A new way (for me) to feed baby!

I discovered on the internet 'baby led weaning' or BLW - the concept that babies forgo the purees and move straight to finger foods. The idea has gathered momentum with the relatively new advice by the WHO (and the various national ped societies) to forgo any solids until at least 6 months.

It will be interesting to see if this method of introducing solids to babes will gain any momentum over my lifetime. In my opinion, it makes such reasonable sense that I think it will eventually revolutionize (perhaps a strong word) how little babes are introduced to solids as long as we as parents can defeat the mass marketing of the baby food companies.

With Kathleen she started solids at just before five months on the advice of my ped. I was going back to work and it seem to make sense to start before I went back. In hindsight, as the picture shows, she wasn't anywhere near ready.

With Andrew, I probably tried a bit later but failed miserably due to his temperment. The boy hated texture and hates change even more - and to a certain extend still does. He probably wasn't eating solids until he was probably closer to 8 months.

With Sean, I had no interest in pushing the envelop. I wouldn't deny him - alas the bit of ice cream on the cruise ship when he was just five months old. In general, the boy doesn't eat solids except for what he can feed himself at the dinner table each night ... well, and a few Cheerio breaks during the day.

So, back to the world of BLW and Seanie. I decided to continue breastfeeding the baby pretty much exclusively until he is getting sufficient food into his mouth at each meal to decrease the breastfeeding. I still don't get any peds advice that the baby needs solids for calories - calorie for calorie, protein for protein, fat gram for fat gram, breastmilk will win hands down each and every time. Rice cereal, apple puree or sweet potatoes can't hold any ground to the good old basic of momma's milk. The concept of iron does hold a bit of ground but I am convinced that cereal isn't going to provide anywhere near enough iron to compensate so that argument lacks all credibility with the average healthy baby. I am hoping the few cheerios Sean gets each day will supplement his stores a tiny bit until he begins eating a bit more protein intensive foods.

Sean has so far consummed:
- avocado bits
- banana bits
- carrot gratings (think I will reconsider this one)
- cucumber bits
- brocolli (loves the stuff, aka around here as 'trees')
- tuna and mayo sandwich filling
- white rice
- pasta and meat sauce
- potatoes (with probably a bit too much sea salt)
- Cheerios
- Fruit Loops (that was Deckies contribution to his plate - I thought it was Cheerios - ooops)
- yogurt - I feed him a bit of mine each morning (on a spoon, I am not a purist)
- grated cheddar cheese
- a bit of grilled cheese sandwich

Tonight is pizza night here so I am sure he will try some of that too!

I wonder where this BLW will lead the masses. The puree idea at 6 months (goodness forbid before that point) seems so silly and messy ... unless you let the kiddo paint with the stuff.