Baby-Led Weaning: The Joy of Mess, by Jackie, mum of Zoe
I came across the term "baby led weaning" (or BLW, sometimes also called "self feeding") on the web. The more I read about it, the more I thought it sounded like the "right" approach for us. In a nutshell, the BLW approach means skipping the spoon-feeding stage altogether, and simply letting baby feed herself from day one of solids - "day one" meaning at about 6 months of age, when babies are able to feed themselves, and can start learning to handle the food in their mouths. Zoe seemed happy to stick with milk till then anyway. Basically, you just prepare suitable finger food, put it in front of baby and let her choose whether to eat it or not (i.e., whether to ignore it, lick it politely then drop it casually over the side of the high chair, or wolf it down like there's no tomorrow).
The other aspect of BLW is that instead of reducing milk feeds in favour of solids, you keep offering that lovely, nutritious (and highly convenient) milk as long as she's interested. This in turn means that you get to relax about how much of the solids she's actually eating, safe in the knowledge that milk is still all she needs in terms of nutrition. (The mantra is "food's for fun until she's one").
Well, we tried it and it was great fun. We started with toast crusts, banana and soft veg (steamed broccoli and roasted squash were a big hit). Zoe loved it; all those different textures, colours and tastes to play with. After a few days of tasting and gumming, she started actually chewing and swallowing some of it. She began to eat more and more and we gradually introduced more "meals" and started to share the sorts of foods we were having anyway. Porridge (made thick so she can pick up slices), omelette, cauliflower cheese, pasta bolognaise (use shell shapes that fill up with the mince), beef casserole, pitta bread with cheese, meatballs and tuna pasta all became favourites, along with her top faves blueberries and pear. Yoghurt gets loaded onto a spoon, and the spoon handed to her - very messy but lots of fun!
We were concerned about choking - would she be able to cope with "proper" food so early? Well, it seems all babies gag at some stage on food or liquids, no matter how they're introduced to solids. I read up on what to look for before we started (including the difference between gagging and choking and how to handle both). To start with it was a bit disconcerting to see big lumps of food go into her mouth - and I did have to sit on my hands a few times in the early days. Zoe had a few wee gags (and still does, occasionally) to begin with, then went through about a 4 day period when she seemed to gag on everything! Although she never seemed in the least perturbed, I couldn't help but fret and I was seriously considering giving up on BLW. But she just abrubtly got over it and has been fine since - I really do think it's part of the learning process.
Zoe continued to put on weight well, and dropped one of her milk feeds at around 8 months. Her appetite has gone up and down a bit - at the moment she's eating a bit less than usual I think (she's teething), but has upped her milk intake a wee bit during the day. Sometimes she's just not interested in eating much at all, but that's ok (and I get to eat her leftovers!). I would definately do BLW again. We've not had a single "battle" at mealtimes, but lots and lots of smiles, and it really has been a very relaxed and fun affair.
Related Links:
http://forum.babyledweaning.com - the best resource available anywhere - blog, articles and fantastic forum where you can get lots of great advice from lots of lovely people.
http://www.askbaby.com/baby-led-weaning.htm - good introduction.