Baby Led Weaning

Little R has been eating solids since she was six months old. I decided to do Baby Led Weaning. This means that you just offer your child whatever you're eating (bread, meat, cooked vegetables), skipping purees altogether. Then the child feeds herself (or doesn't, depending on their mood at the time): in other words, the child is completely in control of the eating process. She eats until she's done, with no pressure one way or the other.

I decided on baby led weaning partly out of laziness (because having to prepare special meals sounded like a lot of trouble; also, since we eat out so often, it would have been highly inconvenient), and partly because I am kind of a hippie parent and liked the idea of little R being able to make her own decisions about food. I was an incredibly picky eater as a child (as in, I only ate about 15 foods), mostly because food became an intense battleground between me and my mother (who just wanted me to eat, but I was stubborn and wanted to be in control). I hoped that doing baby led weaning would take the pressure off and set little R up to have a more healthy relationship with food than I did.

So far it's been totally awesome. She ate very little at first, but over time she figured out how to chew, swallow, and use her fingers to pick up food. Now, I can just give her a big piece of bread and she will rip little pieces off it and daintily put them in her mouth. I never had to buy or make purees, as from the first she has just eaten what we do, which makes things easier for travel, eating out, or for food preparation in general. Because she's been used to eating a great variety of food from the beginning, so far she is a great eater without any dislikes (except spicy food).

It makes meals simpler too. Little R sits in her chair and feeds herself, so I am free to chat with B and eat my own food at my leisure. And because she's in charge, meals are never a battleground of wills: she eats at her own pace, in her own way, and that makes her happy.

Things that aren't so great: it makes a huge mess, because sometimes little R feels like throwing her food on the floor instead of eating it. Also, when she eats anything with sauce, she becomes covered in it as she is still somewhat clumsy (and she eats with her hands, so of course they become completely coated in whatever she's eating). The other drawback is that little R is so used to feeding herself now that she won't eat off a spoon (because she isn't dexterous enough to feed herself with one): she only will consent to be fed if the food is really good, like ice cream or mango pudding. This refusal makes it impossible for her to eat soups or other liquid food.

On the whole, though, it's been really wonderful, and I would absolutely recommend baby led weaning to anyone.