Let's try again - Baby-Led Weaning/Solids

Mommeeeeeeee!

Mon, May 21 2012, 12:53 pm

I started another thread about this, but got a bunch of irrelevant responses from people who weren't familiar with what I'm asking about, so I've copied the explanation I posted in that thread in the hopes that the responses to this thread will answer my question better.

Just to clarify what this discussion is (supposed to be) about:

Child-led weaning refers to the idea of allowing a child - toddler, preschooler, or whatever, to decide on their own when to stop breastfeeding with no interference from anyone. Not what this thread is asking about. Child-led weaning usually doesn't refer to babies because it is extremely rare for a baby under age 1 to truly and permanently wean of their own free will.

Baby-Led Weaning refers to a specific method of starting babies on solid foods, as detailed by Gill Rapley in her book creatively entitled Baby-Led Weaning. The "Weaning" in the title refers to the fact that starting solids is the first step a child takes at the very beginning of the journey that will, later on, possibly MUCH later on, lead to solids foods entirely replacing breastmilk (or formula) as the child's sole source of nutrition. Starting a child on BLW does not in any way indicate that the child has or will reduce(d) the amount or duration of breastfeeding at that particular point in time, nor is that the aim. It means only that they have taken the first little step in preparing for that far-off time when they eventually will do so. Some proponents of this practice prefer the term Baby-Led Solids as being more accurate, since people tend to associate the word weaning with ending breastfeeding, which is not what this is about. Child-led weaning would ideally be a component of BLW as the child would be allowed to continue breastfeeding in conjuction with solid foods for as long as s/he desires, but it doesn't have to be so, strictly speaking.

The main points of the BLW method include:
-not starting a child on any solid foods until at least six months of age,
-not giving the child any pureed foods, never spoon-feeding a child but instead having them feed themselves exclusively,
-and most important, making the child the only decision maker in what and how much he eats from the food he's offered without trying to persaude him to eat more or eat something he doesn't want.

The purported benefits of this are varied, which I will not elaborate here...read the book if you want to know more!

So, if you have done this with your child, please share your general impression, how you felt about it, and if you think it had any long-term benefits if your child is already older.

shnitzel

Wed, May 30 2012, 6:08 pm

I did it.

I was not machmir on following any rules. I fed my daughter whatever I was eating starting at about 5.5 months. She didn`t start consistently eating until 10 months. We did avoid allergens because DH`s family has every allergy known to mankind and if I was worried about chocking I would cut up food to be more manageable, like carrots into matchsticks. I never bought a jar of babyfood or blended food for my daughter. She is turning three soon and is probably the best eater I have ever seen. She LOVES all veggies and is an incredibly adventurous eater, she will taste anything, and while I am sure that is partly just her personality I really think eating whatever everyone else was and having foods with spices from the beginning really helped.

BLW wasn`t really a big deal to us. It just meant giving her a little bit of what I was eating at every meal and letting her play with it.