Q&A: "baby led weaning" for a formula-fed baby

Suzie writes:

"At our 4 month doctor visit the other day, the pediatrician brought up the idea of already starting to feed the little Pumpkin solids (rice cereal, purees, etc.), and my internal thinking was, "OK, whatever, I'm waiting for the girl to want to eat before offering her anything to much on." But the ped did leave me wondering: when you start your baby on "real" foods, do you offer only one thing at a time (a la "wait 2 weeks before adding anything new") or just go whole hog and offer a little bit of everything? How do you handle the potential for allergies?

Also, I know the whole premise of BLW is breastfeeding; but that doesn't mean I shouldn't give it a go with my formula-fed baby once she shows interest in what hubby and I are eating, right?"

First of all, BLW (baby led weaning) is explained by researcher Gil Rapley on this page, which now has a photo of a woman nursing about halfway down, with exposed nipple. (I'm not sure why that's necessary. And if anyone knows who makes that sexy nursing bra, please post in the comments.) If you don't want to or can't look at that page, just read the quick and dirty on Wikipedia (taking it the same way you take everything you read on Wikipedia). If you don't want to do that, the basics of BLW are:

Kids will eat solids when they're ready to, and if they aren't ready yet they won't swallow. They tested a bunch of babies and found that in general they were interested in tasting food at around 4 months but wouldn't really swallow until 6 months. Kids have more control over big chunks of food they can hold onto and shove in themselves instead of purees that are shoved to the backs of their mouths that they can't control. So in general they develop the smal muscle coordination to pick up small pieces about the time they can safely eat them. Keep giving them breastmilk or formula until at least a year, and they'll just transition to solid foods gradually and naturally. The End.

Anyway, the trend in the US is to offer only one thing (and people usually start with the totally disgusting rice cereal, which by now everyone knows I hate and think people should skip and go straight to bananas or avocado or something orange instead) for a few days because then you'll know if the baby is allergic to it before you move on to something else.

The problem is that I don't think that there's been any research about whether that has any effect on allergy rates or discovery of allergies, or if it's just something people came up with because it's logical. I don't think there's any harm in doing one thing every few days, but I also don't know if it's necessary. I'd like to see if there are any differences in allergy rates or allergic reaction rates in groups that separate and groups that don't.

I also think that parents know a whole lot about what our kids may be or probably aren't allergic to before we get to the solids phase. You know if they have problems with dairy or soy if you're using formula, and perhaps if you're nursing (anyone who's had to eliminate that sweet, sweet ice cream because of a baby's dairy intolerance is cringing right now). If your baby is your biological child you also know some family history of allergies, and you may have this info if your kid is adopted. Lots of food allergies seem to be connected to skin rashes and other external things you alreayd know about. So definitely take all of this into account, and if your child tends to have allergies to one thing, be cautious about introducing too many new things that tend to be allergens.

And, yeah, of course you can do BLW if you're formula-feeding. She's a human baby, after all, so all the stuff about food size and choking and her learning process (which BLW is about, as much or more than it's about actual nutrition) is the same for her and you as it is for the kid on that site whose mom is wearing that black lace nursing bra. Formula should be her primary source of nutrition for at least the first year, and she'll tell you when she's ready to eat other stuff.

Just beware of veggie burgers, because garlic poop is indescribable.

Comments

[Sarah]

Gosh I struggled with this feeding business, myself. I searched online and in books for a concise explanation and/or feeding chart by age and, though similar, none of them really said the same thing other than "when developmentally ready". My daughter is 8 months now, still has no teeth, is on stage 2 foods, sometimes refuses formula completely, may gnaw on a teether cookie or some bread if she feels like it AND clearly doesn't like green veggies. (Actively working on that last one!)

For what it's worth, she didn't loose that tongue-thrust reflex until about 5.5 months.

I mix a couple tablespoons of rice cereal directly with the veggies and fruits that are somewhat on the watery side like carrots and that goes over well. Because she never seems to like the same things, the same ways from day to day, I just concern myself with making sure she gets a variety that keeps her diet nutritionally sound.

As for when to introduce things...by the time baby was interested in eating the solids whole-heartedly, if I introduced one food at a time week by week to discern which caused an allergic reaction, my girl would be in college by the time she was sorted out.

[Sarah]

Apologies for the double entries. My mind isn't fully awake yet.

I just wanted to add a couple other thoughts. First off, I meant lose, not loose. Hah!

Secondly, along with what "they" recommend as a schedule for introducing foods, they also recommend not giving the kiddos corn, citrus, eggs, cows milk and a few other goodies until they're over a year old. However, there are quite a few stage 2 and 3 foods that include citrus and corn.

Talk about confusing.

A friend of mine feeds her 8 month old ice cream and eggs and his nose hasn't fallen off or anything, so who knows?

[Diane]

Waiting a bit between new foods is more to do with being able to pick out the allergen or intolerance than anything else. Our ped said to wait about 3 days between for the first month or so, which still allows for a lot of foods in a short-ish time.

Moxie (or anyone else, of course), do you know more about this garlic business? I figured out it was garlic in my diet that was giving my daughter horribly painful gas by the time she was about a month old. She is now 18 months, and garlic still gives her gas. It is one of the most obnoxious things to keep out of her diet, so I was hoping someone has a kid out there who outgrew this who can give me hope, or at least some advice. :)

[Maria]

My daughter ate no solid foods until she was 14 months old, despite my trying periodically starting around 6 months. My advice Don't stress, she'll eat food eventually and in the meantime, it's a lot less messy.

[sue]

Both of my kids wanted to eat at 4 months - reeally eat. My daughter wanted to taste things and occasionally swallow, but my son wanted stuff in his belly, and NOW. We organized things by offreing one new food every few days, and layering in the ones htey'd already tried. So if the baby has had no reaction to rice cereal, the next few days, he can have rice cereal and avocado. then rice cereal, avocado and sweet potatos. I think the key is only one new things at a time, so that if there's a reaction you can figure out what caused it. Of course, the day comes when the baby gets hives from curry that has 28 ingredients, and you're stumped (it was the tomatoes). Both of my kids have had everything to eat prior to one year old, including nuts, dairy, and citrus. They have a forgetful and generous daddy.

As for actually drinking less - that never happened with my daughter, who was formula fed. At age one, she drank almost 60 ounces of formula a day (!) Of course, she's always been off the top of the growth chart, and while she ate a great variety of things, did not eat huge quantities until about 18 months.

My son, who is almost 1, drinks far less, but he is breastfed and i have a low supply (and recently stopped taking my most powerful galactagogue) so his options are more limited because he doesn't really like the lact-aid tube in his mouth. He does still drink a lot of milk in a straw cup, though, but he eats much greater quantities than his sister did at this age.

At any rate, your daughter will gradually want less formula, but it will probably be more gradual than you are expecting. The big thing is getting her to drink it from a cup instead of a bottle. The sooner you can do that, the better. (I speak from experience. my daughter is now 3.5 and still takes a bottle of water to bed)

[Parisienne Mais Presque]

As for the sexy nursing bra, there's a company in France that makes them (figures, no?), although I don't know if they made the model in the picture: http://www.sibellia.fr/. I don't know anything about them beyond browsing their web site, however. Alas, it seems to me that in France, breasts are so associated with sexiness and feminine beauty that breastfeeding is shunned by a lot of moms, at least beyond two or three months postpartum... but that's a whole other subject.

As for introducing solids, my son is 7 months old and I'm in the middle of that headache. I, too, searched everywhere for advice, and came to the following conclusions:

1) It is OVERWHELMINGLY CULTURAL. American and French recommendations have nothing to with one another, and yet American and French babies grow up just fine. There may be subtle differences in recommendations due to allergies more or less prevalent in different populations -- I have no idea -- but I think it has more to do with fixed cultural ideas than real scientific evidence.

In the US, you start with rice cereal, bananas and avocado. In France, you start with carrots and applesauce. In France, there's no specific advice to avoid dairy after six months (that I've found at any rate) and yogurt is actually recommended, but I've gotten strange looks when I've mentioned avocado because it's considered "exotic". Go figure.

2) You worry a heck of a lot at first, uselessly. You try jars of the prescribed food and it all ends up on the floor, on the table, on the kid's forehead, anywhere but in the mouth. Then your baby starts looking interested in whatever's on your plate and you're so desperate to find something they actually like that you just cut it up and give it to them (within reason). When I found through Moxie a study that validated this approach, man, did I feel better!

My husband actually gave our son a hunk of baguette to chew on. I was terrified he'd choke on it, and then there are the wheat allergies, blah blah blah. Then I learned from my mother-in-law that stale baguette crust is a classic French teething object. So we limit it to a big chunk of the crust and watch him like a hawk and he loves it. (Okay, so I'm still a bit worried, but he's got six teeth now and seems to know what he's doing.)

3) Rice cereal looks disgusting. I wouldn't eat it, so I won't give it to le Petit.

What I'm trying to keep in mind is to keep it fun and respect le Petit's lead. It is a discovery process, after all, since milk remains his most important source of nutrition until his first birthday.

But I'm still trying to figure it all out, and would love to hear what others have had success with as first foods. What's your baby's top ten favorite foods at nine months, one year old?

[Jojo]

My son is 21 months old, and the only thing I regret is folloing the "puree" approach to introducing food. I did skip rice cereal and went straight to oatmeal, but if I had it to do over again, I would start with real food in a mesh feeder bag. I would have gotten my son used to the real textures of food right from the begining. (I sometimes who benefits from baby food other than Gerber.)My son still spits many foods out as soon as they touch his tongue. Maybe he would have been that way anyway, but maybe not.

I understand that they recommend introducing foods one at a time so you can identify any possible allergies...and that's fine. But there is no evidence that shows that delaying the introduction of any food actually helps prevent allergies. So, I would receommend just going for it with real foods. I also beleive that a most children will naturally reduce their milk/formula intake to compensate for soild food intake. You just have to trust that they really do know how much they need to eat and drink. Most of them really do.

[Linda]

I just wanted to add that family history of allergies is important only if they *have* allergies, then you know to be alert.
If everyone in your family has no allergies that doesn't mean your baby won't either.
I followed the peanut recommendation to wait until 2 years to eat, even though no one in our families are allergic to peanuts.
When I gave my 2 year old a peanut butter cookie he spit it out and told me it was yucky. Then his whole mouth/lips/face turned red and his body was covered in hives in about one minute. I gave him a double dose of Benadryl and drove straight to my doctor's office. By the time we arrived- he was fine. We left with an Epi-Pen and my heart in about a million knots.
Anyway- I'm just saying be careful with the peanuts. Nobody else in both families are even allergic to ANY foods.

[Linda]

Oh, and I also wanted to add that after consulting with our Allergist he recommended 'skin patch testing' with other foods before my son actually ingested the food. Like squeezing strawberry juice onto my fingers and rubbing it on the inside of my sons arm and see if any redness occurs. Its not always accurate, but you could definately do this with peanut butter before you had a child eat it for the first time.

[Jess]

I had planned to wait until six months to give solids, but my son started attempting to grab stuff off our plates at 5 months. He got incredibly excited when we ate, kicked, squirmed, opened his mouth, etc., so we gave it a whirl with some mashed avocado. He loved it and has never looked back. Starting at around 7 months I started introducing real texture, complex flavors and to my surprise and delight he now (at 11+ months) eats everything from apple slices and plain yogurt to curry chicken and dim sum. The only thing is now he's getting into the phase where he only wants to feed himself-- e.g. he wants some of my potato soup, but wants to handle the spoon all by himself. I'm taking the approach of letting him experiment as much as he wants. It's gotten messier in the last couple of weeks, but even more fun. Another thing he's into now is wanting to feed me (i.e. holding out the cracker for me to nibble on, and then he'll nibble on it) which I happily play along with. Other than offering a variety of foods, not giving him anything I myself thought tasted yucky (why do jarred pureed peas taste like dust?) and not having any preconceived ideas of what he would like or dislike, I think the main reason that he is this way is personality driven-- he just likes to eat and that was obvious even from the way he nursed as a newborn. I consider his eating habits to be cosmic compensation for the fact that he seems to be biologically incapable of napping more than 1/2 an hour at a time.

[Rachel]

My little guy is not quite 8 months old, demanded to start eating at 5.5 months, and now must have both spoon food and finger food or we hear about it! The other day we went out on a lunchtime errand to IKEA and I forgot to bring any food at all for him (doh!) - nursing alone will not do, certainly not when he sees US eating - and so he shared his brother's mac and cheese, my boiled potatoes and carrots, and some saltines. He had a blast squishing the food up and stuffing it in his face. It was very funny and a huge mess. We've also tossed him paneer and potato and so on from the Indian buffet we do most weekends.

I am much more adventurous and relaxed with him than I was with his older brother - I basically ignored the three-day thing completely and he had wheat and yogurt right from the get-go. But I plan to keep him away from all nuts for a long time, because that is scary stuff. Other things I will avoid are honey, egg white, citrus, shellfish, and cow milk to drink, although my ped says all those things (except maybe shellfish?) are OK as minor ingredients in other cooked foods and I say hear hear. And berries and melon. It's not like those are so great in February anyway.

Finger foods that are working well for us right now are graham crackers, cheerios, spears of tofu, grated cheese, overcooked pasta, defrosted frozen mixed veggies (peas-carrots-corn-greenbeans), and whatever I spot on my own plate that seems like it might work. Last night it was cubes of acorn squash. My feeling is that he still likes the spoon food because much more of that goes into his stomach, but that the finger food gives him much more to do developmentally. Chasing that stuff around his tray, picking it up with fist or fingers, getting it to his mouth, transferring it out of his hand, working it around inside his mouth -- it's a lot to learn!

I find it easy to make our own purees & freeze in ice cube trays and that gives me a lot more flexibility than those little jars. In the freezer right now is avocado, butternut squash, cauliflower, collard greens, simmered dried apricots, simmered dried prunes, and applesauce. We also do whole-milk yogurt, cottage cheese, and the commercial cereals. I try to keep it organic as much as possible but I'm not a purist.

[Tamar]

Hey, how convenient that this would come up today! I'm closing in on the 6-month "deadline" for introducing solids and finding myself kind of reluctant about it. Noodle shows no particular interest in food, doesn't sit independently yet, has no teeth, and is a champion nurser. It feels like we worked so hard to get to the easy part of nursing... I'm not seriously thinking of waiting until 12 months to start with solids, but anyone know from a medical standpoint when a baby needs them for the calories and nutrients?

My mom pointed out that when I was a baby (not in the US, FWIW), they said to start with cereal in a bottle, because otherwise the baby wouldn't get any and what was the point? So yeah. What is the point? My ped said to start with a spoon because that is the beginning of learning self-feeding, but sheesh.

[hedra]

I agree that the waiting between foods is for ease of identification. I was all 'argh' on that with my first, my mom said, 'I never did one at a time, and you guys were all fine and besides, who is allergic to carrots or sweet potatoes?' Famous last words. G was allergic to carrots. And I fed them plus sweet potatoes on one day, and it took days and days to figure out which was the culprit. ARGH.

For the allergies and family history thing, don't discount environmental allergens. It doesn't have to be food allergies that bump the risk up, ANY allergies - hay fever, cats, dust mites, whatever - qualify as 'atopic history'.

I went to an intimates shop and got fittings for nursing bras. It was strange to have someone else handling my bbs, but the fit was WONDERFUL (I'd been going up too high on band size to accommodate cup - funny, being a 34 J - that is, 34DDDDDDD, most shops didn't carry my size), and they had the Le Mystere French brand. Trust the French to have sexy nursing bras, that are also comfortable. Also trust the French to not be dismayed producing one that you have to stick your hand down your shirt to close, too - I doubt the exposure thing for closing up is much of an issue there, compared to the panic-if-you-see-skin US. Sigh. But it was worth it for the sexy and comfortable thing.

[Amie]

My 9 month old son loves his Stage 2 jarred baby food (we stick to organic and he started around 5 months) but totally rejects finger food. We've been giving him toast, cheerios, bananas, etc. and he'll pick it up and put it in his mouth, at which point he gets this totally grossed out expression and gags and spits it back out. Any suggestions? Should I just keep putting in front of him and one day he'll eat it? I have to admit, I'm also a bit paranoid about him choking...he has four teeth but I don't really have a good understanding of what to give him that's safe. Any advice is much appreciated!

[Today Wendy]

We're doing the baby-led weaning with a formula fed baby, and as far as I can tell it is working out nicely. We started out at 6 months with mushed up food which she hated so much that she vomited just to get it out of her mouth, so we switched to chip-shaped pieces of food she could hold herself. I think she was 8 months before she was actually eating anything rather than playing with it, but now she is quite happy to have me feed her some of the time and do it herself the rest.

This morning we had yogurt in a cup, I fed her the first few spoonfuls, then she took over. Then she had toast with honey which she ripped into pieces and dunked in the yogurt. Some days she can use a spoon easily, but today it was being frustrating so I took over and finished helping her eat the yogurt, but it did mean that I got to eat my own breakfast while she played quite happily. We do get a fair amount of food on the floor, but we just end the meal as soon as she's doing it deliberately. She's still on 18-24 oz of formula/milk per day, but I think that's partly because she's still not great with a cup.

I did go through a few months of freaking out that she wasn't eating real food and would be drinking from a bottle forever...but things eventually sorted themselves out and most days food is a lot of fun. Good luck!

[suzanne]

We waited until 6 months to start solids on the advice of our pediatrician. Also my daughter was somewhat interested in eating before then but not really sitting up well enough before then so I was fine to wait. I agree with Moxie - skip the rice cereal. We tried it once and she hated it then moved on to bananas, avocados, and everything else under the sun. I waited 2 days max between the introduction of new foods, my daughter is breastfed and seemed to show absolutely no food sensitivities so I wasn't all that worried about allergies.

I make all of her food, it's pretty easy and I can control the texture of her food and give her a wider variety. I think the jarred stuff is way too pureed and doesn't give babies any sense of the texture of food. We're vegetarians so we won't be doing any meat but she's nearly 9 months and will eat nearly everything - we've recently introduced grains like buckwheat, quinoa, and millet as well as tofu. I did a lot of research and there is so much conflicting information about what to introduce and when so I just followed my gut. The only thing I've really been cautious about is acidic foods - her poop output increased significantly when she started on solids and too much acidic foods left her bottom sensitive.

One book that I found pretty helpful is Mommy Made by Martha and David Kimmel.

We're now kind of struggling with finger foods, she doesn't seem all that interested in anything other than Gerber Puffs (and I now regret introducing them) and the mesh feeder was a huge pain - I could never get the banana out from the mesh!

[Susannah]

On food allergies and introducing solids, our pedi allergist said to delay peanuts, treenuts, and shellfish until age five. He recommends this for all kids. His explanation was that while there is no evidence that this reduces allergies, it is a whole lot easier to intubate a five year old with anaphylaxis than a five month old. Whoa- when you put it that way.... peanuts don't look so great right now, especially given B's family history of anaphylaxis in 5 first and second-degree relatives on one side.

On the other hand, the other side of the family (mine) has zero experience with nut-free, and don't have the requisite label-reading, hand-washing paranoia. They keep asking me if it is OK if there was "just a little peanut-butter on the knife", etc. It's making me wonder if we shouldn't do a trial or skin test or something, because the magnitude of the task in keeping a toddler truly nut-free seems huge when you factor in well-meaning-but-clueless extended family. Obviously, if B has allergies, there's no choice. But five years of this only to find out there are no allergies...?

re evidence and data, I do remember reading one large european study that suggested that the number of different foods introduced before the gut is mature relates to the likelihood of allergies. Some european pedi societies recommend waiting for all solids until six months, then going slowly. That's what we did, since it made sense to me.

[Andrea]

That bra looks a lot like the Elle MacPherson La Mere bra I have from Figleaves:

http://www.figleaves.com/us/product.asp?product_id=EMI-E71-196&mci=&size=&colour=&image=r2207-p109756-style

It really is pretty hot, though unwired and so not as supportive as it could be. :)

[Julie]

Coming at this from a totally different direction....we had a hell of a time getting Alex to eat any kinds of food. At 2, he is very limited in his diet and unwillingness to try anything new. I know this is normal for toddlers and don't really worry about it....but God is it annoying. I think I have the only 2 year old who will not touch pizza, grilled cheese or quesadillas. I truly think part of this is his lack of exposure to *us* eating meals. During that critical phase of food introduction (8-18 months or so) we very rarely ate dinner together at the table. Alex would be in bed by 6:30 every night, and who wants to eat dinner (or even have it prepared) by 4:30-5:00??? Not to mention a quiet dinner after we had made it to the finish line was much more appealing. But that fascination over what we were eating and wanting to try it was completely missed in our family and I think we are reaping what we have sown.

So while you are trying foods out - whatever they may be, eat dinner at the table as much as you can, make sure your child sees you eating a variety of foods, and barring any significant family allergy history, give your little one as many opportunities to try new things. We didn't realize how important this was until that ship had sailed.

[Jill]

I definitely think it's good to wait a few days in between new foods. Otherwise, if there's a reaction, how do you know what caused it? You'd have to go back and re-try the potential tihngs and who wants to risk another reaction?

I went to a "starting solids" class at our hospital, which is a very earthy/crunchy/pro-BF'ng/pro-co-sleeping kind of place... here's what I remember... about starting solids around 6 months and waiting until the baby is really ready (there's a good list of cues to know when your baby is ready at www.wholesomebabyfood.com)

1) This time is not about nutrition - give them nutritious foods, but don't worry about how much they're getting... a few teaspoons is fine for now.

2) Solids don't replace any of the BM or formula you're giving them now.

3) Letting a baby feed himself as much as possible is best for him learning about food and enjoying himself with food. It's not about getting a lot of food into him. It's teaching him how to eat and enjoy it. To that end, don't just shovel food into their mouths trying to get a jar of food down them. Let them eat with their fingers, or dip a spoon and let them put the spoon in their mouths themselves...

4) There's nothing magic about baby rice, or having some special order of foods to do. Give your baby nutritious choices.... and it's easy enough to just mash up some 'real' food. If you want to give them food from a jar, make sure the only ingredients are the food itself, and water. No sugar, salt, etc.

5) If they don't like something, try again in a few days or a week. It takes eating something several times for them to actually develop a taste for it. And don't say "Oh, you don't like peas"... they will learn to not like peas if you keep saying they're yucky.

6) Carrots - one of my friends told me this, and a doctor friend confirmed it... carrots contain nitrates (or nitrites) and so it is actually better to get baby food carrots than your own b/c the baby food people have to remove the nitrates. I need to do more research on this and see if I can figure more out about it.

7) Talk to your doc about foods to avoid for potential allergies and when you should introduce them. Including wheat, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, strawberries, dairy, and tomatoes and citrus... And yogurt and cheese might be different than actual milk - this seems to be up for debate.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now...

[Charisse]

@Diane, I can give you some hope anyway--my almost-4 was a very gassy baby, bothered by garlic, spice, broccoli, etc. while nursing and after. I'd say she's still kind of a pooty kid, but the discomfort just doesn't bother her to nearly the same degree, and it takes a lot more of the offending substance to cause a problem. (I mean, she eats pretty much whatever these days--sometimes she does get an owie tummy after digging into a whole bunch of garlic, but it's nothing a single dose of Mylicon won't cure.) Hang in, and if you've been using something other than simethicone for the discomfort, do switch post-haste! It actually works.

[RachelY]

I have a 7.5-month-old, and we started baby-led weaning about a month ago. I did purees with my first child, now 2 and a half. He is extremely picky and resistant to trying new things, which I think is part regular toddler, part a risk-averse personality, and partly due to his many food issues (peanuts and eggs full-on allergies, and wheat, oats, yeast, soy all possible sensitivities).

My questions is this: for those who've done baby-led weaning and who were also concerned about allergies, what foods did you offer early on? My daughter eats pear, applesauce, yogurt, sweet potato, and butternut squash, and she seems eager to try more. But I'm nervous about introducing wheat, corn, or other common allergens, because of her brother's history. I did try broccoli, which she loved, but it gave her awful gas and kept her awake. We're in the Midwest, and produce is limited this time of year, but I'd love to hear any ideas.

[sam]

Well this has come at a good time. My lo is 25 weeks and she has been interested in what we eat from about 3.5 months. The other day, I ate a sandwich whilst holding her and it was a battle to keep it just to myself. She watches hand to plate and opens her mouth expectantly. I have started her on pureed veggies, which she eats whilst we have lunch or a snack. She's enjoying them but I want to try her on finger foods as soon as poss. I really want to try and harness this enthusiasm and start finger foods as soon as I can.

But I'm scared...there, I said it. I'm scared of all the conflicting advice about WHEN to introduce different foods and I'm scared of her choking on finger foods. I know gagging it supposed to be common and that it's important to keep calm if they do gag (and not rush in with the heimlich) but that will be easier said than done.

What is to stop her from biting off a big chunk of lightly steamed carrot and wedging it in the back of her throat???

Should I start by putting soft foods in one of those mesh bags?? How do mesh bags tie in with BLW principles????

[Kate]

I'm just starting BLW with my 6 month old and foolishly expected that since everything goes in her mouth, so would food. Apparently not. The bowl is good, but not the squash, the banana or the pear. So wanting to stop the new trend of waking twice a night, instead of once, to eat, I've settled with spooning in some mush and also providing some BLW-type-food to smush up and throw on the floor.

But with respect to the bottle/breast feed and BLW discussion... I found this blog entry from Gill Rapley on the site below.

http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/BLWBreastandFormulaFeedingandWater/_archives/2006/9/7/2302145.html

From Gill Rapley: "I'm delighted you've raised this. Personally, I have little doubt that babies who have been formula-fed are just as capable of self-weaning as those who have been breastfed. My hesitation in saying so in public stems from the fact that I am working in the world of academics and health professionals. In that world, any new drug, procedure or idea has to have a research evidence base to substantiate it before it is accepted - common sense is not enough. This is a safety feature - just in case there could be a hidden danger. If I step outside that I will not be taken seriously by people who, if they are convinced, have the potential to share the BLW message with lots of parents. So, since my own small piece of research was done using breastfed babies, I am not able to make assertions that are more general. You, as mothers, are perfectly free to state what makes logical sense - and I thank you for doing so!"

[Kate]

I'm just starting BLW with my 6 month old and foolishly expected that since everything goes in her mouth, so would food. Apparently not. The bowl is good, but not the squash, the banana or the pear. So wanting to stop the new trend of waking twice a night, instead of once, to eat, I've settled with spooning in some mush and also providing some BLW-type-food to smush up and throw on the floor.

But with respect to the bottle/breast feed and BLW discussion... I found this blog entry from Gill Rapley on the site below.

http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/BLWBreastandFormulaFeedingandWater/_archives/2006/9/7/2302145.html

From Gill Rapley: "I'm delighted you've raised this. Personally, I have little doubt that babies who have been formula-fed are just as capable of self-weaning as those who have been breastfed. My hesitation in saying so in public stems from the fact that I am working in the world of academics and health professionals. In that world, any new drug, procedure or idea has to have a research evidence base to substantiate it before it is accepted - common sense is not enough. This is a safety feature - just in case there could be a hidden danger. If I step outside that I will not be taken seriously by people who, if they are convinced, have the potential to share the BLW message with lots of parents. So, since my own small piece of research was done using breastfed babies, I am not able to make assertions that are more general. You, as mothers, are perfectly free to state what makes logical sense - and I thank you for doing so!"

[Amy]

I don't think I'm going to say anything new here... #3 is 9 months old and has been eating solids since 4 months (b/c he was watching us so intently when we ate that we were feeling guilty about not giving him some too). For #1 and #2 I was a SAHM and made all their food from scratch (ah, those were the days), but I can't do that now. So, #3 gets some jarred stage 2, but frankly he just prefers to have some steamed chunks of whatever we are having. I will puree fruit/veggies and add a little oatmeal to thicken it when I need him to eat in a hurry, but otherwise, he just self feeds (with a little spoon action from us) at meals. I started yogurt before the recommended age (the American recommended age) b/c I knew he'd love it (and he does), and I'm itching to start eggs 'cause I know he'll love those as well. We skipped the "one food at a time" deal b/c neither myself, my husband, nor the older two have had any allergies.

I guess my point is, relax about it. You can't do it wrong. If she's gagging on the food, she might not be ready, and then you can just pull back. But I don't think this is one of those baby milestones you can screw up. But do take pictures! I have some great shots of #2 eating peaches for the first time. Classic sour face.

[caramama]

When I had introduced the idea of BLW to my hubby, he wanted to ask the pediatrician. Our ped said, "there are a million different babies, and a million different ways to feed them. Find what works for you and for the baby, and go for it." I love that advice. This seems to be an area that people get all worked up about, but the more we relax the more fun it can be.

We started with BLW at 6.5 months, and it has gone great. For us, it's so much easier to cut up some food, put it down in front of her, and eat while she's eating. My mom (who watches the Pumpkin during the day) was not comfortable with this method of feeding, so she would spoon feed her purees for lunch for the first few months. Now that the Pumpkin is eating solid foods just fine, even my mom gives her slices of food, and we occassionally spoon feed her yogurt or applesauce.

We weren't scared, but we were nervous when we started. So we took an infant CPR class at the hospital, and it gave us a lot of confidence. IME, the key for doing BLW without freaking out is to watch and understand the difference between gagging and choking. Babies gag, especially early on because their gag reflex is so far forward. But that is their way of working the food out from the back of their mouth/throat, and it is how they learn to control the food in their mouths. (This last point is why I don't think mesh bags exactly work with the principles of true BLW, but if that is what people are comfortable with, I say go for it.)

As for allergies and food introduction, Cloud wrote up a great post on her blog (I hope she'll link to it) about the research out there. After reading that (which basically says that there is no evidence for the timing of food introduction having any influence on food allergies--cloud please correct me if that is not a good sum up), we decided to just have at it with everything except nuts.

(Side note: I've actually got a draft post in my queue about BLW for my blog that I plan to post this week. How about that for timing?)

[paola]

My 13 month old is just so not interested in anything other than yoghurt, fruit and oatmeal, especially recently. With the so called '12 month eating regression', colds and teething, it's been really hard on me and my breasts. She would be happy to nurse for every meal if I let her and still nurses around 7/8 times per day (she sleeps all night so this nursing is from 7.00am. to 7.00 pm)which is much more than I would like her to. She eats better with others, but the moment she sees me she starts to cry and carry on until I nurse her and then when I offer her food, she is obviously too full to eat more than a few mouth-fulls. I have tried everything to reduce the number of nurses, but then something crops up like a cold, stomach virus and then it's back to square one. It is just so frustrating. How long is this going to go on?

[Sara]

Thank you for posting this today! I am in the same place, wanting to do finger foods, but kindof scared and definately confused.
I offer my LO some finger foods, but also do purees. The purees are becoming more prevelant right know. This is partially due the the two choking incidents (yes it was choking, not just gagging) which were pretty scary. However, it was pretty easy to scoop out the too large chunk.
I have been going back and forth between just giving him whatever, and following the "rules" (not that I am sure what the rules are). No one in our families is allergic to anything, and I haven't noticed him being sensitive to anything through my milk. He is almost 8 months, so I should probably just go for it. About the mesh feeders - very difficult to get the banana out, and LO didn't really like it. It occured to me that they are putting this bright blue mesh in their mouths, and tasting banana (or whatever), and that is probably confusing. It would be for me anyway. How do they know it is food in there? The food becomes unrecognizable!

[Rose]

So there has been research on whether or not delaying certain foods prevents allergies and the good news is there is NO proof it does. Last month I reported on my web site that the American Academy of Pediatrics actually changed their recommendation and said you will not cause allergies by giving solids after 4-6 months:
http://www.fromtheparkbench.com/2008/01/09/some-good-news-families-history-allergies

The only reason to delay a food past that point is what another commenter already said... it is easier to intubate an older child then a baby if a bad reaction occurs. Since my daughter is allergic to corn with #2 I'll delay corn and the worst allergies like peanuts and shellfish till over a year but will feed the rest depending on what we are eating.

As for delaying several days between foods. That's very useful for determining what caused a reaction. However I will be playing fast and loose with that rule on the stuff on the low allergenic scale... and probably delay even longer on food on the high end of the scale. It was a nightmare figuring out my daughters corn allergy after she was eating everything!

[Melba]

In Canada, the latest recommendation from the government health authority is that you can feed ANY food to a baby at 6 months as long as the texture is appropriate. The one and only exception is honey due to the botulism risk (who knew?). They say nuts, shellfish, strawberries, everything is fine. Whaaaaa?????

The reason this is so incredibly weird to me is that they just recently, when my munchkin was about 4 months old, changed their recommendation. They used to say no nuts or shellfish until 2, no dairy until 1, no meat until 9 months, cereals/fruits/veggies ok at 4 months, etc. Then one day it was just all different and it begs the question WHY. So I went to the local health unit and asked. They told me that there is no research or data that shows that anything bad will happen that wouldn't happen anyway. If the child is allergic to something they will be at 6 months the same as they will be at 2 years. We aren't preventing allergies by holding back foods. We're just delaying knowing if there is an allergy or not.

Anyway, my munchkin eats everything, but I haven't given her shellfish, nuts, or egg whites because frankly I don't want to deal with the allergic reaction with an 8 month old and would rather wait to deal with it, if it happens, when she's older.

And a word of warning about starting with rice cereal - we did that, thinking we were doing the "right" thing, and waiting a full week to introduce a second food. Well rice is very binding and can easily cause consitpation, and by day 4 we were doing the q-tip-vaseline-maneuver with a screaming in pain baby. If I could do it over again I'd start with something that doesn't cause constipation or diarrhea, like squash or avocado or oatmeal.

[Emily]

Before we started solids with our son, we read

Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense, by Ellyn Satter,

and found it very useful and sane about how to approach the whole topic of food and babies/children/parents. Parts of it are a little snippy or preachy, but on the whole it is extremely respectful of where a kid is at during various stages, and where the parents are at. In a nutshell, certain things, like whether and how much a kid eats, are up to the kid. Other things, like what's on the table that day, are up to you. And there's a lot about those developmental abilities Moxie mentioned. Following her basic guidelines has worked very well for us so far.

[Emily]

One more thought: mostly unrelated, and probably entirely irrelevant to you thoughtful people. I just wanted to vent about random people who think they can feed something to your baby without checking with you first. Grrrrr.

[attiton]

The now eight-month-old Rabbit has been eating solids since about 5 months and her formula/breastmilk consumption has absolutely plummeted. She adores real food and will just turn her little face away from either the bottle or my breast (who thought that day would come!) when there's any hope for some mango. Mango, I tell you.

Long ago I just decided--because, as we all know, I am the best parent for my child--to say "whatever." She's eating. She's growing. She likes chicken and sweet potatoes and broccoli and cauliflower and grains and whatnot. Sometimes she'll nurse, and she usually prefers her grain made with breastmilk or formula, so that counts. She's now really liking to eat chunks of banana and we have her own little sword-spoon that she loves (Gerber makes it...more sort of a dipping utensil than a scooping one...works really well).

C'est la vie.

[Another Erin]

Since a couple people have mentioned the number of teeth their bub has as a factor in what to feed them, I thought I'd add my data point: a almost 16 m.o. with, count 'em, only four teeth. Lack of teeth has never deterred her from her goal of eating whatever it is that we're eating (including very crunchy things!). Also, she has wanted to feed herself from a very early age, and has insisted on using utensils since she was 11 m.o. So although we were doing finger foods, we returned to chunky purees that she can easily spoon up. And much to various observers' horror, we let her use a real metal fork!

[sam]

Thanks Caramama, I'll keep an eye on your blog for the BLW account and check Cloud's blog for her write up.

What's fascinating is all the different experiences everyone is having. One size does certainly not fit all.

Paola, I hope she cuts down on the nursing soon - it must be so draining. Lets hope, like everything else that drives us nuts, that it is all a phase and it will pass soon!!

[Diane]

Thank you, Charisse! Unfortunately, simethicone never did much to soothe her, because the gas was so bad. It is great for her milder spells of gassiness, though. Garlic also made her very fussy, though I'm not sure if that was from the garlic or from the gas. I appreciate the advice, and I will look forward to a day when I don't have to leave the garlic out of the spaghetti sauce. :)

[mic]

Sorry to complicate things, but check out this article that has complicated this question for me lately: Zutavern A et al. Timing of solid food introduction in relation to eczema, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and food and inhalant sensitization at the age of 6 years: results from the prospective birth cohort study LISA. Pediatrics. 121(1):e44-52, 2008 Jan.

They found that delayed introduction of foods was associated with MORE food allergies later on! Interesting b/c so many people say they don't worry about allergens other than for the most worrisome (e.g. peanuts, shellfish). Perhaps this is the exact opposite of what we should be doing? To be fair, the authors are not advising introducing foods earlier but it does make you think.

And in response to an earlier question about when, nutritionally-speaking, babies need solid foods -- our pediatrician told us to just have fun with solids and don't stress about how much she is getting right now because breastmilk or formula is all they need until one year.

[Beth]

Having similar issues with feeding my 8 month old. Luckily, he doesn't really turn away any food and his breastmilk consumption has not suffered at all from eating solid foods. I am wondering about the gradual weaning process, though.
Mainly writing in because I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Andrea for the link to the site with all the great nursing bras. I have two bravado bras, but I am not crazy about the nursing clasp and the fact that I think my boobs look kinda saggy in them. My others are sports nursing bras from Target that basically only work under t-shirts. No idea what I was going to do once the tank tops started coming out! I am heading off right now to buy 2 of those sexy bras!!!

[Cloud]

@Tamar- I think the main nutrient docs worry may be lacking in babies that don't start getting some solids at about 6 months is iron, and you can supplement that.

@Amie- Pumpkin is 10.5 months, and the only finger foods she actually likes are crackers (both wheat and graham). She LOVES those. We keep trying other things, and also trying not to worry about it. She likes her purees and her nursing, and is growing fine, so her pediatrician isn't concerned. One thing that we do when we try to give her new finger foods is to eat them ourselves. We may have succeeded in getting her interested in little bits of apple that way. She also has four teeth.

@Jill- the nitrates in carrot thing depends on where the carrots were grown. Some areas have high nitrates in their soil, and this gets into the carrots. This is true for some other foods, too, but I can't remember which, because despite my best intentions we mostly buy jars of food rather than make our own.

As caramama says, the last time allergies came up here I got all curious and went and found the original papers. (Here's the post: http://wandsci.blogspot.com/2008/01/science-of-parenthood-food-allergies.html)
Basically, the research is pretty inconclusive, and not much help in deciding what to do. To the PPs who mentioned the recommendations changing, that was because of some more recent research that contradicted older, smaller studies..

In general, I think trying to parent by science is crazy-making (and I'm a scientist), because research, by its very nature, will keep changing. So my approach is to read the recommendations (and the original papers, if I have time) and then go with my instincts.

Also, I think eating is another thing like sleeping, where babies are so different in what they do that it is hard to really compare. I've noticed a trend towards competimomminess on food with some of my friends, and I'm trying to avoid that. It is what it is. Pumpkin is not really a star in either area, but she seems to be developing fine otherwise!

[Suzie]

Thanks, everyone, for all the input! Lots of good advice to process... but I am *definitely* wanting to go the BLW route -- just have to convince my husband it will be a good thing. We still have a while before we'll be starting this -- no real interest yet on lil' pumpkin's part in what we're eating -- but I will keep you posted on our progress!

[Dooneybug]

My son who is 20 months old now, started solids when he was five months. He was ready and gobbled everything in sight. I was very methodical about it since he was my first, doing the one food at a time, starting with rice cereal, yadda, yadda, yadda. He's a pretty good eater most of the time, short of those toddler moments.

Now, my daughter, who turns 6 months this Friday doesn't seem to want anything to do with solids. We did try to give her some rice cereal and she HATED it so I'm thinking we're done with that. She thinks bananas and squash or ok but will fuss when we do try and give her any so I'm taking that cue to mean she just isn't ready. The other interesting thing is that she won't take a bottle, screams bloody murder. She just has her own opinion on how things should go. Maybe this BLW'ing is something I should look into a bit more?

It's so weird how different children can be! My son had a repertoire of foods by now while my daughter could care less. I guess you just have to follow your individual child's cues. You can try something and if they don't do well with it, discontinue and try later.

An interesting tid-bit, the AAP is amending their recommendations about delaying certain food items (eggs, fish, peanut butter) as their is a lack of evidence that these foods can cause allergies if introduced too early. They still recommend exclusive bf'ing or ff'ing until 4 to 6 months.

[sunny]

my child is just one years old. At around 6 months i started fretting. He was such a good breast feeder, what to feed him, how, etc. etc. I even wrote moxie a letter about it because he wouldn't eat anything but bananas and only a bite or two at that. Then 8 months rolled around and I learned he hates purees, had to have texture... so i made oatmeal and lentil soup and left it chunky. then around 10 months he would only eat what he could feed himself. Some weeks he eats a ton of food, i can't believe it. he'll sit in his chair for 45 minutes and i just keep bringing him food. then other weeks he'll breast feed a lot and eat hardly anything. He is a happy boy. I just wished I hadn't spent so much time worrying about it. He eats asparagus, beans, tofu, seitan, carrots, manna bread, avacoado, almond butter (he is obsessed with almond butter, i just put it on his mat and let him finger smear it into his mounth), broccoli, bananas, citrus fruits, frozen blueberries, frozen peas... the list goes on. As long as he can put it in his mouth... My advice, which I read a million times but didn't follow, DONT worry, LISTEN to the baby... you won't ruin him, I promise. my doctor had so many rules about the eating -- when to start, how to introduce them, what to avoid... it's all just personal taste & opinions.

[Kelly]

My take on solid foods is that between 6 and 12 months it is trial period for your child to learn new tastes and textures. Primary nourishment still being from breast or bottle. I know so many parents who by 8 months expect their child to be eating 3 square meals a day. My child wasn't even ready to start solids by 8 months.

I've also grown to believe that the baby food industry (and much of the baby related business)is just a huge scam. How did our great great grandparents feed babies before prepacked baby food or food processors? I suspect that baby led introduction to solids was natural and common. That babies started eating solids much later.

Big business has tricked us into thinking that we NEED the things they sell, when we really don't. They lead us astray from doing what comes naturally. And books by "experts" makes us second guess our instincts.

for what it is worth, I think Avocado is the perfect first food.

[wendy]

We waited until 6 months to start "tasting" foods...they didn't eat too much, more like experiemntation than nutrition.

I used and LOVED "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. It is a month by month guide- so helpful and thorough. She is a little dogmatic about some things but take what you need and leave the rest. Initially, the thought of making all my own baby food seemed overwhelming but once I got a system down I could make enough food to feed twins for a week in about an hour and a half- fruit, veggies, yogurt, cereal and fingerfoods.

She goes along with most of the doc's recommendations about what foods to offer at what stage with a few exceptions but we never ran into any problems.

[JenH]

One food that was popular with my dd from early on was Farley's Rusks. A friend sent them to me, and I wound up ordering more online, they were such a big hit. Now I can find them locally in my grocery's international foods aisle. They're large round biscuit-cookie things, but they're made out of formula, or something. I can't explain it. DD liked to scrape at them with her gums, and they were big enough for her to get a good grip on them.

Alternate eating method was mashing with bm/formula/water, and serving with a spoon.

They're sort of like giant teething biscuits, but they don't get those dark brown drooly stains everywhere.

[Jessica]

I breast fed exclusively for 6 months and then I was excited to offer my baby food because she was always so interested sitting at the table with us during meal times. I took the baby-led weaning approach and love it. She didn't eat much at first and I never worried because she was still bfing. Soon she started eating everything. We do spoon feed stuff like yogurt or some super messy non-solid foods, but she feeds herself and eats so well. It is a gradual process. I love that we've never bought baby food and she eats whatever we eat. I do cook healthy for us. I totally recommend giving it a shot. My baby just turned 1.

As for how long to wait between introducing new foods, my pediatrician said one new food a day was fine. My family and my husband's family have no food allergies so I was never worried about her having any problems. We also liked offering her a couple different foods to choose from on her plate (variety). This was how we did things.

[Rosemary]

My now 2 year old eats like a horse. But he didn't eat anything until he was 15 months old. I was FREAKING OUT. But no-one else was. He was breastfeeding well and growing as he should and wasn't dehydrated. My GP and the Maternal Child Health Nurse just kept saying to me "Solids before one are just for fun!" Even after that, they weren't worried and they said that if I backed off and just keep offering teeny morsels and have him with us when we eat, then he'll start eating.

And he did. So, my advice is - baby led weaning rocks. I can't force him to sleep, to go to the toilet or to be happy so why should I force him to eat by sticking a spoon into his mouth. Eventually, he'll get it. And he has, and he eats everything and he self-regulates his eating.

I so love my child health nurse! When I ask her a question, her first words back to me are "Well, what do you notice him doing? What do you think? Why do you think that?" It took me about 12 months to realise that she hardly giving me any answers but was just teaching me to listen to my baby.

[Emily]

@Amie and others: I just noticed your question and came back to say that one of the most helpful things I learned from that book is that toddlers and babies on solids sometimes will taste something a hundred times before they decide to like it. Familiarity, in this case, breeds favor, not contempt. That little fact has calmed me down enormously. I just keep offering the new food and making it available (along with foods I know my kid likes), and not worrying about the fact that he is still spitting it out. Down the line, he won't. At least with most foods.... Also, babies don't starve themselves. They just won't.

[Shandra]

I will freely admit that choking freaks me out, probably because we had such an up close and horrifying look at the effects of oxygen deprivation with my daughter.

So bearing that bias in mind, I just wanted to be the sad little voice at the party and remind people that natural or "behaviour in nature" does not mean zero risk. Mother Nature doesn't care that every child make it to reproductive age, just that enough do.

So although I do favour a "go at the pace of your child" approach, I still wanted to point that out.

For us we pretty much avoided the jars except for convenience now and then. I just pureed our own, and introduced foods about every 5 days to make it easy to back up, until we were through most basic foods and then I just started pureeing dinner. :-)

First finger foods were (see paranoia, above) all dissolvable substances for quite a while.