Ooh, how exciting, a BLW thread!
It's been a while as Zander's 21 months now but I used this approach starting around the time he turned 6 months. I never pureed but did offer mashed food as well as finger foods - believe it or not porridge, yogurt, lasagne etc. can all be eaten pretty efficiently with hands, very messy but lots of fun and great for experimentation of textures etc.! As far as the finger foods go, I found carbs were much easier to begin with as lots of fruit and veg are very slippery and difficult for them to hold initially. So things like rice cakes, toast, breadsticks etc. always went down very well. I did also spoon fed some things but I used the same thoery, in that Zander had to be in control of whether he put the food in his mouth or not. Usually I'd load the spoon and hold it in front of his mouth and if he wanted it he'd pull the spoon towards him and put it in himself, I never tried to get in 'just one more mouthful' or coax him to eat in anyway.
Zander is still a fantastic eater and he loves his food (often has seconds or thirds of meals
). I must admit he's probably messier than lots of his friends but that's because I learnt early on not to worry about mess and at least I don't ever worry that he doesn't eat enough or is fussy! As he's grown up I've found the most important thing continuing to eat at the table with him as a family (or just me if it's during the week). He didn't have any problems starting to use his own cutlery, though if the mood takes him he'll still often use his hands. Apparently yogurts taste better that way!
Have fun
Kelly x
