Did you opt for BLW or Traditional? BLW. After a lot of consideration. I was always going to wait till between 5 and 6 months. I was given the Annabel Karmel book and bought the Baby Led Weaning book, read them both and decided to go with BLW for a few reasons. First, because if we were waiting till 6 months or near enough anyway, it seemd like a right faff doing the Karmel suggestions with all the purees. It seemed rigid. And I could see myself feeling pressurised to get him to finish what I'd prepared for him, and possibly passing on food anxiety, and as someone who suffered with clinical eating disorders for 14 years from the teen years, and was a horrendously picky eater before then, I just thought if we give Adam what we're having, no pressure, hopefully he will only ever enjoy food and have it take a normal place in his life (and therefore also ours as a family. Problem eaters impact on everyone around them, in my experience and it's taken me about 33 of my 36 years to be ok with food, 100%). The very idea of battles at dinner time made me feel sick. So more than passing on anxiety and stress to him, I wanted to avoid it in myself, because that could not fail to have an effect on him. (And I don't knock traditional weaning, ever. It's just that *I* could see myself feeling stressed if we'd gone that way.)
I didn't enjoy reading the BLW book, though, I found it extremely repetitive. It could have been condensed into a small booklet. I do however enjoy feeling relaxed about Adam sometimes not eating much, and understanding that he wouldn't eat much for a while, and the whole thing about gagging being fine and part of him learning, and I got all that from the book, so I do recommend anyone interested gets hold of a copy and makes their way through it.
At what age did u start? 5 and a bit months.
How did you know/decide to start at that age? After reading the BLW book I thought I'd try Adam in the highchair a few times and place some food before him and see what happened. He could sit ok and grabbed at the food - spinach leaves - and got one in his mouth. So I figured that thought it was under the 6 month mark I didn't care. If he could get it in him then I'd give him the opportunity.
What did you start with? spinach leaves. then steamed broccoli sticks and slices of fresh ripe pear. then rice cakes. we gradually worked up to 3 meals a day after a month.
How did your baby react to their first tastes/meals? He tried everything. Some things he didn't go back to but he has never looked horrified or purposely spat anything out. Of course food dropped out but we expected that.
What was ur meal plan for the first couple months I do my best for us to sit down together and eat 3 meals a day. It hasn't always happened especially in the last few weeks as we're planning our wedding and there's a lot of time away from home, and I'm only just starting to be comfortable feeding him solids out of my house. I offer solids fairly soon after his 3 daytime bottles. We don't always eat exactly the same, but I always make an evening meal that we can all have most of. I've altered my cooking to reduce the salt.
Any general nuggets of wisdom to share? Do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable and suits your family's situation.