In this post learn why I decided to choose baby led weaning when starting solids with my baby. Then, you can hear from other mamas as well.
Welcome to the first question in this baby led weaning series, why choose baby led weaning?
First, I will give you a little background about my baby led weaning experience and why I decided to choose baby led weaning with my son.
Then, I will leave the responses to a few other mamas who did baby led weaning with their babies!
Did you do baby led weaning? If so, let us know your experience in the comments below!
My experience with baby led weaning
My 21-month-old son is a great eater…
I kid you not; he prefers vegetables and fruit over fried food and sweets any day.
For the most part, I credit baby led weaning for Lennox being such a fantastic eater.
As soon as he was showing signs of readiness at six months, he got to play around with all foods and textures and learn that food comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. Now if I would have blended all of those foods into purees, Lennox would have never been able to differentiate the blended foods.
I hypothesize…
that Lennox would have preferred the consistency of purees and would have been more hesitant to try real food if we would have done traditional weaning.
Baby Led Weaning allowed Lennox to explore solid foods types. However, I credit Carlos (DH) and myself for always diversifying his palate.
The older Lennox got, and the more confident we felt in his eating abilities, there was no limit on what we fed him, except foods that were choking hazards and foods not recommended for babies under 1, for example, honey. Go to my introductory post to see which foods are big NO NOs and post chocking hazards.
I remember when Lennox was nine-months-old…
I took him to where Carlos and I work, Seasons 52, and our coworkers were astonished that Lennox was inhaling Caramelized Sea Scallops.
At that moment, I was a very proud mama.
One of my biggest goals as a first-time mama was to have a non-picky child.
Working in the restaurant industry was one of my biggest motivations because more often than not, I see families come into our workplace, and I see the parents get nervous because it is not that kid-oriented. There are four items on the kid’s menu, none of which are breaded or fried. Sometimes we go out of our way to go to a near restaurant and provide chicken nuggets and French fries for unhappy children.
One thing that baffles me the most is when the parent orders their kids pasta which is around $5.00, and they don’t want anything but butter on it. Listen, I am NOT shaming whatsoever; I simply cannot imagine paying $5.00 for a little bowl of buttered pasta when a whole box of pasta at the grocery store costs $2.00>. Consider me frugal, but at that point, I would just bring my own buttered pasta in.
To finally answer the question…
I decided to do BLW because I didn’t want a picky eater. I also wanted a healthy, well-rounded eater. Thanks to BLW I have just that, and thanks to all the Mamas in my June 2017 mama group who recommended BLW to me. If it weren’t for their recommendations, I would have had no idea about it. I hope other mamas read this post and feel encouraged to give BLW a try, but don’t forget to read my BLW introductory post to know how to do it correctly. You can find that here!
Let’s hear from these mamas:
More baby led weaning posts:
- Baby Led Weaning Must Have Products
- Baby Led Weaning First Food Ideas
- What to Know About Purees and Baby Led Weaning
Why Did You Decide to do Baby Led Weaning?
Kassandra at Adelaideandi
I thought it was the most appropriate way of feeding my daughter – getting her used to real food from the start instead of having to teach her to eat purées and then chunky food and then whole foods
Taylor at Mindful.mom_ents
It made the most sense to me. Food before one is just for fun, so they should be learning rather than having bland food crammed down their throats. Babies learn texture and flavor, and how to make chewing motions. Babies who have food blended up and fed to them are more likely to choke once other food is introduced since they are used to just swallowing everything.
Jessica at HeyMamaJess
My son showed a huge interest in table food.
We did BLW with both of our kids as well and I really credit that to them not being extremely picky eaters and willing to try new things. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Thank you for commenting, Amy. I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if you have the time. We are doing a 10 question series to reveal BLW results. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
I decided baby led weaning was the way to go when she wouldn’t eat my best efforts at homemade baby food. All of that hard work and I wound up eating the applesauce. Haha! But she is loving all the savory foods. I actually tried to give her a bit of sugar cookie with icing on it and she spit it out! She loves avocadoes, eggs, beans, cottage cheese, and greek yoghurt!
Thanks for sharing, Haley. I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if you have the time. We are doing a 10 question series to reveal BLW results. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
We used purees but then added in more table food early on. My girl will eat anything and loves steamed veggies as well as fruit. BLW wasn’t exactly how we went but I do believe it benefits little ones to add in real, non-pureed food early on.
Thanks for sharing, Raina.
Love this! People thought I was nuts for letting my daughter eat solids in the BLW fashion, but she did so well and now she eats everything i give her.
People thought I was crazy as well! I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if you have the time. We are doing a 10 question series to reveal BLW results. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
Even though I can’t stand a mess, I went with baby led weaning too. It was the best decision. Totally worth the mess to not have a picky eater.
That is so awesome, Sam. I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if you have the time. We are doing a 10 question series to reveal BLW results. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
I did not do baby led weaning with my first, and he is such a picky eater. With my second, we decided to give BLW a try, and it is working out so well! He loves to feed himself and eats such a great variety. I would definitely recommend it.
That is so awesome, Erin. I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if get the time. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
My mother in law encouraged me to try BLW. We offered different tectured food to our daughter in a plate as we didn’t use high chair. She enjoyed eating it. It was a bit messy but the best decision for her eating habits.
That is great to hear Supriya. I would absolutely love for you to share your BLW weaning story with us if get the time. https://www.lorenaylennox.com/baby-led-weaning/wwwlorenaylennoxcom/blw-10-questions-mothers-tell-all
Right on – I only wish I’d done it with my first! I was young & inexperienced though, and taking advice from older family members on gross rice cereal and purees lol. Welp, my oldest was a picky & poor eater for years :/ With my second and third though – like night and day. Those two ate anything and everything right from the start of their foodie careers!
That is so interesting. Thank you for sharing and for commenting =)
I did this with my first, before it even had a name! We did it with my second too, & they both loved it. It is messy & that gives me anxiety at times, but like most other aspects of parenting – we just roll with it!
It is really becoming a new thing. It’s awesome to know you and others did it before it was officially a thing =)
What a good little eater! Nice job, mama.
Thank you so much.
I never thought that what I was doing have a name. My kids were eating real food by 6 months and I am so proud about that fact. Baby-led weaning…☺️
Yes, it’s a relatively new term, but I’m sure mothers have been doing it since forever.