On Feeding The Baby

Our journey to provide nourishment for Emma has been very different from how we fed Helene. I am the first to admit that I was not well informed when it came to infant nutrition when Helene was a baby. (Could Have-Should Haves) Since then I have researched different feeding philosophies and decided to try baby-led weaning with Emma. Much as with breastfeeding on demand, baby led weaning is about trusting your child to do the things that are completely natural for them.

What baby-led means for our family

I trust Emma to feed herself. Babies are great at knowing what they need. Most blw babies start out just gnawing on different foods and sucking the flavors out of everything more than actually eating anything. This is okay. Babies do not NEED anything other than breast milk for the first year of life.
I do not push her to eat/finish anything. The one thing you can completely rely on with babies and small children is that they know when they’re hungry and when they are full, unless something interferes with that. If she wants more, she is welcome to it as the same, if she wants to take half a bite and spit it out, no big deal.
She eats the same food we eat. Unless it’s something that has one of the big no-no foods (honey, ect.) then I give her whatever we have. Sometimes while preparing I’ll cut things in easier to hold ways for her, but most of the time she just gets the same as us.

This laid back attitude towards food has been such a blessing. Its nice to have realized that I can trust my child and her instincts. This has passed on to how Helene eats as well. At about 18 months she stopped wanting to eat everything we gave her and started boycotting meals. Baby-led weaning has taught me that even a cranky, rebellious toddler will not allow themselves to starve. She may not look like she’s eating much, but as her health will show you, she’s getting everything she needs. Now there are no fights about getting her to eat anything, I trust her, though I do admit to bribing her on occasion. If she’s asked for something else, I’ll have her eat a few bites of whatever is on her plate.

I’m excited to see where else baby-led weaning will take our family.