I’d like to do baby-led weaning, or baby-led solids as it’s called sometimes. My doctor at the breastfeeding clinic is all for it, and basically said to feed Penny what we eat, when we eat it.
Baby-led weaning is gaining popularity. To sum it up, when we were children, we started eating solids at 3 months. If you follow the same steps with introducing food, and adjust for the current age of 6 months, our babies should be starting solid foods – not pablum (rice cereal) or pureed foods. Because of the adjustment in age, a 6 month baby now will not eat food they are not ready to. They will not try to swallow if they can’t handle it yet. If a food that they can’t handle yet gets too far towards their throat, they will cough to move it back to the front.
Penny has “eaten” orange pepper, green pepper, onion, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, oranges, banana, pears, potato, cheese, toast, crackers, steak, and ham. Some of these were more welcomed than others. She hates banana and spits it out. She gnawed on a ring of a very strong white onion and didn’t appear to dislike it at all. She loves oranges and tries to suck all the juice out of them. She got mad when I took the ham away. She choked a little on a little sliver of green pepper. She had problems with the texture of mashed potatoes (which I knew from trying to feed the next step up of baby food and her promptly puking from the first mouthful).
It’s a new game to me, and to everyone around me. There’s not alot of information I can turn to. Or if there is, I can’t readily find it. I’m sure we don’t follow exactly how it’s supposed to be done. But isn’t that the fun of parenting? We play it meal by meal. It also depends on when Penny’s awake.
The one thing I’ve chosen not to feed Penny is pablum. It’s bland, dusty cardboard. I’ve been told countless times to feed Penny pablum and she’ll “sleep through the night.” When I started solid foods I tried feeding her pablum. I tried it 3 times a day. She didn’t sleep any better. She still woke 2 or 3 times a night. So ignoring what the “experts” say, I KNOW pablum doesn’t make a baby sleep any better. Yes, pablum has a certain nutritional value to it. But it’s nothing that Penny can’t get from a combination of pureed foods and solid foods.
So this is where I need some advice again. I have asked about being pressured to wean Penny from breastfeeding and was pointed to a ton of resources to help stop that pressure in its tracks. Now do any of you have good resources or advice about solid foods? What can I say when I’m told by people who have more experience than me that I should be feeding Penny pablum because she needs it nutrionally? Any advice is appreciated!
GrudgeMom 