Why I Love Baby Led Weaning!

Transitioning Teddy onto solids was highly emotive for me. First of all, I was absolutely terrified, and I mean terrified, of him choking. Secondly, there was something a bit emotional about him no longer just needing my milk. It felt like a huge sign that he was getting bigger and wasn’t my little baby Teddy anymore.

Even though I love/ have loved our baby led weaning journey, I will be honest and say I did struggle the first month with all the anxiety around getting it right and making sure he was safe. I still get nervous about certain things now- for example, even though he is great with quartered grapes, I still won’t give him any unless someone else is with us.

The things which helped ease my anxiety were to:

1.        First of all, do my research. I am going to give a highlight of the best books, apps, social media pages which really helped me decide that BLW was the best for me.

Baby Led Weaning: The Essential Guide by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett.

This is absolutely the best book I read in terms of convincing me that BLW was right for us. It made me realise that BLW is safe and can encourage healthy eating habits. It made me feel more confident in recognising the difference between gagging and choking. It helped me know what a safe, calm mealtime should look like.

Baby Led Weaning in 5 Easy Steps by Courtney Bliss

More of a summarised version of the essential guide, plus it has some recipe ideas. Perfect if you don’t have time to read a longer book.

Solid starts app

Our bible when it came to deciding what food to begin with and how to prepare it safely for Teddy. We would literally refer to it for every single meal. We still use it now.

Baby Led Weaning for Beginners and Beyond (BLWBB)

A wonderfully, supportive FB page with fantastic advice. I really love how a lot of their info is presented as images, making key messages and advice clear and concise. They always have good meal ideas shared on there too.

2.        Made sure I did it at a pace I felt comfortable with. There is no rush. It is not a race. I waited until 6 months and Teddy was showing all the signs of readiness (although he couldn’t quite sit on his own yet, he did need a bit of support). Then we slowly built up the amount of meals and snacks that we gave Teddy. It wasn’t until he was a year old that we were on the 3 meal, 2 snack a day recommendation.

 

3.        Reminded myself to enjoy it- it is truly an amazing thing watching Teddy discover new food and to witness his love of food.

 

4.        Slowly introduce allergens, making sure I introduced each one gradually and in isolation. Teddy did end up with an egg allergy. The second or third time we offered him egg he actually ate it properly and reacted a few hours later with vomiting and diarrhoea. It was really awful. I felt so bad we had given him something that caused him so much discomfort and distress. Thankfully, with guidance from a dietician, we were able to start the egg ladder at a year old and, now at 19 months old, he is absolutely fine with egg.

I love how BLW has enabled Teddy to enjoy the experience of food and eating with us. I love that food hasn’t just been means of nutrition for him, but a way of experimenting, learning and sensory play.

Now at 19 months, Teddy has only just started becoming a little bit pickier with food (particularly vegetables), but on the whole, he is really good eater and does love his mealtimes. He has a good appetite. I think if I could go back to the beginning of BLW with Teddy, I probably would have held off the fruit and stuck with just the vegetables for a little longer because he is utterly addicted- he could eat a whole punnet of raspberries in one sitting!

Teddy is now using his spoon and fork, finally getting the hang of an open cup and will blow on his food if he thinks it might be too hot. BLW has given us the opportunity to model how to eat at the table and he is thriving with this.