Baby Led Weaning

So far, Gabriel has had ZERO interest in baby food. He'll let you put in a bite of baby mush and that's about it. He has however, been eye-balling and reaching for everything that we eat for quite some time now. Our pediatrician told us at his four month appointment that we could start trying solids and mentioned that he is a big fan of just letting baby try a taste of what's on your plate. We weren't opposed to that at all, but I guess at the time I didn't think too much about it. We tried rice cereal and oatmeal on and off with no success. I wasn't in a hurry to get him to eat solid foods yet; it's more about exploring at this age anyway. So after laying off for about a month or more, we tried sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, apples, and bananas all several times- still nothing. He started to become more agitated while watching the big people eat though, so slowly I started giving him a taste. He tore up the sweet potato I was eating at Outback Steakhouse, went to town on a lemon wedge that we gave him as a joke, and snatched Mimi's piece of raisin bread right out of her hand and shoved it in his mouth!! (By the way, seeing whole re-hydrated raisins later in his diaper was really quite disturbing!) So I started wondering why I couldn't just give him normal table food? After a little research online, I found quite a bit of information on Baby Led Weaning, which is just a fancy name for giving your little one regular food in manageable pieces that they eat all on their own. This obviously means lots of messes to clean up, but also means that baby is learning to chew before swallowing (which baby food doesn't teach); they're exploring different textures, and developing fine motor skills. So it's been decided. Gabriel will be a BLW baby. Although we've played around at this already without really knowing it, today was the first time Gabriel sat in his seat and was served up regular food that was all his own. He thoroughly enjoyed nom nom noming on his green beans!

Green bean cigarette?

For more info on baby led weaning and the most adorable pics of babes chowing down, visit http://www.babyledweaning.com/


Did any of you choose to skip over baby food? I'd love to hear your experiences!