Baby Led Weaning

This post should really be called Baby Led Feeding because that is what you are actually doing. There is no weaning involved here, Carolyn is 1 1/2 and she still nurses 2-4 times a day. What I'm actually going to be talking to you about is feeding your baby real food! When you begin the object is to introduce your baby to food (not feed them whole meals that replace their milk diet). Slowly as the baby eats more food it will take on the role of the nutritional source and the milk will become the supplemental source.

A few weeks after Carolyn turned 6 months old we began our journey into food. Previously she was strictly breastfed. I read up on different opinions and suggestions on how to do this and felt confident in my decision. For sure I knew I wanted to skip the rice cereal because I've read different opinions on how it is empty calories, can contain arsenic, and is a processed food. I also could already tell that I had a strong-willed daughter on my hands and the battle of the spoon was not something I wanted to deal with.

The main principles that I followed were that the food had to be soft or cooked to be soft and shaped in such a was that it was not a choking hazard but that she could still hold it. At first larger bites were better because she would just nom on them, but as she got closer to a year old we noticed that she was shoving whole fistfuls of food into her mouth and our strategy changed to having everything be much smaller bites.

(Carrot sticks)

(Scrambled eggs)

(Green Beans)

I kept a food journal of all the foods we introduced to her, waiting 2 or more days between introducing new foods (especially if they could be potentially an allergy food). I liked recording her reaction to the new foods. Even if she didn't like something the first time, like grapes, I tried again later to see if her response would change. She loves grapes now!

 

As you may have noticed after about 4 months I lost track of the foods we gave her, luckily she hasn't seemed to have an allergic reaction to any foods.

(Apple slices)

(Avocado)

Another thing to note, Carolyn did not have any teeth till she was 11 months old. And right now at 1 1/2 she is just starting to get molars. This has definitely affected our food choices since she was unable to bite through anything hard till she turned one and still can't grind anything. When choosing food for your child please take that into account.

This is the list in the order that we introduced them to Carolyn.  **I'm not an expert, just a mom who likes to research and do what I think is best, so please use your judgment for what you think is best for your child.

• Sweet Potato - cooked 5 min in water
• Green Beans - cooked 5 min in water
• Avocado
• Oatmeal - cooked 2 minutes with water
• Banana
• Eggs - scrambled
• Grapes
• Water
• Cucumber
• Broccoli - cooked  5 min in water
• Carrots - cooked  5 min in water
• Strawberries
• Kidney Beans (low sodium can)
• Watermellon
• Papaya
• Peanut Butter
• Apples - peeled and cooked  5 min in water
• Zuchini - cooked  5 min in water
• Blueberries
• Mandrin Oranges
• Spinach - cooked  30 seconds in water
• Pasta
• Salmon
• Peas
• Kale - cooked  30 seconds in water
• Spaghetti Squash
• Yogurt - I highly recommend plain Greek yogurt. Our favorite is Trader Joe's with honey! (She ate plain happily but I started giving her the honey flavor after she turned 1 year old)
• Bread
• Cheese

As you may have noticed, all of the harder to chew foods get cooked for 5 minutes in water. I use my old handy Pyrex and microwave them in about 1/4 to 1/2 of water. Because food prep time adds up I like to make enough to last me 3 or more days.  Also, I'm a little paranoid about storing food in plastic especially when it's still hot.  So I keep her food stored in these awesome little glass food containers.

I like to buy this set on Amazon: 

I love the big container at the bottom too. We have 2 sets of these and use the big ones to pack Ben's lunch in! I'll have to share a post some time about how we meal plan healthy lunches. These are my favorite containers because the lids stay on very well and we don't have any problems with leaking. They're also soooooo much easier to use than the snap on versions (I may be lid-challenged because I'm always struggling to get all 4 sides to snap on).

**Confessions time! You see that link to Amazon above? That is an Affiliate link. If you click on it and purchase the product I will receive a small % of the purchase. Previously I shared links to favorite products because I wanted to share them with you so you could experience their awesomness. After thinking about it for a long time I decided it was time to take the plunge into the next level of blogging, by clicking on the Amazon link I've shared you'll be helping support this stay at home mommy. Now you can experience their awesomeness and share some with me too!

Now, back to the food!

Do you see the banana she is holding? We fondly named this her banana pop! To make it we simply cut a banana in half, then trimmed the peel about half an in shorter than the end. This allowed her to easily hold the banana without smooshing it. As she ate we would continue to trim it till it was down to the last bites which we cut up for her.

After Carolyn started eating bananas, oatmeal, and egg I started baking her these muffins. She LOVES them sooooo much! I like to bake them in my mini muffin pan and give her 3 at dinner time to help her have a full tummy at night. I waited a long time to introduce wheat products, so this was my filler before she started eating pasta at dinner.

When I bake them I first spray a little olive oil in the bottom of the pan to help them come out easier and I find that a tiny spatula or spoon helps them pop right out!

Since we're on the chain of recommendations, I highly highly highly recommend the Tommee Tippee silicon bibs! The pocket at the bottom hangs open and catches all the food, we call it the food trough! At the end of the meal Carolyn always go digging into it to eat all the last bits! Unfortunately her color combo of pink/purple is not available on Amazon, but if you click the link you'll see some other fun combos. I also discovered tons of other brands with cute versions available - so fun!

You'll notice I don't give Carolyn processed foods and things with sugar in them. We held out strong till her 1st birthday. Her birthday cake was her first official sugar, and even then I didn't want to overload her so I made a special cream cheese frosting. At 16 months she ate her very first cracker (a friend lovingly gave it to her at a picnic). Let me tell you, it was all down-hill from there! Previously we could eat crackers in piece with out her needing to have them, now she knows and MUST have them too! I tried so hard to keep her away from processed foods, but now I do buy products made with organic wheat (I'm concerned about the use of pesticides in harvesting wheat) whenever possible and try to limit them.  Crackers are a very special treat for her, not an everyday snack.

Now that she has become a proficient eater she enjoys a yummy bowl of oatmeal in the morning made with a little bit of milk, bananas and drizzled with local honey. I put honey on my own oatmeal everyday to help fight off pollen allergies. **Doctors recommend waiting till your baby is 1 year old before introducing honey.

No bib in this picture - so you can appreciate her adorable jammies! hehehe

Our journey with food has definitely evolved and I know it will continue. I'm so excited to enter the picky toddler years! NOT! In fact they are fast approaching, Carolyn no longer loves broccoli the way she used to. Those little green trees used to be her absolute favorite! Now I'm reduced to bargaining one bite of yogurt for every broccoli she eats, but at least it gets them in her!

Do you have any tips on baby led feeding to share? I'm always excited to learn new techniques for helping keep my precious little one healthy!