Baby Led What?

Baby Led Weaning. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. It's a concept I stumbled across when I started making baby food for Pippa. It's a style of starting a baby on solids that basically skips the pureed stage of the game and jumps straight to table food. The thought is two fold: First, babies should learn to chew before they learn to swallow which isn't possible if you are shoving pureed food in their mouth for them. And, second, that when babies are allowed to control how much food they eat they are less apt to get in the habit of over eating. I found it all very interesting when Pippa was a baby and incorporated some of the concepts into her diet, like giving finger foods at a young age. I think it's good for development and we noticed that Pippa became very good with her fine motor skills early and is not a very picky eater now. But I didn't jump head first into it. I liked the idea of making baby food and everything everyone tells you has to do with purees and cereal, etc.

Well, true to Lincoln's personality, he had a different plan. He sure does like to do things his own way. I started solids in the form of purees at about 6 months and you'd think I was trying to kill him, what with the gagging and retching and all. He'd see the spoon coming and clamp his mouth shut tighter than Fort Knox. I figured he just wasn't ready yet and took a break for a couple of weeks. But it never got any better and we were both getting frustrated. Then I had the idea to just give him some of the steamed peas I was about to puree and see what happened. Wouldn't you know it, he ate every single one he managed to get his little hands on (which was quite a few, to my surprise)! He loved it! He wanted nothing to do with the spoon with the very same pureed peas on it, though. So, I ditched the mush and ordered the official Baby Led Weaning book. And there has been no looking back. I cannot believe how quickly he took to it and how much food he eats already! He eats 3 meals a day plus snacks and dropped one milk feeding. He basically eats when and what we do. I do have to make slight alterations to our food, obviously, to make it safe for him but it's a lot easier to do that than make baby food! Yes, it's messy. For sure. But that doesn't bother me.

Now we have real family meal times where everyone (i.e. me) gets to eat at the same time. Sto and I sit around the table and really feel the weight of our bounty. It's a wonderful thing when both your kids are happy and thriving....and covered in food.