The Mush Stops Here! Baby Led Weaning method of Solid Food Introduction

[kreez]

I started this thread before but it was merged into an unrelated topic and it has disappeared into oblivion .  However, my new bundle of joy is about to start eating solids again and I'm super excited to do the Rapley's method again. 

This is the method I have used for my daughter and I have nothing but good experience with it. 

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby Led Weaning, quite simply, means letting your child feed themselves from the very start of weaning. The term was originally coined by Gill Rapley, a former health visitor and midwife.

According to the most recent research most babies reach for food at around six months, which is also the time that mothers are being encouraged to wean* by their Health Visitors, in accordance with the WHO guidelines.

The distinct advantage of weaning at around six months is that by then, our children are developmentally capable of feeding themselves proper food, in other words – no more mush!

You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don’t they won’t. (But they do, really they do… check out the baby with the pork chop).

That’s the essence of Baby Led Weaning. No purees, no ice cube trays, no food processor, no potato masher, no baby rice, no weird fruit and veg combos… just you and your child, eating food that you enjoy with you and your family.

Let us share experiences, questions, videos, photos, and everything else about baby led weaning.  Has anybody tried this?

here is a video of my daughter (4years ago) when I first started giving her solid food using blw.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=393041363301&set=vb.610608301&type=3&theater

[khriseeee]

I started a thread on this too but it also got lost. I guess it's not too popular here.

I did BLW with my daughter beginning a week shy of her turning 6 months. It was a great success, we didn't have any issues with her eating "real" food. She would even eat ampalaya! She would basically eat whatever we ate when we were out and a lot of people were amazed.

Yun lang, when she turned 2, she figured out what she likes and what she doesn't like and has become a little picky with food :\

[kreez]

It's actually gaining popularity here in Europe na... i did this with my daughter and it was a great experience kaya I started this thread again coz I'm about to start with my second child na in about 2 months

[chocoholic88]

Hi Sisses, I've read about this too. I will be having my first baby next month and as a first time mom, one thing is holding me back from trying BLW- that is, the fear of my baby choking. Lalo na he will be with the yaya lang when I return to work.

[vain_kixie]

I wanna do this to my first child. Since im a sahm i'll be able to watch him intently. Marunong din naman ako mag heimlich maneuver if ever but i do we dont get to that. I'll read more about this before baby comes out but iba parin yung personal experience ng mommies dito.

[kreez]

^^sis chocoholic88 actually nabasa ko na one of the main reasons why some moms are afraid to try this is because of their fear of choking pero I have read din (through my research before I went for this method) that BLW posses no greater threat of choking than giving them mash because eventually children who have been used to mashed will also have to deal with bigger pieces of food.  And I have also read somewhere that little babies gag reflex are much sensitive than adults so the moment they put a lot into their mouths, they immediately activate their gag reflex and they spit the food out.  The book Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley is very helpful and a good source of information.  But of couse in any case, we (and our yayas/care takers) should at least be aware of the first aid for choking babies whether we use traditional method of introducing food or we go the BLW route. 

^sis good luck, let us share recipes and food preparation techniques... its fun to know how other moms are going about BLW.

kami din naman ni hubby initially we also had that fear of choking but as we look on to our daughter eating she gagged maybe once or twice and eventually spat out the food and just went on with it.  tuwang lang ako kasi she gets to eat with us and she gets sit on the table while we eat. 

[chocoholic88]

Possible kaya na BLW lang si baby when I'm around and then spoonfeeding sya pag si yaya lang?