or as we like to call it, baby led whining!!!! Ha, just kidding!
Well, anyway that’s what we’ve been doing. For those not familiar with blw, basically it’s following baby’s cues and rhythm for introducing solids and eventually weaning off breast (or bottle). It also means bypassing purées and mashes etc. (which we didn’t do entirely because the original plan was for Sprout to go to daycare and since he wasn’t up for taking a bottle, we wanted him to get SOME food into him so he wouldn’t starve – didn’t work because he lost weight despite eating lunch….). So sprout joins us for meals (usually lunch and afternoon snack – dinner for him) and gets some of what we’re having, or something else if it’s not appropriate, and feeds himself. It’s really cool! And no, he has not choked. The cool thing with babies is that their tongue thrust reflex (what makes us gag) is closer to the front of the mouth than adults’ so they won’t usually choke on food as long as they’re sitting in an upright position and food isn’t put into their mouth. It’s interesting to see that anything he can’t handle will just fall back out of his mouth. It was a bit hard to watch without interfering at first, but he truth be told he rarely gags anymore. This ability in babies usually disappears if they are spoon fed, which is why some older babies have a much harder time handling solids.
I must admit though, he’s never been too keen on food. Likes to taste it but has hardly enough to call a proper meal, although he has been getting better. His favourites at the moment seem to be greek yoghurt, avocado and bread. And more bread. And then yoghurt… you get the drift! He’ll generally try anything though (which wasn’t the case with mash) except for sweet potato for some reason… I thought that was supposed to be a baby favourite… go figure!
He’s very proficient with a loaded spoon already… never misses his mouth, and is quite good at gumming his food, even the meat. It’s too bad I can’t seem to put video up on this blog because the pics alone do not do justice. I sometimes don’t really realise how much he’s eaten until it’s diaper changing time! I’ll spare you the details… let’s just say I’ve become an expert poop detective (oh! he DID have banana…wow… 
).
If you’re interested here are a few links:
We have this book by Gill Rapely – a must read!! http://www.baby-led.com/
They have a great forum: http://www.babyledweaning.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/startingsolids/babyledweaning/
http://community.babycentre.co.uk/a/search/groups?conds=baby+led+weaning&_requestid=3043247
It does create a mess, but there are a few things you can do to minimise it:
- Place a towel or splash mat under the high chair to catch food (although we gave up on this)
- Buy a sleeved bib for baby (or as we call it – the full body armour!)
- Invest in a dust buster
- Get a travel place mat for eating out (we have this one – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Infant-10313-Tiny-Diner/dp/B0006BAJK4/ref=pd_sim_by_5)
- Relax and enjoy the free entertainment!!!! Ha!
Other useful items (not for the mess):
