Another nine months has passed (WHAT!?) and I’m here to give another update on our experience with Baby-Led Weaning, or BLW. I really can’t say enough great things about BLW and what it taught my daughter. For instance, she has amazing dexterity for her age. She feeds herself tomato soup with no spills. I’m not kidding, and it’s amazing. She also trusts food. She is a bit picky, but she has no fear of trying new things. However, BLW came with a side effect I wasn’t wholly prepared for and could do nothing about. Now that I have experienced getting one child from exploring food to it being her main source of nutrition, there are some things I will continue with my baby boy and some things I’ll do different. But first, here is a quick summary of her progression with solid foods.
9-12 months
In my last post I explained her progress from looking and touching her food to exploring it with her mouth. Up through nine months she was ingesting very little of the food. From about 9 to 12 months the food went into her mouth no problem. The issue is that it just came right back out. She would chew away on it happily until it was mush and then spit it out. Yup, every single time. It didn’t bother me a bit in these few months, but a little after 12 months the full force of the repercussions came.
12-15 months
She did start swallowing more food around the one-year mark, but it wasn’t nearly enough to fill a belly. Which means my chubby, happy, growing girl was still nursing like a newborn. This full-time working mama was nursing her babe every 2-3 hours around the clock. Now when Beatrice was an actual newborn, I was tired but happy all of the time. I would share sleep-deprived experiences and sympathize with other tired mamas but I honestly never once felt an ounce of resentment or sadness for anything I was doing for my daughter. But after a year of nursing every 2-3 hours, while working full-time and attempting to be the best homemaker I could be, the weight of it came crashing down. I wasn’t worried about her nutrition. Nothing is more nutritious than mama milk. I was just torn at the seams with all my obligations as a working mom who couldn’t pump breast milk.
But what could I do? I can’t force her to swallow. Who do I talk to? Certainly not the family and friends with the ‘Oh you silly hippie’ look. I found a lot of comfort in my fellow HWB bloggers who were also practicing BLW. Amy’s tot is four months older than mine so I always look to her for the light at the end of the tunnel during a rough patch. I went to a few forums and websites and asked when moms started seeing their babes swallowing more food. What I found was that I was not alone in my worries. Every mom told a similar tale that ended with the babe finally swallowing their food. They just all happened to be at varying ages. And its funny, but this realization reminded me that what we are doing is natural. It reinforced to me the reasons why I chose to do BLW in the first place. I was just a bit unlucky with timing… again.
15-18 months
The sun shone around 15 months. She gobbled up her food and would ask for more. She had snacks throughout the day without me getting the vacuum out to pick up her mushy leftovers. What was more, she was nursing less. She went from every 2-3 hours to every 3 hours. When I was released from my full time job is when the real change happened. When mama was feeding her all her meals that were freshly prepared and able to sit down with her while not feeling rushed, Beatrice went down to nursing just a couple of times at night. Now a month later she nurses just a few times a day and at 1.5 years old I am pumped to say that my daughter is night-weaned! Cue the angels singing HALLELUJAH!
Now here is what I’ll do the same and different:
Same
- Practice Baby-Led Weaning. I will let my son decide when it is time for him to start solids, how much he will eat, when he nurses, how long he will nurse, until what age he nurses, etc.
- Introduce solids right off the bat (around 6 months). Let him play, explore, and taste.
- No cereal.
- Meals with the family. When we are sitting down for a meal so is he.
Different
- Introduce purees right off the bat (around 6 months). I “ruined” Beatrice on purees. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. So I hope that by offering him purees as he is also getting solids, he will accept them both.
- Have one or two meals of purees. I’m thinking breakfast and dinner and then our lunch will be all solids. As he grows older than replace another meal from purees to solids or maybe do both in the same meal. But don’t hold me to that, I reserve the right to change my mind. ;)
So after that is all said and done, do I regret my decision? Absolutely not. She is a super healthy girl who loves food and is getting plenty of it. She still nurses during the day which I’m honestly thrilled about. I love knowing that she is still getting all the great nutrients from breast milk, especially on days I slip her ice cream. I completely expect to tandem nurse come July and go through a whole new set of mama challenges to share with you all!
Any other BLW mamas out there? What was your experience like?
