Baby Led Weaning

I agree with everyone too :-)

It's a good point about the allergies, we started off with a fairly limited palette of food but after a week or so with no severe reactions offered him a lot more variety - we don't have a history of allergies in the family so weren't that worried, I'd certainly have done it differently if we'd had a history bad reactions.

A bit off topic but I sometimes wonder if the increase in allergies is related, in part, to the increase in variety of food we have access to, not just being in HK but in most supermarkets in UK there are heaps of things I'd never even heard of in the '70's and '80's.
 
I really must get my hands on this book! I think a trip to Central Dymocks is in order. My 8 month old barely eats the purees, hates the tastes. I've started trying him with steamed sliced apples and some cut up bananas and he had a lot of fun but didn't really eat it. I guess it takes time for them to get used to it. I'll try him with sweet potato tomorrow. He has 4 teeth so he likes biting the food but then spits it out, puts it back in his mouth and repeats the process. I really like the idea of baby led weaning. Must get the book. I think my problem is that I still see him as a tiny baby and am really scared to let him try real food! He seems too little still! I'm terrified that he will choke. But the main problem is that I just plain am clueless about what he can and can't eat and how to go about it. Once again, I must get that book! Sunday...
 
i do a lot of googling (what would i do without google?!) on weaning, the solid foods and self-feeding, etc. but i do worry about him choking too so he is currently fed pureed veggies/meat/rice, he has his bread/biscuits dipped with milk and has the odd nibble on a peeled piece of apple every now and then.

when we're having our meals, i tend to give him whatever is on my plate but in very small pieces. the thing with my bub is that he likes being fed but won't take the initiation to feed himself so i'm just waiting for him to take that step next - soon!

he weaned himself from the breastmilk so i'm just going to get baby-led once again and again and again. :smile:
 
I was worried about choking to begin with and the boy did a lot of gagging and nearly stopped my heart on several occasions during the first couple of weeks but now, two months in, I don't even think about it any more.

The idea is that blw babies learn how to deal with food first by feeling it and picking it up, learning about size and texture. Then by putting it into their mouths and adding taste to texture. Then after that they learn about chewing and actually moving the food around their mouths and finally, about swallowing. The gagging is them learning how to deal with lumps of food that are too big by moving it from the back to the front of their mouth.

The idea is that by allowing them to go at their own pace, their eating keeps pace with their development, i.e. they are not able to get food from the table into their mouths until they are capable of manipulating the food once it is in their mouth, hence the risk of choking is lowered.

That's all just so much theory, but for us blw works because the boy enjoys it and we haven't had a problem with choking. (Choking is silent as no air can get into the lungs, gagging is loud and is the baby moving the food away from the back of their mouth.)

Lisa, lots of mums try blw as some babies are just to independent to do spoon feeding :-) I also think for some babies they don't like the surprise of not knowing how a spoonful of food is going to taste, imagine if you were expecting baby rice and got a spoonful of stewed apple, I wouldn't like it! I've got a copy of the book if you want to borrow it.

Aava, just wondering how small the pieces you are giving him are, if he doesn't have pincer grip yet then it might be a problem picking smaller pieces up and getting them to his mouth? We found the most successful first food was spiral (fusilli) pasta as it was easy to pick up and soft enough to swallow easily.

This is a great resource which I used a lot to find out about good first foods etc.. baby led weaning :: Main Page
 
I decided to start baby-led weaning as soon as my wee bub can sit on his own. Reading all that you have written has removed any doubts that I had. :)
Now my only worry is that I'll have to share my hargow with him... haha
Thanks :)
 
Yes we will definitely keep trying it. I think he is definitely too 'independent' for the spoon feeding. He just takes the spoon from me, wipes all the food off it with his fingers and chews on the opposite end of the spoon. Baby led weaning doesn't seem any messier than trying the purees anyway hah.
 
Lisainhk - just try your 8mth old with regular food that you eat. You may be surprised with what he can cope with! Since he has teeth and likes biting, he is most likely frustrated with puree food that has no texture. Gagging is a natural reflex. Scary the first time I will admit, but he needs to do it in order to eat safely. All part of the learning process. So far H as choked once and that was right at the beginning. It lasted all of 5 seconds and there was lots of noise so maybe it was more of a big gag?! I think as long as the food is big enough to hold and then some, then he will only bite off the right size. If the piece is too small then, gagging/choking may occur.

Aava - use big chunks of food. He needs to be able to hold it as well as have enough outside his grip to put in his mouth. He may well try to put it all in his mouth but he will spit some out!

Even now, H will seriously overload his mouth but he will spit some out so that he can actually eat the rest.

jvn - I like your allergies post (yesterday). It gave me food for thought (ignore the pun!) I read somewhere that unless your family has a history of allergies you shouldn't hold off giving your baby a certain food. The longer you leave it the more likely a dislike/allergy can happen.

Happy eating!
 
Aava, just wondering how small the pieces you are giving him are, if he doesn't have pincer grip yet then it might be a problem picking smaller pieces up and getting them to his mouth? - he picks (and drops) things pretty well but think he's used to the helper feeding him even though i've told her to let him pick it up. she doesn't like the mess and neither do i but he has to learn somehow. she along with my bub is getting the hang of it now. he choked twice yesterday while eating a slice of apple and i nearly got a heart-attack!!!

Aava - use big chunks of food. He needs to be able to hold it as well as have enough outside his grip to put in his mouth. He may well try to put it all in his mouth but he will spit some out! - a slice of apple is just right for his grip and he nibbles it bit by bit under our hawk-eyes! he is ok on the biting of the top and the bottom parts but it's the small middle part that he's having trouble eating. as you said, he tries to take it all in or just throws it as a sign of giving up. i cut the remaining part into smaller pieces and let him finish it. job well done with a few hiccups. :missingto
 
I know I'm a bit slow on the response but just wanted to say thank you all for taking the time to respond. I loved reading about your experiences and attitudes towards infant feeding.

Now that bub is 6 months old we have started 'playing' with food. For the first few days I did start with a bit of rice cereal mixed with breastmilk but had a complete lack of interest from my boy. He found playing and munching on the spoon much more fun. Given he is so accurate with picking things up and putting them in his mouth and can sit pretty well now, I thought he might enjoy trying BLW. So far he has held, munched and swallowed banana, apple and butternut squash. He loves it and has so much fun with it. I find the whole process quite fascinating. It is amazing what he can handle!

I don't really think there is a 'right' way to introduce solids and agree with what was said about doing what's most comfortable for both mum and bub. I suppose the concern with purees is that there is this reported 'window of opportunity' for learning to chew (between 6 and 10 months) and that babies who are feed purees for too long will reject more textured foods if they are introduced too late.

I suppose if you plan to give BLW a go you do really need to stay on top of the milk feeds and make sure they remain the main source of nutrition in the first year. I find it crazy that some pediatricians in HK tell mums that after 6 months there is no nutritional need for breastmilk anymore!

Thanks for the links to the blogs about BLW. I've enjoyed reading about other people's experiences with BLW. :smile:
 
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