Miss.I is very motivated to say the least. I'm sure she'd be fine with solids now but I've been trying to get to the 5.5 month mark to show that we made an effort. I also want to be sure she is getting the maximum nutrition from breastmilk for as long as possible. That being said she's very inquisitive about our food and wants to put her hands all up in our plate. This was evident on Friday when I underestimated her wingspan and she palmed a hot pile of fettucini alfredo. Poor little lady was very upset when it burned her little mitt- not seriously, I didn't 'mom fail' that bad...but it definitely scared her.
As we head into 5 months and one week (this week) and I try to hold off my 'little one' from solids I read a really interesting article in July's Parenting issue about the Baby-Lead Weaning method. The whole premise is to skip purees and jump ahead to finger foods. Of course there is the cautionary guidelines that baby should be able to hold their head up and sit unsupported, reach for objects, brings objects to her mouth and chew readily. Apparently studies have shown that babies who feed themselves are less likely to picky eaters and overweight later on. Interesting, huh! In the words of my Husband, "cavemen didn't have the Beaba Baby Puree'r. How did they do it?" They probably "baby-birded" the first solids (ie: prechew--eek!) - which I have no plan of doing....that is even beyond me Alicia Silverstone!
I'm actually super interested in this method and although I don't think Isla will be able to wait for solids until she can sit unassisted I do think once she can she'll be more than ready to get her hands in her plate and start to feed herself. I'm actually much more comfortable with this method than the heavily scheduled one that some Pediatricians recommend. What worked for you? Is anyone following this method?
While I ponder that one.... I also get to mull over raising a vegetarian baby and informing our families. Lets hope there will not be reprimand involved. More on that later!
Hope everyone stayed cool out there!
xoxo.
S
PS-
Did you see this cool gadget? It's the Nanner by Boon (freakin' geniuses over there!)
I totally need this when Isla starts working on solids-- I'd be the Mom slicing bananas with a knife in my hand who cuts off my finger in front of my baby. Can't wait to order it! (It looks like a "made for TV" doesn't it - B's gonna be horrified :)
The baby led weaning method was recommended to me by a friend who has a similar parenting style to me. I must admit I was skeptical at first. You probably know all of this already but I started Grace with purees the week before 6 months and by 7 months she was strictly feeding herself table foods (ie not pureed). She did this totally on her own. At 6.5 months I started offering chunked food with the puree and then she was off. It was a pain at times because she insisted on always feeding herself which can be a mess in public but we made it without being banned by any restaurants (so far at least)! I definitely think there is something to the method now. I still would do it the same way and start with a combo. Grace definitely is not a picky eater which could be attributed to the method.
ReplyDelete