Karen is a big fan of 'baby led weaning'.

Fiona ate small bits of our food (not baby food / blended food) with her own hands (not by us) from an early age.

I'll let her elaborate.......

Yes, Karen, Phil's wife has just done this with baby Fiona. Breast feeding with proper food in small pieces as soon as she was interested....I am amazed at how well it has gone. She eats beautifully and is a really healthy little girl.She eats a vast range of foods and textures and whilst it was a bit messy at times she was getting freshly cooked food with no extra effort in the kitchen! A great idea!

definetly the route we are going to take this time, Luca was started to wean at 5 1/2 months the first time, although he always preferred his booby !!

This time the plan would be to get her to 6 months and do Baby led.
My friend has done a mixture whereby she will puree a carrot and give a whole boiled carrot at the same time so that baby knows what she is getting etc - and it seems to be working,..

Martha my 7 month old was started at six months with baby led weaning, but I'm afraid after two weeks I went back to mashing her food. I just could not cope with the gagging, and having to stick my finger in her mouth to remove pieces of cooked carrot or broccoli from her mouth After reserching BLW on the internet I found that this is normal, but I'm sorry, it's not my thing. My eight and six year olds were also breast fed exclusively until six months, so I skipped the puree stage and went straight onto mash with lumps, and both of them eat a wide range of foods, including most fruits and veg, and no gagging or choking. I truly believe in not weaning before six months, to reduce food intolerances, just as in puppies really, but to see the pleading look my baby gave me, when she broke off a big piece of broccolli with her gums and proceeded to choke on it Two weeks was to long.

Thanks Rachel and Dani it sounds interesting and I am looking forward to helping my DIL to give it a try.

Floppyears looks like you gave it a good shot, I guess like many things it isn't for everyone.

I did baby led weaning with all mine and they took to it fine.
Yes you jsut give whole food if they are ready they will eat it. Dry toast steamed veg and fruit. I just used to let mine have something off my plate that was suitable.
They were all breastfed as well and a breastfed baby can live on breast milk alone happily for the first year. After all there is alot more calories in milk than a bit of steamed veg.
Its all about exploring texture and taste rather than consumption

How did the BLW go in the end?

I'm at the 6 month stage now with Michael and although I started solids early, I've been 'advised' that I should really go for it now and give loads of food, reduce milk and hopefully improve the reflux. The health visitor got really enthusiastic about Weetabix, baked beans and eggs.

hope you dont mind me hijacking this Mini, but thought I would show my baby led baby doing what she does !!!!

She loves her grubs and is managing perfectly with this and will just munch on things as much as she can.
So far she has had banana, pear, fish, turkey, chicken, chips, pizza, peppers, cucumber, broccoli, peas, sugar snap peas, carrots, strawberries

she will take anything from you and straight in her mouth and i WISH I had done this with Luca as its so easy.. nO pureeing and worrying about heating food up when out etc..
although very messy as she INSISTS on doing everything herself...

whats that a little something on my face???

yep no better with a spoon !!




and tonights meal, Fish chips and mushy peas all home made

OMG what a mess!!!! Beautiful pictures, Dani. It is lovely to see Lola!

I have tried some veggies and fruits and we did some bread the other day:

ohh he is just too cute !!!!
go for it, its fab and so easy xxx but yes ever so slightly messy