Starting Solid Foods!

I LOVE Food!

We're trying something called Baby Led Weaning ( at least that's what it's called here in the UK, sometimes it's called Baby Led Solids in the US, though I'm not sure it's very popular in America yet - I hadn't heard of it before moving out here). Basically, you have the baby feed themselves real food from the beginning - no baby cereal, and no baby food or homemade purees. It's grown very popular over here and is recommended as an option to be used instead of or alongside of baby food/cereal/purees by the NHS. They recommend you start at 6 months or when certain milestones are met. We started giving Ceci solid foods just after 5.5 months, as she was chomping at the bit (literally) to get her hands on our food, and she ticked all the developmental boxes.


I was super skeptical at first and didn't think it was for me, but the more I heard and read about it the more interested I became. It seemed like fun, and Ceci is already pretty independent, so I figured it was at least worth a try. I didn't expect much and thought for the first few weeks she'd just gnaw on things but not actually get anything in her belly or get bored/frustrated and give up on it. I was wrong.  She stated biting, sucking and gnawing at whatever we gave her, super focused and intent on the job at hand, and actually swallowing pieces, pretty much right from the get go!

It's been so much fun and so incredibly interesting that I've documented a lot of it with pictures and video. So I figured I'd share them!

Ceci's first taste of food was a banana which was actually not a great choice because the pieces were too slippery and squishy for her to hold well. The banana I used was also over-ripe which didn't help. She kept trying though, working intently for at least 10 minutes to pick up the pieces, however small they got, and trying to get them into her mouth. It was by far the longest she's spent doing one thing by herself (toys wind up on the floor within a couple minutes!).

The aftermath was also pretty spectacular!

After that there was no going back - it seemed like Ceci instantly caught the food bug. The next day when I tried to eat a plum while holding her she kept reaching out and leaning forward trying to get it. I was curious and decided to stop foiling her attempts and see what happened.  She dove for it head-first and really went for it, sucking and gnawing away as though her life depended on it. It was hilarious. I didn't manage to get any pictures because we were both covered in plum juice but we ended up sharing the whole thing and I'd say she ate at least half of it herself! Plums have been a favorite ever since. She often eats them the same way, with me taking a couple bites of skin off to get her started and then holding the fruit in front of her while she leans in for it. I've also cut it in half so she can hold it herself. Here's some pics from later attempts:

 

Next up was raw yellow bell pepper. Again, she was super focused and persistent. I think she liked the feeling of the cold pepper on her sore gums!

A day later she tried some pear. Like the banana she found it a bit slippery to hold but again, kept at it with intense concentration.

While I was making lunch the next day I gave her some raw green pepper and raw carrot sticks to gnaw on and basically use as teethers. To my surprise she got quite a bit off of the pepper! And she really enjoyed gnawing on the carrot stick.

 

   

That evening she had some steamed carrot and raw nectarine. She loved them both!

Nectarine was also a hit when eaten out of mom's hand:

  

We continued offering those fruits and vegetables for the next couple days with great success. Then we tried steamed butternut squash. It was a big hit (she's obviously my daughter, haha). I was surprised by how much she managed to eat...and the mess she managed to make! She seemed to really enjoy it.

 

On our second trip to the UK we stayed in a hotel and so had to eat out for every meal.  On our first night we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. They had a proper high chair with a tray so we ordered  some steamed vegetables to give Ceci something to do (food keeps her attention WAY longer than toys!). Ceci was served up some steamed carrot and broccoli (I made the mistake of not asking for no seasoning so I wound up sucking butter, salt and pepper off the pieces we gave her lol - lesson learned).  She loved them both, especially the broccoli. The pieces weren't terribly long so she had a little trouble getting a good grip. She found it much easier if I held it in front of her and she leaned in to suck and gnaw on them (part of baby led weaning is never physically putting food in the baby's mouth - you choose what to offer them but they should have control over what and how much they eat).  She ate some good chunks of several pieces.

 

 

On subsequent nights she had more steamed broccoli, steamed green beans and steamed sugar snap peas (I popped the peas out and gave her the pod). She made lots of messes but the waiters were all really sweet about it and usually really impressed by how much Ceci loved her veggies!

 

Daddy keeping Ceci happy at dinner with a plum

Breakfast was included at the hotel and was buffet style (yum!) so we were able to get lots of fresh fruit for Ceci - a second try at bananas and tastes of apple, melon and pineapple. She loved them all!

Since we've been home she's also tried some steamed zucchini (or courgette as it's called in the UK).

 

We've been sticking with just fruits and vegetables once or twice a day for now. But once Ceci turns 6 months (this week - wow!) pretty much anything is fair game.  And the goal is that we'll ease into having Ceci eating whatever we're having (as long as we don't use extra salt or sugar in our cooking)! There are very few things that are off limits.  Mostly just honey, raw shellfish and the mercury super-fish (shark, marlin and swordfish).  Should be quite an adventure!

Of course, like any mom I was really worried about giving control of the food over to a (not quite) 6 month old. What if she bit off more than she could chew, literally? What if she choked?! But I did a lot of research before starting and have gotten more confident as I've watched how amazing she is!  She has gagged a few times (a very important and normal, natural reflex to get food away from the back of the throat when it's not ready to be swallowed; and also something I'm really used to - she gags herself sucking on her fingers all the time). She's also definitely bit off way more than she can chew (she's like a chipmunk storing it in her cheeks)! But when that happens she just spits out the big piece (sometimes after longer than I'd like - she loves to keep shoving more food in her mouth even when it's full, but she always figures it out eventually). Or if something gets really stuck, usually a bit of a skin or peel between her  gums and cheek where she can't reach with her tongue, she'll just fuss until I help her get it out.

Overall she's just having a blast with it! 

Even trying plum on a fork!

Melon - delicious!