Feeding the Child

A few times recently (IRL) people have asked me about the Pumpkin's eating. Mostly it is to ask if she is on table food yet. There is not really a simple answer to that for me, so I end up telling people about our style of feeding and having to admit that I'm a bit of a hippie mom. Which I'm now going to admit to you all.
Did you all think I was just some normal mom? Nope, it turns out I'm a bit of a hippie in my parenting. I'm sure this will start to come out more and more as time goes by. But don't worry, I'll let the crazies out slowly so as not to scare you away. I hope.

When we got our highchair set up in our kitchen, Londo looked over at me one day, smiled and said how he couldn't wait until he could airplane in spoons of food to the baby's waiting mouth. It was then that I realized how little interest I had in feeding a baby solid foods. It just sounded like so much work and that it would require so much patience. And there was something about spoon feeding the baby that I just didn't like, but couldn't put my finger on. I was not looking forward to it at all.

But then, I learning about a style of feeding called baby-led weaning (BLW) (or baby-led feeding). I first heard about it on Ask Moxie, who has done multiple posts that touch on this method. Then, I read the article by Gill Rapley that Moxie mentioned. Gill Rapley did a study using baby-lead weaning, and she found that when babies were offered foods, they generally started trying to eat at 6 months of age, right when their digestive systems and their motor skills were developmentally ready for foods.

The BLW just clicked with me. This made sense to me. This seemed like it was what the human body was designed to do. You know, prior to the invention of purees by big corporations as another way to worry parents into spending more money and buying their products. In fact, did you know there is no research that supports introducing rice cereal or purees first? Sure babies do just fine starting that way, but they don't HAVE to (despite popular belief). In fact, when we brought up this style of feeding to the pediatrician to see what she thought, she said, "There are a million different babies and a million different ways to feed them. Find what works for you and your baby, and go for it." I just love that advice.

In this style of feeding, you cut pieces of regular food into fry-shaped sizes (not bite-sized pieces) and put it down in front of the baby on a tray or plate. The fry shape is so that the babies can pick up the pieces and hold them in their hand while they stick one end in their mouths. The theory behind it is basically to follow the baby's lead in eating, so when the baby is ready, he/she will pick up the food offered on the tray and try it out. Now, the baby probably won't eat it all right away, but the point is for the baby to get used to the taste and texture of regular solid foods.

A couple of concerns people always have over this method are that the baby will choke on the food, that the baby doesn't have teeth (or enough teeth) to eat/chew the pieces of food and that the baby won't eat enough. So let me address those issues.

It is actually believed by those who do this method that the risk of a baby-led weaned baby choking is less than those of a baby who is spoon feed. Because the baby's gag reflex is still pretty far forward in his/her mouth when starting on solids around 6 months, the baby will learn to manipulate the food in his/her mouth using this gag reflex as a guide to keep food from going too far back in the mouth and into the throat. But you have to understand the difference between gagging (which is a normal part of figuring out how to control the food in their mouths and how to get food out of their mouths) and actual choking. We had a couple of scares with the Pumpkin, where Londo and I were poised above her ready to get her out of the highchair if the gagging turned to choking, but it never did. It can be a bit scary, but she only did it a few times in the beginning and really seemed to catch on quickly. Just to be safe though, Londo and I took an infant CPR course before we started the solids--which helped our state of minds incredibly.

As for needing teeth, apparently babies' gums are strong enough to munch on a lot of the foods. I've heard a lot of people saying that their babies with no teeth or just a few teeth do great with this method by using their gums. Just because we adults can't imagine gumming foods, doesn't mean that it's not normal and natural for babies to do so. Since the Pumpkin got her teeth pretty early (I think she had 4-6 by 6 months), I don't have direct experience with this. But we started with softer foods anyway, like bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados and baked apples.

Now let me discuss whether or not they are eating enough. Since babies' primary nutrition for the first year is from breastmilk or formula, there is no need to worry that the baby is not ingesting enough. The theory is that the baby will know when they are ready to really ingest food, and they will lead the way. In our culture, there seems to be a push to get babies eating food and filling them up (I think it stems from the "clean your plate" mentality of previous generations). But for the first 12 months of life, babies really only need breastmilk or formula. Eating solid foods is not a must nutritionally or developmentally. Being introduced to foods around the 6 month mark seems to be a good idea and is generally recommended (I know some people believe there is a "window of opportunity" for introducing solids and if you miss it, the child will have problems with food and eating--I have no opinion on this, as I have not researched it at all).

In addition learning about the baby-lead weaning approach to feeding, I also have been reading a book by Ellyn Satter called Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense. In it, she says, "You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her." Basically, she says that too often there is a struggle between parents and children about food, which makes eating and meal times frustrating and can create issues with food. Instead, she tells people to relax and offer good foods to their children (in age-appropriate ways) but let their children decide what and how much to eat. A great point of this book is that each person's body has the ability to tell them when they are hungry and when they are full. So, if we force children to eat too little, they will either think that is normal and eat too little their whole lives or eat too much to compensate. If we force children to eat beyond when they are full, they will learn to ignore their their body's cue for feeling full and eat too much. This applies to spoon feeding as well as finger foods.

So, when we first started, I would nurse the Pumpkin before sitting her down for a meal and then just offer her foods. In the beginning, she would mostly just play with the food and try it in her mouth and squish it in her hands, not really ingesting anything. It was very messy, but she was having fun. We started with just dinners and would give her a bath right afterwards. But after a few weeks, she started ingesting some of the food. Shortly after, she really started eating and loving it, so I stopped nursing right before meals. In fact, I had to nurse an hour before or an hour after or else she wouldn't eat much/nurse much and would get so upset about it!

We don't worry about how much or how little the Pumpkin eats. We just keep offering her food until she is done, just as I would with nursing. (BTW, this is why I'm trying so hard to teach her the signs for More and All Done--so we can know what the reason for her fussing is at any given time, cause it could be either.) She now eats breakfast, lunch, a snack and dinner. It seems like a lot for her age, but we let her lead how much or little she wants, and this is really working for her right now. And we basically just feed her what we are having for the meal. This makes meals so much easier and more fun for me. She just eats with us as part of the family (which works for us, because we eat an early dinner anyway). We do try to keep the food low in salt and sugar, but after reading a post by Cloud*, we no longer worry about avoiding foods. The exceptions are nuts and shellfish, because if she has allergies to either of those, we want her to be able to communicate with us better.

Having said all that, I do feel like I should mention that my mom was not comfortable with this style of feeding. Since she watches the Pumpkin during the days and would be feeding her lunch, we went ahead and bought purees so my mom could feed them to her. We also spoon feed her applesauce and yogurt. Because IMO, there is nothing wrong with purees or spoon feeding. It's just another way to feed the child, and another texture for them to discover.

For more information (in addition to the links above), check these out:
-Here's a babycentre (UK version) article about BLW.
-Here's a great article debunking myths about feeding kids.
-Here's an overview of the method.
-Here are some blogs devoted to BLW.
-Here's a link to the Yahoo Group for BLW.
-Here's an interesting discussion on a message board about this topic.
-And slightly off topic, here is information about the natural age of weaning from mother's milk (not weaning as in starting food).

*Cloud has another interesting post mostly related to feeding kids that people may be interested in, too.