A Letter to a Friend on Baby Led Weaning

So a friend of mine messaged me on facebook about my experience with baby led weaning. She's considering it for her baby boy, and wanted some information. She might have regretted asking me, because I wrote an essay on the subject. I figured I may as well share it here, in case anyone else is wants some quick information about it. Here is an excerpt from my message.

When it comes to feeding my baby, I LOVED baby led weaning. 

Here's how it works:

You start when your baby can sit up on his own, is suddenly putting everything in his mouth, and is very interested in whatever you are eating, usually around six months.

You continue breastfeeding (or formula feeding, or both, or whatever, lol) as usual. The baby gets everything they need nutritionally from the milk. The word "weaning" is not meant in the American sense of "giving up" the breast, but in the European sense of "adding" complementary foods.

When you baby led wean you aren't really feeding your baby, so much as letting him experiment with food. That's why it is important to keep breastfeeding, and that is why there is no need to measure or worry about how much food they are actually eating. It doesn't really matter in the beginning.

Give the baby pieces of whatever you are eating, minus the salt. Tracey Murkett and Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning Cookbook has lots of great ideas.

It seems counterintuitive, but you want to give the baby really long pieces of food they can grip in their fists and bring to their mouths. Ellie's first food was a skinny, four inch piece of steak that she gummed noisily for a few minutes before dropping it on the floor.

You let him eat as much as they want to eat, and when he is bored with the whole thing, you pick him up and put him in the tub, lol. It doesn't matter how much or little he eats, just that he is getting practice with real foods.

Try to give him things that have a natural handle, like steamed broccoli with the long stem still attached, or a banana rolled in a bit of oatmeal (to make it less sticky and easier to grip). Other things that worked great for Ellie, were whole apples and pears that we "started" for her by biting a piece off before giving it to her. You can give him noodles, peas, rice and things that help him work on his pincer grip. Just avoid things that are natural plugs such as whole grapes.

Purees, yogurts, and mashed potatoes are great, too. Just let him go to town with it with their fingers. I've fed Ellie yogurt with a spoon at the airport or other places where it wasn't feasible to let her cover herself in food, but only as much as she wanted. The whole point is to avoid food power struggles. As he gets older, you can let him try using a baby fork or spoon on their own.

Gradually as he gets the hang of eating, things will get less messy, and you won't need to breastfeed as much because he will be getting more of his nutritional needs met by the food instead of the milk.

Ellie gagged. They all do. It is scary at first, but you have to remember that gagging and choking are not the same things. Choking is quiet and dangerous. Gagging is loud and mostly harmless. It is the baby's way of learning how much food is too much food to put in their mouths. I'll admit that in the beginning I kept the baby heimlich and cpr instruction on my laptop right next to me at the table, just in case. I relaxed pretty quickly though.

Here are some instructions on what to do if the baby gags or chokes.

I understand the arguments against Baby Led Weaning. It is really messy, and wasteful, there is no exact science for measuring how much they've eaten, and there is the fear they might choke. Plus people look at you like you are crazy when you give your baby a hunk of bread to gnaw on at a restaurant. I've also run into issues where the health professionals Ellie sees have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention baby-led weaning.

But the benefits really appeal to me. She enjoys eating, and mealtimes for her and us happen at the same time. I think it will help her be a healthier eater in the future because she is exposed to more textures and flavors of food than she would have just eating purees.

And there is no need to only do purees or only do baby led weaning. Mix it up and do what is comfortable for you.

I hope this helps! Let me know how it goes, and give the baby a little cuddle from me!