http://noobmommy.com/2009/06/getting-baby-to-eat-solids.html Tips and Quips from a Self-Proclaimed Noob Mom. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:25:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://noobmommy.com/2009/06/getting-baby-to-eat-solids.html/comment-page-1#comment-1816 Shirley Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:00:17 +0000 http://noobmommy.com/2009/06/getting-baby-to-eat-solids-2.html#comment-1816 My recent endeavor has been starting my LO on solids as well. I discovered "baby-led weaning" (see the book by Gill Rapley) in my research and being one that sees many toddlers with difficulties with textures of adult food, I wanted to try this technique out. Baby-led weaning or baby-led solids is the technique where you wait until 6 months and then you start to give you LO table foods. You let him grab the food and feed himself. Of course it takes a while for your LO to understand the concept of chewing, not pushing food so far back that he gags, and eventually swallowing. You don't deal with purees or rice cereal. My hope is that he will be more open to different textures of food since texture was his first experience. My feeling is that the toddler I work with rejected real food because they have grown so accustomed to mushy foods and perhaps the window of opportunity to introduce them to real table foods was missed. And the added benefit is improved dexterity from manipulating the foods. Essentially you give them a large holdable piece of vegetable or fruits ( and later on other foods) and let them explore it and munch on it. It has to be large enough for them to grasp. You never feed them but let them feed themselves. My LO is now 7 months and he has eaten steamed broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cantaloupe, toast, chicken, rice cake, asparagus, string bean and cucumber. He doesn't eat much in quantity at each sitting but he sure eats a variety. Check the book Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley if you are interested in trying something new because feeding purees isn't working. My recent endeavor has been starting my LO on solids as well. I discovered “baby-led weaning” (see the book by Gill Rapley) in my research and being one that sees many toddlers with difficulties with textures of adult food, I wanted to try this technique out. Baby-led weaning or baby-led solids is the technique where you wait until 6 months and then you start to give you LO table foods. You let him grab the food and feed himself. Of course it takes a while for your LO to understand the concept of chewing, not pushing food so far back that he gags, and eventually swallowing. You don’t deal with purees or rice cereal. My hope is that he will be more open to different textures of food since texture was his first experience. My feeling is that the toddler I work with rejected real food because they have grown so accustomed to mushy foods and perhaps the window of opportunity to introduce them to real table foods was missed. And the added benefit is improved dexterity from manipulating the foods. Essentially you give them a large holdable piece of vegetable or fruits ( and later on other foods) and let them explore it and munch on it. It has to be large enough for them to grasp. You never feed them but let them feed themselves.
My LO is now 7 months and he has eaten steamed broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cantaloupe, toast, chicken, rice cake, asparagus, string bean and cucumber. He doesn’t eat much in quantity at each sitting but he sure eats a variety.
Check the book Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley if you are interested in trying something new because feeding purees isn’t working.

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