...and I don't understand why everyone is being so horrible about spoons!
I thought my lentil weaving credentials were impeccable, AND I thought that weaning dd1 was very much baby-led.
BUT we did puree some foods and feed her with a spoon, the horror, the horror Will I have to hand back my hand-crocheted certificate??
OK, more seriously, I simply don't see spoons as evil. I eat loads of stuff off a spoon after all and regard it as a fairly useful life skill.
We weaned dd1 at 6 months and she enjoyed the whole thing immensely. However, there were quite a few things that she loved the taste of but found difficult to manage unless finely chopped or pureed. Broccoli for instance - in fact any lightly steamed or crisp stir-fried veg.
Pretty much from the off, we loaded the spoon and handed it to her and she did the rest herself. So accusations of evil parents forcing food down baby's throat won't wash I'm afraid....
She also did get frustrated with sloppy stuff like porridge and hummous, finding it hard to get the food in fast enough as a finger food. (Nowadays, at 22 months, her hands are that much bigger and she scoops up her porridge very competently with her fingers .)
The thing is, IMO it's terribly important that babies eat real food but real food does come in lots of different shapes and textures. Surely you do whatever works best and have to be prepared to use a range of eating strategies (as indeed an adult would).