Baby-led weaning: Our experience

Gimme dat!

Ana is more than 10 months old (!!!), and I've started to write this post a few times now, so let's just bite the bullet and do ittttt.

In no way do I consider myself a reliable source on feeding a baby. I only have one, so I'll just discuss what works and doesn't work for us. I think I was reluctant to blog about the topic for that very reason ... I'm no expert. But you know what, I never claimed to be. So let's dive in, shall we?

Baby-led weaning. BLW! It's been our jam for the past four months now.

This girl loves her high chair!

I get a lot of questions about it. Here's how we got there: I think I've mentioned, I do a lot of self-teaching/studying up on Google. Well, or I should say, the sites Google leads me to. I just type in things, read a bunch of different sources, and make an informed opinion. My doctor even likes for her patients to do stuff like this, and thinks it's important for parents to be involved -- so it's not like I'm crazy, or reading anti-vax blogs and siding with the Jenny McCarthy of 10 years ago. I'm just curious about a lot of baby-related topics, and I like to see what info is floating around out there. Having access to the Internet while raising a tiny human is incredible. You can learn so much! (But also, you can get freaked out over the slightest ailment too, so you kinda gotta proceed with caution).

ANYWAY. Around the time Ana was nearly 4 months, our pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to start introducing solids. But Dr. L largely left it up to us, just saying she'd approve any time past the 4-month mark. We had a hunch Analisa wasn't ready. She wasn't really showing any interest in the things James and I were eating, she still seemed more than fulfilled off her bottles alone, and I just thought, why rush it? Also I was nervous about choking.  A blogger who I follow had written previously about baby-led weaning, and she mentioned she and her husband hadn't given their son any solids until he turned 6 months old (which is recommended with BLW), so I just figured we'd play it by ear and possibly follow suit. I liked what I read from her about their experience.

And then we did it. Ana was just a few days short of her 6-month birthday, and we had another routine checkup, and I mentioned to the doc we hadn't started her yet on solids. Dr. L now told us to hop to it -- this baby needed some iron! I spoke to her a little bit about my BLW plans, and she was just like, "Sure, honestly, most people are doing it at this point, it's easier for everyone, she'll just eat what you guys eat, and you can even do a modified version of BLW, etc."

That meant, per Dr. L's recommendation, we still started Ana off with rice cereal, which is a pretty common first food. ... But Ana was never that into it (can you blame her?)  And I got a little frustrated. Not like, FRUSTRATED frustrated, but I just kept thinking, "don't all babies love rice cereal?!?!? Why doesn't mine?"

No, I learned. No babies do not.

Do any babies really love RC?, should have been my real question. I had so many people message me and tell me on FB alone that their babies also hated rice cereal. Thank god!

Next we attempted baby oatmeal, thinking there's just as much iron in there, plus, we can mix in some bananas or something else delicious. Oatmeal and bananas are pretty good together, right?

Ana was into it for like, 48 hours tops, then started rejecting the oatmeal too.

So, that's really when we were like, back to square one! Let's go BLW all the way. Which meant, letting her attempt to self-feed pretty early on (well, immediately), and letting her try different things, and eat what we're eating (modified versions at times, but pretty close).

Someone loves real food.

One of the first things we gave her was (you'll laugh), PESTO PASTA. James and I sometimes cook this lunch or dinner where we'll boil noodles, throw in some quartered cherry tomatoes, a little parm, a big scoop of store-bought pesto and some pine nuts (if I've stolen any from my mom's Costco bag in awhile).

Anyway, I had the pesto pasta out, and Ana was grabbing in its general direction, so I tossed some on her tray and I was like, here ya go! She couldn't quite get the hang of self-feeding for a few more weeks, so I put the little pieces in her mouth -- the noodles were tiny -- and she was scarfing them down. Her faces, btw ... were so funny. She was like, shocked to try real food, but loving it, but looked scared at the same time. I made sure to brush off any pine nuts, but she was officially eating as of pesto pasta day.

And from there, we did ... other random noodles (sometimes in a light sauce, or sometimes plain), soft toast (sometimes with butter or jam, other times plain), shredded meat, egg yolks, almost every kind of fruit or vegetable you could imagine (usually soft-boiled on the veggies), pancakes, waffles, cereal, cheese -- you name it.

We were slow to introduce peanut butter, and egg yolks, but the doctor said sometimes when you wait too long, it can become an even bigger problem (re: allergens. I was reading mixed info online). So probably around the 9-month mark, we threw those once-forbidden foods into her rotation, as well.

She's never showed an allergy to anything, knock on wood.

The only things she hasn't loved? Salmon on her first try. Black beans for awhile. Watermelon (weird, right? Not that strong of a taste. Maybe it's a texture thing?), and broccoli (I understand this one; even the tiniest of pieces seem kind of hard to gum and swallow when you don't have any/or just a few teeth).

Right now, her favorites are ... any kind of meat + potato combo (a Midwest girl indeed). String cheese. (Any cheese, really). Cheese quesadilla. Scrambled eggs/small omelettes. Peas. Strawberries. Hard pretzel rods (which are really amazing for teething, as well!)  Thanks to my friend Heather and her mother-in-law for the idea.

What Ana really loves, is to be in control. She self-feeds most of her meals, but if it's particularly messy or something like yogurt or applesauce, we'll obviously use a spoon with her. Still, I can tell she doesn't like that she has to wait for me to dole out bites ... so we'll sometimes give HER a spoon, just to bang on her high chair and feel in control with. (Thanks Aunt Gere for this tip!)  It truly takes a village.

Out to eat at Round Bar.

And if she doesn't seem to LOVE something, but she's still tolerating it, we'll give her a spoon or a pretzel rod to keep busy, and sneak bites in her mouth/the side of her cheek. Works like a charm!

The only actual baby food we use are those packets -- you've probably seen them in the grocery store, they're like, organic packets of pureed food. Spinach-peas-kale-mango, or chickpeas-beets-strawberries. Well, every time we go to Target, we completely buy out their supply of prunes.

Our only real problem we've ever had with solids has been some constipation. At first, we thought it was the rice cereal (which can cause issues). And then we thought it was the fact that we'd been adding bananas (which also don't exactly help things along). And then it was like, EVERYTHING, and constant painful poops, despite the fact that she was eating so much fresh food ... like, it was driving me crazy.

Finally, Dr. L just said to stick with the prunes, which I had been crutching on from time to time. She said to feed her an entire packet every day, and see if that helped.

Boy, did it ever. <--- Did I ever think I'd be discussing baby poop online? (I'm now that person).

The good news is, she loves prunes. We usually give them to her with breakfast, and she does really well. It sucks that they're like, $2/pouch, meaning my last Target receipt revealed I had spent like, $60 in prune packets. But at this point, it's like, whatever works. A constipated baby is NOT a happy baby. Those screams when she would finally go -- broke my heart.

So these days, the only thing we avoid is honey, for obvious reasons. Spicy food is even fine, seasonings are fine, I've even let her have some dessert bites (oh, and Uncle Robby helps with that!)

She's never liked juice, which is kind of weird, right? She makes the grossest face when I'll try to sneak some into a sippy cup. (Oh, we're also weaning off the bottle slowly. She's gotta be done with those around her first birthday, which is in less than two months).

But yeah, she loves sippy cups with a straw, and will POUND water like it's beer. Then she throws her bottle at the window, like when we're driving. And I laugh so hard. It just reminds me of like, slamming a beer and throwing the empty can on the ground in celebration.

BAM.

Just like when we offer milk bottles (which is still often -- this young, babies still get SO much nutrition from breastmilk or formula), Ana decides when she's done. I don't really track or watch how much she eats; I just make sure to offer real food three to five-ish times a day, depending on what our schedule looks like or how much she ate at the last meal.

Usually like, when she wakes up, or she's STARVING, we won't make her mess with solids. She'll be too crabby to figure it all out. Plus, she's a slow eater. I usually do a bottle first, then offer solids maybe an hour or so later. But yeah, I'd never rush her, and I read somewhere that even if it's kind of an unproductive meal, right now, it's more about the experience. She's learning about food -- the textures, the tastes, what she likes and doesn't like, etc. Even when she throws her meal all over the ground and laughs (haha FRUSTRATING), that's something. The nutrition from solids is great, but Dr. L said she's still gaining (more than) enough weight, so we should never worry about making her nom her final bites or anything like that.

And that's great to hear. I mean, just like any other human, she has days when she's ravenous, and days when she's just not feeling it. But that's all of us, right?

Two things we swear by are these teethers, and Bumkins bibs.

Ana lovvvves the teethers (they're less sticky than other brands), and they serve as an awesome distraction when like, we're waiting for our food at a restaurant, for example. They keep her busy. And the bibs are just great because I'm not having to wash cloth all the time. You just wipe these clean, or you give the thing a rinse and turn it inside out, and you're good. Would absolutely recommend to any and every mom. (Also they're so cute!)

Eating yogurt, watching dad on FBL, wearing a Bumkin!

When we go out to eat, we just make sure to order things Ana can share. She's really a flexible eater so far. We even ordered a tiny meat and cheese platter last weekend, and guess who downed most of it?

The bear.

Really, there isn't much you can't feed a baby. I recognize that the baby food industry is thriving for a reason -- people think they need that shit. But you don't! It's so much easier to do BLW.

Plus, I also read it teaches babies to have a really healthy relationship with food.

So, if you're considering doing something similar: there is no right or wrong way. For fruits, we started with bananas, peaches, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, pluots, tomatoes and pineapple (those are just a bunch off the top of my head!)  And for vegetables, we did sweet potatoes, bell peppers, carrots, green beans, peas, asparagus, mushrooms, spinach, squash and zucchini.

Pulled pork, shredded chicken, beans, eggs, peanut butter: you have quite a few options for protein. And she really does eat whatever we're eating -- we had Mexican quinoa last week for dinner, and she gobbled it up. Teeny pieces of hamburger, little bits of rice, grilled cheese torn into small chunks ... she loves food! (Have you seen that belly?)  And when she doesn't love it, she'll either spit it out immediately, or store it in her cheek, then just when you think she's done, dribble a whole meal's worth of food down her bib. And I'm like, "cool Ana!"  Ya little hamster.

Keep in mind too, teething makes babies NOT hungry. So if she's not eating much, we're quick to throw her some Motrin and try again in a bit.

As far as seating goes, we use the cheap af IKEA high chair, or whatever a restaurant has on hand, or a Bumbo. Ana's pretty easy in that regard!

Until next time ...

Out to eat with my main gal.