Q & A: Baby-led Weaning, V. 2

Teething and tasting – apple – 7 months

I’m back for more food fun! Check out V. 1 here.

• How do you manage clean up after every meal? This is probably my least favorite part of Jemma eating. It’s such a mess! From the very beginning I’ve been clear with her that food stays on her tray. We don’t toss it over the side. I know, I’m no fun at all :) After she is done eating, I use a wash cloth (I made some simple mini ones out of fabric and terry cloth) to wipe her hands and face. Then, she is free to play and I scrub off her tray and let it air dry while waiting for the next meal adventure!
• How did eating food affect your breastfeeding ‘schedule’ or feedings? Increase? Decrease? Replace? Until Jemma turned one I always nursed her before we ate. Food was a supplemental treat. After one, I started allowing her to just nurse in the morning, before her two naps, and bedtime. During meals she sat with us and enjoyed table food.  Normally, I think the nursing to all food transition is really gradual. Obviously, Jemma and her strike/weaning at 12.5 months is rare and one day she went from nursing 4 times/day to all food, but I wouldn’t expect that from all babies.
• Do you use baby sign for ‘food’ ‘more’ and ‘all done’?  When did Jemma start using sign herself? We’ve signed more and all done from the beginning, although not too consistently. At 13 months she signed more on her own and we’ve been practicing that a lot lately. No luck with all done yet …
• Do you mash food? Puree? Cut it? Or give it to Jemma whole? The goal with baby-led weaning is to give them control so I don’t normally mash or puree things. I do cut alot though into manageable pieces. For example, she can easily hold 1/2 a banana, apple/pear/mango slices, and waffle squares. I give her other things whole like toast. I also cut olives, grapes, and sausage for safety. 
• Did you ever just use canned baby food sometimes? I keep baby food pouches on hand for back-up and meals when I can’t think of something good for her to have. I prefer to buy organic options like Plum or Ella’s Kitchen. I’ve tried so hard to give Jemma a quality start with nursing, I feel it’s worth the little extra to make sure the food she eats is the best quality.  Plus, they go on great sales so find out what your baby likes and then stock up :)
• When did you give Jemma Cheerios or other organic baby treats? We don’t do Cherrios very often because they have a potato derivative in them and Jemma’s food intolerance is potatoes :( But, I’ve found that puffed rice and puffed wheat are great alternatives. Plus, they are WAY cheaper. We started with puffed treats around 7-8 months. As soon as you see then doing little pincher fingers to pick things up, it’s time!

Learning to eat is messy – blueberry banana oatmeal balls – 8 months

Last round of questions tomorrow … again, feel free to add or ask other questions!