Omnom nom nom!

I know that in the post “let’s get crunchy!” I very briefly mentioned Baby Led Weaning (BLW). And since then I have gotten a few questions about what this is and how it works. So here I am to answer the questions via blog post!

Theo on his first birthday trying his first taste of cake:)

Max loving him some brussels sprout:)

BLW is exactly what its name says it is. Letting your baby decide when they will wean themselves from breast to solid food. It also is omitting puree foods and instead allowing baby to feed themselves with their hands. Simple enough right? Around six months your baby is beginning to take that leap from exclusive breast milk to wanting some solids. This can be a confusing step for parents sometimes, so we tend to over think, over prepare and over worry about it. But really your baby is following your lead and what you are leading them to is food to mouth movements, chewing, and swallowing.

BLW is a process of feeding that allows a child to decide when they are ready to eat, what they want to eat, and when they are full. Kiddos use their innate instinct to pick things up and put them in their mouth. They then learn to chew before swallowing as a result of the mouth investigation instinct, instead of swallowing immediately with a puree or milk. Think of your little one picking up their favorite toy. What do they do? It goes straight to the mouth to be “investigated” which is basically tasting, and gumming on. So put food in place of the toy and you have a chewing then swallowing baby.

Beginning with foods that are baby-grasp friendly like cooked carrot sticks, zucchini, sweet potatoes, celery, and some fruits like bananas, mangos, peaches, nectarines, tomatoes and really ripe pears. These all can easily be grasped in a long thin form, and then gummed on to investigate. Don’t worry if immediately you little one doesn’t want to actually eat anything and they would prefer to lick or gum on it instead. The whole point of BLW is that they get to set the pace.

After you little one is on the roll with chewing and swallowing, you can begin to see what foods they prefer over others. Once they begin to have the “pincher grasp” down too (8-10 months) you can cut different things up into tiny little pieces to be picked up by baby and eaten. This would be the time to start with meats, beans, eggs, and other veggies or fruits that are less “gummable” there in the beginning.

Follow your baby’s lead; if they are continuously turning down a certain food they may not like the taste right now. But don’t be discouraged, set it aside for a few weeks or months and then try again. So ready for some BLW go to tips?!

• ·      Always make sure what you are feeding your little one is an appropriate food groups! Avoid rices, cereals, and grains since little ones have scarce to little amounts of the enzymes available in their gut needed to digest these.
• ·      If you or your partner have a food allergy it is best to keep that particular food away from baby until they are old enough to tell you how they feel.
• ·      Always double check temperature, center of cooked foods especially!
• ·      Eat meals with your baby in your lap. This way they begin to see the food they can try and start to explore off of your plate. (I did this with both my boys and ended up moving them to the high chair when they figured out they could use their hands. I usually ended up with an epic battle for my food, or the windshield wiper hands on my plate. Both resulting with more food on the floor than in either of our tummies. So once they let me know they wanted some too they got their own food).
• ·      There is a difference between “gagging” and “choking”. Gagging is the natural reaction to move food from the back of the tongue to the front of the mouth. Choking is when a food particle is obstructing the airway. Until baby gets the feel for moving things around in their mouth it is possible they will gag a few times. That is why it is super important to always be beside your baby when they are eating and to have appropriately sized food for them. Avoid anything too big when the pincher grasp is mastered.
• ·      Remember “Food before one is just for fun” so let your little ones have fun exploring and tasting new things! Don’t worry on the amounts they eat, or try to force food upon them. It will associate bad feelings with food and can take many years to reverse. Bad JOOJOO!
• ·      Want more about BLW? Check out these sites!
• http://www.babyledweaning.com/
• http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html
• http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyledweaning.htm#.UFvnEY6WPao

I am going to stress that it is very important that you wait as long as possible to give your baby solids. The digestive track of an infant is very immature and one of the last things to develop fully. Hence why an infant receives it caloric intake from Mama who takes food in for the baby and turns it into a manageable food source for their tummies along with other little miracles.

Six months is around the time your little one will be showing you that they indeed are ready! But some babies are not ready until as late as 10 months. These are some signs your little one might be ready:

• ·      Sitting up unassisted
• ·      Extreme interest in the food you are eating (think of the face you would make if the holy ghost appeared in your food!)
• ·      Hand to mouth coordination with “pincher grasp”
• ·      Crawling into a sitting position from tummy time.
• ·      Reaching out to your plate of food
• 
  

Feeding little tummies with delicious things is one of my favorite parts of the day! I hope to have a few recipes up soon! Until then crunch on fellow mamas!

Dan<3