Baby Weaning: Healthy Snack Ideas
Weaning your baby is a monumental process.
I honestly can’t believe how quickly the last few months have gone past. It’s pretty scary.
Elissa is now 6 1/2 months, and I’m excited to be offering her food. It’s so lovely to see her try new flavours, make funny smacking noises, and reach for things she’s already developed a liking for.
As parents, we have an instinct to provide for and nurture our children; food being one of the main ways we do this.
And, most of us feel it’s important to get weaning ‘right,’ by providing the most nutritious meals and snacks for our babies.
But, I know weaning can be a pretty stressful time for some parents. They worry about their baby not eating enough, rejecting lumps, losing weight — it’s hard work this parenting business!
Baby led weaning
While doing a little research into weaning, I came across “Baby led Weaning.” It seemed like something which sat really well with us. I have to say (so far) weaning has been going well for us… albeit the very early stages.
Here in the UK we recommend babies begin weaning onto solids at 6 months.
When you wait until 6 months to wean, babies tend to be better at sitting up, they have good head and neck control, and their hand-eye coordination has developed so that they can grip food pretty well.
All of this means that most babies can manage finger foods from 6 months of age. In fact, the Department of Health advise including finger foods in your babies diet as soon as they are ready to do so.
Gill Rapley, a health visitor for 25 years, believes babies who are allowed to feed themselves, by being offered a selection of nutritious finger foods, can easily join in with family meals from the start, and are less likely to refuse foods, or become fussy eaters as they grow older.
There’s not a pureed veg in sight in our home, and I can tell you I’m glad about that — I like an easy life!
sxc.hu: sparkules
For me, being a breastfeeding mum has meant baby led weaning was a very natural extension of the process, because Elissa continues to regulate her own calorie intake, rather than me wondering, “How many spoons should she be taking right now?”
Anyway, it’s important to offer your baby frequent snacks and meals whatever approach you take to weaning.
I think one key to healthy snacking for babies, is to use snack time as a mini meal. That way you’re more likely to offer a nutritious snack, rather than filling their little tummy with junk foods until the next main meal.
So, right now Elissa is tucking into a snack of cherry tomato halves, and cucumber wedges, and she’s a very happy chicklet!
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10 Comments
Suzannah
05.07.2010
Hi Melanie,
This sounds interesting, and I’m glad you’re having success with it! Eli’s just turned 5 months, but he’s a big boy and always grabbing at my food and wanting to be up at the table with us. I’ve tried giving him a few little bites of watered down baby rice cereal, but most of it comes back out. He’s happy to chew on one of those long baby rusks as well, under my supervision. He’s still ultimately on breastmilk though, and will be for the next month.
What I don’t understand is how they don’t choke! If you’re giving Elissa things like cherry tomato halves and pasta spirals, is she actually chewing them up and swallowing them? I do suppose she has a couple of teeth by now.
You’ve got me curious though. I’ll have to see if I can find a book on it!
Thanks
Melanie
05.07.2010
Hi Suzannah,
Good to hear from you.
Elissa was the same, grabbing at food and really interested in what we were eating before 6 months. That’s a great sign.
In terms of choking, advocates of baby led weaning claim choking is actually more likely when babies are fed from a spoon, due to the sucking motion they use to take the food from the spoon — food is sucked straight to the back of the throat, and is more difficult to handle.
However, when babies feeds themselves this is less likely to happen, as they have complete control over what goes into their mouths, and how quickly they eat it. By using the gag reflex they instinctively get rid of any food that may cause a problem.
It appears as long as simple safety rules are observed, choking is no more likely than with any other methods of introducing solids.
Now, I’m just spewing exactly what BLWing advocates will tell you, however I haven’t had any issues (yet) with Elissa, in terms of choking.
With the tomatoes, she will suck the insides out, then spit out the skin. It’s amazing to see her do it. With pasta some seems to get swallowed, and some comes back out. It varies from day to day. Some days she eats more than others. She does make a chewing motion, though I don’t know how effective it is, but she is definitely eating something — the nappies are a sure sign, lol.
Go onto YouTube and take a look at some of the BLWing videos of babies eating apples, etc. It’s pretty interesting.
I don’t know if you can get this book in Australia, but this is the book I got, “Baby led weaning, by Gill Rapley.
Suzannah
05.08.2010
I did check out some videos on YouTube. Amazing! There was one video with this baby who stuffed a huge piece of broccoli in his mouth and it just disappeared! Don’t know that I’m game to try it yet (Eli’s not old enough anyway), but I’ll definitely be reading more about it. Thanks for some great snack ideas!
Melanie
05.10.2010
Haha… it’s an interesting subject at the very least. That baby must have been enjoying his broccoli, I think I’d be a little concerned if Elissa stuffed a whole piece in her mouth right now, though
Nicola peel
05.11.2010
Hi
Your snack ideas seem great! It’s great that anything goes. My LO is 8 months and loves meat! ESP Roasts where she sucks and sucks on the fattiest bits.
The clear ups are easy now that I have created a 360 degree bib to ‘Bridge the Gap’ between the baby and highchair tray! I can even put LO to bed after her tea without bathing her. TBH the thought of the mess made me put my thinking cap on and my sewing machine out to create my design registered ‘Bridge It Bib’ (B.I.B)
Seriously makes your life easier – unless you have a dog to eat up the mess
N
Melanie
05.11.2010
Hi Nicola,
I am so excited about your product, thank you for sharing it! I’m just wondering which bib you would recommend for us — I have a DanChair so no tray, would you be able to attach the 360 bib onto the kitchen table?
Kelly
05.13.2010
Baby led weaning is such a doddle!
I did this with my now 2 and a half year old son. It is so easy to just let him eat when he wants. He still is breastfed and I think if you are breastfeeding it gives you a nice security blanket while they wean.
My son didn’t show a huge interest in food until he was 14 months and only then did he start to eat lots and lots. Before that he had food on hte odd ocassion and loves holding fruit on his own and eating it
He now tends to pick and choose how he eats. Sometimes he will sit and eat lots but most of the time he just eats really quickly and then gets on with what he is fascinated with. He can be quite sporadic. He has lots of energy too and doesn’t refuse trying anything. If he doesn’t like it he will spit it out anyway lol.
My son is definitely a fruit and vegetable lover though.
I just thought I would share a little of my experience. I know around when my son was a year I started to worry he wasn’t getting enough but from what I have read of others experiences its really normal. It can be quite hard to trust your child and yourself to do it when everyone around you is stuffing their children with jarred baby food as soon as they hit 6 months, but I think over time you just get more confidence
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.-= Kelly´s last blog ..Postponement & The 5 Major Poisons Inherently Found In Animal Foods =-.
Melanie
05.14.2010
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I’m definitely a BLWing convert!! I suppose it doesn’t matter what route you take in weaning, your child will have those days when they eat very little.
When did you notice your son dropping a breastfeed after you started weaning. I can’t really say I’ve noticed much difference yet, and Elissa is 7 months now — too early perhaps?
Gail
05.16.2010
Hi Mel, This is brilliant. Thanks x
Melanie
05.17.2010
Hi Gail,
You’re welcome. Glad you liked.
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