Baby led weaning

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting! I must get caught up! Today's blog will feature Lucy's favorite foods. Get ready to sit down for awhile to read; she likes a lot! I read a book awhile ago that I really liked, called Baby Lead Weaning that sparked my interest in not feeding Lucy the traditional rice cereal at 4 months. In trying to prevent allergies for her, (She's already dairy and soy sensitive) we are not feeding her any grain products for the first year. So that lead us along the path to baby lead weaning, which lets the baby feed him or herself how much they want, reading their cues and sticking to finger foods and skipping the purees altogether. We didn't feed her ANYTHING except breastmilk until 6 mo. and from then on she has been given things she can hold onto and feed herself. (She also likes to feed herself from a spoon). My hopes in feeding her this 'alternative' way are: 1. have a healthy relationship with food 2. no control battles about food 3. have a broad palate and liking lots of different foods 4. reduce her chance of food allergies by waiting on certain things

So far here are her favorites in order from most favorite:
Zucchini (much to Ian's chagrin)
Chicken
Pears
Tomatoes
Sweet potatoes
potatoes
bacon! :)
Apples
Green beans
Golden beets (although i've given her red beets on 2 occasions just for fun)
bananas
mangoes

The only food so far I can tell that she doesn't like is avocados, which is devastating to me, but I'm happy that she likes zucchini and tomatoes, which Ian hates. :)

We've given her a ton of different food so far, these are just the ones I know she loves. She was feeding herself off a spoon almost every meal, then when she started to teethe she didn't seem to like it as much, so now she is eating almost all finger foods again. She devours pears like its her full time job and the zucchini as well! Its so fun to watch her eat...her doctor told us to season everything like we would, so I cook the zucchini in butter, garlic and salt and pepper and she loves it! I put lots of garlic on too, its so funny.

Here is Lucy last month with her favorite, zucchini!

Most people when we talk about baby lead weaning either think its a good idea, or are scared about a baby choking. Here is a good description from wikipedia about why these babies are less likely to choke than spoon fed babies:

Many parents are used to the idea of giving babies puréed food and to some, giving such a young child finger food might sound dangerous. However, babies weaned using the baby-led method are actually less likely to choke on their food, as they are not capable of moving food from the front of the mouth to the back until they have learned to chew.^[1] In turn, they do not learn to chew until they have learned to grasp objects and place them in their mouth. Therefore the baby's general development keeps pace with her ability to manage food.

If a child gets a piece of food too far back in their mouth, they will generally promptly clear it themselves by gagging or coughing the piece out.^[1]

Food should not be placed in the baby's mouth for him or her. If the baby is unable to pick up and grasp the food, it is believed that the baby will also be unable to cope with chewing and swallowing it. It is also very important that the baby is sitting up straight and well supported during mealtimes and never left unattended while self-feeding.

We have found this to be true with Lucy, she will gag if something gets too far back in her mouth, and will spit it out. She hasn't yet choked on anything, and seems to be gagging less and less as she gets the hang of things. At first she would sit back in her chair and have to be repositioned a bunch. Now she eagerly sits forward in her chair waiting for the food! Its so much fun!!