A Little Progress

We're about 2 weeks into BLW with Brandon so far, and I think he's doing well. I don't think he's actually consumed much food yet, but more and more food is actually making it into his mouth everyday. A lot still ends up on the floor, but he's getting the hang of gnawing off a piece of things we give him. We let him try pretty much everything we're eating, so long as he can pick it up easily, and it isn't too unhealthy! He's tried banana, ribs, carrots, scrambled egg, waffles, a french fry here and there, everything! Brandon just had his first Christmas dinner, so there was lots to choose from including turkey, stuffing, asparagus, dinner bun, and mashed potato. I think he's going to be a carb lover like me since he seems to get a kick out of baby-friendly cookies so far!
As a Christmas gift, his Auntie Jesse also made him organic cinnamon applesauce, and organic pears in honey. I bet he'll love those!

First Few Days

We started BLW with Brandon just a few days before he turned 6 months. We sat him at the table with us for dinner as we enjoyed some chicken cordons, salad, and mashed potatoes. We gave him a little of each on his tray and he happily inspected, licked, then dropped everything onto the floor! I think until he gets the hang of it, we'll be picking up a lot of food off the floor! We quickly thought to put some newspaper down underneath him so we can hand him back his food without worrying that its dirty.
Since day 1 we've given him sticks of cucumber, peach slices, sausage slices, and fingers of garlic toast to experiment with. Just tonight he actually managed to take a little bite of grilled cheese sandwich. It promptly came back out, but its progress! I'm sure it won't be long before food actually stays in there!

But Will He Actually Eat?

People wonder if this method works...will baby actually feed himself? I've learned that in the beginning anyway, its all about experimentation. Babies just starting out on solids don't yet know that this food they're being offered is more than a toy and can actually fill their tummies. Most food will end up on the floor or spit out (if it makes it into the mouth in the first place)! I think this is true for both spoon feeding and BLW. As baby spends more time licking, sucking, and gnawing on foods, eventually they will bite a piece off, chew or gum it to oblivion, move it to the back of the mouth, and swallow. Understandably, these new skills take some time to figure out. The book reiterates that breastmilk or formula should remain the main source of nutrition until baby naturally takes in a higher percentage of solid food. The book also states that solid should be offered only when baby is full from a milk or formula feed, and not when they're tired. If baby is hungry when offered solids, in the beginning he will just get frustrated because he hasn't yet learned to eat these solid foods. What he wants is his milk or formula.

We are going to trust that Brandon will figure it out and once he realizes that the food we offer him tastes good, he'll start to eat it. We're also using this method as an opportunity to eat together as a family, at the table. No more dinners in front of the TV!

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-lead Weaning, or "BLW" for short, is a method of feeding in which an infant feeds him or herself. There is no spoon feeding of baby cereals or purees involved. Baby is offered appropriately sized pieces of whatever the rest of the family is eating (within reason) and is allowed to touch, taste, smell, and play with "real" solid foods from the very beginning.

The thinking behind it is that with BLW, baby will learn to chew and move food around the mouth before swallowing, whereas with purees, the food is sucked off a spoon to the back of the mouth and then swallowed. Baby quickly learns how to manage different sizes, shapes, and textures of food by being given the opportunity to choose which foods they're going to eat. They also learn which individual foods they do or don't like, which is harder when several different foods are blended together in a puree. Baby's fine motor skills also develop quickly when given the opportunity to handle food and feed themselves.

Originally Mike and I had planned to make our own baby purees, but then I recently learned about BLW. The method makes sense to me, so I told Mike and it and we decided to try it. I bought the book Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley, which goes into great detail about the benefits, foods to avoid, and how to help your baby learn to love food! I also quickly found the BLW Facebook group and an online forum where there are hundreds of moms talking about their experiences with this method.

To some this may seem like a new way of doing things, but what was done before blenders were invented, and before commercial baby foods were available? Babies probably fed themselves! Join me as I document our journey with BLW; I will try to include lots of pictures and video of Brandon learning all about food!