Our plan was to exclusively breastfeed AL (like the new nickname?) until she reached 6 months old - CHECK! Now she has passed the 6 month mark and we have started exploring the world of solid foods. I always figured that I’d start making my own fruit and steamed veggie purees when she was ready (as well as continuing to breastfeed) so I have been frantically searching through the internet and reading my Top 100 Baby Purees to find ideas for this new stage of eating.
So far, she started with mashed banana and then mashed avocado the following week. Both are easy to digest, easy to prepare (no cooking) and full of good nutrients. Tyler and I love eating a variety of foods (Indian, Thai, Greek - we will try it all) and we would love for Aliyah to enjoy these foods with us. Since the two foods she has tried are both considered fruits, I need to get serious on those veggies to expand that palette! - okay - back to the article...
The article above discusses teaching your child about how to eat and grow their palette by giving them larger pieces of food and letting them chew on it, taste it and get acquainted with feeding themselves instead of the parent spoon-feeding them pureed foods. It’s an interesting concept and one I’m going to research further before deciding if it is right for our family.
I did a lot of reading yesterday afternoon... It’s really interesting to hear from moms who have successfully tried it with their own children. It also makes me feel that we need to be healthier eaters ourselves! However, with baby-led weaning, just the thought of Aliyah choking has me over-stressed. Maybe I will try a little mix of purees and table food... we'll see.
I’ll post again on the subject as we get deeper into solids and our experience that comes along with this messy new world. I’m curious if any readers are familiar with this method or have any first hand experience with it?
I have a book on babyled weaning if you want to borrow it. We did puree's for a month-ish? Then kinda transitioned into BLW. Jackson has pretty much exclusively fed himself for- I don't know, a long time. We loved it- and have had very little problems with choking or gagging (as opposed to some friends who did lots of purees). I've learned that babies have a GREAT gag reflex and generally are able to get the food out if it becomes a problem. . .not to say it isn't a bit scary. I'd be glad to answer any questions :) We aren't strict BLW but like the general concepts.
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