In our experience, our breastfeeding journey continued throughout this time. It's important to note that the AAP recommends breastfeeding exclusively through 6 months of age, and the WHO guidelines suggest breastfeeding through 2 years of age. Many parents like to use the phrase "food before one is just for fun" and it's a great mindset to have.
In our case, I had a hungry little monkey on our hands! We started foods at 4 months, as the 6 month guideline had not yet reached the mainstream and I hadn't heard of it yet. In the very beginning, we reached for Plum Organics, Sprout, and Happy Baby organic baby foods, in a variety of vegetables and fruits.
We did avoid rice cereal. When giving a grain, it was always oats from Sprout. If you haven't yet read the warnings on rice cereal for babies, please check out:
- Arsenic Found in Rice at High Levels (WebMD)
- Rice Cereal Controversy (ABC News)
- Nine Good Reasons NOT to Use Baby Rice (Analytical Armadillo UK)
For us, Baby Led Weaning (BLW) was just as much as a learning experience as it was a meal. It was amazing to watch our Sproutlet make connections, practice hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, and just have a good sensory experience (we didn't know until later how helpful and therapeutic sensory activities could be for her!)
BLW is the practice of allowing a young child to self feed.
"The distinct advantage of weaning at around six months is that by then, our children are developmentally capable of feeding themselves proper food, in other words – no more mush!
You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don’t they won’t.... This is meant in the Brit sense, not the American. In the UK, ‘weaning’ means ‘adding complementary foods’, whereas in the States it means ‘giving up breastfeeding’." - http://www.babyledweaning.com/
The reason why I titled this post "mostly out's" is because a lot of the food won't go in at first!! Expect a bit of a mess! Which is okay, remember: babies are still getting all the nutrients they need from breast milk! It's a fun time of exploration and new experiences for baby.
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| Yummy Avocado! 5 months old |
When I asked for contributions to this blog, a surprising number of parents posted their experiences. Babyled weaning is certainly gaining in popularity! The average start date for most families was 6 months, with some waiting until 8-9 months. Some babies preferred breast milk to food until 13 months +. My contributors reported trying avocado, sweet potato, carrots, crackers and bananas, as well as meats around 7 months! (A huge thank you to everyone who responded- it was extremely helpful!) I think this shows that you can definitely have some freedom when trying BLW... there aren't any rules, besides being a great supervisor while your little one is eating :) And a lot of parents contribute their child's great eating to early BLW!
The site I used as my guide during this time was http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyledweaning.htm#.UuvNj7S7S8A, especially their Solid Food Charts, starting with 4-6 months:
There is also a chart to note if you child seemed to enjoy the food and whether or not they had a reaction to it.
One of the great things about BLW is you can cook food for the whole family- offer baby the same foods you are eating on your dinner plate at an early age. No need to cook two meals or puree your own baby food! A great time saver.
One of my favorite memories is when our Sproutlet was 7 months old, I took her to Disney World. Whenever we had a sit down meal, we would order her food off the kid's menu. Some of the waiters were shocked! But she would munch on grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, fruit cups, biscuits, and much more! We were very lucky and didn't notice a reaction to anything, and she was quite the foodie from an early age, something I absolutely contribute to BLW!
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| Puffs at Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney! Her meal here was amazing- chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli! |
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| Hold up, Cinderella, This cantalope requires my full attention! |
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