what is baby-led-weaning?

[mummc2]

I have a 8month old girl and she used to really love her food but has begun to hardly eat anything when spoon fed. She tries to grab anything I or my other girl has when eating. But she hasnt any teeth yet so have been holding back a bit with more solid food, tried her with toast, bread etc but it just seems to end up in the roof of her mouth. The only thing she seems to chew with her gums well is those organix like crisp things (carrot flavour sticks and sweetcorn rings). Help!!!! Feel like a failure. Some-one mentioned baby led weaning but dont know anything anout it. Anyone???

Its basically where you don't puree anything but just let the baby have whatever you are having (as long as not too high in salt/sugar etc). I did a mixture of purees and baby led weaning and its amazing what they can eat even with just gums!

It sounds as if she is interested in more solid foods by the way she is grabbing things and not interested in the spoon! Buy a splat mat, hand over the grub and sit back and watch her little face when she tries it all

www.babyledweaning.com

basically you give your DC bits of finger food to eat (that you as a family are eating yourself) and let them get on with it. It;s very messy, especially when your DD has a liking for beetroot salad , but great fun. If things are weel cooked she will be able to "chew" them and swallo with no problems even without teeth.

there is some serious science behind it, but for me it's just about not having to puree and spoon feed. DD is now 13 months and is getting pretty good at using her own cutlery as well now, although if she is really hungry the fingers get used first!

baby-led weaning basically works by allowing your child access to a variety of food and letting her feed herself.
the premise is that a baby's digestive system will mature in tandem with the ability to pick up, chew and swallow food.
so, if your baby can pick something up and chew it, then she is more than likely able to swallow and digest it.

if you google Gill Rapley you should find plenty of info!

cheers thanx for all comments looked on website and guna start tomorrow after ive stoked up. bit daunting but hey ho whatever keeps her smiling and eating. wish me luck!!!

mummc2, you can always giver her the food to chomp on and feed herself with, but get the odd spoonful in yourself if you are concerned about how much she is getting. Just remember that food is about fun and trying new tastes at this age.

Spaghetti is great fun, if a little bit messy

And I'd recommned some full cover bibs with sleeves as well!!!!

Good Luck and have fun

yeh thanx going tomorrow to get her a mat and full bib. tried her 2nite for her tea with dairylea sarnie on milk roll and sum cubes of cheese just to test the ground ahead of 2moro and she loved it, ate the lot. My worries about her getting bread stuck in roof of mouth and choking were completely wrong. It got stuck in roof but she just pulled it down with her fingers. Totally underestimated her abilities. And the smile on her face was cool, shame about the dairylea all over it too!!!!

I was forced to do BLW when my 6 month old DD2 jsut refused to take nothing (and I mean absolute zero) from a spoon and never touched a puree. So all my purees etc went into the bin and she started v early on stuff like rice cakes, bits of fruit etc. Choking etc not a problem provided you are sensible. Biggest problem I had was that DD2, able to select her food from what i put in front of her, has always always refused all vegetables, still does, even though she's now nearly 2.5 years. None of the BLW advocates ever advises what to do if your baby jsut refuses point blank to choose to eat one food group - they all claim that it makes babies less picky - well, not in my case. At least if you're spoonfeeding, you choose within reason what they eat! I think a mixture of the two 'methods' is probably best.