This week we hit a major milestone: Solids!
No spoon-feeding endless bowls of rice cereal here--instead, we're trying out the idea of Baby Led Weaning. It's all about involving babies with family meals right from the get-go. Basically, you skip purees, go directly to finger foods, and let babes learn to feed themselves on their own accord.
We simply stick G in his Bumbo chair on the counter with us while we eat, offer him simple, healthy foods that he can easily grasp, and let him explore! Right now he just gnaws or sucks on things, and is only taking in tiny bits at a time. But we can tell that he is really enjoying it! Although it's a little nontraditional and makes for a giant mess, the method makes so much sense to me and so far we're having a lot of fun!
Here's my quick+humble summary of how/why it works:
- Babies meet all of their nutritional needs through breastmilk or formula alone in the first year of life, so you need not worry whether they are getting enough.
- Evidence shows that by 6 months, babies have a much more mature digestive tract and are better able to handle the introduction of a variety of foods...Not just bland mush.
- Breastfed babies especially (like G) are already used to controlling their intake and have already been exposed to a variety of flavors via mama's milk. I don't need to micromanage his portions or exposures or worry about overfeeding him.
- BLW naturally progresses with the child's development. At this stage, infants are very oral and learn about the world through their mouths. Right now, G is super curious and has the hand-eye coordination to stick almost everything en la boca. Why not his own food? Plus, he's already learning to equate colors, textures, and shapes with different tastes. Very cool.
- We don't substitute solids for those very important-hearty milk feeds. Instead, we schedule our meals in between his feedings when he is happy and alert. Eventually, he will realize that this solid food business is satisfying his belly and he will naturally begin to drop his milk feeds during the day. And somewhere in between, he'll begin mimicking everything we do--that's when the utensils and manners come into play. :)
- I should also mention the safety aspect: We only give G foods while he is sitting upright and under our careful supervision. Of course we are mindful about choking hazards.
- Eating real, nutritional food from the beginning will help him learn to love a variety of foods and will (hopefully!) help prevent picky eating and mealtime battles as he grows.
