Baby-led weaning
November 7th, 2008
Our second daughter is now 6 months old and we have started weaning her, and she is really enjoying a change from plain old milk. The thing is… with our first daughter, weaning was a big deal for us and I would spend hours reading books on concocting the perfect nutritious purée, but this time round I don’t have the same luxury. I often need to give the baby something to chew on while I get a meal in front of the eldest. The good thing is, she loves feeding herself much more than being fed.
I read about baby-led weaning a couple of years ago and recently read an article about it in the Guardian. It is apparently very popular in Holland (as usual the Dutch are a bit more advanced than the rest of Europe). The theory is that you give your baby food they can pick up and then let them go crazy: steamed vegetables and fruit, bananas, and avocado all work. You feed them whatever you can cut up into big chunks and soften so that they cannot choke on it. At the end your table will look like a vegetable battle field, but your baby will have had the best time.
I don’t know how much food actually gets eaten, so I am still feeding my daughter purées, but I do believe she is getting to enjoy food and develop her motor skills whilst having a great time with the rest of the family at the dinner table.
- Emilie
Entry Filed under: Baby, Cultural, Food, For Ourselves, Health, Interesting Articles, Parenting
5 Comments Add your own
1. Sara from Bruxelles | November 7th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I’m SO excited you wrote about this! I still have two more months until I start this with my daughter, but my friend told me about this as her sister in the UK has done it and loved it so I’ve been researching it. I Googled it and found two websites, and one is much better than the other but if you have more information on it I’d LOVE it! Or if there are other readers who have used this approach as well let me know what you’ve found. Merci!
2. Sara from Bruxelles | November 7th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Ok! JUST clicked on the Guardian link and found it gives great info. Sorry! But I’d still love to hear any advice or other sites you’ve used, etc. :0)
3. Emilie | November 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I first read about it a couple of years ago in a UK magazine called Junior. I also found info on Babycentre. I believe there is a book out now by GIll Rapley about baby led weaning, though I have not read it! Hope you have a fun letting your baby wean itself! We are loving it, though our kitchen floor is not…..
4. Kristin | November 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
It makes so much sense. It’s funny how much wiser we become the second time around, purely out of necessity. I’m looking forward to this stage- thanks for the information!
5. Esther | November 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I must say I haven’t heard about this phenomenom yet (and I’m in Holland!), but that doesn’t mean a thing – I don’t have a baby to wean!!
This sounds like fun – and it would be perfect if you already have the baby cook – you can just steam different veggies!
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