baby led weaning?

Trying to find out some more about this baby led weaning stuff and how it works before Thomas gets to six months.  Anyone tried it?

My friend's son start grabbing food off of other children's plates at play group around 4 1/2 months. 

He could sit up on his own, had some teeth and showed an interest so they went with it.

My boss is doing this with their baby who is about 2 months older than Nye.  I don't know much about it, but he keeps telling me I should look into it so I could get you some resources if you want.

There is a lot of information on the internet, if you just google it and you can also look on Mumsnet or something of the sort.

There isn't too much to learn imo, its mainly about giving your baby suitable foods that they can pick up and eat, or at least try to eat. I think that one good thing about it is that babies can learn alot about texture and how foods feel, I think that leads to a good relationship with food. Saying that, I have one child who eats nothing and can go for 2-3 days eating very little, and another one who would eat anything all day long if you let her....its the nature of their personalities. but I digress..yes, google it and I believe there is a book out there about it.

I did baby led weaning with my now two year old and plan on doing it again with number two in a few months.  

When I was doing research, there seemed to only be one book about it, written by the woman who sort of "invented" it, Gill Rapley.  I say invented because I am sure in other cultures this style of weaning is the norm and has been done for centuries.  There are quite a few forums on the internet and most of the major baby websites at least give a nod to it that it exists as a method.  One thing I did find was that no one I knew in the US had ever heard of it.  My mother and sister thought I was nuts and really worried about it.  

The books and the forums all say not to start until they are 6 months.  That said my daughter was maybe 2-3 weeks shy of that mark when we started.  She was interested in what we were eating, so we would let her try things we were eating.  It doesn't mean you can't give her soft foods like yogurts or mashed up fruits.  I would load up spoons and leave them on her tray.  She figured out how to get them to her mouth quick enough.  

The two things I experienced were a lot of worried family members and because my DD was so little, concern over whether this was the best method to be using.  I think you have to be a relaxed parent for this style to work.  You first have to trust that your child will figure it out, not choke to death and be able to decide what they want to eat/like to eat.  The mess is also about 100 times worse than spoon feeding.  Be ready for unsolicited advice about what is best for your child and just smile and have a response ready.  

I thought the book was helpful to have on hand, but the internet forums offer more practical advice on recipes and techniques etc.  Good luck!

Like Racheeee said, there's loads of info on the web.  But, if you'd like some books to read to digest in your spare time I can recommend "Baby Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett.  Also, I love the cookbook Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers.

Try checking out what your local library has available or can get in for you before going out buying books.  Or, checkout GreenMetropolis.com to find 'em cheaper.  

Good luck!

Thanks for all the help.  I'm going to check if the local library has the book.  Had a look at the website for it and was still a bit confused about things like cereals or yogurt that couldn't really be finger food. Karin your explanation about the spoons was really helpful.

My son had really bad reflux and we had to wean early so we couldn't do baby led weaning in the beginning.  But once he was able to support himself (he couldn't "sit up" on his own for ages), I started giving him finger foods like bananas and toast.  We did a form of babyled weaning by mixing in finger foods earlier than "usual" but also spoonfeeding him purees. 

One thing to keep in mind is that *most* kids do not actually eat the food when you are BLW for several months.  The first "phase" (so to speak) is just getting them used to food and playing with it.  It can be close to a year before they are actually consuming a significant amount.  Obviously all kids are different but this seems to be a common concern.

This is, in part, why I mixed BLW with purees.  Despite what some "hardcore" BLW people may say, this didn't negate the benefits of BLW.  My son was not happy with only milk, but not actually eating any of the real foods we gave him (not enough to help his reflux anyway) so we adapted it to fit us.  He's almost a year old now and he hasn't eaten purees in several months (he will eat oatmeal, yogurt, pudding from a spoon but nothing else) and he eats whatever we are having with no problems.

You can find a lot of good information on the internet about it.  The main thing is not to get too caught up in the "rules" and go with what works for you.  We had to adapt BLW to work for us and despite not doing it "correctly", I can see the benefits.

I cannot praise/recommend BLW enough!!

It's nothing new, really...just has a "name" now. We started when DS was about 5.5 mos by following his cues. We had lots of skepticism from family and lots of worry that A) he would choke and, B) he would only ever know to eat things with his hands (this was MIL, bless her).

He did gag quite a bit at the beginning, but something you will learn through reading up is that a baby's gag reflex is further forward on their tongues. This means it is triggered sooner so they can work the food away from their throat (so they WON'T choke) and most times, they carry on eating it. In my son's case...ALWAYS went back in the gob! Best rule of thumb is to follow their lead, so if they're not bothered by it, carry on. Also, the more calm you stay about it (even if you're freaking out in your head) the more calm they will be/deal with it.

We didn't do any purees at all and a couple weeks in, he was having Sunday dinners at the table with the family. Still loves his Yorkshire puds now at 19 mos! Hehe.

As far as anything on a spoon, I would pre-load the spoon (yogurt, for example) and hand it over to him. He knew exactly what to do and YES it was messy, but that's all part of the learning process.

I blogged (and still blog) about many things with him, including our BLW journey if you'd like to see...

http://meguk365.blogspot.com/search/label/BLW

Also, what helped me was watching You Tube videos on BLW to prepare myself for how it would look/sound. There is also a BLW group on Facebook.

Hubby and I always say it's the BEST decision we ever made as first-time parents and to look back now, our son is 19 months and it's a lovely feeling to sit at the table together and enjoy our meal(s) warm!!

Good luck! x