Food! and Baby Led Weaning

Since Oliver turns 6 months in two days, we finally are ready to start solids with him! Up until now he's only had breast milk, so this is going to be exciting for him. He's been grabbing at our food and drinks for a while now and we think he's ready to give it a try. Instead of starting him on rice cereal and mashed foods, we are giving him whole foods so that he can learn to feed himself.

It's called Baby Led Weaning, and it involves not giving purees but instead introducing your 6 month old child to finger foods from the start. By six months children are developmentally capable of feeding themselves, which means I don't have to make mush for him! You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don't they won't.

That's the essence of Baby Led Weaning. No purees, no ice cube trays, no moulis, no food processor, no potato masher, no baby rice, no mixing everything with expressed breast milk or formula, no weird combinations of fruits and vegetables, no preparing everything weeks in advance... just you and your child, eating food that you enjoy with you and your family.

So far he's tried melons, broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, banana, roasted chicken, and rosemary-sweet potato gluten free bread. His favorite so far seems to be the bread and broccoli. He'll hardly touch the banana or sweet potato. I think it may be the slimy texture. We also think he may be left handed, since he tends to feed himself with that hand. Broccoli lover and left handed - he definitely takes after Binny!

Here is a video of him playing with Nick's popcorn, drinking water, and eating broccoli for the first time.

Broccoli, not only is it my favorite, but it's the messiest too!

If I try hard enough, I think I can get the whole piece in my mouth.

Yum! I like this bread!