About Baby Led Weaning

With Sisi turning 6 months it's time to think about weaning ( oh, the mess!). When her sister was a baby we weaned her using the baby led weaning (BLW) method. The appeal was definitely in the ease (i.e. not making any baby food EVER), and being all about fresh and organic food myself ( I know a lot of you will roll your eyes here) I couldn't have my first born eat out of jars! 

So we began giving her bits and pieces of food that we ate. I never fed her, she always did it herself (meaning that I at last was able to eat dinner and enjoy it-ish). Now we are back to this messy, messy but oh so great method of introducing children to food.

Before I go any further I need to add this: This is our journey, and before beginning I did a lot of research re suitable foods etc. If you are thinking of using BLW please read up on appropriate websites. Here in London you can even find BLW courses.

We started both of them on a piece of chicken thigh bone (left over from supper one day). They both used it as a teether, chewing on it to help with their sore/itchy? gums, but with flavour. Another awesome thing was an empty corn cob. Sisi started a few weeks back (at around 5 1/2 when she could sit up) and now eats things like mashed potato, sucks on a piece of meat from our supper, finishes yoghurt after big sister with her hands and (her favourite) sucks on bread crust until it dissolved and disappears. At this point milk still is her main meal and BLW is a little side supplement until she learns the art of eating. 

Now, BLW is not for the faint hearted. My mum doesn't even want to look at Sisi eating for the fear that she will choke. Having said that, the big sister NEVER choked once (I did do a 1st aid course, just in case though! Some London boroughs will offer them free) and neither did Sisi (so far).

Just before I finish, if you do think about doing BLW with your munchkin know this. There is a vast difference between choking and gagging. And I suppose this is the hardest thing to remember and the biggest negative of this method. Your baby will gag in order to get a bit of food that is too big out of their mouth. Sisi has full on vomitted the other day, she gagged so hard. It is so hard to keep your cool and often I get so sweaty, even though I know she is ok and that it is a part of learning. 

On the plus side BLW does help with your child's development. As a teacher, I can't be more in favour of encouraging independence from the get go. But most importantly it does magic for their hand-eye coordination and fine motor development (both so, so important as they precursor to things like writing). 

How do you wean you baby? Any thoughts / comments?