i'd really love to share with you my limited knowledge of baby-led weaning (BLW)...weaning is another important aspect of child's nutrition apart from breastfeeding...as we know, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months and complementary foods are introduced along with continuing breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond...
BLW is relatively new in Malaysia...traditionally, we spoon feed our baby her first food and this continues until she is big enough to hold and handle her food by herself, but then we are scared of her choking and tend to be overprotective of her act...i used traditional way to wean my children to solid food and often got frustrated when they didn't finish the stipulated amount of food in the bowl...i encountered problem with Imtiaz when he is too used to spoon feed , when one day i put a piece of bread that was relatively easy for him to grab and put into his mouth but he didn't do it... what he did was, he brought his mouth to the plate on the table and try to bite the bread from the plate, like a bird picking his food..! it took him sometime to be able to feed simple food by himself and i shouldn't i feel worry..?
i first heard about BLW a couple months ago when i virtually attended the Australian Breastfeeding Association Online Seminar and was very impressed with Gill Rapley's talk on BLW...after having a minor setback with Imtiaz's feeding experience, i found that BLW is the ideal way of introducing solid to our babies, it's about being in control and balancing the intake of food and fluid by choosing how long each feed should last...
in her presentation, Gill Rapley showed a few videos of different ages of babies and toddlers doing BLW and they have good hands and eyes coordination and very good at using cutleries during mealtimes at an early age, together with their family members...
after knowing this fantastic approach, i really hope to use it on my future children and i love to share this bit of information with all of you...and i'm currently hunting for Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food book and DVD at affordable prices {they are not in Malaysia :( }
for those who'd like to watch the video of BLW, try this link and this link or find some other interesting clips at youtube.com
BLW is relatively new in Malaysia...traditionally, we spoon feed our baby her first food and this continues until she is big enough to hold and handle her food by herself, but then we are scared of her choking and tend to be overprotective of her act...i used traditional way to wean my children to solid food and often got frustrated when they didn't finish the stipulated amount of food in the bowl...i encountered problem with Imtiaz when he is too used to spoon feed , when one day i put a piece of bread that was relatively easy for him to grab and put into his mouth but he didn't do it... what he did was, he brought his mouth to the plate on the table and try to bite the bread from the plate, like a bird picking his food..! it took him sometime to be able to feed simple food by himself and i shouldn't i feel worry..?
i first heard about BLW a couple months ago when i virtually attended the Australian Breastfeeding Association Online Seminar and was very impressed with Gill Rapley's talk on BLW...after having a minor setback with Imtiaz's feeding experience, i found that BLW is the ideal way of introducing solid to our babies, it's about being in control and balancing the intake of food and fluid by choosing how long each feed should last...
what is baby-led weaning (BLW)?Source: Rapley Weaning.com
baby-led weaning is a way of introducing solid foods that allows babies to feed themselves - there’s no spoon feeding and no purées..the baby sits with the family at mealtimes and joins in when she is ready, feeding herself first with her fingers and later with cutlery..
in another words BLW allows babies to explore taste, colour, texture and smell, at the same time encourages independence and confidence, helps to develop their hand-eye coordination and chewing skill and makes picky eating and mealtime battles less likely...and all healthy should be given the opportunity to feed themselves from about 6 month of age...
why 6 months, not 4 months or earlier..?
BLW is based on the way babies develop in their first year...in term of motor development , comparing a 4 month old child and a 6 month old child, i'm sure you can see how steady and stable a 6 month old child is if seated on a chair and how developed his gross motor movement is, including trying to reach out for food on the table.....while the 4 month old would still have wobbly head and shaky body, trying to balance himself, not appear to reach out for food with uncoordinated palmar grasp...
in term of babies' immune and digestive system, they are not ready for other foods until they are about 6 months old- breastmilk [or formula] is all healthy babies need until then...at 6 months, a baby is able to sit upright, pick up pieces of food, take them to her mouth and chew them - she can feed herself!
in the past, when babies were started on solid foods at 3 or 4 months, they had to be given purees because they were too young to feed themselves...so if you've waited until your baby is 6 months to introduce solid foods, there's no need to puree the food for them and you can enjoy family food with the rest of the family members...
won't she choke...?
many parents worry about babies choking..however, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon feed...this is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have developed the ability to chew...and they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things..the ability to pick up very small things develops later still..thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get small pieces of food into his mouth...spoon feeding, by contrast, encourages the baby to suck the food straight to the back of his mouth, potentially making choking more likely...
tipping a baby backwards or lying him down to feed him solid foods or even milk all by himself is dangerous...i am sure that was what actually happened in the deadly incidents involving babies and toddlers in day-care centres/nurseries recently, where they were left unattended while feeding with their bottles were nicely secured onto the chest and the babies were helplessly fed and got suffocated with their feeding because the fast flow milk were forced into their mouth and lungs and they can't take it at their own pace and such small babies didn't know how to throw the bottles away if they decided they had enough...a baby who is handling food should always be supported in an upright position..this ensures that food he is not yet able to swallow, or does not wish to swallow, will fall forward out of his mouth...
what food to offer my baby...?
the good thing about BLW, you don't have to cook separate food for your baby..you can share most healthy family foods with your baby (avoiding salt and sugar) , for example fruit, vegetable, meat, cheese, well-cooked eggs, bread, rice, pasta and most fish are suitable..choose foods that are easy to cut into sticks or large strips when your baby is starting...
offering your baby a variety of foods will give her the chance to discover different tastes and textures and ensure she gets all the nutrients she needs...
what about breastfeeding...?
continuing to breastfeed on demand during weaning period will have added advantage of allowing the baby to decide how and when to cut down his milk intake...as she eats more at shared mealtimes, so he will 'forget' to ask for some of his milk feeds, or will take less at each feed..there is no need for her mother to make these decisions for him...
the need of follow-on formula for babies who have weaned to solid food and stop breastfeeding is not always necessary as the babies will get most of the nutrients from variety of nutritious and balanced food, not milk anymore...
remember..!
don't expect your baby to eat much in the beginning..many babies eat only small amounts for the first few months of baby-led weaning and still breastfeeding a lot on demand as they take this transition at their own pace...
also, do expect some mess...they thought mealtimes as playtimes in the beginning...however, this approach utilizes his desire to explore and experiment, and to mimic the activities of others..allowing the baby to set the pace of each meal, and maintaining an emphasis on play and exploration rather than on eating, enables the transition to solid foods to take place as naturally as possible...
lastly, keep it enjoyable..that way your baby will be keen to try new foods and looking forward to mealtimes...
in her presentation, Gill Rapley showed a few videos of different ages of babies and toddlers doing BLW and they have good hands and eyes coordination and very good at using cutleries during mealtimes at an early age, together with their family members...
after knowing this fantastic approach, i really hope to use it on my future children and i love to share this bit of information with all of you...and i'm currently hunting for Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food book and DVD at affordable prices {they are not in Malaysia :( }
for those who'd like to watch the video of BLW, try this link and this link or find some other interesting clips at youtube.com
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