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Kellan hates pureed anything.
Loathes (channeling my inner Jim Carrey from The Grinch).
Everything I have tried to give him is met with a sour puss face and ends up all over everything – except his mouth.
Bananas. Avocados. Squash – yellow and acorn. Baby cereal. Sweet potatoes.
No, no, no, no, NO.
The more I read about and hear about it and see other babies DOING baby led weaning, I think maybe we need to give it a whirl.
Kellan wants everything on our plates…reaches and grabs for it…but never wants anything I feed him that is all mashed up.
I can’t really say I blame him.
But I’m also FREAKING OUT about giving him chunks of things he could potentially choke on.
PSA: the whole purpose behind baby led weaning (BLW) is so the baby learns to chew before they learn to swallow instead of vice versa, as what is what happens with pureed food – swallow before chew (makes sense, right?), and they have to be advanced enough in their development to be able to pick up the food in the first place…but, still.
Scary new thing.
I’ve already stashed random pureed foods in the freezer for Kellan because every time we try something and he turns his nose up at it, into the freezer it goes (probably never to be eaten). I even have a Baby Bullet baby food puree-er that will end up never used again if we go the “BLW” route.
Decisions, decisions.
Help me, BLW mamas. I’m at an impasse.
I’m not a mama, but I’m an auntie… None of my four nieces ever had mashed up food (baby food) excepting when mashed potatoes were on the menu. They always wanted what we ate. They were given small pieces, easy things to eat to begin with, and they went ate it. *shrug* It seems to have worked as all four survived babyhood.
Good luck!
My 9 month old only ate Puréed foods for a very short time, he wanted “real” food, I too, was nervous but he did really well, give it a try and sell that Baby Bullet on eBay!
We do BLW as you know, and Baby L loves it! She has only pooh-poohed a couple of things (but who can blame her? I don’t like celery or cauliflower either!)
but generally she is a pretty good eater/explorer (since food is just for fun right now). She is grabby though and even gets mad when I don’t share my iced Starbucks drinks! Lol. But even gross rice cereal, when she gets to feed it to herself, is a hit with her, so I would assume that it’s more about baby wanting some independence than the purée or or solid itself. Try it out! You have nothing to lose (and though Kellan might gag he wont choke)!
I know I’m old enough to be your mother, but I have 3 happy daughters who ate when they could pick it up and put it in their own mouth. We never did the flying airplane, baby food, mashing up things method and they have all happily survived to adulthood. Several things will still be mush long before it goes down the hatch (evidenced by the goo on their clothes, hair, face, chair, floor, etc). We started with Cheerios, small pieces of banana, cooked green beans, cooked peas, cooked carrots, chunks of cooked potato, you get the idea. I usually gave them some food that would be on our plates. If it was something they couldn’t handle alone, I would sometimes have a spoon to offer tastes, but even then it was coming off my plate and they were interested. Worked for me and we started at about the age Kellan is now. Once he can pick it up, he can eat from his own tray or placemat securely attached to the table. I strongly suggest a trash bag spread out under his chair once he really gets rolling with food. And by the way, whatever magic you come up with be what’s right – even if it has nothing to do with whatever we all pitch into the suggestion box! Enjoy! Meals are great family times and that starts early. It’s not a time to be stressing about them eating enough. As long as it’s healthy food he’s offered and while he’s still nursing, there’s not much you can do to mess it up! I love your blog and all the great memories it brings back!
I am so glad you enjoy them…especially the trip down memory lane!! Thank you so much for your advice and kind words! Both mean a lot!!
You can always use one of those mesh stacks if you are super worried about gag/choking…google mesh bags by munchkin.
Thank you! We bought one…and froze things in it – he wasn’t a fan. Maybe we should try not freezing the food…hmmm…..