A fashion blogger’s rare non-clothing post caught my attention when she wrote about introducing solids to her son by giving him real, whole foods: a concept that was foreign to me. While I was searching for maternity outfit inspiration, what I actually found was a topic that led to one of my greatest joys of parenting so far: Baby Led Weaning.
Right then, I did a quick Google search and found a book all about BLW, ordered it, and read as much as I could, even though I wasn’t even through my second trimester of pregnancy. All of the benefits I will list below sounded wonderful, but my reasonings for choosing this path were as shallow as the outfits I was searching for online.
Before being pregnant, one of my biggest “fears” (which now makes me laugh) was feeding my son food. To be completely honest, seeing pictures of my friends’ and family’s children on Facebook with puréed food all over their faces grossed me out way more than it should. (Note: now that I am a parent, I get it…totally). Whenever I thought about baby food, all I could think of were my years of babysitting, and the questionable smell and texture of some of the savory flavors of the baby food jars; to this day, I can still hear the clink of a spoon in the jar, and thinking about the smell makes me want to gag. My friends used to tell me that once I had children, I would never enjoy a warm meal again, and my brain instantly went to a cartoon-style, fish-eye camera view of me trying to airplane a spoonful of baby food into my child’s mouth as he swatted and refused. The whole feeding situation past milk seemed terrible.
After this spontaneous deep dive into Baby Led Weaning, I passionately hopped on the train, deciding before our son was even months from being born that it would be our family’s best route for introducing foods. Supper has always been an important part of our day as a married couple; it’s where we catch up, talk about the good and the bad parts of our day, and where we plan for the future. We were not willing to give that up blindly for the sake of doing things the way other people around us were doing them, so BLW made us giddy with the possibilities of deeper family time.
Here are some benefits as listed by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett of the book Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater:
-Baby sits with the rest of the family at mealtimes.
-Baby learns how to read their appetite and less likely to overeat.
-Meals are simpler because babies are served what parents are eating (just prepared in a safe way).
-Many babies grow to be less picky toddlers, continuing to eat whatever.
-Restaurant outings are enjoyable because baby gets to experience new foods and environments.
-It’s cheaper because baby eats what parents eat; no buying separate jars or pouches.
My why has evolved from selfish to triumphantly proud. Now that my eleven month old son is a semi-pro at eating, I fully embrace and am thankful for all that BLW is doing for him. Each and every one of those benefits listed above have positively impacted our family, and watching Sully’s independence, fine motor skills, taste preferences, and sense of belonging at our table grow has been amazing. When we place his plate in front of him, he folds his chubby little hands together and inspects his plate, deciding which food he wants to start with eating, usually choosing the protein first. Broccoli and butter beans, parsnips and plantains, hummus and ham: all personal favorites of his. He knows how to fold his hands for our blessing, and he signs for “all done” when he’s finished eating. He is almost completely trained in drinking from an open cup, and when we go out to eat at restaurants, leaving the house and enjoying our meal is a breeze! The process was seamless and natural, with teaching Sully how to fit into our world, not the other way around. I’m so proud of my wean-y and the ways he is growing every day!
As an additional note, admitting my reasons for choosing this feeding path are almost embarrassing, but I quickly realized that in the internet mom world, there are primarily only two sides: every choice, according to those writing, is either black or white, wrong or right. The lack of “real life” moms on Pinterest was concerning. So, if you will oblige, let me say that you can make a choice for your family for whatever reason you choose! For us, we knew that we wanted meal times to remain as easy and enjoyable as they were before our baby, so we worked with the end in mind, knowing we wanted him to learn how to sit at the dinner table with us, feeding himself, eating what we eat. I also had major aversions to the idea of stopping what I was doing and spoon feeding my baby at each meal and snack time. So shallow or selfless, choose what works best for your family!
Leigh Ann what a great read. Your baby looks happy and healthy and I’m so happy for your family meals. It was an important aspect in my house growing up too!
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