Help With Baby Led Weaning?

vkepple · June 2010

I have heard this mentioned many times. My LO is 7 months old and has stopped eating off a spoon. Most of the time she screams if I try to feed her and meals times have just become stressful. She does great with puffs. I bought the graduates apples and she had a hard time getting them in her mouth but when she did she seemed to do ok.

i guess my question is how does baby led weaning work? and How do you know if it is right for baby?

Tonya_G · June 2010

You just feed them what you're eating. There are obviously some foods that aren't appropriate- hard, crunchy stuff like tortilla chips or large chunks of things that aren't mushable. But aside from that, pretty much anything is go. https://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ is a good resource, as well as www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Temp937723687505543 · June 2010

I had just come over here to post a question about this! Smile

I guess I just don't understand how a baby with no teeth is supposed to eat anything that's actually solid (broccoli, for example). And do you still wait 4 days in between introducing new foods? I'm just concerned about DD choking, I guess. We're starting solids this weekend (yay!) and I just heard about BLW. I'll be doing quite a bit more reading!

Prinycesa07 · June 2010

Tonya_G:
You just feed them what you're eating. There are obviously some foods that aren't appropriate- hard, crunchy stuff like tortilla chips or large chunks of things that aren't mushable. But aside from that, pretty much anything is go. https://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ is a good resource, as well as www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I'm interested as well. My question is, I thought we were suppose to feed them the same food for a couple days and nothing else just in case they are allergic. Do you not do this with BLW?

Prinycesa07 · June 2010

MrsChibs:
I had just come over here to post a question about this! I guess I just don't understand how a baby with no teeth is supposed to eat anything that's actually solid (broccoli, for example). And do you still wait 4 days in between introducing new foods? I'm just concerned about DD choking, I guess. We're starting solids this weekend (yay!) and I just heard about BLW. I'll be doing quite a bit more reading!

LOL we posted at the same time. My question as well!

Tonya_G · June 2010

Prinycesa07:

Tonya_G:
You just feed them what you're eating. There are obviously some foods that aren't appropriate- hard, crunchy stuff like tortilla chips or large chunks of things that aren't mushable. But aside from that, pretty much anything is go. https://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ is a good resource, as well as www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I'm interested as well. My question is, I thought we were suppose to feed them the same food for a couple days and nothing else just in case they are allergic. Do you not do this with BLW?

I have, for the most part, though I've been on the shorter end of that timeline b/c I already know DD isn't allergic to certain foods- I won't be giving her any dairy until 1yr b/c I know she was/is dairy intolerant.

But there are days where DD will just grab something new off my plate and stuff it in her mouth, and there's not much I can do about it. If there is a reaction, you can always do an elimination type deal later on to see which food caused the reaction (as long as it wasn't an anaphalactic reaction, obviously!).

The only other thing you do want to watch out for is salt intake- if you heavily salt your food, you'll want to make LO's seperately. We never salt our veggies (or if we do, it's on our plates) so it's a non-issue for us. Meat wise she probably gets a little more salt intake than any other way, but it's hard when you roast an entire chicken to set some aside to make plainly, KWIM? Also, whenever possible, cut food into spears or lengthwise so LO has a "handle" to pick it up with. DD loves sweet potato fries b/c of this.

To the other poster who asked about broccoli- well steamed broccoli is a perfect BLW food- the stem gives them a handle to grab onto, while the tops are the parts that get mushy enough to eat first. DD loves broccoli. Cauliflower is another good food.

sunflowergrl · June 2010

We are doing BLW and we are still doing each food for 4 days. It's a pain now, but once we clear most of the food, I can just give her what we're eating. My MW told me the rule of thumb, is longer and wider than my pointer finger.

https://tinypic.com/m/alqjhd/3 that's DD eating butternut squash (which she loved)

I'm trying to figure out how to do it with meats, is it possible with meats like chicken and such?

sunflowergrl · June 2010

Tonya_G:
Prinycesa07:

Tonya_G:
You just feed them what you're eating. There are obviously some foods that aren't appropriate- hard, crunchy stuff like tortilla chips or large chunks of things that aren't mushable. But aside from that, pretty much anything is go. https://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ is a good resource, as well as www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I'm interested as well. My question is, I thought we were suppose to feed them the same food for a couple days and nothing else just in case they are allergic. Do you not do this with BLW?

I have, for the most part, though I've been on the shorter end of that timeline b/c I already know DD isn't allergic to certain foods- I won't be giving her any dairy until 1yr b/c I know she was/is dairy intolerant.

But there are days where DD will just grab something new off my plate and stuff it in her mouth, and there's not much I can do about it. If there is a reaction, you can always do an elimination type deal later on to see which food caused the reaction (as long as it wasn't an anaphalactic reaction, obviously!).

The only other thing you do want to watch out for is salt intake- if you heavily salt your food, you'll want to make LO's seperately. We never salt our veggies (or if we do, it's on our plates) so it's a non-issue for us. Meat wise she probably gets a little more salt intake than any other way, but it's hard when you roast an entire chicken to set some aside to make plainly, KWIM? Also, whenever possible, cut food into spears or lengthwise so LO has a "handle" to pick it up with. DD loves sweet potato fries b/c of this.

To the other poster who asked about broccoli- well steamed broccoli is a perfect BLW food- the stem gives them a handle to grab onto, while the tops are the parts that get mushy enough to eat first. DD loves broccoli. Cauliflower is another good food.

Can your LO nom on meat the same way she does veggies? I can't mentally picture BLW with a spear of chicken.

Tonya_G · June 2010

Oh, and as for choking- they will gag- all babies do, even when they're older, when they first start on table food. It's their body's way of saying, whoa there, that's too big. You obviously need to monitor LO while they're eating, and knowing infant CPR techniques is a good idea, just in case. But most of the time, they'll just gag up whatever is the problem and spit it back out. They learn how big of bites they can handle and it doesn't take long at all before they're not gagging as often, especially with foods they know. New foods that have new textures, obviously, can cause them to start gagging again.

Temp937723687505543 · June 2010

sunflowergrl:
We are doing BLW and we are still doing each food for 4 days. It's a pain now, but once we clear most of the food, I can just give her what we're eating. My MW told me the rule of thumb, is longer and wider than my pointer finger.

https://tinypic.com/m/alqjhd/3 that's DD eating butternut squash (which she loved)

I'm trying to figure out how to do it with meats, is it possible with meats like chicken and such?

LOVE the video!!! Can't wait until DD is doing this!

Tonya_G · June 2010

sunflowergrl:

Can your LO nom on meat the same way she does veggies? I can't mentally picture BLW with a spear of chicken.

According to babyledweaning.com, you're supposed to give them a big hunk to nom on- I always just pinch off small pieces and hand them to her- I just personally feel more comfortable this way. I haven't tried the other way, and guess I should. Just hanging on to my last bit of mommy nervousness about the whole concept- it does seem odd to give a baby a huge hunk of meat!

FWIW, I fed DS puree's from about 4m until he was about 6m, and then started giving him table foods as well (I ground them at first, but soon realized he could handle bigger chunks of things, so saved myself the effort!).

OhioBobcat · June 2010

The book does suggest offering your baby 3 or 4 things to start with. The idea here is that you're giving LO a choice rather than giving only one option.

As far as meats, they start out just sucking on them, and they still get the nurtients (i.e. iron) this way from the juices.

mari_gold · June 2010

I just want to toss in another vote for baby-led weaning. It's so nice for the three of us to be able to eat dinner at the same time, and Zack loves getting to feed himself.

bentlaj11 · June 2010

We just started trying chicken... in the shape of a stick and he just tasted it and acted like he was going bite it/chew it, but then he got excited and dropped it!

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