I started a little before 6 months because he was clearly ready. He was grabbing our food and taking it to his own mouth (heck, he grabs our water bottles and tries to drink them), so we slowly started letting him do that. It didn't make sense to tell him "No," because he was a couple of weeks off on the calendar.
We only got serious this week, but it's amazing how fast he went from being so frustrated to being a pro at getting food to his mouth! He had a blast with his stuffed pork last night! We do skip a meal if he's too fussy or tired, but so far, it's going really well.
How is it going for the rest of you? What has your LO been eating? Any tips/tricks you've already figured out?


Re: How's BLW going?
We haven't gotten serious yet, but DD has had bananas, watermelon, peaches, and zucchini. We were going to let her try some avocados today, but she has been extremely fussy, so I decided it wasn't worth it to try today.
I am struggling with the decision on whether I should try to help her eat some oatmeal cereal to help with her iron, or just hope it is high enough at her 6 mo appointment that I don't have to give her the nasty iron drops. (Low iron is a problem with some of my family.)
That's not a fail! And I've cheated by holding the food sometimes. He shoves my hands in his mouth, but he gets so frustrating by gripping things that never stay in his hands all the way to his mouth. I plan to give him a spoon every now and then, and let him pull it in his mouth. I'm also curious about this: https://www.amazon.com/Weaning-Made-Easy-Traditional-Baby-Led/dp/1905410697/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347667547&sr=8-5&keywords=baby+led+weaning
We had our 6 month well check today, and the doctor loved the way we're doing food and had no concerns about Iron.
Micah Leonard
I finished the book and now I am super excited to start!! Just a few more weeks!
I'm loving it! I agree with you, Steel - I'm amazed by how much he's learned and how much better he's gotten since we started. He's rocking the hand-eye coordination. He LOVES food - pretty much everything. I often just give him what we're eating, so he's had all sorts of spices and seasonings. The only bump we've had was when we decided to spoon-feed at night. I don't know why this would be, but I think he totally overate. He ate A LOT and then he was up at night with stomach discomfort. I wonder if he just got overexcited by how easy it was from the spoon compared to handling it himself. Anyway, we stopped all spoon feeding after that.
Miniray, we haven't had any choking at all. Sometimes he'll take a pretty big piece into his mouth, but he always just sucks on it then spits it out. I think someone on here said it happens more when they have teeth and can bite off pieces. Have you read the BLW book? It addresses choking and might ease your mind a bit.