BLW- baby led weaning

6 months

We have started the process of weaning Tabitha! It's all a bit nerve wracking.
We are attempting to do baby led weaning. Which is basically the idea that if you leave weaning until 6 months old (which is now the recommended age to start weaning any way) babies can learn to feed themselves finger food, rather than having to faff with spoon feeding them mush.

I've been reading books and taking advice from friends and it seems pretty magic. here are some of the positives.

• if babies have control over their own eating, its less of a struggle because the baby will get to enjoy playing with their food and experimenting with it.
• they are less likely to choke because they are manipulating the food in the front of their mouths before learning to swallow, rather than having puree spooned to the back of their mouths
• as long as your diet is relatively healthy they can just eat what you eat.
• its great for them learning hand eye co-ordination and helps them with tongue and mouth manipulation which could give them a head start with speaking.
• they get to be involved in family meals copying what you do, and enjoying the social aspect, rather than having to sit watching you eat getting bored.
• it helps make them less fussy because they can experiment and try new things rather than having you force things on them
• it makes eating out much much easier, because you just pick something off the menu that they can try a little of. 

so far its been going quite well (we are only a couple of days into it). because you aren't directly feeding them, most of the beginning of this way of weaning involves the baby playing with food a lot, and not so much actually consuming any of it. but the book says that shes still getting all the nutrients she needs from breast milk anyway for now, so that's OK.
But she so far has been enjoying; toast, plain pasta, lettuce (she really liked that because it was really easy to grab) carrots and broccoli. She's been learning how to pick them up, and get them in her mouth and give a good suck at them. she bit off a bit of carrot (before spitting it out) and even swallowed a few bread crumbs (she made a very surprised face). she seems to do best at it while we're not paying her too much attention, which is tricky because you want to watch in fascination to catch every new thing she's doing.

I really hope it keeps going well! so far it has been lovely.

a link to the recommended book to help you with BLW

(Tabitha on the first night in her new cot!)