Baby-Led Weaning: Tips, Tricks and Ideas

I wrote in this post a little while ago about how we decided to use baby-led weaning to start out little one on solids. I am so happy with that decision. Our meal times are so much fun! Watching William carefully pick out foods to put in his mouth, skilfully spit out skins that he doesn't want and carelessly remove from his table [throw on the floor] any foods he doesn't want. We're watching his personality unfold at the kitchen table, that is for sure. Anyway, I have learned a thing or two along the way - little things that make my life easier, ensure more food ends up in his mouth instead of on the floor, and [possibly] reducing the mess to be cleaned up after each meal. It's definitely a messy business, no doubt about it. All worth it though. Here's a couple of things I've learned.

Sticky rice.

I cannot emphasise enough how good sticky rice is. Think risotto, think brown rice that is cooked much longer than usual with more liquid added, and rice porridge with milk for breakfast. Once the cooking is finished, you can add a little more liquid and let it stand for a few minutes, to thicken it up some more. Sticky rice sticks to a spoon! So baby can turn the spoon upside down, inside out, this way and that, and usually, still have rice stuck to the spoon by the time it makes it to their mouth. Rice that doesn't stick to the spoon is much messier to clean up. Which brings me to my next tip...

Use cutlery.

Our baby was using a spoon from the word go with solids. He knew enough from having watched us eat to know roughly what to do with it. The very first time he used a spoon, he poked it in his mouth a bit too far. That was the one and only time he's done that. Now he happily waves it around and will eat from it if he wants to, or throw it on the floor if that's what he feels like doing. After a couple of months I started letting him use a fork as well [the little baby spoons and forks only]. We watch him closely with it, and remove it from his hands if it doesn't have food on it, but he has learned how to eat food from a fork remarkably well. We just load up the spoon or fork and hand it to him, and he feeds himself.

Roast vegetables.

Roasting vegies has provided a very easy way for William to feed himself, particularly in the early days when his coordination was still developing. Roasting generally gives a tougher outside 'skin' and a soft cooked inside, great for baby eating. Think roast sweet potato fingers, oven cooked potato chips, roast pumpkin, roast fingers of zucchini. If the outside gets too tough from oven roasting, I just break it open a bit, and he will suck all the good bits out and discard the skins. The skin gives a nice solid base that baby can hang on to while sucking out the softer food inside.

Cooked apples.
Cooked apples are good for baby's digestion, particularly when solids are first introduced. Plus, they're easy for a baby to handle when cut into slices. In the early days, William used to suck on them and didn't actually eat much apple; now he happily eats plenty [if he wants to]. The skin again gives a good structure that is easy for baby to hold on to while the flesh is easily eaten. Simply slice up apple quarters and cook in water until soft, usually 5-10 minutes or so. Sometimes I add raisins or chopped up prunes to the cooking water, to soften them up and for something different; these are also excellent for helping digestion along.  

Make the clean-up easy.

I think one of the biggest reasons people sometimes avoid baby-led weaning is the mess and the necessary cleaning up. I won't lie, it is messy and the cleaning up gets pretty repetitive. So I make it as easy as I can. A wash of baby with a face washer, and a wipe of the high chair with the same washer. We have a plastic mat under the high chair where most of the food lands. I collect all pieces of food from the floor into the chook bucket [those girls do very well out of baby-led weaning] and give the floor a wipe. I have a stash of dedicated floor-cleaning rags for this job which I keep close at hand and which can be washed and re-used. I also use a citrus-infused vinegar cleaner in the clean up.

Relax.
Sometimes I catch myself during meal times and realise how tense I am through my entire body, waiting to catch a spoon that's been turfed or trying to prevent the spoon from being dropped or catch the last piece of broccoli before it hits the floor. Or make sure he's eaten enough, and not just playing and throwing food around. And then I have to remember to breathe. William is happiest and eats best when he's left to get on with it without too much interference. It can be hard to relax and trust the process, but then I stop and remind myself that it's all fun and experience at this stage. And the chooks will always eat what he doesn't. And it's only a mess, it can be cleaned up. And just allow him to do his thing. It's not always easy but I think it's worth it.

That's just a summary of some of the things I've learned to make this whole baby-led weaning thing easier. It is a very rewarding thing to do, I love watching him eating up by himself and improving his coordination and motor skills at the same time. Plus the inclusiveness aspect, whereby he eats what we eat, and we all sit at the table together. So lovely.

Oh, and one more tip. When you have a delicious morsel on your plate and you want to give it to baby [because you love your baby and you want the best for them, obviously], don't. Eat it instead. There's nothing like seeing that yummy delicious piece that you have forgone yourself, get turfed off the tray and onto the floor, without so much as a look at it. Best just eat it yourself.

Oh, and of course, use common sense and trust your judgement. I'm no expert, just a mum for whom these methods are working.

Talking About: Baby Led Weaning

I thought I'd share with you some of my thought about this baby led weaning caper. Our baby is now 7.5 months old and we've been eating solids by baby led weaning for about 6 weeks now. I honestly can't imagine feeding him solids any other way. Before we even started on solids proper, we were eating soup for dinner one evening and I offered him some on his little baby spoon, which he grabbed and tried to feed himself with. So I guess that's where it started. 

Because... what could possibly go wrong?

If you're not sure what baby led weaning is all about, google it, but essentially it involves the baby feeding itself from the start, and eating [I use that term lightly] whatever the rest of the family is eating [within reason and common sense]. This means, no 'baby food' in the traditional sense of jars of mush, no homemade combinations of mush, in fact no separate baby meals prepared. I think it can be a little daunting for some, and many people have concerns that the baby will choke on something.

But it seems little babies, once they lose the reflex to push food out of their mouths, are quite capable of mouthing food around, breaking it up with saliva and their gums, and if a large piece does go in the mouth, they seem quite capable of bringing it back up/out again. Obviously you wouldn't ever leave a baby unattended while feeding and I know I watch our little one like a hawk [discreetly mind you, the idea is not to stare at them but to let them get on with eating!].

It is a wonderful thing to see. We have watched our little baby's hand to mouth coordination develop quickly, and his excitement and enthusiasm for meal time is just so lovely. Watching his face when his bowl turns up, seeing him check over everything, touching and rummaging around to see what looks good to eat, and seeing him discard unwanted things over the side of the high chair [yeah, not my favourite part]. Seeing him pick up a piece of food, bring it to his mouth and pop it in. So sweet.

Over the past 6 weeks he has started to eat much more, as he gets better at holding the food in his hands, getting it into his mouth, and chewing it up. I will say though, more food still ends up on the floor than gets into his mouth. I guess something I often think is that we're lucky we can spare the 'wastage' of some food not being eaten [although in this house, there is no wastage as it all goes out to the chooks, so I don't really mind]. But I can envisage that this may be a problem in different circumstances.

Recently we stopped into a cafe after a wander into town and ordered ourselves some hot chips and drinks. Only when our food started to turn up did we realise 'oops!' as we didn't get anything for William, and he's certainly not going to start eating hot chips at 7 months old [unless I make them for him, and I do]. So I went back to the counter to see what I could find, and ended up ordering him a small bowl of fruit salad. It came, and he sat on his Daddy's knee, in the cafe, eating up his fruit salad. A little girl at a table nearby was heard to exclaim 'look, the baby's eating the fruit salad!'. 

I know this baby led weaning thing is not quite mainstream, but I would not do anything else. I would be depriving our baby of the opportunity to explore and learn about food, to choose what he puts into his mouth, to learn about the different textures, and flavours, and colours, and every other sensory aspect of eating. He knows how to eat from a spoon, he's learning that a fork is different [and sharp]. And seeing what he enjoys eating is just so interesting.

I guess in all this, I believe my role here as the mother, is to guide, show, encourage, support. I occasionally get to spoon feed him, when he lets me. I love that our mealtimes are so inclusive, and that what we eat, is mostly what he eats. I am also of the belief that 'food before one is just for fun', as he is still primarily sustained by my breast milk. Motherhood - another instalment of my take on it. 

Have you tried baby led weaning? Or did you use conventional baby feeding to go onto solids? If you have any questions about how this works for us, by all means ask in the comments section and I'll do my best to tell you all I know. I'll also be posting up some baby led weaning meal ideas in the next few weeks if you're interested to know exactly what we eat.

Please bear in mind that this is simply the story of one family - I do not profess to know all the ins and outs of baby feeding or baby led weaning. As always, do your own research and above all, trust your instincts.