susan earlam ~ horror author

Today I thought I’d share some ideas on baby led weaning.

Before I had children I hadn’t really thought massively about how I would wean my child from milk to solids. When I discovered baby led weaning and began to read everything I could find about it, weaning this way seemed the more natural way and made more sense to me. I’ve had a few people ask me about how to start BLW after seeing some photo’s of Elizabeth munching away, so I thought I’d put some tips here for future reference.

In a nutshell baby led weaning means letting your baby fed him or herself. Providing they meet certain growth milestones and you don’t leave them unattended- its super safe.

Here are my baby led weaning tips;

• Be prepared for mess- A LOT of mess in the early days. Food everywhere -ears, eyebrows, armpits, hair and of course the floor. I bought three cheap tableclothes from Asda and we rotate them each day or each meal depending on how messy its been. This way you can give your baby back the food they’ve dropped and its easier to tip all the mess straight into your green bin afterwards and the tablecloth in the washing machine.
• Don’t expect eating out of bowls/plates I just put it on the highchair tray- even things like mash potato.  Believe me they’ll find a way to get it in their mouths.
• Cut things like fruit or veg or meat big enough so there’s a ‘handle’ on it otherwise s/he won’t be able to get it in their mouth.
• We use the basic Ikea Antilop highchair as its so easy to keep clean- no nooks and crannies for food to hide.
• As for bibs, we use a regular fabric one and then a plastic one on top usually, with a bit that can catch any food- these are good from Tommee Tippee but most supermarkets sell their own versions

If you want to know more about Baby Led Weaning the visit the website, which is also now a book- and very good it is too!

Have fun!