Firstly, the infrequent blog posts are because life is really quite busy at the moment. Fortunately, baby led weaning (BLW) is a great way to feed a baby in amongst a busy lifestyle.
1. Alyssa feeds herself. We just throw food in her general vicinity, and she tucks into whatever she feels like at her own pace. Therefore, I can do whatever other jobs are required while she has a leisurely 30-60min lunch. I can do the dishes, vacuum, fold washing, prepare dinner, get changed for netball training while she fills herself up. None of this sitting there trying to speed up the spoon feeding process. Organised.
2. We give her whatever happens to be handy – leftover veges from last night’s dinner, a chunk of pear from the fruit bowl, cold meat, the crust off my toasted sandwich… so preparation takes about 3 seconds. No pureeing and freezing food for us. Easy.
3. We all eat together. We sit around the table and enjoy our own meals, at our own pace, while chatting about our days (or blowing raspberries if you’re 7 months old). Sociable.
4. Eating out at cafes or taking a packed lunch requires no extra thought. I’ll throw in a bib and cloth for the clean up, and know that Alyssa will enjoy whatever we eat, whenever we eat it. If ordering food I just make sure it wont be too salty. Convenient.
5. It’s made me have faith in Alyssa’s abilities to move things around her mouth safely. Obviously I’m not going to leave a pile of peanuts and tiny plastic toys around her, but the other day she was sitting on the lawn watching us play basketball and she put a leaf in her mouth. This set off her gag reflex, and while we observed she spat the leaf back out with most of her stomach contents. I’m sure that if we weren’t BLWing, this would have really freaked us out. Educational.
6. I don’t have to consider the what or how much of Alyssa’s food intake. This is a great continuation from demand breastfeeding, where we feed whenever she feels like it or I feel like it for whatever reason. We try to eat a balanced diet so we know Alyssa will get everything she needs. I have absolutely no idea how much she eats, and really don’t care. She’ll take what she needs. Healthy.
I think it all boils down to TRUST, which is an emergent theme in this parenting journey. When I trust myself and trust my baby, all flows well.
Lining it up. The mouth opens to maximum capacity regardless of the size of the object.
Mmm, feijoa. She’s amazing at eating all the flesh and handing back the skin.
And now she has her first tooth! Baby led tooth brushing?
Flow Thyme 