Bo is almost four and a half months old (seriously, how did THAT happen so fast?). We were always planning to do baby lead weaning, in that we would give her small finger food sized portions of food she seemed interested in (minus the “extras” that we adults love to indulge in). About a week ago she started truly reaching for food, and her little mouth started munching in my general direction every time I ate. So, I gave her a slice of apple. She gummed it for a bit quite happily, then lost interest. We then gave her a bit of pure-apple puree that ZZ was having for desert… She gobbled three baby spoons of it down happily. I was going to wait till six months before truly starting her on foods. Unsure whether or not we would do baby rice at all.
I bought some organic stuff in Australia before coming over… and was glad I did when I scoured the city supermarkets on the way back to the village in search of healthy baby food and found none. NONE that was pure. Every brand contained sugar or various other additives. So it would seem this one packet of rice cereal will be all she has… probably ever.
We boiled and mashed up a little pear on our first morning back to try her on with some cereal. Unsure about the baby lead weaning as she is a little younger than I had initially planned (what is it they say about best laid plans?)… we decided to do a chunky semi-puree instead. Honestly, I thought it would go better than it did… She wasn’t a fan. Not sure if she swallowed any of it at all… but it did make for some pretty funny faces and a lot of very funny noises. Being the first time she had ever worn a bib she was much more interested in scrunching it up and eating it than the food… that and the spoon. But then again, who doesn’t love a good spoon?
How young is too young for baby lead weaning? We might try a few sticks of semi-boiled carrot in the near future and see how we go.
xox
Beck - Gorgeous Bo as usual!
So true that although we as parents may have a plan for them – bub decides when/where/how.
The rice cereal will be really important from 6 months because the babies iron stores deplete so it is good that at least they have that in the shops!
Sash - There will be a trip to Aus at 6 months, so thankfully we can stock up on rice cereal then! 🙂 xox
RuZaid - Those photos are classic! Like, seriously Mum what is this???? Z was the same the first time I gave him solids. I was really worried it was going to be a lot harder than I thought. But within a week he was into it, and look at him now!
Lisa - Hi! Love your blog! Well, don’t rush, there’s plenty of time for her to start eating. Cereal is overrated, for example here in Europe we start with cooked veggies and fruit, and cereal maybe when baby is 7,8,9 months old…it’s said to be too heavy on the digestive system. It’s true that iron stores start to deplete around 6 months but they are not empty overnight! While breastmilk does contain less iron than artificial milk, its absorbancy is lots better so usually there is no worry about breastfed children until well after 6 months! We also do baby led weaning, and it’s difficult (f.e. my mother doesn’t get it) to let go of the thought that baby has to start eating to actually get food down. “Until the age of one food’s for fun!” Baby thinks of milk when hungry, not of carrots. Carrots (etc…) look funny, feel funny, kinda interesting…lets see what kind of new thing this is…hm and tastes kinda interesting too! That’s how it should go. I’ve heard of many babies who have done blw and have not started to eat any significant amount of food until 10-16 months! Let her have fun, no pressure, she’ll tell you what she wants.
Sorry for preaching 😉 have a nice day!
Sash - Hey Lisa, thanks for commenting, it wasn’t preachy at all!! I really appreciate your point of view and it very much mirrors my own… but to have the confidence in the face of so much doubt from other people – therein the challenge always lies!! We will forge ahead though, definitely leaving cereal to the side for now and focusing on experimentation rather than “feeding”
Victoria - So cute! Our son is 9 months old and makes the same “yuck” face when we try to feed him. I did catch him chomping on a weiner that his older sister dropped on the ground and he seemed pretty please with that! We have 5 children – really enjoyed my visit to your page.
Rachel - Hi, really enjoying reading your blog 🙂 Our babies are about the same age (my son is 5 months, I also have a daughter who will turn 2 in October).
I’m also living in Indonesia with my Indonesian husband but in Bali.
Anyway, I had to comment on this. I did baby led weaning with my daughter and I plan to do the same with my son. 4.5 months is rather young – minimum of 26 weeks is advised but I did give in a couple of weeks earlier with my daughter. I agree with everything Lisa said above – it’s not important how much they eat for a long time, it’s the eating experience. If you want to go down the BLW route then I would wait till 6 months and start with chunks of fruit – papaya, banana, watermelon are all good. Forget the rice cereal and the purees and just let her play with the food, squish it, put it in her mouth or whatever it doesn’t matter. She’ll figure it out in her own time 🙂
I agree the baby food here is just awful – I couldn’t believe they put sugar and salt in it! Good thing with BLW is that there is no need for baby food!
My daughter was eating anything by 8 months with looks of horror from my inlaws who would prefer to spoon feed her bubur until she’s about 8 :p