Baby-Led Weaning

When Henry was born, Before Henry was even born, I knew I wanted to nurse. And my goal was to nurse exclusively for 6 months and then introduce food. But as it got closer to the 6 month mark, I wasn't sure if I was ready to give him solids. Mainly because he was thriving so well and I really enjoy the bond you share with your baby through nursing. I didn't want to give that up. But Henry had a high interest in food, so I didn't want to deny him the opportunity of eating solids if he was interested either. Then a friend told me about baby-led weaning. I did some research and I knew that was exactly the answer I was looking for. Basically, baby-led weaning is offering your child (6 months+) food that is safe and age appropriate and letting them do the rest. You feed them the same foods you eat every day. At 6 months, they have the capability to put food into their mouths and they can choose what they would like to eat and how much of it. No purees and no worrying about making a separate dinner just for baby. It is all about following your child's cues and  letting them do the rest. Here is the wikipedia link for those who are interested. And here is a book on Amazon that I would highly recommend. I've really enjoyed reading it. So, because you are letting your child feed themselves, they obviously are going to be very messy at first. Henry has only had a handful of meals with us and it has been very messy, but I can see an improvement already. But because you are letting your child feed themselves, you are allowing them to put what they want in their mouths and at first they are just going to be tasting or playing with their food. It can take a little while before they actually start getting any substance out of it. Which I really like the idea of, because we are still nursing just as much, so I am getting what I want and Henry is able to try eating foods, which is what he wants. (Though he really likes nursing too.) Henry has loved everything we have let him eat so far. Yogurt is super messy because I just put it on his tray and let him go to town. If I give him a spoon with yogurt on it, he will eat the yogurt and then just likes to chew on the metal spoon and splash the yogurt around. The other night we made sweet potato french fries and he really liked those. Not much ended up on the floor that night. P.S. Be forewarned that your pediatrician will probably not agree with you/think you are crazy/ try to persuade you differently. Do what you feel is best for you and your child. As for us, we are going to continue our BLW journey. Enjoy the mess! Oh yeah, and a plastic high chair with no cover is probably best. We now have Henry in a seat that attaches to the table and he loves it. We tried out these two high chairs we already had and neither one worked.

 Carrots and pears. This high chair we got from a friend, unfortunately it is angled weird so you need a blanket behind baby in order to get them sitting where you would like them. This doesn't work when you are letting baby have a free for all with their food.

 Banana, yogurt, and scrambled eggs. Messy! We thought this high chair would work fine because it was all plastic and therefore easy to wipe off when it was dirty. Turns out Henry can reach a vast part of the chair the high chair is strapped to. So the chair became filthy after just a few times of use. Strike 2. I'll post a picture of the third seat later. It's a keeper though. Henry is doing well in it.

Henry is now enjoying being rinsed off/showered in the sink. He has always showered with Kevin or I and doesn't ever take baths. But, with BLW, things can get quite messy. So we just give him a quick rinse when he is done eating. He seems to like it!