Baby Led Weaning

[mommadeeof4+]

My littlest is 7 1/2 months and last week I tried giving her a tablespoon of pureed avocados as her first food and she gagged, choked and made awful faces lol. I know it is more important to have mainly breastmilk so I am not worried about her eating because she nurses on demand 24/7 but it got me wondering about baby led weaning, any of you ladies do this with your baby? Can you give me the 411 on it? After 4 days she probably has eaten 1 tablespoon of avocado and for the heck of it last night i put a couple globs on her tray and she actually seemed to enjoy it more doing it herself!

[jaguglia930]

my dd lost interest in nursing when i became pregnant with ds, guess my milk changed? she has always enjoyed feeding herself better than being fed though, even though it is soooo messy. does she eat rice cereal? that's what our pediatrician recommended we start with.

[Pampered Mama]

Don't bother with purees- and please skip the rice cereal- it is void of any nutrition, and taste!

instead of mushing up the avocado, make it into slices or cubes- you can also just hand her half a banana (or set it on her tray). Let her play with it, and experiment- and don't worry about how much she actually eats- BM is her main source of food right now!

She may gag on stuff she gets in her mouth- don't be too quick to "help" wait a second- they need to learn how far back to let it get- it may give you a start and you think they are choking- but almost always, they are just gagging because it got a little too far back, and will work it out themselves- watch some videos on youtube of BLW- gagging vs. choking :-)

[mommadeeof4+]

i never start with cereal (most pedis do recommend it but it is such bad advice!) i never give them any grains at all until after 1 and with my previous babies i start with avocado as their first food around 6-8 months. cereal is really harsh on babies tummies and offers zero nutritional value!

Originally Posted by jaguglia930 my dd lost interest in nursing when i became pregnant with ds, guess my milk changed? she has always enjoyed feeding herself better than being fed though, even though it is soooo messy. does she eat rice cereal? that's what our pediatrician recommended we start with.

[mommadeeof4+]

i freak out over the gagging LOL but over the past couple days i am getting used to it...she is much happier mashing some avocado on her tray and taking a bite here and there over a spoon going anywhere near her face so i guess it is working for her! makes less work for me without making all her baby food although i did enjoy it with my previous babies and seeing all the bags in the freezer lined up of fruits and veggies is so pretty!

Originally Posted by Pampered Mama Don't bother with purees- and please skip the rice cereal- it is void of any nutrition, and taste! instead of mushing up the avocado, make it into slices or cubes- you can also just hand her half a banana (or set it on her tray). Let her play with it, and experiment- and don't worry about how much she actually eats- BM is her main source of food right now! She may gag on stuff she gets in her mouth- don't be too quick to "help" wait a second- they need to learn how far back to let it get- it may give you a start and you think they are choking- but almost always, they are just gagging because it got a little too far back, and will work it out themselves- watch some videos on youtube of BLW- gagging vs. choking :-)