baby-led weaning update

I posted a couple months ago about our first weeks with baby-led weaning (BLW). At that time Nate was not accepting spoon feeds, so we were going down the BLW route and he was just getting used to the idea of food, but not swallowing much of it. 

Since then a lot has changed. Nate now eats 3 meals a day with snacks in between. And since we realised a while ago that he enjoyed being spoon fed his breakfast of porridge or wheatabix, we have been introducing some purees along with the finger foods. The BLW purists would say that we are not baby-led weaning since we are occasionally spoon feeding Nate, but I have come to the conclusion that I don't care. I enjoy spoon feeding him every once in a while, especially when we are eating out because it's less messy and I know that he is filling his tummy. He is great at feeding himself, but he can also take a spoon feed, and in my opinion that is the best of both worlds.

Generally for breakfast Nate will have porridge or wheatabix with milk and some fruit. Lunch is usually toast, fruit, vegetables, and rice cakes or bread sticks. And dinner we tend to just give him a little of whatever we are having either as finger food or mashed up a little. His favourite things to eat are bread sticks, oranges,  salmon, pineapple, yogurt, spaghetti bolognese, and broccoli. For snacks we give him fruit or little rice puffs treats. 

It has been so enjoyable watching Nate improve his eating skills each week. He is getting good at picking up little cheerios with his finger and thumb, putting them in his mouth, and eating them.  It's incredible the progress he has made in the past few weeks with moving food around his mouth, chewing it and swallowing it.

In the last week he has been increasing the amount of solids he eats to the point that his nursing in the day has drastically reduced. Yesterday he even went the entire day without a breastfeed because we were travelling and I didn't get a chance to sit down and feed him. I expected him to get fussy and require a breastfeed, but he never asked for it. 

He still breastfeeds just as much at night and in the morning, but I can't tell you how relieved I am that he has reduced his day time feeds gradually and naturally. It comforts me to know that next week when I go back to work for a couple days, he will be fine with just solid food and snacks until I get home.

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adventures in baby-led weaning

nom nom nom

This week is our second week of baby-led weaning (BLW) and I think Nate is doing well. I have had people ask me what I have been giving Nate at meal times and how much he has been eating, so I thought I would post every once in a while what he has had for the day with some photos. 

For anyone who doesn't know what BLW  is, a good summary can be found here.  In short, BLW is where you skip the mushy spoon-fed phase of weaning and go straight to "normal" food that the baby feeds themselves. A key difference between BLW and traditional weaning is that you let the baby decide how much he will eat, rather than force feeding a set amount. 

Currently Nate is on 2 meals a day, breakfast and lunch. Today for breakfast Nate had porridge fingers and papaya. I don't think he actually consumed any of it. Mostly he just grabbed pieces and flung them around on his tray, trying to launch them towards the dogs or towards me. He simply wasn't in the mood this morning. I did try and load a spoon for him with some papaya just to get him to try it. He brought the spoon to his mouth, but then tipped it upside down before it reached its target. Papaya went all over his lap, it was actually quite humorous.

Breakfast - before

Breakfast - after

His lunchtime meal was roast chicken, Red Leicester cheese, and cucumber. It was his first time having meat and he did really well! I would estimate about 10% of the meal was consumed. This sounds low, but honestly it was really good for him (especially compared to breakfast). He absolutely loved the cucumber - I think it soothed his gums (which by the way, sprouted their second tooth yesterday - ouch!). 

Lunch - before

Lunch - after

Overall, I think BLW is the right way forward for us, but it takes a lot of patience and persistence. Yesterday I met up with some mommy friends and they were all following traditional weaning. Their babies were eating loads, I'm talking full containers of mashed up vegetables and fruit and meats! This makes it so difficult to compare Nate's progress with others his age. I just hope he continues to explore the different tastes and textures and that little by little he will start to consume more of what I put in front of him. 

nathan - 6 months old

Today Nate is 6 months. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. From being a super tiny squishy newborn  he is now sitting up on his own, playing with toys, babbling and interacting with others. Look at him here playing with Nana Val yesterday (so cute right?)

And 3 days ago he cut his first little tooth on the bottom right. It's just a little jagged piece peeking out from the gums, but it's there! It has been causing him a lot of discomfort and I think the left one will be coming soon too. It's frustrating to see him in so much pain when there really isn't much I can do but give him cuddles and the odd dose of pain reliever. Poor little lad. 

At 24 weeks we started weaning Nate onto solid foods. I am still breastfeeding him and I am fortunate enough to be able to take a year off work, so I hadn't been stressing too much about weaning him any earlier than 24 weeks. In fact, I hadn't really thought much about the whole solid food situation until I went to a weaning workshop in December. After speaking with some friends I decided to follow Annabel Karmel's weaning plan, which is based on traditional weaning, using purees and spoon feeding. I thought it would be easier to do what my friend's were doing so we could support each other. Nate had other plans...

On our first day of spoon feeding he hesitantly took a little bit of the puree, then grabbed the spoon from our hands and decided he wanted to feed himself.

We continued to try and feed him homemade puree food over the next few days, but Nate just did not want to be fed by someone else. He would purse his lips, turn to the side and protest. It was quite obvious that he would be more suited to a weaning plan where he was in control of feeding himself. I did some research on baby-led weaning and decided to try that instead and we have been doing well ever since. Nate has now fed himself toast, cucumber slices, banana, avocado, papaya and porridge fingers. He is clearly an independent and tactile little man and I'm very proud of him. Baby-led weaning is a messy and slow process, but it is so rewarding to see him learn how to feed himself. 

Cucumber

Toast

I have been enjoying wearing Nate in slings more as he is getting older. It's nice to hold him close while still be able to have my hands free. If he is fussy, I can pick him up, put him in a sling and still get things done. And we keep each other nice and warm on these winter days. Here we are out with the Moby wrap the other day.

I recently joined my local babywearing group and was pleased to find that they run a sling library. It costs £10 a year (bargain!) and I can loan out different slings to try for 2 weeks at a time. I currently have on loan a Storch baby carrier from them which hubby and I are enjoying. We took it out on Saturday in the snow and Nate fell asleep in it. He looked so peaceful. 

We are going to London in a couple weeks to register Nate at the American Embassy and to get his US passport. We plan on only taking a sling with us which will allow us to negotiate the busy trains and tubes with less hassle.