Last week, out of the blue, a writer for the Globe & Mail contacted me and asked if she could interview me about an article she’s writing on baby-led weaning (not to be mixed up with child-led weaning). Baby-led weaning is the process of starting solids by offering your baby the same foods you eat and letting them feed themselves. It takes into account the entire weaning process, from the first solids to the last breastmilk. It is trusting that a baby, given the chance to choose when he or she is hungry and what to eat (including breastmilk and a variety of solids), will eat a balanced diet and will eat as much as he or she needs. The term is used more commonly in the UK; in North America it is often called baby-led introduction to solids instead. Child-led weaning refers to allowing a child to nurse as long as he or she wants with no forced or encouraged weaning and doesn’t normally have anything to do with solids.
So I agreed to the interview, and I think it went well. I’m a little nervous about the article, as there is often a lot of misunderstanding or misconceptions about baby-led weaning and I worry that I’ll be misquoted or something I said will be taken out of context. I don’t want to come across as this crazy mother who’s endangering her baby’s life to rebel against the baby food industry! When in reality I believe baby-led weaning is safer than spoon feeding and allows Meredith to control her own intake of food and decide for herself when she’s full or hungry. Overall though, the reporter was really friendly and nice, and seemed very open. I’m really looking forward to how it turns out.
Today a photographer came to take Meredith’s picture for the article. She was really nice and great with Meredith. Very understanding of the fact that she is fifteen months old and sometimes has her own agenda. Actually, Meredith has been eating a lot more solids all of a sudden the last couple of days, so it worked out well as she was more than willing to sit and eat while having her picture taken. (She’s been nursing a lot more too, as can be evidenced by that fact I’ve gained a cup size or two in the last week lol! She must be going through a growth spurt.)
At one point while watching Meredith eating yogurt with a spoon, the photographer said: “Parents don’t give their kids enough credit”, which I think is so true. We have video of Meredith feeding herself with a spoon at ten months old. It was a little messier than it is now, but no more messier than any spoon feeding I’ve witnessed. Especially when the kid is being tricked into opening his or her mouth so the parent can shovel more food in, while the kid tries to spit it out. I have video of her first time eating soup too, around 11 months, though that was messy haha. She seems to find it a lot easier now that the spoon fits in her mouth a little easier. We never “taught” her to use a spoon. We just gave her a spoon (or a fork depending on what we were eating) and let her experiment on her own. Below is the soup video.
The photographer also commented I was brave giving her glasses and ceramic dishes to eat out of, but she’s probably broken less dishes since she started using them than Kris or I have. We did use some plastic that had been given to us for a brief time when she was enjoying throwing it on the floor, but by the time she actually started eating she was well past that phase and is quite careful with any dishes we give her.
Anyway, I’ll definitely post the article here when it comes out. I’m looking forward to it! I don’t think I’ve ever been in the newspaper before.
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Hi,
I found your site via a Google alert – good to ‘meet’ you. I’m the co-author of what we believe is the first book about baby-led weaning (Baby-led Weaning, by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett), published in the UK on Nov 6th. Do please tell everyone about it, and about the website http://www.baby-led.com. There’s no US publisher for the book yet – but there’s always Amazon!
I’d be really interested to read the Globe and Mail article – will it be available online? If so, could you send me a link?
Thanks,
Gill
I can’t wait to see the article. Meredith absolutely looks like you in that video and I don’t mean with food spilling all over her! Ha. She’s so cute!
That sounds like a great opportunity! I love seeing babies feeding themselves (we did baby-led weaning too).
I just picked up a book called Preventing Childhood Eating Problems… it is basically extending child-led eating into the later years and keeping the child’s inner wisdom of their hunger and ability to meet it intact. It’s all about no limits on food or any types of food and setting up kids to choose food on their own (such as a shelf for them that is easy to reach).
The book reminded me of my original intention… I found I’ve strayed a bit over the years as my children have grown (“But you haven’t eaten any protein!”) but I am moving back toward that trust.
Trust: it’s so beautiful to see, isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Gill,
Thanks so much for the comment. I’ll post the article on my blog in a minute here. I am going to add your site to my links list, and at some point I want to do a books list and will add your book to that too.
Annie, thanks!
Hi Stacy,
You reminded me, I really want to set up a shelf for Meredith that we can put food on for her. We were looking into a mini bar fridge for her but they’re surprisingly expensive! I have to agree though, it’s so nice to just sit back and trust my daughter and not worry so much, not just about food but about a lot of other things too!