Baby Led Weaning is Fantastic!

Alan and I are loving Baby Led Weaning (BLW)

Why you ask???

1.  Sutton is over 6 months old, he doesn't NEED purees.
2.  We won't have to deal with transitioning textures.
3.  Sutton loves to sit and eat with us.
4.  We eat healthier as Sutton eats what we eat.
5.  We are able to sit and eat our meals without entertaining Sutton or holding him.
6.  Going out to eat is easy...nothing for us to bring.
7.  Learning is constant, he is even starting to use a pincer grip!
8.  It is so cute!!!

Many people as us if we are scared he will choke.  Of course we are,  but anytime he has food no matter what age he is, the risk of choking will always be present. He has gagged many many times, and even vomited a few.  This is a safety mechanism and will prevent him from truly choking.  He can handle pieces that are too large well, and often spits food out.  Sutton is always supervised, we never leave his side.  He is almost 7 months old, and can sit well, has an interest in food, can move food around with his around, and can chew and swallow.  Pureed baby food is commercially produced in mass quantities and sold everywhere; it has been this way for years and years, but due to the fact that we (most of us) no longer wean our babies at 3 or 4 months doesn't make it an essential product anymore.  BLW is not a new concept at all, in fact it dates back as far as breastfeeding....also known as the beginning of time.  BLW is a natural transition for Sutton, especially because he is breastfed, he has experienced different tastes, just through my milk. 

I do understand why people do purees though.  The same with breastfeeding, not everyone does it, and not everyone does it as long as I intend to.  I respect this, and I don't judge.  I do feel that BLW is great for my family though.

Sutton has tried so many foods, and his favourites change almost daily.  He loved bananas at the beginning and no longer goes for them first.  He does seem to have a way in which he eats, but I haven't figured it out yet.  Occasionally we use the mesh bag thing, it is a great little tool, especially for some meats, fruits which aren't an ideal size for him, and popsicle type things.

Sutton usually only wants to eat food at suppertime.  Sometimes he will snack on an apple or something I eat throughout the day.  He is still breastfed as his main source of nourishment, but enjoys to eat, and does swallow some.

Here are a million photos of our fantastic suppers!

He started with Oatmeal Cereal



Toast!

                                             He sure can mangle a banana well!

Watermelon!

                                           A happy baby is a baby with yogurt!!!

Mmm, meat!!!

Yum Yum Yummy!!!!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am excited to start Baby Led Weaning.  I love the concept of baby feeding themselves, and of course skipping purees.  I am aware that once he starts eating food it could take a month or two before he actually rips a piece off and swallows it.  I look forward to him learning that food will fill his belly.  He seems to have lost his tongue thrust reflex and is sitting up well, not in his own, but upright enough.  Once he able to sit up we will start whole and large food.

We weren't going to do cereal, as there aren't all that many benefits to it.  The iron theory isn't as accurate as many health professionals say it is.  We are told that babies have lost the iron they are born with when they turn 6 months.  Studies have disproved this theory stating that the only begin to loose it at around 6 months.  I also have a few friends who have tried the commercially produced rice cereal and have had negative reactions to it such as hives and constipation.
Alan wanted to try to oatmeal cereal for babies, so we did. What a joy this has been.  He was a little hesitant at first however, now he lunges in for it.  It is so cute.
Tonight he sat in his highchair at the table and couldn't get enough.  We also gave him a little bit of water with apple juice for flavour.  Funny funny reactions.  I of course want to limit his water intake as I still want breast milk to be his main source of nutrition.  I don't want him to fill up on water, as there is no nourishment or fat in it.  I do want him to enjoy eating, and to help him to be a happy and good eater when he is bigger.

As for Baby Led Weaning, I will be doing a modified version if it.  I am not wanting to wean Sutton from the breast just yet, but I am wanting to introduce him to REAL food, in the form in which adults eat it.  I have been reading Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley, and it is fantastic.  So logical.  I look forward to not pureeing foods and spoon feeding.

To contradict myself though, we did do baby cereal where we spoon fed Sutton and let him feed himself as well.

Here are some pictures, which I will cherish forever!!!


                              Alan helping Sutton eat, he was leaning forward to get to it faster!

                         He loved the spoon and trying to get the food off!  Ahhh, such a big boy!

                                            Yum!  He was licking it off his hands!

Water with a smidge of apple juice, it must have been sour!!!  (I found a sippy cup which Sutton will actually drink out of, and he does it by holding it himself.  It is the Tilty Cup.  Hopefully he will drink breastmilk from it, as he is refusing the bottle still and the other sippy cup we have.)