Baby-Led Weaning

Oh can I just say I LOVE baby-led weaning! It has been amazing for me and for Charley. I posted a picture on instagram and had some people ask about it, so I wanted to explain how BLW works, what it is and why you should convert! I heard about BLW from a friend and found the book at our local library. You can also get it at amazon here. When I read the book, it just made sense and I highly recommend it if you are thinking about the BLW approach to eating solids.
There was actually a recent news article in the NY Times about BLW here. 

soo here it goes.. sorry for the long post.

What is this Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) business? Usually when you think about introducing "solids" it's spoon feeding from jars of pureed fruits and veggies or rice cereal and oatmeal. You do the "airplane" over and over again to get baby to eat the food and you spend 30 minutes getting them to eat that you don't even have time to touch your lunch. BLW skips the pureed mushy stuff all together and offers "real" solid food right from the start. So no spoon-feeding whatsoever.. instead, you offer the same types of food as we eat as adults and allow baby to feed herself. She decides if she likes what you give her (this could take 6-7 tries), the order that she eats the items and when she is ready to stop eating. She eats everything all by herself!

There is nothing wrong with starting your baby on purees, it's what most people do, BUT by the age of 6 months, most babies are developmentally able to feed themselves the same sorts of foods that you and I like to eat. As long as baby is able to sit up by themselves and is already reaching for items and moving them toward their mouths and has interest in meal times (grabbing your food and plate).. then they are ready! Charley was showing all these signs so I knew she was ready to try BLW. Babies don't need to be taught how to chew- they just develop the ability just like their first time rolling over, or starting to crawl.

After I knew Charley was ready to feed herself, the rest just clicked for me and made sense to do BLW. Since I am breast-feeding, she tells me when she is hungry and dictates when and how long  she goes, so why should solids be different? With BLW there is no "just one more bite". I just plop three or four food choices on her high chair tray and she is able to decide which one she eats first, how much she wants and the order that she wants them. It is THAT easy! Because she doesn't really need the nutrition from the food (it still mostly comes from my breast milk) it's stress free for me and fun for her to try new things and get the hang of it.

Here is some PRO's to BLW.

A few things that make it super easy. It's cheap.. I'm not buying jars and jars of purred food.. I just grab the food that is already in our fridge to give her. I am not having to mess with peeling, chopping, steaming, pureeing freezing, etc to make her food. I usually bake the food she gets (so it's softer since she doesn't have teeth yet), but it takes about 20 minutes a week! I will usually give her things from our dinner, so I am not prepping two different meals, or having to spoon feed her while the rest of the family is eating our dinner. Last night she had some chicken, avocado and spinach from our dinner. (cool right?)

When we go out to eat, I don't have to mess with baby food and spoons. I usually pack an apple or orange, a few pretzels and veggie spears, but the rest of the meal comes from our plates. The best part is she is getting exposed to different kinds of seasonings, spices, smells and textures.

BLW discourages picky eaters! This is what I LOVE about it! I am introducing her to different spices, tastes, and textures instead of her just getting everything pureed and bland. Spencer and I love to eat out and try new things, and I want Charley to be adventurous as well and not be a picky eater.

BLW helps develop fine motor skills- while they are feeding themselves, they are able to improve their hand-eye coordination. The first time I gave Charley some food on her tray, she had some trouble understanding what to do and kept dropping it on the floor. That really lasted 1 day and then it clicked and she really got good at picking up food by herself and putting it in her mouth. It is also pretty cool to see my 6 month old picking up pieces of string cheese, black beans, and sweet potato sticks by herself!

okay so some disadvantages: it's messsssy! yes very much so. She has daily baths and usually eats without clothes on. But I am okay with that since she is teaching herself how to eat, what she likes and how much she wants to eat!

Preparation: Each week it's different but this week this is what I did: I cut up an apple, pear, sweet potato, red pepper, and some broccoli. I coat a baking sheet with olive oil, place all my veggies and fruit on the baking sheet and spread them around so they are coated with the olive oil and then I sprinkle any and all spices that I want. I usually do cinnamon and nutmeg on my apples and pears. I do basil, oregano, cumin.. pretty much any seasoning except for salt and any super spicy seasonings. They shouldn't have salt till 1 year. She also has lots of raw fruits and veggies like banana, raspberries and blueberries, sweet peas, green beans... you name it! Then each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner I just grab 3-4 items and put them on her tray and let her eat!

I think the biggest thing to remember to to cut things like little spears so baby is able to hold them and they can stick out a bit from their grasp for them to chew on. It easy to pick up things with a "handle" on it.

so far Charley has tried banana, avocado, tomato, apple, zucchini, bell peppers, chicken, falafel, cucumber, orange, raspberries, blueberries, pretzels, white bread, animal crackers, sweat peas, green beans, string cheese, tortilla with cheese, pear, carrots, broccoli, peaches, breadstick with hummus, mango, greek yogurt, pita bread, spinach, cilantro, mushroom and corn.