11 October 2012

Baby Led Weaning- And So It Begins

No mush for this family! Elijah will begin solids through Baby Led Weaning. Basically, we will be following his cues to begin solids but the milestones that indicate readiness are being able to sit up unsupported (check!) and showing an interest and grabbing for our food (double check!). Normally this naturally occurs at 6 months but true to form, my guy hit this points early and so Baby Led Weaning has begun for us.  We are totally following his lead on this and all arrows pointed to READY! Another part of baby led weaning is that you DO NOT feed your child. You offer different foods (not mushed up) and allow the child to feed himself what he chooses. Sometimes we give our guy some choices and sometimes he only has one option.  Elijah's first food was really a teething tool.  I have gluten free cinnamon bread sticks that are frozen and we thought this would be great for his sore little gums. Well he LOVES THEM! Now, in Baby Led Weaning you give the baby grown up food (to a point). No baby food, which is awesome. But we have decided to slowly introduce foods in a certain order and due to some things I know and have read about grains, we will be delaying the introduction of those foods and concentrating on vegetables first followed by some less sugary fruits. That being said, once I realized he was actually ingesting some of the gluten free bread and not just chewing on it, it was time to regroup and no longer offer that particular food, at least not yet. But before that happened, I did get some cute photos of Elijah chowing down. It is so bittersweet to see him at this milestone.  I know we have a while yet before solids are actually part of his nourishment and not just something to experiment with but it is one more step closer to the day when I will no longer be the one to provide this for him physically. This has made me really take the time to enjoy nursing with Elijah. I mean, I always love it but I really am soaking in every moment we share, knowing that it will eventually come to an end. (sniff, sniff).
"This feels so good on my gums, Mama"

Love those sweet red lips

Another big bite!

He never misses that mouth!

"what do I do now?"

"More please"

My little boy is growing up


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