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Friday 28 September 2012

Baby Led Weaning

We are pretty healthy eaters around here. That is mostly thanks to Ross.  He is a vegaquarian or a pescaterian (or whatever silly word you want to call someone who doesn't eat meat or chicken) so that means that's how we eat. It's certainly not that I'm not allowed to eat meat at home- sometimes I do- but it's just easier to cook the same thing for both of us. I can't tell you how much my diet has improved since meeting Ross! We keep making changes to find healthier options. Ross even made some major sugar changes recently. He's definitely better than I am, but we're both committed to eating less processed and more natural foods.

It only made sense, then, when we thought about starting Linus on solids that we would explore the options. I'd read on many blogs and learned from our Health Visitor that the World Health Organization recommends that babies be exclusively breast fed for the first 6 months. I also kept reading about something called Baby Led Weaning. It really made sense to me to skip the purees altogether and go straight to actual food.

We started Linus slightly after he reached 6 months. He was ready. He could sit up well and was showing interest in food. So we ordered a high chair.

First time in his new high chair.

It hasn't always been smooth sailing. Linus' first food was courgettezucchini. I over-steamed it slightly so it didn't hold up that well to chubby baby hands.


Next was sweet potato. Which I slightly under-steamed, making it too tough for him really chew.


We learned that grapes, bananas, and avocado work much better when put in a mesh feeder bag.


And that this face can mean new flavour, not necessarily bad flavour.


Yoghurt face is super-cute.


Who knew babies could like lettuce?


Cheese omlettes are a big hit! So are avocados, fresh mozzarella, pears and yoghurt.


Funnily enough, though some people might view doing BLW as "weird" or fringe, all 3 of my favorite mom friends are doing BLW too. We didn't plan it, but it made sense to all of us and seems to be working well!

Have you tried any new or "weird" parenting techniques?
Any suggestions of new foods I should try?





6 comments:

  1. He's so cute!!!!!!! I haven't congratulated you yet so.. CONGRATULATIONS! I've been a bit MIA so sorry for the late message. As for your choice of this BLW thing (I read the Wiki and still don't get why it's weird) nobody should tell you how to feed your baby. I was told by her Dr. not to start Heidi on cereal until she was a certain age... but she was constantly hungry. I finally said f*it and started feeding her runny cereal. She scarfed it up so fast... and she was a preemie! Babies will tell you when they are ready and when they are not ready. It's nobody else's business. As long as he's being fed. My daughter turned vegetarian (that's what we call it) over a year ago while at college; but she eats fish and eggs. Someone criticized her for calling herself a vegetarian, she's like "whatever"! Don't give me a title, I just don't eat certain kinds of meat and that is the quickest way she explains it, "I'm a vegetarian". I'm proud of her because she's stuck with it. Her struggle is chicken and bacon. Mostly bacon LOL but I introduced her to Bacos.. the imitation bacon made from soy... I was her hero that day. She's taught me a lot about food and trying to "wean" me off of diet soda. Like that's gonna happen. LOL Glad you are doing well. Babbled on long enough. xoxo

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    1. I certainly don't think it's weird either (obviously)... non-traditional is probably a better word for it. Some people just are uncomfortable with something besides "start with baby cereal and then purees and then bland finger foods". I weaned off diet soda! If I can, anyone can! You can do it! :)

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  2. I CANNOT believe you had Linus six months ago! crazy.

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    1. I know! Right?! I've only just gotten used to saying he's 6 months and now he's nearly 7!!!

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  3. We did BLWing and it was the best thing we could have done, our daughter eats SO much more than our son does, who we did not do BLWing with!

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    1. I'm glad you liked it! It's definitely my sense that it will lead to Linus being a better eater, which is a huge motivation.

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