Baby-Led Eating

As some of you may remember, I did what's called Baby-Led Weaning with Sadie.

Due to both liking the idea behind it and the fact that she karate-chopped any sort of feeding implement that came anywhere near her mouth, it was a perfect fit.

Sadie basically never even had yogurt until she was old enough to get it in her mouth by herself. That's how anti-spoon she was. God forbid you even thought about offering something on a spoon.

I would give her big chunks of soft foods and she would feed herself, eating as much or as little as she wanted. She would squish and smash and have great fun. Messy, yes, but supposedly BLW lets them decide when they are full, encourages earlier ability to manage larger pieces of food, and is a fun exploration. I liked it, she liked it, and all was right with the world.

I was sure Silas would do BLW too.

Enter Silas. The baby who likes to be fed with a spoon.

The baby who does enjoy feeding himself sometimes.

Until he drops the piece of food.

Then all hell breaks loose.

You see, when he drops it (as all babies do, you just give it back to them or they pick it up themselves) he is so mortally offended that he turns purple and starts screaming.

He is so angry that he has to get out of his high chair immediately and won't eat anything else.

And he does really want to eat. He loves food.

If you both give him a chunk and feed him with a spoon he is much happier. Yes, he still gets upset when he drops it, but you can give him a bite off the spoon, quick, and he'll calm down.

Food in mouth. Food good.

He slurps stuff right off the spoon. He loves the spoon.

The spoon is his best friend. Sometimes he shows no interest in the big chunks. He folds his chubby little hands together like a gentleman and sweetly spoon-slurps.

So I've followed his lead.

And that, my friends, may not be Baby-Led Weaning, but it is Baby-Led Eating.