Introducing Solid Foods the Baby Whispering Way

[Freya'sMum]

Introducing Solid Food the BW Way!

Firstly, the thing to remember is the concept that "until 1, food's for fun!" - this means that babymilk (breast or formula) remains the primary source of nutrition until babies are 12 months old, and that solid foods provide a little extra nutritional value but are mainly introduced at around 6 months to get them used to what food is, what to do with it, and to learn that eating is an enjoyable, pleasurable, relaxed, positive experience between now and then!

You want to aim to maintain your lo's pre-solids milk intake until at least 9-10 months old, and a helpful way to do this is to think of milkfeeds as the Eat in EASY and solid foods as the first part of the following Activity period, then he gets the rest of his Activity time for his 'meal' to digest before lying down for his nap, from which he wakes up hungry for his next milkfeed.

There really is no rush to introduce solid foods, your lo will be eating for the next 80 or so years so he can afford to take his time to get the hang of it. If you think about it from a BW perspective, we don't expect our los to all walk at 'x' months old, or talk at 'y' months old, and we just accept that it is ok, and that they will do so when they are ready to do so, but with solid food somehow this logic goes out the window! There seems to be a huge amount of pressure on parents to have their los eating vast quantities of loads of different foods at a very young age, and the BW philosophy that we apply to other things, that our los will do things when they are developmentally ready to do so, is forgotten...

...so, my advice to you is to apply that philosophy!

You can relax in the knowledge that at 6 months old, if your lo doesn't eat a single mouthful of solid food, it doesn't matter, and rather than focus on trying to get him to do so, I suggest that you focus on making those positive associations. Whether you want to adopt a spoon-feeding or self-feeding approach to introducing solid foods, you can still sit together at mealtimes as a family so that you can model to him the experience of eating - he'll watch and learn how you do it, and how much you enjoy it! You've got at least 6 months for him to get the hang of it - there's no rush  - and he'll learn better if he's doing it alongside you, rather than feeling pressured by you anxiously staring down at him spoon poised!

As for how to introduce foods... there are those who go the puree/mush route, and those who go with self-feeding (Baby-led Weaning, BLW) - both are fine. You can apply the same gradual introduction of the foods that you will be expecting your lo to have as part of his childhood diet with both approaches, helping to identify the culprit of any adverse reactions. Check out this link BLW FAQ for more info on the BLW approach and the Recipes section for puree and finger food ideas.