I shared a few weeks ago that my baby, Matti has been eating solids since month 6 and he is on a baby-led weaning journey. This is a new thing to me but what I have said in the previous blog, I have dedicated myself to this weaning process even if a lot of people raised their eyebrows with how I am feeding Matti.
Read: Matti's Slow BLW Journey
"Baby Led Weaning is a method of introducing solid foods to infants. The idea behind BLW is that infants can feed themselves around six months of age, and should be allowed to do so. BLW skips pureed food and starts with finger foods that the rest of the family are eating. Baby eats with the family, as an active family member."
There are several differences with baby-led weaning compared to the traditional one such as the messiness, the amount of food eaten by the baby, the time that the baby takes while eating, the exploration of food, the comments passed by the family, friends, and community.
Healthier Option: No Added Salt or Sugar
One of the aims of BLW is to provide healthy foods for the baby, no added salt and sugar before one year old. Most people who see my baby eat food without salt or sugar feel bad about it and mostly gives their comment that the baby is pitiful and so on, I try to educate them but they don't care, however, I believe that by not giving added sugar and salt, my baby won't become a picky eater in the future. I hope that what we are sowing right now, we will reap in the future. I see progress although it is very slow we are getting there. Matti will soon be eating like a pro, won't complain or make a fuss about eating green vegetables and fruits served on his table tray.
Preparing a no added salt or sugar meal means a healthier diet for the baby. Most babies today are served with items that have been labeled as baby food, these are processed ones with too much sodium and sugar content. They are advertised as healthy but the truth is that these are just formulated for the baby to eat but they aren't eating as healthy as those that are cooked at home or with raw food such as fruits.
By sticking with the diet that is best for the baby, the family as well are engaged in choosing a healthier option of meals, although food for the rest of the family can have sugar or salt of course. Babies in BLW sit together with the family during mealtime so they see what everyone is eating thus encourages the family members to be good models for the baby.
I have read a lot of mommies sharing their way of switching to a healthier option of meals because they are concerned with how their babies are observing them in their eating habits.
Self Feeding
With Baby-Led Weaning, babies are encouraged to explore the food served for them. They use their hands to pick up the different shaped food and so there are guides on how to cut certain vegetables and fruits. Since they grasp the food by their hand, there are proper shapes that are recommended depending on the age of the baby.
Palmer grasp is how these babies start with. They can't pinch yet in picking up the food so these vegetables or fruits or viands are cut in bigger sizes so that the babies can pick them up with their palms.
As the baby grows, food is served in smaller pieces so to practice their pincer grasp. This usually happens around the eighth month.
With self-feeding as well, the babies learn about the look, texture, smell, and taste of the foods and how flavors work together. By using their hands in picking up the food, they can also feel the texture and smell of the food. Most babies love to just poke them, crumble and even throw the food to see what happens when it drops on the floor.
Learn About Chewing
One of the issues with offering just mashed or pureed food to babies is that these babies won't learn how to chew as they have been used to just swallowing the food right away.
With BLW, since the food offered is not pureed, the baby learns that he or she needs to chew the food first before swallowing else, there's gagging or choking that might happen. The two are different by the way and it is also part of the learning of BLW.
Babies are born intelligent so thinking that they might not handle the food is not a good mindset.
Explore Food and Recipe Ideas
As moms have a lot of things to do, there's a great tendency of offering the easiest food option for the family. There are instant foods available but these are not the healthiest and eating this unhealthy food regularly is a threat to the health of the family members.
With BLW, the parents, as well as the entire family members, commit themselves to find the best for their child. There are so many great food ideas that can be served for the baby and that includes those that are raw, avocados, banana, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, ripe pears, plums, melon, squash, or pumpkin. Eggs and meat can be given too with the family's discretion.
Conclusion
In pledging to do Baby-Led Weaning, there are so many resources online on how to stay committed, there are many tips on how to prepare yourself with the surprises that come with this weaning process, and how to continue learning with new recipes, new ideas on plating and making the food enticing for the baby to eat as well as engaging with different types of mommies out there who are willing to share their learnings and approaches with baby-led weaning.
While it is true that BLW is not for everyone, I believe that with the right education, a family can be successful in this journey, babies are intelligent and able. With the given benefits, there's no reason why BLW can't be considered in offering solids to our little ones.
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
Traditionally, we young moms here starts to feed our lo's at 6 mos but every child is different. There are those who are called late bloomers that won't touch solids unless it is mashed. And yes, there foods should not have neither salt nor salt. Good job momsh..