Baby-led weaning is the simple concept of allowing your baby to feed himself solid foods in their whole state, rather than spoon-feeding purees. It typically starts later than spoon feeding purees because it's very foundation is the baby's developmental readiness for solid foods. There are many signs of readiness to look for including sitting unassisted, fine motor skills that enable baby to pick up bite sized pieces of food- typically in a pincer grasp over a raking grasp, and the ability to move foods around in the mouth (babies who aren't ready aren't sitting up and their tongue thrust reflex typically pushes food out immediately). The other piece of the readiness puzzle is interest in food. As a baby becomes less dependent on exclusively breastfeeding, he simultaneously becomes more interested in food. This is a natural and healthy progression, but it's not always a linear process. A baby who is allowed to self-feed is in touch with his own hunger and fullness, and he will sometimes eat more solids and sometimes eat less. Trusting the baby's body to know what to do can be unnerving, because in our culture, we tend to obsess over whether or not babies and children are eating enough.
Following your six month old baby's cues about solid foods is every bit as important for developing healthy eating habits as following your 6 day old baby's cues about frequency of nursing and duration! In fact, we see baby-led weaning as the natural extension of the breastfeeding relationship. Baby-led weaning is simple, but very different from how many of us were weaned. There are no strict schedules. No coercion.
Following your six month old baby's cues about solid foods is every bit as important as following your 6 day old baby's cues about frequency of nursing and duration!
Babies eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. It requires no pureeing or spoon-feeding, and usually very little preparation. You just offer your baby healthy foods, prepared the way you would eat them. Some parents choose to start out slow, offering only one new food per week to ensure that they catch any evidence of an allergic reaction. Others choose to feed their baby any and all appropriate foods that the family is eating each day. Either way, as your baby grows, you will be exposing your child to healthy food combinations. This includes the flavors and spices of your family's favorite cuisines!
The idea is to teach baby about eating and self- regulation through the exploration of the colors, textures, and flavors of real food. Good choices to start with include avocado, banana, cooked carrots, sweet potato, peas, beans, meats, fish, peaches, corn, broccoli, asparagus, sliced olives... Introducing grains after fruits, veggies, and protein foods is recommended by the World Health Organization because grains are now known to be a fairly allergenic food group! This is obviously going to be a shock to anyone who expects all babies to begin solids with infant cereal. Other potential allergens include tree nuts, peanuts, egg whites, and dairy. We suggest that you consult with your pediatrician or use caution if your family has several known food allergies. Getting over the fear of choking can be difficult for parents, especially when the weaning baby has no teeth. The good news is that babies typically know what they can handle and what they can't, and most of the foods we mentioned can be mashed between the gums pretty well. Some gagging with certain textures might happen, but it is usually not a problem.
2 comments:
Pincer grip isn't a sign of developmental readiness for baby led weaning. It doesn't come until around 9 months. Pincer grip allows baby to pick up small things like sweetcorn and raisins one by one.
You mean that baby should be grasping things.
Thank you for your comment!
Pincer grasp IS one of the many signs of readiness for baby to feed herself, but you are correct- it usually does develop after the ability to sit unassisted.
Each mother-baby dyad is unique and there is no one size fits all answer to the "when to start solids" question, in our opinion!
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