January 28, 2020
Baby Led Weaning (BLW) can seem daunting at the beginning. I was very unsure about handing my infant real food prior to her having any teeth. I know I’ve talked about feeding Caroline a little bit in her monthly updates, but I want to go a little more in depth with our experience with BLW. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that you should do baby led weaning with your little one. Transitioning your baby to real foods, just like mothering/parenting in general, is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Some parents do BLW straight out of the gate while others give purées until their baby is a year old. I want to share our experience and what I felt comfortable with.
If you read any of my blog posts about Caroline you know that I follow Moms On Call. The book suggests starting baby foods around four months old. When Caroline was four months old I put her in her bouncer and I fed her baby rice with breast milk. She seemed to enjoy it, but I didn’t think she was quite ready for it. After trying it another time or two I decided to wait a little bit longer before trying it again. About a month later we tried rice and pears (separately). I was honestly so pathetic the first time I gave her pears. When she went down for a nap after eating I was terrified that she was going to have some crazy allergic reaction and not wake up from her nap. Postpartum anxiety much?! Obviously, that did not happen. We later tried squash and other orange veggies. Moms on call has a food introduction guide that I followed for a little while. We did all kinds of different purées for about a month and a half, until Caroline was seven months old or so. It’s funny because Milton and I were talking about it and he said he thought baby food was going to be a big part of our lives, when really we only used it for like a month.
People will tell you that you will know when your baby is ready for food. I was not very sure about it, but then Caroline started nose diving for our food and I figured that was a pretty good sign.
The first time I gave Caroline solid foods was during lunch one day and I gave her squash leftover squash that Milton and I had for dinner the night before. I kept them in like a long finger shaped cut because that’s what a lot of suggestions are to make it easier for them to grab. It. Was. Nerve-wracking. I sat there and watched her like a hawk. A few days later I baked some sweet potato fries for her. She did really well with those. At that point I realized I was finally ready to give her more solids.
I follow a couple of different registered dietitians and occupational therapists on Instagram that give really good tips on BLW. These were suggested to me by friends with babies older than Caroline. These accounts give guidance and tips on BLW. If you’re about to start solids with your baby or need ideas for meals and snacks I really suggest looking at these.
The best part about starting her on foods was being able to take her to a restaurant and let her feed herself. This kept her entertained and happy while Milton and I were able to eat with both of our hands. If you have an infant you know that being able to eat with two hands at a restaurant again is amazing.
Once I got over the fear of Caroline choking on something the next hardest part about introducing solids was getting Caroline‘s bowel movements regular. This was even the case when she was eating purées (those tummies have a lot of adjusting to do). I try my best to give her fruit often in order to keep things moving. The easiest way I have found to do this is to keep bags of pre-cut frozen fruit. This way we don’t have tons of fresh fruit sitting in a bowl rotting before we can eat it. Note: bananas can also cause some constipation, so this is not one of the fruits I give to keep her regular.
The last six months has been full of a lot of trial and error (being a parent is all on-the-job training). For example, when I first gave Caroline toast or she would put as much in her mouth as possible and I would stick my fingers in there and pull some out. I realize now that I probably should not have done that because when I put my finger in her mouth I was running the chance of pushing something into the back of her throat. Now I take the plate away from Caroline and simply ask her to keep chewing or say, “Chew and swallow before you have more”. Another time I gave Caroline some leftovers that were a little too spicy for her. That evening after her bedtime bottle she threw up everything in her stomach. After she threw up she was happy as a clam and she didn’t throw up again so I figured the spicy lunch did not agree with her.
ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, I just did what I felt most comfortable with. I followed my gut. We are now on day three of only taking two bottles a day. Caroline is doing great with it, and I could use a little inspiration on different snacks. What are your hesitations about BLW, if any?! What worked best for you and your baby?
