Baby Led Weaning

How Strange

My son is 5 months and the next big milestone for us will be introducing solids. I'm exclusively breastfeeding him and I've resisted the pressure from my mother and other women to start weaning before 6 months as he's quite happy on the boob for the moment.

I'm interested in baby led weaning over pureed food and am just reading up on it all at the moment.

He'll be 7 and a half months when I go back to work which is kind of unfortunate as we won't have much time to establish a weaning routine. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of baby led weaning and creches. In general (because I'll speak to my creche about it) are creches open to the idea of baby led weaning or is it viewed as too much trouble in comparison to pureed food?

I'd imagine from my point of view baby led weaning would be less time consuming for me as I won't have to make up pureed foods in advance and freeze them but I wouldn't like to think it'd be undermined in the creche because they think it takes him too long to eat his food.

Anyones opinions or experiences would be appreciated.

sumthng2say10

my advice to you would be to go with the pureed food. look away from the fact that you have to make up food for your baby and that you will have more time on your hands because it dosnt take up much time to make pureed food and its no problem at all !!! when you wean your baby you have to start with something really easy to swallow and gradually work your way up to different textures with lumps exc but i cant see how if you do the baby led weaning that the baby will eat enough to fill themselfs because they wont know how to eat properly. my baby is 10 months and even when i give him finger foods now starting off their is alawys a risk oc choking which is a risk i would rather not take at such an early age of 6 months when the little one probably hasnt many teeth and cant chew.... now this is just how i think now if you go with baby led weaning thats your choice but i think going the other route is better for baby.

How Strange

^^ thanks but I'm pretty much decided on baby led weaning and I'm just looking for feedback or experiences from other parents who did it with their babies.

He'll be 6 months old so seems a bit silly to give him purees when he may possibly have a tooth by then and I'd probably be introducing lumps into the purée within weeks.

aniascor

We took a half-and-half approach in our house, doing mainly Baby Led Weaning with purees for some meals. It worked well for us. I've written a full report on our experiences if you want to check it out: http://www.mama.ie/?p=1284

Also, I highly recommend that you check out http://properfud.wordpress.com/ - this is a blog by a family who took a complete Baby Led Weaning approach, and it's a fantastic resource for anyone considering going down that route.

Das Kitty

We did a half and half approach too.

The worst thing about the baby led weaning is the tremendous mess. But as they get older they start wanting to feed themselves with the spoon as well and you get mess then.

I actually found giving him little bits to eat himself more time-consuming because you have to prepare fresh every time and then sit with him while he slowly picks at bits. There were days when he was in the chair for well over an hour. You have to keep an eye out for the gagging as well.

I'd say talk to your creche and see what they normally do. To be honest I wouldn't want a situation where my 6 month old was eating finger food and not being 100% watched (the ratio for babies that age in the creche is 3 babies per worker).

My small lad is now at the stage where he's eating everything by himself with a teaspoon. It doesn't matter which way you want to do it as long as you and bubs are happy with it.

Ayla

OP, I have no idea if what we did would be considered "baby led weaning" but I basically fed until solids were gradually introduced through pureed veg & fruits. Eventually it got to the point that the baby & I just didn't need and/or want breastfeeds.

Our first was in creche from 6 months and they had no prob feeding whatever I provided (be it expressed milk, purees, etc).

I know a number of women who continue feeding (even if only for a bedtime routine) until their child is 4-5 years. I completely respect that decision, and in their situations it works for both mom & baby.

How Strange

Thanks for replies. Yes perhaps a mix of pureed and baby led is the best way to start. I've seen friends wean using the baby led approach and yes it takes a lot of patience as meal times drag on for an hour and its all about the little one having fun and exploring with their food. My friends also took extended maternity leave so they're free during the day to facilitate it. I suppose its not realistic to expect a creche member of staff to sit there while my little darling moves his roasted red pepper around the plate for an hour

As for breastfeeding I hope to keep it up until he's 1 year old at which stage hopefully he'll decide for himself to move away off the boob. I certainly couldn't see myself feeding until he's 4 although each to their own. I could turn out to be a total boobzilla who refuses to wean my son!

Ayla

How Strange wrote: »

As for breastfeeding I hope to keep it up until he's 1 year old at which stage hopefully he'll decide for himself to move away off the boob. I certainly couldn't see myself feeding until he's 4 although each to their own. I could turn out to be a total boobzilla who refuses to wean my son!

Well I suppose that's the whole premise of true baby-led weaning; it's not the mom's decision, but instead the child's. So, for the women I know, they're doing it b/c their child still benefits emotionally/pyschologically/physically from it, and when the child stops wanting it, they stop.

Cat Melodeon

We did mostly baby-lead weaning as it was so easy and good fun, but when he was being minded at the creche we just let them get on with spoon-feeding as it was easier. He still got the bulk of his food at home with us, and I think it helped him figure out the utensil-use a bit quicker. I used to make up batches of finger foods for the freezer and would send them with him when he was being looked after by family members who mostly got into it and didn't mind the extra time it took, as he usually enjoyed being in his chair chewing away. From about 9 months I pretty much stopped making up food specially for him, just adapted whatever we were eating and froze some portions of it for later use. We've never had a battle at mealtime, he's got a good appetite, will try anything and if he refuses a meal, we don't stress about it, he'll be hungry next mealtime (and he's a bit of a lump anyway!).
As for breastfeeding, we went great until 11 months, he went on nursing strike then and we did expressing until he was old enough for cow's milk (around 14 months). It worked out fine. I would have stayed going with it for longer, but he didn't seem to want to - I guess that's what baby-led weaning means?!

Anibal5

We follow the BLW approach and it's no drama at all. Our son (now 10 months) certainly doesn't take an hour to eat, and never has. There's "exploring" and then there's just "playing" with food. When he gets to the playing/not eating stage, the food goes away. We do focus on the fact that whilst he's encouraged to explore food, it's still within the context of having a meal, and playing with food for ages is not the same as having a meal. The mess aspect for us stopped within about six weeks of starting, though the odd thing still gets tossed over the side of the highchair.

The other thing to keep in mind that "food is fun until one", there's no bother about them not getting "a full meal" whilst they're at creche.

Our creche is happy for him to feed himself, which is a good thing given my son wouldn't know what to do with pureed food! He uses a spoon himself for yoghurt and the like, but has never actually been spoonfed. In terms of supervision, he now doesn't need anyone to sit and watch him at every bite, but to be honest, there has never been a choking incident in the four months he's been eating solids.

Just finally, you're right, OP, in that it's a lot easier and ultimately faster than going with purees and there's no reason that a six month old can't eat actual food - the taste, texture etc are all part of the exploration.

Good luck with it. It really is amazing to see how well they do with food - even without teeth!

Ayla

OK, maybe I'm just confused here...I was under the impression that "baby led weaning" referred to the baby deciding if/when to stop breastfeeding, not (as everyone here is describing) the baby learning how to eat finger foods.

In light of that, feel free to disregard my previous posts. (still confused though?)

Anyway, when our girls started "eating" we'd hand them anything & everything we were having & they'd gum it to their heart's content. I did puree some veg & fruit, so I could ensure they were getting something down into their bellies, but as soon as they started reaching for the spoon they got it. There was never massive messing but we could have just been lucky. Didn't take long before they were eating on their own - I'm fairly certain that both our girls were comfortably self-feeding with their own utensils before they were one. Of course, our 21-month old still has a good time eating w/ her hands, but that's never been an issue for us. It's all part of exploration and fun, and kids can never have too much of that (just good thing we have a large dog to hoover the floor )

Anibal5

Ayla - yes, baby-led weaning is probably better titled "baby-led solids". It's the process of introducing solids but starting with the same foods you would eat (with a few modifications) rather than with purees (or jars or pouches). The idea is that there is no reason a baby from six months can't feed themselves and the process of learning to eat food rather than being spoonfed teaches them what the real taste and texture of foods are. It improves their hand-eye coordination and most importantly allows them to eat until they are full and to understand what that means, as no-one is shovelling food into them!

There's no need to ensure anything ends up in their tummy, as milk is their main source of nutrition until babies are one year of age - breastmilk has many more calories and nutrients than solid food, so at this stage "eating" is all about exploring the taste and texture of food and learning how to eat rather than needing to eat. It should be a fun process rather than a stressful one - and it certainly is a lot less stress!