We had no plans of starting solids with Jackson until he turned 6 months. He wasn't showing that many signs of being ready, and I was certainly in no rush. And then just like that, he started going NUTS every single time we were eating. Trying to grab what we had, crying when he couldn't have it, watching our every move and bite... so we decided to go for it, just a week shy of turning 6 months.
Now... we were thinking of doing the baby led weaning approach. If you're unfamiliar with it, basically it allows baby to feed himself... no purees, no jars of baby foods, just things that he can grab and feed to himself. Things like banana...
Now, the thing is with baby led weaning, you really aren't supposed to help them get the food in their mouths (ummmm, soo... not like above). The whole point is that the baby can feed himself. He decides how much goes in his mouth, and learns to chew and mush it up and swallow at his own pace.
But the thing is... I'm not sure complete baby led weaning is right for me. I like the idea of it, and I want to do it, but I have this completely irrational fear of my children choking. I always have, and I just can't shake it. And I KNOW that supposedly baby led weaning actually reduces the risk of choking, and that gagging is actually just the baby learning how to eat... it just freaks me out big time. I don't know, just the thought of him being able to bite of huge chunks and then potentially having those get stuck in his throat, well, it just gives me anxiety. So we're going to go with a little bit of baby led weaning, and a little bit of spoon feeding, and just see how it goes. On BLW front he's had banana and avocado (and almost cheese quesadilla thanks to riley's "sharing"). And today, for his first spoon-fed experience: carrots/parsnips/kumara. Yum.
He did very well! He seemed to like it, although he didn't consume that much, which isn't all that surprising. And we're trying to be pretty strict about the 3 day rule (wait 3 days before introducing new foods) just because I'm a little more concerned about allergies with him than I was with Riley. Any time he has an eczema flare up I'm going to be wondering if it was due to some new food he had!
So we're taking it slow. Letting him explore, eat when he wants, not eat when he doesn't want. Totally stress free. :) The real mission is trying to explain to Riley why he can't eat all the things she's eating right away! Things like: pistachios, for example. I left her sitting next to him the other day while I went in the kitchen for two seconds and all I hear is "HE'S EATING IT!!!" and I come SPRINTING around the corner to grab the pistachio shell out of his little fingers before he could get it in his mouth. Close call, lesson learned. Now Riley likes to say to me, "no putting rubbish in the baby's mouth." Glad we've got that concept down. :)
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