My son is 5 months and EBF. I wont be starting solids until he is at least 6 months and sitting up by himself. I always thought I would make baby food for him but relatively recently have heard about BLW. What are the pros and rationale behind BLW versus traditional weaning? Why did you decide this route? How much gagging is involved? So much that its scary to watch? Or not too bad? What kinds of foods did you start with? Do you steam the fruits and veggies so they are soft but then just not purree them? Are there foods they shouldn't eat? Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.
We choose it because the rationale just made sense to us. Generally speaking, most other animals don't eat pureed food. They eat normal food just like their parents once they start weaning from milk onto solids. So it didn't make sense to me from a scientific standpoint (and I'm a scientist) that humans would somehow be incapable of eating without choking and dying like any other animal. Also, we'd been baby-led in all other aspects of parenting. Feeding on demand, holding and cuddling as much as she wanted, not forcing a routine, not sleep training, so it made sense to do exactly the same with weaning. I read the Gill Rapley book and her explanation for the rationale behind BLW also just made a lot of sense. Again, as a scientist, it all just made sense and I could see how it would work better and be easier (and it was both of those things, I think).
Honestly, there wasn't much gagging involved. Maybe a little bit here and there in the first 2 weeks, but that was it. And it wasn't scary because I knew she wasn't choking and that gagging is a good thing and part of learning to eat solids (even spoonfed babies gag - if you have a look you'll see lots of threads on here about it). So no, I was never worried and it never bothered me. She's never choked on anything. I never made foods soft for her. I gave them to her in whatever form we'd eat them in (minus chilli, salt or sugar). Sometimes she found them easy to eat, sometimes she'd just gum on them and not eat them. Eventually, as she got more skilled and also more teeth, she could eat everything so there was no rush and I didn't feel it was necessary to alter anything we were making for ourselves to suit her (except like I said, no added salt, sugar, etc.).
Her first meal was Sunday lunch. She had mash, roasted carrots and parsnips with garlic and rosemary, and a yorkshire pudding. The carrots and parsnips were a big hit. She also had cucumber and pepper sticks and some melon that week, along with things like toast fingers with mashed banana or mashed avocado on top. She also had banana (cut into roughly 1/3 so each piece was just longer than her fist) and halved plums and nectarines. The only things you shouldn't offer are probably anything spicy (spices are fine, like cumin, just not chillies or chilli powder), added salt or sugar until they are older (at least past 1), honey before 1, and whole nuts can be a choking hazard until they have all their molars so the recommendation is not before 4 I think (nut butters are fine, we offered them from 6 months).
She's now just over 2 and I'm so, so, so glad we did BLW. She is such an adventurous eater and she really enjoys mealtimes with us. We've always gotten so many compliments on how willing she is to try new things and eat normal adult food (even from strangers in restaurants). All our family think it's great now (they were skeptical at first) because she eats so differently to how any of their kids did when they were her age. She's just a real pleasure to share a meal with and it's been so fun getting to see her explore food and try new things. Also, frankly, I really enjoyed the fact that it meant I could sit down and eat a meal too - something I hadn't always had time to do before 6 months!
