Has anyone else ever heard of this? Baby led solids? The idea is that your kid can just scoop up some sweet potato and mash it with her gums (more likely spit it out) and learn to feed herself instead of trying to cram jarred mush into her mouth. She won’t have to learn how to chew after she has teeth, because it will be second nature already, instead of just swallowing. This would also mean I wouldnt have to steam, puree and then freeze fresh food, I’d just have to cook it and then cut it into tiny chunks (the way she’ll be eating food until she has teeth anyway) for her to scrape up. Because of certain circumstances, she’s nearing 7 months old. All of the e-mails I’m now getting from the hospitals, baby center and etc. all say that she can start on finger foods now (approaching 7 months). Almost all of them said to watch your baby because he will try and eat off of your plate. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. The Indians didn’t have pureed foods, more than likely, they held a bite up for the baby to gum on, don’t you think? There were no high chairs, no tippy cups or suctioned plates. They ate from their mother’s bowls when they started to notice food. I haven’t researched it, but come on, it makes sense. Of course, we all know choking is a big hazard (I will be touching on that next post with another concern) so you have to start with soft foods smashable by baby gums. On the LLL website, several people mentioned that their own 7 mo. babies were already eating about a dozen things because they started them with bits of this and that at 6 months. Skipped constipating cereal altogether (and my baby doesn’t need constipation)…What do you think?
We did baby food with Matt.
Lyssa had some baby fruits, but mostly she just started grabbing bits off our plates. She did fine. I was careful about what I was eating since I was still nursing, and she got mostly good stuff. I’ll never forget taking her to my parent’s 35th anniversary party and seeing my cousin’s wife feeding her ICING from the cake.
I put a stop to that one.
But on Lyssa’s 1st birthday, she had fourteen teeth. So solid foods didn’t really have to be gummed.
Jacob had tons of teeth when he started on cheerios at 8 months. It wasn’t long before he was eating meat. I called him my little carnivore, because it seemed that was all he wanted. I remember one time we had breaded pork chops. I cut his up into baby sized pieces, and hadn’t gotten into mine yet. He threw a fit and lunged after my plate. I put my plate closer, and he picked up the chop, bone and all, and started going to town. In some ways, I think if you give them a big enough chunk that they CAN’T choke on it, they’ll take off what they can with each gnaw they have on it. They do have these little mesh bag-like things that you can put real food in it, and then as they mash it up, they can only get what comes out of the holes in the bag. I never used one, but it may be something you’d like. I would try her eating baby food from a spoon to get her really used to the spoon first. I didn’t do much cereal, except in their bottles, because neither one liked it or ate it well. Lauren had fewer teeth than Jacob, and took longer with people food. But once she was ready, she decided enough of that baby food, bring on the french toast sticks!! It was like one day she was eating baby food, and then the next, it was exclusively table food. It’s a lot harder to feed them nutritiously (I think) when you have to come up with stuff they’ll eat that is real food. I miss being able to warm up a jar of something and knowing that I was feeding them well. Lauren ate a much bigger variety when she ate baby food than she will now. Now it’s only grilled cheese, mac and cheese, PB&J, chicken nuggets, these breaded pork cutlets that she thinks are nuggets if she sees them cut up, mashed potatoes, peas, sometimes corn and then most fruits, breakfast, and desserts. No other real food. Oh, I lied. Spaghetti. But I’d best not dare to use some other kind of noodle! I hate figuring out dinner every night. And then there’s Jacob, who will eat anything. And his favorite veggie is broccoli, cooked or raw. What a kid! Anyway , sorry to get off topic. Hey, I just reread. You steam and puree real food? So you make your own baby food? Craziness!!!!! 🙂