Solid Foods Lab, Hold the Blender

Tiger Cub is into solid foods now and it is a whole new world for us!  We're trying what is currently the most fashionable thing in baby feeding...Baby Led Weaning (BLW), also called Rapley Weaning for it's British founder.  Ms. Rapley has written several books, none of which I have read.

Caution...if you've never heard of this, you're going to think I'm drinking the crazy juice!  If, however, you have a 6-month-old, there's a good chance you know about it because it's the happening new thing in baby meals.

The gist is that the baby feeds himself.  You give the baby pieces of food that are large enough to grab and he is in charge from there.  And the parent just watches.  Which is freakin' hard to do!  Which is why I take lots of videos/pictures while I sit there.

And it looks like this...

 Always efficiency-minded, this apple is doubling as a teething toy.

But wait, that was a few weeks in.  It started much slower as you can see in the next video.  You might hear parental confusion in the background as we try to figure out what the heck we're doing.  When Randy puts the banana in Tiger Cub's mouth, that's a BLW no-no, but we didn't exactly go over the rules before the camera started rolling.

 Some Points on BLW:

• You start no sooner than 6 months of age.  This is also when the AAP now recommends introducing babies to solid foods.  And about the time babies are ready to start finger foods anyway.  So you breastfeed or formula feed through 6 months and then jump immediately to finger foods, basically just skipping the traditional pureed food phase of 4 to 6 months of age.
• The baby is in charge of eating.  He gets to explore new textures, tastes, and smells and makes his own food decisions.  No pretending the spoon is an airplane or other games to get baby to open his mouth.

A smorgasbord of breakfast opportunity.

As soon as I heard about BLW, I was interested for admittedly selfish reasons.  I really didn’t see myself making purees.  Heck, I don’t even own  a food processor!  With BLW I would not have to make baby food or buy baby food.  Win win!

Any health claims I've read about (that this method reduces the risk of childhood obesity or babies become less picky eaters) have failed to impress me.  The research seems pretty scant so there's just not much to back it up.  I would not do it based on those reasons alone.

  Eating an apple while wearing asparagus as a mustache.

But we've been doing it for 4 weeks and here's what I do like about BLW from our experience:

It's fun watching Tiger Cub explore new foods and figure out how to feed himself.  Basically another form of playtime.  I think it's great for his motor skills and coordination.  We went to a restaurant recently and ate pizza while Tiger Cub chowed down on his apple and rice cake.  Neither of us had to spoon feed a puree.  Practically a family meal!

What I don't like is there are times he doesn't seem to eat much at all.  This is when I think, "Hey I just steamed those vegetables; can you put them in your mouth instead of dropping them on the floor?!"  I know that something is going down his throat because of evidence at the...ahem...other end.  It is oddly satisfying when baby does find his mouth and crams something in there.

Rice cake over produce any day.

What he likes:  Green veggies (asparagus and broccoli have built-in handles!), steamed fruit slices, yogurt, and especially rice cake.  He likes rice cake so much that I've been smearing other stuff on top (applesauce, mushed carrots, black beans) so he'll eat that too!  Is it cheating?  Maybe.  Is "cheating" even possible when feeding your baby?

What he doesn't like:  Orange veggies like carrot and sweet potato (surprisingly!).  And he's lukewarm on the white stuff like banana and potatoes.

He might not touch carrots, but he will go to town on some broccoli.

I guess time will tell whether the concept sticks around or goes the way of the grapefruit diet.  For now, it seems to be working okay so we will continue to make baby food without the help of a blender.  Keeping our kitchen puree-free since 2013!

For the record, this might be the first time I've ever ridden the wave of a trend.  I was horribly behind with rolled up jeans in elementary school, missed the memo on swoopy bangs, and didn't own a smart phone until 2010.  Mommy-hood just makes me cool like that.