Before the birth of my son, I was blissfully ignorant of any other way to feed a baby other than the 'norm' of purées shovelled in their mouths with a spoon. This was until I came across the Facebook group Baby-led Weaning, to this day I have not read the book behind the Facebook group of the same name, however, this method of starting baby on solids gelled with my philosophy of bringing up my son naturally.
The name, Baby-led Weaning, is misleading as you are essentially not weaning your child, merely starting them on solids.
I am obviously not an expert on the subject but the gist of it is you feed your baby 'normal' food, as in what an adult would eat, and not purées. You encourage your baby to feed himself. This method of feeding works well only once babies pincer grasp has been developed... see more on recognising the signs that baby is ready for solids on my previous post here.
For more info on Baby-led Weaning, here is a fantastic post on The Natural Parents Network by Charise of I Thought I Knew Mama.
I will however list a few of the benefits of starting solids in the baby-led manner:
- On purées a baby does not exercise, and thereby perfect, the use of his tongue and thus increases the risk of speech impediments.
- Its natural - babies will only eat when they are ready and until they are full / bored. Thus promoting a natural appetite control.
- Minimises the possibility of raising picky eaters as baby is introduced to all different types of food from an early age.
- Learning to chew effectively makes it possible to get all the nutrients they require later on, it also exercises facial muscles to diminish the risk of speech impediments.
- Practices hand-eye co-ordination at every meal.
- Baby can join in with family meal times at the table.
With my son, we started offering him a banana or pear at around 6 months, he enjoyed sucking on them but never swallowed. I did not offer these foods regularly and it is only now at 9.5 months that he regularly has a 'meal' every evening as his supper. See my previous post on the best first food for baby here. He loves apples which I remove the peel and cut up into wedges, but still, he doesn't swallow much. He loves to bite off small pieces and practice chewing (he still doesn't have any teeth :))
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| An apple is a wonderful soother for sore gums... |
A side note: A baby that is fed purées from a very early age (4 or 5 months) often loses his natural gag reflex. My son has not lost this reflex and therefore is at a lower risk of choking. If he bites off a piece of food that is too large, he spits it out, or if he gets a piece of food lodged in his throat he is able to cough it up as we would. I mention this as this was my only reservation in feeding in this manner - and I have not regretted giving him solid and whole food once.
Naturally, after we had started solids the next question was how much should we progress to and how often. I did not want to lower the amount of breastmilk my son was consuming, and it has been proved that solid food replaces milk in a baby's diet, it does not add to it. So I was extra cautious.
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| Evidence that not much is swallowed yet... |
At the risk of repeating all the information on why a baby should receive the majority of his nourishment from breastmilk for at least the first year of his life that is readily available, I will rather refer you to an excellent web resource on the topic, namely Kellymom.com. This website has all the information you require on the topic of starting your baby on solids (as well as any other topic you can imagine regarding babies) and answers the questions of how much and how often.
The article stresses that solids are merely a complementary food to baby's main nourishment from breastmilk. Babies who are weaned off breastmilk, or are partially weaned too early are at risk of malnutrition, and most of all anaemia. It is impossible for a baby with limited chewing ability to consume all the food groups and thereby receive all the vitamins and minerals required for optimum growth before the age of two years.
I have finally relaxed with the knowledge that there is no rush, and that the fact that my son enjoys his milk more than any other food is 'normal'. I will continue to offer one 'meal' a day until he becomes more interested in food and manages to swallow a significant amount. Until then, I am ecstatic in the knowledge that he is receiving all that his body requires for growth and development from my milk. And what an energetic 9.5 month old he is! :)
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| Look what I can reach! |
After all, any solids before the age of one are just for fun!
Thanks for this Christine! I had been wondering about this! I could've gone on the fb group or re-read the blw book but instead I just lay in bed worrying about the number of meals he is having! His main "meal" is at lunch, I still don't know how we'd introduce dinner as He goes to bed before it is even cooked! Seeing how Jesse thrives has reassured me!
ReplyDeleteI am so envious that your little angel goes to bed so early! ;)
DeleteYip, now at nearly 15 months he is still only eating one meal a day, but snacks on a lot of fruit during the day, and still lots of breastmilk :)