLW method was a great way to feed a child

2. How much solid food should M actually be eating: we would talk more about this at her 12 month well visit because until 12 months of age breast milk/formula is all an infant needs for nutrition, any introduction to food before then is purely for exploration

3. Foods to avoid: dairy products & the typical foods that tend to cause allergic reactions in children

4. What age to introduce food: 8 months old

Now that I had all my questions answered we had a couple more months until it was time for the real food.

I am totally a creature of habit. So when it finally came time to introduce solid foods into McKinley's diet, I was not looking forward to changing her/our breastfeeding routine. While this is probably an exciting and easy thing for most parents to transition into, I was absolutely dreading it (I know I am weird). So with a little apprehension (on my end), McKinley had her first taste of real food on December 30th, just a few days before she turned 8 months old.

Now for our actual experience. I have found there to be far more pros than cons when it comes to BLW. Here is a quick list:

Pros:

1. Being able to sit at the dinner table (at home or in a restaurant) and all of us getting to enjoy our meal at the same time. I have never had my food get cold because I was having to feed M with a spoon.

2. M gets to make a choice about what she eats and when and how much she wants to eat. When we first started BLW, M was still in the exploration phase. She would mostly put things in her mouth, gum them around and then spit them back out. She was getting used to flavors & textures. That stage probably lasted a good 6-8 weeks before she was purposefully eating & swallowing her food. Now that she is almost 1 year old, there are definitely foods that she chooses to eat over others, but she is a little garbage disposal and pretty much eats everything that is put in front of her. We often joke that we will definitely have to teach portion control with this little one.

3. No bowls or utensils needed

Cons:

1. My fear of her choking (which to this day has NEVER happened)

2. McKinley's very sensitive gag reflex (because it looks like she is choking). This was a hard thing for me to get use to, but this is also the reason why M has never choked. So maybe this should be listed under the Pros:) God knew what he was doing when he created our bodies. Babies not only have a very sensitive gag reflex, it also sits toward the front of the mouth. So if a baby gets too big of a bite the reflex kicks in and they spit it out. As a baby gets older it gets less sensitive and falls further & further back in the mouth.

Here is the list of whole foods M has tried so far:

Veggies: avocado, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, red bell pepper, zucchini, cucumber, asparagus, potato, green peas, butternut squash, brussel sprouts, lima beans

Fruits: banana, pear, mango, kiwi, blueberries, apple

Dairy: cheddar cheese, freeze dried yogurt bites

Misc: coconut milk yogurt, hummus, Kashi whole grain waffles, whole grain toast, couscous, lentils, whole grain pasta noodles, **organic spinach/kale/collard greens puffs, & **organic apple puffs

**I was very reluctant to buy these because I didn't want to give M anything processed, but they have no sodium and a minimal amount of natural sugar. She rarely gets these (not even once a week), but they are the perfect snack to have in the diaper bag for emergencies.

Allergic reactions: the only food that M had a reaction to was a processed organic cheese & spinach puff. M probably had 4 or 5 one night and the next morning she woke up with an eczema breakout on the inside of one of her arms. After that we pulled all dairy (which was very little to begin with) from her diet just to be safe. Thankfully M only had that minor reaction to a food and because I introduced new foods one feeding at a time I was able to figure out what caused the eczema.

Prepping the food: This is easy. Once or twice a week I wash and cut veggies into "stick" shapes and then throw them in the steamer basket while I cook dinner. For beans & peas, if frozen I pop them in the microwave for a minute or if they are canned I just rinse and drain them.

Now that McKinley is almost 1, her chance of having an allergic reaction to certain foods starts to lessen. One of the questions I will ask at the 12 month well visit is when can we start feeding her what the rest of the family is eating for dinner, spices and all. For now I am thrilled that my child LOVES her veggies.

This is what my steamer basket & McKinley's plate usually looks like.

Of the 33 foods listed above M has tried them all. There has only been 2 that she won't eat after the first bite and that is brussel sprouts and hummus. I am going to keep trying though:) Everything else she piles into her mouth. If I had to pick her absolute favorite food, it would be red bell pepper. Who knew:)

So that is the very long overview of our experience with Baby Led Weaning. I write this entire post not to judge. This is what we chose to do and what has worked for our family. I think this way of feeding happens more than we think. There are lots of babies out there that pick off of their parents or siblings plates and it just isn't given a formal name.

I am incredibly thankful I had a little conversation with a great friend about BLW. I am a believer and will definitely do this again if we are blessed with more little Organs:)

If you are interested, click here for a great article about getting started with BLW.