BLW... well sort of

Honeybee is six months old! Oh my gosh! We just had her well baby check up and she is 14.5 pounds! Holy growth spurt! No wonder I haven't been able to keep up with her milk demands. :) Actually, we started giving baby girl a formula supplement at about 5 months old because she was eating so much. She has been doing well though and I have been anxiously awaiting the time when I could start giving her solids.

While I was pregnant I spent some time researching weaning methods and learned there are several ways to start babies on solids. Traditionally, babies start with rice cereal and then get spoon fed baby food from a jar. This method teaches babies to swallow and then later they learn to chew when they are given chunkier foods. It's trendy now to make your own baby food instead of buying jar food, but the method of weaning seems to be the same. Baby led weaning is when babies eat what their parents eat (as long as it is soft and baby appropriate). There are some guidelines to baby led weaning (BLW) but babies essentially feed themselves which usually means they learn to chew before they learn to swallow.

Well... I think I am somewhere in the middle of these weaning methods. I'm guessing that many parents decide to do their own thing based on what feels right to them. For hubby and I, we wanted honeybee to experience food on her own terms, which is more BLW, but we didn't really want her eating the same thing as us, so it isn't completely BLW.

Honeybee's first food was technically a banana. We gave her one two weeks ago because she was still awake at dinner time and kept trying to get at our food. I cut the banana into steak fry sized pieces and set in out in front of her. She quickly grabbed for it and brought it straight to her mouth. Success! About a week later she got a little avocado with her banana while sitting in her highchair. It was a huge mess but also a success.

I had been planning her first food to be sweet potato so that is what she got on her 1/2 year birthday. I cut a sweet potato into fry pieces and baked them until they were soft. Again, I set them out for her and she quickly had them in her mouth. It is so amazing watching her experience the food on her terms. She can feel it in her hands and bring it to her mouth if she wants and of course, stop whenever she wants. So far so good!

I think we will continue on this path for now and see if she continues to enjoy feeding herself. I am not at all opposed to spoon feeding her pureed baby food if the current method does not work out. I may even do a little of both. :)

Here are some pictures of my sweet baby girl feeding herself.

First taste!

It's so squishy in my fingers Mom :)

Mmm... sucking sweet potato off her fingers. 

All done!