Baby Led Weaning

starphish18

I recently heard about baby led weaning, where you skip baby foods and purees and go straight to normal food around 5-8 months of age once the baby can sit up on their own. They pick up and eat their own food (in conjunction with breast or bottle feeding, still). Has anyone done this? I'd love to hear some pros and cons. 

chickyclg

I have friends that swear by it!  I wanted to do it with my kids but DD was FTT so we had to monitor her calorie intake very closely.  As long as this baby is a healthy weight I really want to give it a try.

ETA:  I guess a con is you can't measure the calorie intake, (oh and it's really messy)

NotAPlaya-JustCrushAlot

We did it with DD and will do it again with this kid. I will say, it doesn't happen as fast as they lead you believe.  We skipped rice cereal completely but did some purées when convenient. It helped that our daycare was supportive.  I don't know if BLW had anything to do with it, but DD likes most vegetables. There are several great social media groups. Check out Feeding the Littles on fb and blwideas on IG. 

psherman42wwsa

I thought about this and I watched a lot of youtube videos showing what people put on their kids plates and how they ate or didn't eat... I have mixed feelings about it. I understand its convenient for people and teaches the child coordination and other beneficial things but I also feel like your child is just a baby for a short while and why not just give them baby food . I tried this randomly with my DS.. I would give him chunks of banana or carrots and he sometimes ate them and sometimes it just slipped out of his hands and he would get frustrated. My DS had a lot of stomach issues and reflux so we started baby food a little earlier than normal to see if he could keep it down since he was spitting up all his milk. We fed him all organic baby foods because of his sensitive stomach. I was going to make his baby food but once you see all of the different varieties and things in the baby food it made me think that the purees I would make wouldn't be nearly as good or have such a variety. BRU and Costco sometimes puts their food on good deals and I would stock up.  My DS had absolutely no problem transitioning from purees to solids.

WombThereItIs

We did a mix. We would offer him some easy to hold and eat foods but also offer purees although stared out with stage 2 instead of the runny stuff. We also didn't do cereal except when he kept getting sick and was slowing his weight gain and then we just mixed it in his purée for some extra calories. 

Some of the BLW stuff I read was ok but I found a lot of it had too much of a lactivist slant and I am a firm believer that the "food under 1 is just for fun" mantra is absolute nonsense. (Early UO?)

MoshiMoshi7

We also did a mixture. We would offer foods he could hold and practice on, but also used purees. DS was always pretty hungry and I didn't feel like he was getting enough into his mouth with BLW. We never did cereals, but did some purees and he started sleeping a lot better. I guess I don't agree with the food before one is just for fun either.

RainyDays86

We did BLW and I am a big fan.  It just made it easier because after a month of simpler foods like bananas and avocados, he just ate what we ate.  

bacorrea

+1 for doing a mixture. We never did the rice cereal. We will do a mixture this time around too.

I think you just need to do whatever you're comfortable doing. 

schnitz9

My son started eating regular food when he was 7 months.  He didn't have any teeth but he was chewing his pureed food so we just went ahead.  He ate chicken nuggets, pasta, steamed vegetables, puffs, basically anything.  Hes still a very good eater.  Our school was actually the one that asked if it was ok since they noticed it first.  He loved it from the start.  I think it is really up to the kid though.

hp_momma

Another mixture here. If we were eating something for a meal that DD was able to "try" we absolutely let her, but I still used purée food. Plus, the purée in the pouches is a lifesaver to throw in your diaper bag when your out or traveling! 

achays11

+1 for pouches being the best! We did a mixture. She didn't always like the solid food, but would attempt to put it in her mouth. 

DD is a picky eater now, but when she first started eating would eat all vegetables. I think I want to try more solid vegetables with this one to see if that can help with the pickiness. 

pshaortao

We did BLW with DD and will definitely do it again with this one. It was nice to be able to sit and eat my own meal and let her figure food out (with careful supervision) rather than focus on spoon feeding her and waiting my turn to eat. I do think its still too early to really discuss this, seeing most of us are still in our first trimester lol. I didn't even know what BLW was until she was at least 2-3 months old.

champhe

We did BLW as well. It's actually kind of weird how it turned out with us because my son went through a phase where he wanted me to feed him. I'm sure it's just that my kid is strange but it was almost like he didn't want the independence. We will probably do it again because it's just so easy but I wouldn't mind trying some baby food in there as well. Also, it didn't help him not to be picky like I've heard it helps other kids. I do think rice cereal is totally unnecessary and you shouldn't start solids before six months, but that's just my opinion. 

mdlorenz

We did BLW and also used pouches when out and about or on longer car trips. Babies are messy no matter what, but BLW certainly puts them in the driver's seat I'd argue that "food before one is just for fun" is really to emphasize that liquid calories (breastmilk or formula) should make up the majority of an infant's intake during the first year, and that the 6-12 month period is usually a gradual shift towards more and more solids (or mush). So many parents expect their baby to go from zero to 60 with solids and freak out when their baby (in a normal developmental phase) pushes a lot of food back out. 
Babies have their own personalities, and families figure out what works. Table food or jarred/pouch food can both accomplish the same goal.

geoffandjen728

We did BLW with both DD and DS. With my first, we did a mix but she much preferred putting food (even attempting the purée) in her mouth on her own. 
We do not have a history of food allergies and waited until very close to 6 months (basically when each kid was pretty much able to sit and we're both very interested in food) 
for us, it was just so much easier than spoon feeding at every meal. Both kids were breastfeeding like champs and there was no concern with weight gain. It forces us to choose healthier options for our own meals. We would make at least one thing that would be appropriate for the little one and let them try/play/taste. It's very messy and not for anyone who has to keep meal time short, but totally worth it. My kiddos are awesome eaters- they eat everything. 
I highly recommend the Baby-led Weaning Cookbook by Gail Rapley and Tracy Murkett. It has some basic guidelines/ideas to get you started, but more importantly, meal ideas to make for the whole family, including the baby! It's a great starting place

katie0919

We did BLW with DS2 and it was fantastic.We didn't really mean do do BLW, it just worked out that way because DS2 refused purees. So we tried "real" food and he loved it. I did all homemade baby food with my first son and while that was great - it saved SO much time not having to do that this time. With two kids I was really too busy to do purees. So we will definitely be doing BLW with baby 3!

onebadmotha

We also did a mixture. I was only able to breastfeed for 3 months, so by the time real food was in the picture, DS was formula fed and started wanting to drink way more ounces than is recommended. My ped had us start purees at 6 months to replace the extra formula he was wanting, since formula is high calorie. I did homemade purees for a bit, and also introduced soft finger foods for fun (since not much made it down the gullet). Since about 9 months or so, he's been eating whatever we eat and is loving it!  

tenfour

So I tried blw with my first but she had such a crazy gag reflex it just didn't work. She would seriously choke on puréed foods and literally choked every sip of water she took until age 4. So with my son I wasn't planning on doing it but he could eat crazy adult looking things off the bat so that's what we gave him. People always say it depends on the kid and it varies and in this case it was true for my kids!

ChristinaWild

We did kind of a mix - I started out purees, because I didn't know much about BLW. Within a month, though, it was pretty obvious that DS wanted to have more control. I got one of those mesh things and let him gnaw on some things through that, and he seemed much happier so we started to transition. His daycare, however, was a little overly cautious and asked us to still send purees. So at home he would eat soft foods, but at school he had purees.

Maddison

I did this with my first, and will definitely be doing it again with this one. 
None of my friends felt comfortable enough to do it though so its completely personal preference and what you and your baby feel right with. 
I swear by it, my DD ate everything from whole strawberries to pasta dishes from 5 months and never once gagged, they are meant to have a gag reflex mid way in their mouth, so if they do gag its unlikely they are chocking because the reflex is before it gets into the throat.
I found that the comparison to my friends babes who did the purees to my DD with BLW was that she was able to tell quickly if something was not food and rarely put anything that wasnt into her mouth. she also had no fussiness with new foods and she never gagged, where as my friends babies found that after eating puree for so long they would find it difficult to judge their gag reflex. 
Mind you, although I fully believe in this BLW, it really comes down to how comfortable and relaxed you as a mama feel about it at the time. You might want to do it up until the time comes and then not feel ready, thats fine. The most important thing is that you and baby feel relaxed and happy!  

Cassondra09

With DS and DD we did BLW exclusively, skipping cereal and purees. It took them a few weeks to get the hang of it, but then they'd amaze me with what and how they would eat!