Fiona- I was approached to do the course. Its free, It last 6 weeks (3 hours each week) and you get a folder filled with loads of info on to back up what we've learnt at each session and more.
Sparky- I would wait until Callum shows interest in foods, it may be a few months later than 6 months. Because he was prem it may affect his ability to handle food safely and to digest a range of foods. I would advise to check with your health visitor before enbarking on this method.
Parents who formula feed should also consult their health visitor (explained bellow)
Baby Led Weaning (sorry very long but really interesting!)
Breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of life. Breastfeeding babies feed at their own pace.
Breastfed babies also balance their own intake of food and fluid by choosing how long each feed should last. breasfeeding is essentially self-feeding, with the baby incontroll of the process, and because breastmilk changes in flavour according to the mothers diet. Breasfeeding prepares the baby for other tastes.
Bottle feeding seems to be more mother-led its difficult to make predictions about how bottle-fed babies will manage solids, so we need to be careful.
Won't he choke?
There is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. and they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things.
a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food in his mouth in the first place. On the other hand the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing gagging. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking - and makes giving lumpy foods with a spoon especially dangerous.
A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it. It is important to resist the temptation to 'help' the baby in these circumstances since his own development abilities are what ensure that the transition to solid feeding takes place at the right time for him.
Ensuring good nutrition
Babies who are allowed to feed themsleves tend to accept a wide range of foods. This is probably because they have more than just the flavour of the food to focus on - they are expreiencing texture, colour, size and shape as well.
In addition, giving babies food seperately, or in a way that enables them to seperate them for themselves, enables them to learn about a range of different flavours and textures. And allowing them to leave anything they appear not to like will encourage them to be prepared to try new things.
The opposite appears to be true for a baby spoon fed, especially purees containing more than one flavour. In this situation the baby has no way of isolting any flavour he doesn't like and will tend to reject the whole meal. Since his parents can only guess which food is causing the problem, they risk more food rejection until they track it down. In the meantime, the baby learns not to trust food and the range of foods he will accept can become severely limited. This can lead to his overall nutrition being compromised.
Offering foods separately, but on the same plate allows the baby to make his own decisions about mixing flavours.
Fruit and vegetables are ideal, with harder foods cooked lighty so that they are soft enough to be chewed.
At first, meat is best offered as a large piece, to be explored and sucked; once the baby can manage to pick up and release fistfuls of food, minced meat works well! Note: Babies do not need teeth to bite and chew - gums do very well!!
A Good guid of size and shape needed is the size of your baby's fist, with one important extra factor to bear in mind: Young babies cannot open their fist on purpose to release things . this means that they do best with food that is chip-shaped or has a built-in 'handle' (like the stalk of a piece of broccoli). They can then chew the bit that is sticking out of their fist and drop the rest later - usually while reaching for the next interesting-looking piece. As their skills improve less food will be dropped.
What about drinks?
The fat content of breastmilk increases during a feed. A breastfed baby recognizes the change and uses it to control his fluid intake. If he wants a drink, he will tend to feed for a short time, perhaps from both breasts, whereas if he is hungry he will feed for longer. This is why breastfed babies who are allowed to feed whenever they want for as long as they want do not need any other drinks, even in hot weather.
This principle can work throughout the period of changeover to family meals if the baby continues to be allowed to breastfeed 'on demand'. A cup of water can be offered at meals as part of the opportunity for exploration but there is no need to be concerned if he doesn't want to drink any.
Feeding 'on demand' will have the added advantage of allowing the baby to decide how and when to cut down his breastmilk intakes. As he eats more at shared mealtimes, so he will 'forget' to ask for some of his breastfeeds, or will feed less long at a time. There is no need for the mother to make these decisions.
Formula milk has the same consistency throughout the feed. If the formula-fed baby were to be given milk as his only fluid he would be at risk of either not getting enough fluid. or of consuming too many calories, or both. Parents who are implementing this method of introducing solids with a bottle-fed baby should therefore offer their baby water at regular intervals once he is seen to be aeting small quantities of food. They are advised to consult their health care adviser on how this shoud be managed.
Pheeeeeeeeeeeew nearly finished ladies....
DO's and DON'Ts
I'm just going to take a little break then i'll add these!