How is it that my baby is seven months old?! Bob has been eating solids for about a month and a bit now. After a failed attempt at weaning about 6 weeks ago, we turned to baby led weaning. I’m so proud of her ‘can do’ attitude. She’s willing to try just about anything. It doesn’t even have to be edible to be fair. The side of the coffee table, the buckle of your belt, avocados or ripe bananas, it’s all good. This girl will put just about anything in her mouth and as long as it’s not pureed, eat it. It must be a texture thing. I tried her on one of those lovely Ella’s Kitchen pouches the other day and she still insists on spitting it out.
Obviously, there is no one way to wean your baby, a lot of it is trial and error. But I can admit, we’ve not been as consistent as I’d like. By this stage I’d have wanted to be feeding her some sort of solid food three times per day. I think even if I come near to that, the days when her dad looks after her, he isn’t sticking to it either. I think we’re both babying her a bit rather than letting her be as independent as she can be. So lesson here? We both have room for improvement!
What Bob’s been eating on her baby led weaning journey
- Macaroni and fusilli pasta
- Avocados
- Bananas
- Apples (peeled)
- Watermelon
- Strawberries
- Cucumbers (peeled)
- Carrots (steamed)
- Cho-cho / christophene (steamed)
- Sweet potatoes (baked)
- Toast
- Scrambled eggs
- Croissants
- Hard dough bread
- Tomatoes (skin removed)
- Farley’s Rusks
- Yoghurt
- Some Marks and Spencer cheese puffs (NOT with my consent. There is a whole post here one day once I’ve calmed down enough)
What baby led weaning has taught me so far
Baby led weaning seems to be a generational thing. I had only ever known about pureeing baby food, probably because this is the only way I’d seen it done. The examples around me from family members and friends had always been either self blended, or shop bought pureed food. Now, as agile thinking people, it wasn’t much of a stretch to have us as her parents, try BLW with Bob. But introducing the concept outside the immediate circle was harder.
The gagging sound babies make when learning to handle food is scary for onlookers.We stayed the weekend at my parent’s house recently. My grandparents are in the country and I wanted the girls (and me!!!) to spend some time with them all. We had a big family breakfast and Bob joined in, eating toast fingers. My dad kept panicking and had to leave the table whilst Bob got to grips with a piece of toast.
We’d assured him she would bite off more than she could chew (pun so intended) and then she’d gag before removing it and trying again. Even with the warning it was too much for him to watch and he insisted she was in imminent danger, no matter what I said to the contrary. I get that it seemed alien to him and at the same instance, I just wish he’d have faith in what I say a bit more!
The mess will get everywhere! When you decide to wean you baby, know that BLW is a messy process. Don’t worry, going the pureed route is messy too. There’s no winning in this situation. The problem with solid food is that the distance the mess travels seems to be greater. My daughter has become a pro at lobbing her food over her head never to be found again. Well, I find it, but it takes a lot of looking.
Invest in a good full cover bib, or feed them in the buff. The small feeding bibs proved too enticing and Bob just ate them. Plus, they didn’t cover enough of her body and ultimately most of the food got past it. We bought a really nice bib from Close recently which covers all of her and saves her clothing when we’re out and about. I only associated Close with cloth nappies as we own some Close pop-ins. It was a pleasant surprise to find their aprons online.
What’s next on our weaning journey?
I’d love to make sure the baby gets some sort of solid meal three times per day.
I’d also like to introduce some more foods and flavours to her palette. I’ve stayed away from yoghurts because of the potential for mess but they are definitely on the cards in the coming week. I’d also like to start making some tray bakes and muffins so that there are always baby friendly foods on hand in the fridge. That, I feel is a task for the weekend!
How did you find weaning your own children? Did you find it difficult? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
