Baby led weaning?

I remember hearing about this well after DD started solids, but was intrigued by it. DS is only 4 months old, so I have time, but I want to be prepared. My understanding is baby feeds himself? No spoons, bowls, baby food, ect? What about food that has to be eaten with spoons like yogurt, oatmeal, soup; do you just introduce those when he is old enough to use a spoon? DD wouldn't self feed at all until she was around 12 months, but I stared solids the 'traditional way'. Please enlighten me with all you know on this BLW thing, :bowdown:, lol. TIA!

We did not do baby led weaning, but when DS was learning to feed himself he ate plenty of yogurt and oatmeal with his hands :) I think this is one of those things that you don't have to do 100% the way someone else describes it -- you can experiment and figure out which parts work for your family and to what extent. Like maybe offering a small bowl of yogurt (or a glob on a plate?) and a spoon and letting baby try it out and eat however much he wants by whatever method he chooses?

We started solids the "traditional" way too at just before 6 months, but I think DS was feeding himself a good bit by 8-9 months (although we still spoon fed some yogurt and purees until around a year). I remember he was 9 months at Thanksgiving and we gave him a little plate with bites of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. and let him have at it.

We did baby-led weaning, more or less.

If you want to introduce spoon foods, like yogurt (etc), you pre-load a (toddler) spoon and let Baby self-feed.

I used to tape (disposable) apple sauce or yogurt cups to DD's high-chair tray & let her use a spoon. We found the SugarBooger brand and similar IKEA toddler plastic-handled spoons and forks were ideal for her chunky little fist. Before that, I'd pre-load regular spoons with stuff like (mild) guacamole.

One of DD's first foods was steamed broccoli (really), mostly because we could get it while eating at restaurants. We also ordered un-seasoned sweet potato fries when we could get them.

We did blw. Preloaded spoons for yogurt, although I think we gave it to her less frequently to avoid having her paint the walls. I bought the books, but found these websites/blogs useful, especially the archives of the blogs to see what they were feeding.

http://www.babyledweaning.com/
http://www.blw-recipes.blogspot.com/
http://www.myblwexperiences.blogspot.com/

For soup we would give the solids, but not the broth. Or put the broth in a cup of some variety.

We just gave her whatever we were eating. We don't have a history of food allergies in our families, so I was less concerned with trying to introduce foods one at a time. Pasta bolognese was a particular favorite of hers. :). Stick shaped pieces of food are easiest in the beginning since they don't know how to get food out of their fists.

We did blw with DD. I read the book:
Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods-and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater https://www.amazon.com/dp/161519021X..._gIuVwb6XJK0Q9
All I really remember is that we mostly just gave her what we were eating. It was all real food, not baby food. I remember that she made some great messes, and often she was more playing with the food and not getting much of it in her belly, but we were still nursing, and that was fine. I think it's a great way of feeding babies. It's much less expensive, too, because you don't need to buy any special foods. The idea is that you don't put food in your baby's mouth, you let the baby do it. That's why you give the baby the spoon. Preloading it is usually a necessity until your baby is physically capable of getting food on the spoon without help.


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Originally Posted by 123LuckyMom

We did blw with DD. I read the book:
Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods-and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater https://www.amazon.com/dp/161519021X..._gIuVwb6XJK0Q9 ...

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I also read the book and found it helpful in giving me a vocabulary for caregivers and relatives who thought I was weird. :shrug:

However, I felt that the book itself, unless it's been revised since 2010, repeated itself quite a bit.

But, yes, we pretty much gave DD whatever we were eating. MIL gave her yogurt once and I flipped out (privately and on here) so I ended up buying it for her to ensure she wasn't getting artificial sweeteners. (Again, a control-freak kind of thing for me.)

Also, if you've never taken one or if you need a refresher, I would recommend taking an infant CPR course. Just in case and I hope you should never need it. (DH and I had to take one as part of DD's discharge plan when she was a newborn, but I am pretty sure that this isn't standard for a normal, healthy infant.)

I skipped anything that required a spoon. I started with ripe pears, and after a couple of weeks, he was eating what we were eating. At 7 months old, he unexpectedly took a bite of my loaded burger while sitting on my lap! At 11 months, I had to order him his own meal at a Mexican restaurant, because he ate too much to share with my then-4yo.

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Originally Posted by pastrygirl

I skipped anything that required a spoon. I started with ripe pears, and after a couple of weeks, he was eating what we were eating. At 7 months old, he unexpectedly took a bite of my loaded burger while sitting on my lap! At 11 months, I had to order him his own meal at a Mexican restaurant, because he ate too much to share with my then-4yo.

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This.

Did BLW with both girls starting around 6-7m when it was obvious BM wasn't cutting it :)

We started out with stick shaped soft foods - avocado, sweet potato, butternut squash, pear, banana, etc. Teeth didn't matter, could gum chicken or steak easily. Once the pincer grasp was present added in smaller items like peas and blueberries. I would probably watch a couple of youtube videos to understand the difference in gagging since that can happen although never did with mine.