When I first heard about Baby Led Weaning, I knew it was the path I wanted to take. When discussed with Liam, he was totally on board. It was an amazing concept that would fit in with our daily lives perfectly. Whilst baby led weaning isn’t specifically a “Vegan” concept, it fit in with our views that we wanted our children to eat “real” food from the beginning. Rather than mixing meals and foods together so they are a pureed mash of nothing. I had also seen so many posts and recipes on steaming, blending, straining food every day and it just didn’t look like much fun! ( no offense if you chose this route – it just wasn’t for us ).
They say that babies should be exclusively breastfed or bottle fed until they’re at least 6 months old. I think this is accepted knowledge from all the authorities nowadays however, we decided to start Molly on some foods at 5 months old because she was showing signs of being ready. ( Every child is different – we spoke to our Health visitor before hand and got the A-OK! )
Babies will often start getting pretty interested in what you’re eating around 4-5 months old, but a lot of that is just interest in everything, not necessarily in eating. .After your child hits 5/6 months, you have to make sure your baby can sit up on their own. They have to be able to hold their head up well to ensure they have a safe swallow when eating before you can even begin to think about giving them solids.
If you’re breastfeeding, don’t worry, feeding your baby solid food isn’t going to make them wean of the Boobie before they’re ready. I know Mamas who have little ones 14+ months old and are still regularly breastfeeding like a champ!
First meal went well!
To begin with, for Molly’s very first meal, we chose broccoli and potatoes. We had it with our dinner and decided to try her on it and see how she got on…
When it came to feeding Molly solids for the first time I was terrified. How would she be able to chew without teeth? Wouldn’t she choke? Those were a few of the anxiety riddled thoughts that ran through my head on a daily basis for the first few days. Ok weeks.
Molly didn’t hesitate at all when it came to food. She dove right in and started to mush the food and feel it and mix them together before shoving it into her mouth and making the mother of all messes!
Food before one is just for fun!
At first babies aren’t really eating much, it’s more just learning the sensation and texture of different foods in their mouth as well as learning how to manipulate the food with their tongue. and how to swallow. This is when they may gag. Gagging is normal in the early days of any form of weaning an it is completely different to choking. Learn the difference. Also, I can’t stress this enough, go to a first aid course regardless of how you feed your baby, so you can learn about the signs and learn what to do if your child was to ever choke.
Not much will really make it in their mouth to begin with, and of whatever does get in there, 95% or it will get gummed and spat out. The rest is smooshed between their fingers, in their fists, rubbed on their face, their hair and generally played with.
We made slight adjustments for Molly when preparing her portions. For example, leaving the skin on some of the banana or Avocado so she had a better grip. Deconstructing things like fajitas, stir fries etc so she has the opportunity to taste everything separately. Then it’s down to her if she decides to mush it all together!
We dont add any sugar or salt to any of the food given to Molly. She now eats exactly what we eat, with the addition of some baby snacks like some of the Kiddylicious products.
Molly really likes her food!
I’d love to hear about your Baby led weaning journey and the recipes you’ve found! Always looking for some BLW inspiration!
