I am so excited to share with you this guest blog post about Baby Led Weaning from one of my dearest friends. Since, I don't have any children and haven't had the experience of BLW quite yet, I turned to Rachel at Baby Blythe Blog to give you the low-down on this technique. Rachel is the mother of Porter (an almost 14 month old), a wife, a high school english teacher, and a true lover of life.
Have you tried Baby Led Weaning? If so, we'd love to hear more about your experience. Leave your comments below.
P.S. how ADORABLE is Porter!?!
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My Experience with Baby Led Weaning
Before I had Porter, I didn't even know what Baby Led Weaning was. I had heard the term, but I thought it was when a baby was weaning from the breast/bottle. When Porter was around 4-5 months old, I started doing more reading on introducing solids, and that's when I found out what Baby Led Weaning really was, and to be honest, I thought it sounded insane. Who in her right mind would give solid foods (not purees) to a 6 month old baby?
In a nutshell, Baby Led Weaning suggests skipping all pureed food. Instead, BLW says to start introducing soft (but solid) finger foods when a baby reaches 6 months of age. I remember reading that BLW in a sense was easier because parents could just give the baby bits of what they were eating instead of buying/making baby food. Again, this sounded nuts to me. Plus, I was oddly excited about making my own baby food. I didn't even consider going the BLW route, and planned to introduce solids by use of pureed food.
We started with a little bit of rice cereal a few days after Porter turned 6 months old, as this is often recommended, and our pediatrician mentioned that it's an easy "first food" for babies to digest. We busted out the camera and the video camera and were excited to document Porter’s first time eating solids–surely this would result in adorable pictures and videos that we would look at and admire in years to come.
So we stuck Porter in his Mama & Papa chair, mixed up a little bit of cereal with some breast milk and attempted to feed it to him. Simply put, the experience was a complete and utter failure. Porter did not like the cereal. At all. Almost immediately he cried, arched his back away from the spoon, and turned his head. We tried a few more times and then accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to happen…at least not that day.
I tried rice cereal for a few more days, but the results didn't change. I knew one thing: Porter was not going to eat rice cereal. I decided to try avocado the next day. I wasn’t too worried about making this decision. Many people skip cereal altogether to begin with because it is more for practice anyway (with the added bonus of some iron.)
Since I was moving on to “purees, ” I dutifully made a few different purees that night after Porter went to bed. I made pureed apples, carrots, avocados, pears, and sweet potatoes (and it was kind of fun!) I had done some research on some good “first purees” and I also had a few books, so I went to grocery store to purchase fresh produce earlier that afternoon. I froze all the purees and felt prepared for this next adventure.
The next day I attempted to give Porter some pureed avocado. He took a bite, but the experience wasn’t much better than the rice cereal. I didn’t think too much of it. From my reading, I knew that it could take several times for a baby to try a food before liking it. I also knew that it was recommended that you give the same food for 3-4 days in a row, in case any allergic reaction were to occur. Then you would know which food was likely the culprit. Since I had made several different purees, I felt prepared and ready for that.
So, the following day I gave him avocado again, and again for two more days after that. Each day was like the first. He had no interest and did not like spoons coming at his face filled with things he didn’t know. For about two weeks I tried giving him the different purees I had made (as well as bananas, but I just mashed those) and I always adhered to the 3-4 day rule. Each experience was like the last. Sometimes he would take a bite or two, but he never expressed much interest for any of it. Sometimes there would be crying, but always, ALWAYS our attempt resulted in a huge mess. I began to stress about the fact that he wasn’t eating, even though I knew he was receiving all the nutrition he needed from breast milk. I also stressed about what food I should try to feed him next. Throughout this trial-and-error process, I made some discoveries. I noticed that it wasn’t that Porter didn’t like spoons (because that would be a weird fear), but that he wanted to be in control of the spoon. If I gave him an empty spoon, he would immediately put it in his mouth. I tried putting a bit of puree on a spoon and giving it to him a few times, but that always resulted in pureed whatever in his hair, on the wall, or on the floor.
At this point I was frustrated and feeling like a failure, and I remembered the reading I had done about BLW. I did some more research, ran the idea by David, borrowed a book from a friend and decided to give it a go. At first I was convinced that my child would never eat real food because it didn’t go well when we first began. The first several foods I tried ended up on the floor and while a few food items went up to his mouth, he didn’t actually eat anything for a long time. This went on for about two weeks, and I began to feel really defeated. In those two weeks, I think he took one bite of steamed carrots. Nevertheless, I kept trying. Most days he would play with the food and not eat it. BUT (yes, there's a but) at least he wasn't crying when it was "meal time."
Then one weekend we went to go visit my sister. We had tacos for dinner and as we were eating, I decided to plop some refried beans on Porter's tray. He immediately put his hands in it–and I knew he would–but it didn’t take him long to put those hands into his mouth, and he LOVED them. It probably wasn’t the best “first real food” for him, but it was the only food that he took more than one bite of in the past few weeks. Ever since then, he’s been a pretty good eater, and he eats a large variety of food.
And it was easy. Oh my gosh was it easy.
Instead of making and pureeing my own food for him, we literally just gave him bits and pieces of whatever we were eating (within reason) and of course we steered clear from the traditional foods that a baby shouldn’t have under one year of age (peanut butter, egg whites, honey, nuts, etc.) Sometimes he still ate some pureed stuff (I had a bunch in the freezer after all! He loved carrots+apples and avocados+bananas!), but for the most part, we didn't have to worry about what he was going to eat, and we didn't have to worry about the infamous “3 day rule.”
And it was amazing to watch him eat. Even when his teeth were just coming in and barely there, he could chew! He would grab the food himself and literally take a bite. He would chew that one bite for a long time and sometimes half of it came back out of his mouth, but he was definitely eating.
Beware though: if you try the Baby Led Weaning approach, some people might call you crazy. Mothers, sisters, other family members, and even strangers will cringe and tell you that your baby is going to choke or that whatever you are feeding him is too large or too hard. Trust your instincts and talk to your doctor, but above all, watch and learn from your baby. After a few weeks, I knew that this was the best choice for us.
If you attempt Baby Led Weaning, keep in mind that your baby will gag, and you may think he/she is choking. However, there is a huge difference between gagging and choking (as much of my research explained to me.) For babies, their gag reflex is so close to the tip of their tongue (until it gradually moves back to where it is for adults). This means that they gag very easily, but that’s okay. Gagging does not equal choking. With gagging, babies make noise; choking is silent. Don’t get me wrong–it’s still scary, especially at first, but your baby will learn and adjust and once he/she gets accustomed to more foods and textures, he/she will gag less.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the way things worked out with BLW, and I see him developing into a very good eater (though he does seem a bit pickier now than he did 6 months ago, but I think that's just because he's learning what he likes most and what he wants.) If you're wondering, this kid loves carbs--bread, potatoes, pasta, etc. When it comes time for baby number two, and when it’s time to start feeding baby number two solids, I will not hesitate to try the Baby Led Weaning approach again.
Below are some foods that worked well for us as we started with Baby Led Weaning. Most items needed to be cut into wedges or sticks, so he could grab them (he didn't have a pincher grasp until later.)
- Sliced chicken
- Grilled cheese (cut into "fingers")
- Toast (cut into "fingers")
- Pasta
- Steamed carrots
- Steamed broccoli
- Steamed apples
- Mashed potatoes
- Cooked (and mashed) sweet potatoes
- Cooked butternut squash
- Yogurt
- Banana (mashed works best, especially at first)
- Avocado
- Watermelon
{Please keep in mind that I am no doctor nor do I have any sort of medical background. Plus, while I did read a book on Baby Led Weaning, I also did a lot of my research on good old Google.}
What do you eat for breakfast? Leave your
