Opinion: Baby Led Weaning

While researching weaning strategies, I uncovered an interesting concept: Baby Led Weaning.

This is the idea that a baby should be weaned directly to finger food rather than being spoon fed. It is my strong opinion that this strategy was invented by mothers who are lazy to puree their babies' food and want to nurse into toddler years. 

Admittedly, I have been giving Holly sliced apples to nibble on since she was 6 months old and she loves it. She used to grind her gums on the slice and just suck the juice out; but now that she has two teeth she is starting to break off pieces of the apple. In most cases the pieces are too big for her to swallow. So, I have to be on high alert when she's got an apple in her hand. This is incredibly stressful! 

The good news is that in most cases she doesn't try to swallow a piece that is too big. She actually opens her mouth toward me as if to show me and ask for my help; it's super cute! The bad news is that she still occasionally misjudges her ability to swallow a piece. I can't commit to a parenting strategy that makes meal times so stressful. And why would I? I also can't see the long-term benefit of skipping the spoon*.

There are a lot of resources for and a variety of acceptable strategies when it comes to weaning. I think it is a mistake to look at weaning to finger foods versus weaning to purees in terms of "baby-led" and "mother-led." A baby weaned to purees is a driver in the process as much as a baby weaned to finger foods, with the major difference being that the former manages to ingest more nutrients sooner! 

I think that, when all is said and done, every mother intuitively knows how best to wean her baby. And every baby is capable of communicating what works for him and what doesn't. It is a mother's job to read her baby's signs and amend her strategy appropriately. 

* There isn't any.