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When I started solids I had no idea there was any controversy over this milestone. I figured food was pretty simple, and I figured everyone did it the same way. I quickly learned that it’s not as simple as jarred baby food, although before motherhood, it never occurred to me that anyone would do anything different. 

Even as a first time mom I had some experience under my belt, as I had introduced solids to a baby I nannied for throughout her first year of life. I liked organizing the baby food flavors they kept in the pantry and was impressed by the wide variety of fruits: blueberry, apple pear, and strawberry, banana, kiwi! I also sometimes mashed up an avocado, but always spoon fed her because that’s what I was told to do by her mother.

Then as Holden approached the solids phase I began to hear the term “baby led weaning” being thrown about. I wasn’t clear on all of it, and I didn’t know all the rules, but I knew the general idea was that babies fed themselves food and they ate real food, not “baby food.” I decided on a few base rules for how we would approach solids:

1. We waited until Holden was 6 months. Her remained exclusively breastfed (from breast and bottle) until we introduced his first food. He was also sitting up independently, showing an interest in food, and able to control his head.
2. I would make all of our own homemade baby food 
3. I would limit all sugar, most carbs, and allergy risks until god first birthday 
4. Only feed after a nursing session and only offer water with meals

All of these decisions were based on advice from multiple lactation consultants, pediatricians, and nutritionist. I learned that infant guts are immature and they have no real nutritional need for food until about 1 year of age. Breastmilk meets every nutritional need. 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding is best for digestive development.

What I didn’t realize was I was still doing it “wrong.” I was sometimes giving him food to eat with his hands, but often times spoon feeding him pureed fruits and veggies. I didn’t know there was a right or wrong way to do BLW. I thought I was following baby led weaning until I realized I was missing a major component: self feeding. But this intimidated me because I’d never done it or seen it done before. Just put cut up food in front of them?

So I tried it and it was messy, wasteful and stressful. I had food in hair, on clothes/bibs/the floor. Holden would gag and I’d think he was choking and I’d turn back to a mashed sweet potato or refried beans. 

As time went on and Holden got bigger I ended up using a mixed method approach to introducing solids. We did a lot of self feeding and baby led weaning, but I also sometimes spoon feed him baby food I had made at home. It worked out great and Holden is a decent eater. However, now at almost 3 he does power eat, and his favorite foods are bread, fries, and donuts. You can’t win them all.

When I had Waylon I had become much more informed about baby led weaning. Yes, it is messy. Yes, food gets in many places other than their stomachs. Yes, there is some gagging. But- as a mother of two under two allowing self feeding was a life saver. I can’t really sit down for 20 minuets at a time and shovel spoonfuls of yogurt into Waylon’s mouth, but I can let him chew on a strawberry for 20 minuets as Holden also eats some fruit and oatmeal while I eat my breakfast too. Now we can all eat together as a family. I still watch them closely, but I don’t control their intake. They do.

I followed my same rules as before: Homemade, fresh food, waiting until 6 months, isolating ingredients, relying on breastfeeding and instead went straight into Waylon feeding himself. I never made him pureed anything. We started with a lot of sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas, and beans. I simply put it on the tray in front of him in his high chair and allowed Waylon to pick it up, feel it, work on picking it up, putting it to his own mouth, and manipulating the food in his mouth by gumming and chewing it. He also paces himself and only eats until he is full. No more me shoveling food into a full baby’s mouth. He eats as much as he needs and doesn’t over eat. 

People are often taken aback by my hands off approach to feeding Waylon, but I didn’t go in that confident. It took experience, trail and error and successes to see that is wasn’t just a good choice, but the best choice. He also LOVES broccoli, so I feel like I did something right.

However when you do something different from the norm, as I tend to do… you sometimes get a push back. You breastfeed past a year people raise eyebrows, you co-sleep people shame you with horror stories, you refuse an epidural and people minimize your birth experience because “nobody gets a trophy.” When you make homemade baby food, or practice baby led weaning people call you a “crunchy mom.” And roll their eyes as if you personally degraded their motherhood for buying a jar of peas and carrots. 

Lets be real for a second: Baby food is a scam! No seriously- mashing up a banana is much easier and cheaper, and healthier than buying a jarred banana with added ingredients and preservatives. Babies need fresh food, and there is no reason to spend extra money when it really is very simple to make your own. “Baby food” wasn’t a thing until the 1920’s when Gerber came up with a way to make money. I am pretty sure babies were eating just fine before then.

There’s a few things in motherhood that aren’t emotionally charged. They’re just facts. And one of those facts is that making baby food yourself is cheaper, healthier, and plenty easy. To make it even easier than making “baby food” is just to feed the baby the food you are already eating as a family. It required no extra effort on my part and benefited Waylon tremendously. It exposed him to new foods, flavors and textures, allowed him to exercise his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, involved him in our family dinner as opposed to me feeding him before or after our meal so I could eat without constantly spooning food into his mouth. 

Feeding my baby isn’t a chore. Instead he is apart of the family, participating in conversation and the tradition of a family meal. 

If you are approaching the milestone of introducing solids I encourage you to look into baby led weaning. If you have a pediatrician who is against it or encouraging baby food before 6 months I encourage you to ask questions, get other information, and advocate for your baby. The choices we make early in our children’s development lay a foundation they will always be standing on for the rest of their lives. Nutrition and development will effect their futures and both join forces when it comes to baby led weaning. We wonder why so many of us struggle with over eating, gut and digestive issues, and our overall health. Maybe because we started getting most of our nutrition as babies from processed foods at too early of an age? I don’t know for sure, but it is something to think about.

Obviously there are unsafe things to avoid doing: 

• cut up any choking hazard food (grapes, hot dogs) into slivers
• Always watch and supervise babies as they experiment with new foods
• Cook veggies to a soft enough texture to mash it against the roof of your mouth
• Make sure baby has good head control and is sitting up independently as well as always sitting up right while eating

Baby led weaning takes a little more patience and calm, but can be so beneficial and helpful to your baby as they grow! It is worth the try.