Welcome my first Guest Blogger on my new blog entries on Tuesdays.
The introduction of solids signifies the beginning of the (albeit very gradual) end to this need. Obviously, babies wean at different rates, and so this process may take anywhere from 6 months for some to 5 years or more for others (and it seems that so far, my Eliza is on the 5+ year plan, that girl loves her some mama’s milk!), but nonetheless, weaning officially begins when solid foods are introduced (no matter the method in which they are introduced). The “baby led” descriptor is used because it is, one again, a literal description of what’s going on in BLW: the babies lead the way! They are, for the most part, in control of their eating/exploring. Self-feeding is the main tenant of the BLW process; allowing babies to feed themselves gives them more control over how much they eat and what they eat (out of the variety of foods mama or daddy offer, of course).
Hi, I’m Ella. I write over at Baby Love. I am a proud Mama to one sweet girl, Eliza, who is 18 months old. Jess asked me to write about our experience with baby led weaning, and I am so honored – thanks Jess!
I’m sure most of you have heard of baby led weaning (BLW) is already, but for those of you who have not, it basically means letting your child feed him or herself from the time they begin eating solid foods, at 6 months old.
Just before Eliza turned 6 months old, she and I were at a play date hosted by a mama who is also a family practice doctor. I noticed her little boy, who is 2 months older than Eliza, was perched on his high chair eating chunks of melon and Annie’s cheddar bunnies off of his tray by himself, his mom watching him as she chatted with the group of mommies seated around her living room. ‘Hmmm’, I thought, ‘how interesting that he’s
eating real food. I thought babies ate baby food…’
This was my first introduction to baby-led weaning. Before that day, I had never heard of it, and, in fact, my husband and I were already busy planning Eliza’s first solid food: mashed sweet peas. We were all set to feed our girl purees – complete with airplane- spooning the stuff straight into her mouth. After all, that’s what you were supposed to do, right? Feed your baby… baby food. That’s what I thought until I read this book
about BLW written by Gill Rapley, a British researcher who developed and researched BLW (this mama loves her evidence-based advice!).
I brought the book home, and hubby and I read it (or, to be exact, I read it and then provided him with a verbal book report on it), and we also did some further research online. Hubby and I both commented how this seemed perfect for Eliza – she was already reaching out and grabbing for our food at the dinner table, and she practically had a Ph.D in Putting Things in Her Mouth, so it made sense to us that putting food in her own mouth was the next step. Then, at Eliza’s 6-month well baby exam, our pediatric nurse practitioner mentioned BLW as a method of introducing solid food (right after telling us that feeding babies rice cereal as their first food was an outdated - and somewhat disgusting, I might add – recommendation that we could skip). It seemed our decision was made, and it was an easy one: BLW was going to be our method of
introducing our girl to the wide world of food.
The term ‘baby-led weaning’ is a bit of a strange name. First, the word “weaning” – well, this is the ultimate, literal term for what is happening from the moment at which babies begin to explore solid food. This is the very first step in the weaning process. Up until this point, they have relied on mama’s milk (or formula) for their nutritional needs.
I’m sure most of you have heard of baby led weaning (BLW) is already, but for those of you who have not, it basically means letting your child feed him or herself from the time they begin eating solid foods, at 6 months old.
Just before Eliza turned 6 months old, she and I were at a play date hosted by a mama who is also a family practice doctor. I noticed her little boy, who is 2 months older than Eliza, was perched on his high chair eating chunks of melon and Annie’s cheddar bunnies off of his tray by himself, his mom watching him as she chatted with the group of mommies seated around her living room. ‘Hmmm’, I thought, ‘how interesting that he’s
eating real food. I thought babies ate baby food…’
This was my first introduction to baby-led weaning. Before that day, I had never heard of it, and, in fact, my husband and I were already busy planning Eliza’s first solid food: mashed sweet peas. We were all set to feed our girl purees – complete with airplane- spooning the stuff straight into her mouth. After all, that’s what you were supposed to do, right? Feed your baby… baby food. That’s what I thought until I read this book
about BLW written by Gill Rapley, a British researcher who developed and researched BLW (this mama loves her evidence-based advice!).
I brought the book home, and hubby and I read it (or, to be exact, I read it and then provided him with a verbal book report on it), and we also did some further research online. Hubby and I both commented how this seemed perfect for Eliza – she was already reaching out and grabbing for our food at the dinner table, and she practically had a Ph.D in Putting Things in Her Mouth, so it made sense to us that putting food in her own mouth was the next step. Then, at Eliza’s 6-month well baby exam, our pediatric nurse practitioner mentioned BLW as a method of introducing solid food (right after telling us that feeding babies rice cereal as their first food was an outdated - and somewhat disgusting, I might add – recommendation that we could skip). It seemed our decision was made, and it was an easy one: BLW was going to be our method of
introducing our girl to the wide world of food.
The term ‘baby-led weaning’ is a bit of a strange name. First, the word “weaning” – well, this is the ultimate, literal term for what is happening from the moment at which babies begin to explore solid food. This is the very first step in the weaning process. Up until this point, they have relied on mama’s milk (or formula) for their nutritional needs.
The introduction of solids signifies the beginning of the (albeit very gradual) end to this need. Obviously, babies wean at different rates, and so this process may take anywhere from 6 months for some to 5 years or more for others (and it seems that so far, my Eliza is on the 5+ year plan, that girl loves her some mama’s milk!), but nonetheless, weaning officially begins when solid foods are introduced (no matter the method in which they are introduced). The “baby led” descriptor is used because it is, one again, a literal description of what’s going on in BLW: the babies lead the way! They are, for the most part, in control of their eating/exploring. Self-feeding is the main tenant of the BLW process; allowing babies to feed themselves gives them more control over how much they eat and what they eat (out of the variety of foods mama or daddy offer, of course).
Thanks to Ella for this post! and stayed tuned for the rest of her story next Tuesday on Tuesday's Unwrapped.
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2 comments:
Oh, fun idea! And thanks to Ella and her praise of BLW, we started doing that with Evan once he started solids! So, thanks Ella for blogging about it here and on your blog!
Agreed, Ella you inspired us as well! And fun idea, Jess!
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