Food!

One of the experiences I've been most looking forward to is introducing Daniel to food! I've been doing some research about how best to do this as I want to avoid him being a picky eater, if at all possible.

The method we chose to use is called baby led weaning. If you're unfamiliar, basically the idea is to promote the idea that food is fun by allowing the baby to be in control of what he eats. You offer small (safely cut) portions of whatever the family is eating and let the baby experience taste, texture and feel as he wants. No spoon feeding (unless the food naturally needs a spoon) and you breastfeed first so that the baby isn't frustrated by hunger. There's more info here if you want to look . . . http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/feeding-baby/baby-led-weaning-how-to.aspx

Anyway, given that Mr. Man now has a tooth (!) and will be 6 months old this Monday (!) and has been exhibiting all the signs of readiness (head control, interested in food, etc) we decided to go ahead and start with green beans on Friday night. We then waited the safety two days (to make sure there was no reaction) and had sweet potatoes yesterday.

Daniel has no problem getting the food from the tray of his high chair to his mouth but did seem a little unsure about the next step. I'm betting he'll get the hang of it!

(Next time I might cut longer strips of green beans to give him a little more to hold on too. Poor kid has little fat hands and they got in the way! Sweet potato in chunky wedges was up next and was delightfully mushy)

Thanks for looking!