[blparent] Infant led feeding

Tue Jan 6 18:23:37 UTC 2015

And this is why I don't understand all the talk about a baby's relationship
with food. 
Nothing is inherently wrong with ice cream or chips, too many veggies is a
bad thing too. 
Also, food is one of the few things kids can control and even that is really
only limited to yes and no. Adults have far more control over their food
choices, their mealtimes and their whole lives. 

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jo
Elizabeth Pinto via blparent
Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2015 12:58 AM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Infant led feeding

I was intrigued by Kai's response, so I did a quick Google search.  There's
volumes of information on the Web.  You'll be able to find out anything you
want about baby-led weaning, and a whole lot more, in thirty seconds or
less.  Just beware of Internet overload because, as with anything, the key
is undoubtedly moderation.  From what I skimmed over, BLW has some very
sound ideas, and ones I would pay closer attention to if I were to raise
another baby, which isn't in the cards.  On the other hand, millions of
babies have downed strained bananas and pureed squash and lived long enough
to feed it to children and grandchildren of their own.

What I did, I guess, was some combination of the two methods, which I didn't
know there were two of at the time.  I used purees, but I also gave my baby,
starting at about seven or eight months old, pieces of food on her high
chair tray.  At first I used those Meltaway Puffs that are sold with the
baby food in the stores, but I was suspicious of them because of the sugar
content.  So I bought one of the mesh nets with the ring on it that you
could put fruit in and freeze.  Sometimes I froze it, and sometimes I just
put cut fruit in it and left it in the refrigerator and then gave it to the
baby at mealtime.  She couldn't get bites off the fruit, but she could taste
it through the mesh.  When she was taking lumpier solids, I would give her
cheese cubes and broken-up scrambled eggs, diced fruit, sliced green beans,
Cheerios, and all sorts of different things on her tray to choose from.  She
was a good eater as a baby.

Then someone gave her ice cream, and someone else introduced her to Doritos,
and she went to preschool and learned how to say, "Yuck."  And all bets were
off.

Good luck,
Jo Elizabeth

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may
kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at
evening.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kai Johnson via blparent
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2015 8:57 PM
To: Tara Briggs ; Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Infant led feeding

Hi Tara,
We did this, from a book called Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley. It worked
really well for us - the idea is mainly that you give them food that is safe
for them and they can chew on it, play with it, and soon eat it. From a
practical point, it let us get away from specialty cooking for the baby,
which really helped for the second child. The main benefit for the child is
that at 6 months, they have an excellent gag reflex, so they actually don't
get down much food, but they are fully capable of chewing with just gums.
The point at which they gag on food is actually farther forward on the
tongue at 6 months, so they learn to deal with gagging and spitting the food
back out, all without risk of harm and much less fright for them. If you
introduce foods at 10+ months, the gag point has moved back farther in the
throat, so if they are learning to work with solid foods for the first time,
the gagging will be more pronounced, require more effort to clear, and is
closer to actual choking. This isn't to say children who don't eat solid
foods at 6 months will end up choking and getting hurt, but it is letting
them learn an essential skill at a time when their bodies are ready to learn
it.

More philosophically, it's supposed to give them a healthier relationship
with food because it is not a choice between regular food and nursing, but
if you don't have food-related issues like nursing strikes or incredible
pickiness, I don't know that you'd see any difference in their behavior.

Anyway, I really liked it, and highly recommend it. The actual takeaway from
the book is an understanding of how it is safe to give them foods. The key
being that they are about finger-sized, firm foods that won't break off in
their mouths, so they can hold with their fists and still have something to
chew on.

Good luck!
Kai

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 4:49 PM, Tara Briggs via blparent <
blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> dear collective wisdom:
> Have any of you heard of or practiced infant led feeding? In the UK it 
> is called infant led weaning. Basically, it is letting your child feed 
> themselves starting from about six months of age. You use small pieces 
> of what ever you're eating. There is a book on this on iBooks. It is 
> called, infant led weaning. There is also a cookbook. I got the book 
> on infant led weaning and I am curious if anyone has tried it and what it
has been like.
> Thanks for any help.
> Tara Briggs
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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