Oooo this weaning lark’s so confusing!! Yes I know I did it twice before, but a) I have a very bad memory and b) what’s all this baby-led weaning?
Anyway I’ve trusted my instincts and this week have taken the plunge – Ellie’s 22 weeks and showing all the signs. She looks totally deprived when we eat in front of her, she’s feeding more often and chewing on everything in sight.
Her first taste was the delightful baby rice (not impressed), followed by baby rice with pear on day 3 – that went down a treat. I’ve just finished pureeing some carrots and feel very smug that they’re sat in the freezer ready! Unfortunately I’d forgotten how messy the whole thing is, (and that was just me with the blender), managing to spray carrot all over the kitchen and my hair..
So – baby led weaning (or BLW to those in the know) – I’ve ordered a book to see what all the fuss is about. It sounds a great idea in principle; by waiting til babe is six months they’ll be ready to chew and be more co-ordinated, therefore they can pretty much eat most foods straight away. No pureeing necessary – fab! Have any Mums out there tried this way of weaning?
I think this principle of letting them find their own way is great, but in practise I don’t think BLW in its purest form will work for me. Mostly because I’m a Mum who worries, and I’ll worry that she’s not getting enough nutritional value. And for me, it just seems a bit weird going from breastmilk to finger foods straight away – so I’ve decided to try a bit of both, which is probably a natural progession anyway. We’ve started off on the purees butI’ll also give her finger foods (like cooked broccoli) for her to chomp on when the family’s eating together. I don’t have much time to puree nowadays and it’ll be much easier when Ellie can join in the family meals and have a bit of ours.
And as for worrying about the mess, on a really bad day I can always put the high chair in the shower and hose it down..and baby.. and myself. 