We've begun the process of introducing solids to our second daughter. This is my first experience of weaning a 'normal' feeder. My first daughter had health issues and things were much more complex, so I'm loving seeing dd2 really enjoy her first tastes of solid foods.
1/ Able to stay upright in a sitting position and hold her head steady.
2/ Able to co-ordinate well enough to grab and hold food and bring it to her mouth all on her own.
3/ Able to swallow food - has lost the tongue-thrust reflex. If a baby is offered solid foods before they're ready (usually by an over-eager mother with a spoon) they will push some of it back out of their mouths instinctively and end up with distinctive circle of food (usually orange in colour) around their mouths.
Alternatively you could just wait until your child grabs some garlic bread off your plate and stuffs it in their mouth like my sister did... ;)
So here's why I love baby-led solids.
- If they're not ready, they won't eat. Simple. You won't get the timing wrong if you let your baby feed itself.
- They are in control of what they take in. This just makes sense to me, and breastfed babies do it anyway since they control what they take from the breast. Research published recently supports this as the healthiest way to introduce solid foods.
- It's fun! The get to squish, press, drop, sniff, investigate, experiment and of course wear what they're eating. So much more interesting than 'here comes the aeroplane' don't you think?
- It's far less hassle for me - part 1. I don't have to cook/ mush/ or buy anything special. How does anyone find the time? We just give her little bits of whatever we're eating.
- My daughter gets to sit with her family and eat at mealtimes. I don't know how common it is, but I regularly see mums spoon-feeding their babies separately. I prefer my family to eat together as much as possible.
- It's less hassle for me - part 2. I 'give her access' to a bit of whatever I've got on my plate, and I don't always make it easy ;) I get to eat my own dinner and I let her get on with it. Or not.
If you think your baby is coming close to readiness, try sitting them up in a high chair at the table with you and give them a toy to chomp on for a while. Perhaps set it on the table and let them pick it up on their own. This way they can practise the co-ordination necessary to start feeding themselves.
For lots more information about baby-led solids, look here, here, here, here, and there's a facebook group here.
Not all babies are ready for solids at the same age. The best thing you can do is watch your child. If they don't seem interested at 6 months, don't stress! They'll get there at their own speed, and breast milk or formula should be their main source of nutrients until at least age 1 anyway. Remember always to offer milk before any solid foods and you won't go far wrong.
My second daughter is pretty much same age as yours (3/9/11 - as well as following on fb I'm a lurker on BC Sep11) and we've been introducing solids over the last couple of weeks too. My first daughter weaned fine, but I did spend the first several weeks/months making separate meals, spoonfeeding; this time we started by giving half rusks just so she had something to chomp on while I assessed if she seemed ready. A few days later I gave her a floret of broccoli from my plate - the rusk hit the dust immediately and she has had bits from out plates to pick at most meals since then - it is wonderful! I am eternally worried about choking, but also am surprised at what she can manage, and how much easier it is this way.
ReplyDeletewe did BLW with my son and he's almost a year now eating what we eat for dinner. I just got fed up with him grabbing at the spoon all the time so I was just like ok feed yourself then.
ReplyDeleteHi there - I'm not personally convinced there is a bigger risk of choking with baby led. http://baby-led-solids.blogspot.com/2011/09/choking-and-readiness.html x anne
ReplyDeleteI love blw. I tried it the old fasioned puree method initially with my twins and soon met with resistance from first my babies and then my husband... He noticed we were spending lots of cash making annabel karmel purees (which meant I barely had time to cook for the adults!) Which the twins would just turn down anyway! They were 11months old before they actually ate much food despite being offered it 3 times a day (now 14mo). I bf them on demand and am confident that they know what they are doing with their solids (or lack thereof). Some days they still eat little more than half a clemintine and a handful of pasta but they are gaining weight well and now even walking! The key to blw (and most of mothering) if you ask me is trying not to compare your kids to other people's. They know what they are doing. Trust the process! They will not starve themselves!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your comment 'trust the process', because it could so easily relate to breastfeeding. Actually I wonder if this method of introducing solids is (seemingly) more popular amongst breastfeeding mothers because they are more used to 'trusting' their babies?
ReplyDelete" Research published recently supports this as the healthiest way to introduce solid foods. "
ReplyDeleteActually...no it didn't. The only conclusions that the researchers were able to draw was that BLW had a higher incidence of underweight babies (although there was no statement of what the comparison line was and whether they'd been breastfed or had formula). The study group was very small (under 200 babies), performed using parent/guardian-answered surveys, with no long-term follow up (although this one is an iffy issue since BLW has only recently become popular.) There was also no indication on whether the purees fed to babies were out of a jar (as is popular in the USA) or home made. Some food for thought (excuse the pun :P)
All that said--I'm still intrigued by the concept of letting one's child feed himself! My questions for you: do you still follow the recommended spacings of introducing new foods (every 4 days as recommended by the AAP?) Do you still wait to introduce certain foods like meats, egg, dairy, etc? I asked my pedi about BLW (and the nutrition counselors at the WIC office) and they really didn't know anything about it.
Quote: 'The only conclusions that the researchers were able to draw was that BLW had a higher incidence of underweight babies' >>> From the report itself: 'we found there to be an increased incidence of obese children in the spoon-fed group (n=8) as compared to the baby-led group (n=1)' The report also says that the baby-led group showed a preference for carbs compared to the spoon fed group who showed a preference for sweet things. 'the baby-led group liked carbohydrates more than the spoon-fed group (t (72)=−3.11, p=0.003, d=−0.53). Indeed, carbohydrates were the most liked food category for the baby-led group, whereas sweet foods were most liked by the spoon-fed group'
ReplyDeleteRegards your question about the AAP recommendations, I'm not aware of those I'm afraid as I live in Northern Ireland. I am choosing for myself to hold back on certain foods at this point (gluten, dairy, eggs etc) but there is no recommendation that I am aware of in the UK that suggests you should 'wait x number of days' between foods - although I do see a logic there. This is a pdf of the weaning leaflet I was provided with by my Health Visitor FYI - it's (now) the standard weaning info mums of young babies get here: http://www.nhs.uk/start4life/Documents/PDFs/C4L101_Start4Life_acc.pdf There's a section in there about foods to be careful of, but nothing about spacing new foods. You'll probably see that it seems a bit more open to interpretation than perhaps some other info. x a
I wish I could find the study I was reading!! It's not in my browser history :(
DeleteThanks for the rest of the info!