Solid Food Update

Allie is becoming quite the good little eater.  Over the past two months she has sampled a variety of foods...fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and dairy. Some of the foods Allie loves are...

Allie eating a picnic lunch with Mom and Dad in the Boston Garden

yogurt
humus
toast
prunes
applesauce
Cheerios
oranges
watermelon
peanut butter
crackers













The method we are using to feed Allie is called "Baby Led Weaning" (BLW).  This is not the traditional way you would normally feed an infant.  Most parents start with boring, bland rice cereal.  Then go to single fruit and vegetable purees in jars.  They use these foods because they causes the least allergic reactions. If you start solids at six months you don't really need to worry about allergic reactions as much though.  Allie, however, does not eat baby food.  She eats whole, real, table food.  It allows her to control her solid food intake by self-feeding.  ALL my friends that have babies thought I absolutely CRAZY for doing this.  They thought she wouldn't get enough food, wouldn't develop normally.  I did my research.  I wouldn't just do something without knowing a lot about it.  This has been the norm in many other countries and back in the old days when there were no blenders.  It works...so why not?

BLW places the emphasis on exploring taste, texture, color and smell.   Allie chooses which foods she wants to eat.  Now...one would think this is a great thing.  Allie does not always choose the foods on her tray...or any food on her tray for that matter.  Sometimes she doesn't want anything at all.  Sometimes I don't want to eat either.  This happens every once in a while...but for the most part, Allie will try all new foods we give her and most of the time will eat (suck on, gum, swallow) the new food.  Self-feeding supports Allie's motor development, her hand-eye coordination and chewing. It encourages Allie towards independence and often provides a stress-free alternative for meal times, for both her and I.  With our lifestyle, this method sounded like a perfect fit for our family.  I did not want to be that parent that plays the airplane game or shovels food into her mouth as she screams and cries. 

In the beginning, Todd and I were worried about her choking...but we got over that real fast.  She manages just fine.  She will gag every now and then (she even threw up a couple times) but she will chew her food with her gums and swallow.  Going out to eat is a breeze.  We don't have to pack jars of food.  We just give her what we are eating. 

There is one negative however...it IS messy.  Our floor will have lots of bits and pieces of whatever Allie ate for that meal.  It's a chore to clean up.  She has gotten in the habit of dropping or throwing food.  Right now we feed her in the Bumbo chair.  It sits on our counter.  So, when food falls...it's an easy cleanup.  I fear the day we go to the big girl high chair.