Baby Led Feeding

If I am unhappy, frustrated, and/or angry with a parenting situation, experience shows that one of these two must be true:

(1) I need to change my attitude. Accept and embrace the current state of being. It will pass eventually. This applies to both kids' frequent waking as babies and even now with Micah.

(2) There is a better way and I need to find it.

This applied to the introduction to solid foods.

The mainstream North American method of weaning is a complicated process of do's and don'ts, whens and hows. When Micah was about six months old and showing some interest in solids, I bought some rice cereal (as per The Rules). Baby cereal needs to be mixed either with sterile water, breastmilk, or formula, which of course is also mixed with sterile water. This means that either I had to boil and cool water, or pump breastmilk. Either option felt like a lot of work to me. And that is just for cereals! Never mind all the work and planning involved with preparing pureed baby foods. (Yes I could have bought jars of baby food but I wanted to give Micah the highest quality food I could, and to me that meant making it myself.) It didn't make sense that a baby's nutritional needs would so suddenly change from something so simple and straightforward as breastmilk, to this complicated monster of planning and preparation. So I did some research on the internet to find out if anybody else was doing something that would feel more "right" to me.

I found an approach called "Baby Led Weaning" (BLW). Many people understand weaning to mean "cessation of breastfeeding". Weaning is actually the process of adding nourishment other than breastmilk to a young one's diet. We can call it “Baby Led Feeding” to reduce confusion since we don't understand weaning that way in North America.

Wikipedia has a very good explanation of BLW. I would recommend checking out the Baby-Led Weaning article in its entirety. It's not too long but it has good details about the whats and whys of this approach. Here are some exerpts:

As recommended by the World Health Organization and several other health authorities across the world, there is no need to introduce solid food to a baby’s diet until after 6 months, and by then the child’s digestive system and her fine motor skills have developed enough to allow her to self-feed. Baby-led weaning takes advantage of the natural development stages of the child.

The baby should be able to sit well unsupported, be eager to participate in mealtime and maybe even trying to grab food and put it in her mouth. The child should show signs of developing a pincer grasp, as well as an ability and willingness to chew.

Self-feeding supports the child’s motor development on many vital areas, such as their hand-eye coordination and chewing. It encourages the child towards independence and often provides a stress-free alternative for meal times, for both the child and the parents. Some babies refuse to eat solids when offered with a spoon, but happily help themselves to finger food.

In addition to this method being easier for Mom and Dad, it makes so much sense! Babies aren't magically ready for solids the day they turn 6 months. They are ready for solids when they can pick something up, bring it to their mouth, bite, chew and swallow it. It makes sense to me to trust that baby knows best for what his or her digestive system is ready, and when he or she is full. Constipation can often be a problem for babies fed solids according to The Rules. It is possible to overfeed a spoon-fed baby, and what impact will this have on the child's future eating habits?

You may worry about safety. Isn't a baby in danger of choking on chunky foods? Some argue that a baby started on purees is in greater danger of choking. A puree- fed baby learns to suck food, whereas a finger food-fed baby learns from the start to bite and chew before swallowing. When you offer a puree-fed baby chunky food, that baby may mistakenly suck the food and it could end up lodged in the windpipe. The Wikipedia article says: Contrary to popular belief there is no research supporting the introduction of solids by purees and in fact babies can become very confused when stage 2 foods are introduced (with lumps) unsure whether to swallow or chew.

Check out this YouTube video about BLW:



Something that I have noticed about Micah is that he became very proficient with cutlery very early on. Interesting that the video mentions it as one of the side effects of BLW.

I didn't know about BLW when Eva was at this stage, but her behaviour reinforced the appropriateness of this approach. She refused cereal early on, and always insisted on having control of the spoon at mealtimes. She gave up purees very quickly and showed a definite preference for table foods.