Baby-Lead Weaning

I am really thankful that my friend Liz introduced me to Baby-Lead Weaning. While I was pregnant I watched her hand chunks of banana to her 7 month old, Elliette. I immediately expected Elliette to choke, I had this ingrained assumption that non-pureed food was dangerous for babies. But she just picked up the banana pieces with her little fingers, gummed/chewed them, and swallowed them- no problem at all.

As Jack neared the six month mark I was dreading starting solids. I put it off for as long as possible. He already had six teeth and a definite interest in food but I was hesitant. I knew that I wanted to make him homemade baby food and that part seemed fun and idyllic; but going from the incomparable ease of breastfeeding to the rules and inconvenience of solids seemed incredibly annoying.

So I borrowed the BLW book from Liz and dove right in. There are some things that immediately clicked with me. If they have the dexterity it makes perfect sense to let the kid feed themselves, especially if they are strong-willed! And I like the theory that you are letting them explore the food and experience the different tastes and textures, not just pushing mush into their mouths all the time. Even handing them a pre-filled spoon gives them some aspect of control.

The book doesn't exactly crap rainbows. It's extremely repetitive; because it's essentially a simple theory that they could have summed it up in a much shorter format, they beat it like a dead horse. Also it is unnecessarily militant. Yes, maybe pure BLW works for you, but most parents that I have talked to find themselves a middle ground.

Jack loves gnawing on big pieces of meat, and broccoli florets are his favourite food. We try our best to give him a variety of healthy hand-held foods. The things that he can't grab I puree and put into refillable squeezy packs that he sucks on. For example the other day I blitzed some wilted spinach, steamed peas, and sweet potato with some breastmilk. Another mix that he likes is pureed lentils, kale, peas, and blueberries. And tonight he had some stew whirled with avocado. Although BLW doesn't recommend it, I am not opposed to spoon feeding, Jack likes to reach out and bring the spoon to his mouth. 

Full disclosure. There was a lot of gagging when we started, with both pureed and handheld foods. And even some chuck-ups. I think there was a short phase where he would vomit at every meal, and unfazed, go back to eating whatever he was chewing on. It was a learning process for both of us as we discovered that rough surfaces like bread crusts would scratch his throat and trigger a gag.

In the end I am glad I didn't obsessively follow any set of rules. No mashed avocado for three days, no proteins before vegetables, no "fortified" rice cereal, no organic free-range grass-fed chicken livers. We just feed him a less salty version of what we are having, and I am relieved I didn't let this fun milestone become a stressful chore.