Baby Led Weaning?

give him puffs and little cooked carrots etc :) hes ready for a little chunkier things :)

To me weening is stopping something, like breast feeding. I know many decide to let their kids decide when they are done breast feeding. As for when to add solids, or more foods, just keep offering stuff and let them eat what they will.

Babies (and toddlers and preschoolers) go in waves where they nurse less for a while and then more for a while. If you WANT to wean you pick a lull and then reduce it even more. If you WANT to keep nursing you keep offering frequently. And if you want to go with the flow you go with the flow....

Until he's about a year old though, his PRIMARY nutrition NEEDS to be either breastmilk or formula-- solid food is for learning and experience.

I HIGHLY encourage you to keep nursing, at least until 1 year and perhaps beyond

"nursing a toddler/preschooler has been one of the more relaxing aspects of motherhood so far.

How many times as a Mom do you get to NOT worry? When nursing a toddler you do NOT have to worry about supply or hauling a ____@____.com pump to work because they're eating good and drinking from a cup. On the days they don't eat good you do NOT have to worry because you know they'll nurse more that night. On the days that involve a drive thru you can feel less guilty knowing the junk is balanced out with nature's perfect health food. If you have a comfort nurser, when they're sick you do NOT have to worry about dehydration. I think my son is FINALLY realy weaning-- he was sick a couple of weeks ago and for the first time he didn't comfort nurse through it so I had to actually WORRY about pushing fluids and dehydration."

Baby lead weaning to me means allowing the child to take the lead on when nursing is to end. Technically anything like adding solids is considered "weaning" but that's not what I typically think of. I think of weaning when they drop a nursing session.

Remember that even though he is interested in food, you should nurse him first and breastmilk should be primary to at least a year. But, sure, let him try a bit of your own food. Some babies don't like baby food at all (my friend's son jumped right into real food) and you can give him appropriate foods and portions. I was told no meat before 9 mo. but before that he may think that fruit and sweet potato and pasta is a terrific thing to wear and eat. Try it.

I've done research on this as I'm planning on trying this with my son when he turns 6 months. At 6 months, instead of feeding the baby cereal or purees, you move straight to table foods along with continuing to breast feed. The table foods are obviously cooked til they're very soft and cut up into small pieces so the baby doesn't choke. The purpose it to teach good eating habits, teach the baby how to feed themselves and to help encourage the baby to trust in their own appetite. From what I understand, its timely and kind of a mess but the benefits seem great. The website wholesome babyfoods describes it and there's a book called "Baby Led Weaning: Helping your baby to love good food" by Gill Rapley that goes in much more detail.

My understanding of this method is not really weaning the baby from the breastmilk but an alternative to feeding him baby food. Instead of offering pureed foods the book/method suggests to offer well cooked healthy choices for him to feed himself. It supposedly helps the baby to decide how much food he wants to eat, he gets to try a much broader variety of foods and you end up with a less picky eater. The down side is that it could get real messy, you need a lot of patience and time because it takes much longer for them to eat/play with the food and you have to be very carefull that he doesn't choke. I read a little about this but have not read the book Baby-led weaning (I believe the title is misleading) so I apologize if what I said might not be exactly right. That is again my understanding. I tried this method for a day or two with my 7 month old but he mostly likes to play with the food and it ends up on the floor. So now we are back to feeding him and put a little bit of the food on his tray for him to play and feed on. He loves most of the baby food I give him, but he's main intake is still the breastmilk. I hope this helps a little.

You mean weaning from baby food or from breastfeeding?

Baby led weaning is allowing your child to nurse as much or as little they want over a long period of time (between 2-4 years). At 7 months, solids should be started, and of course follow his ques, but always offer breastmilk first and often - since 99% of nutrition should come from that the first year.