So Henry is 11 months old and we've been Baby Led Weaning (BLW) since he was 6 months - that means no purees! Last week we had a meal out at Nandos, which highlighted to me one of the joys of BLW. Henry sat in his highchair pulled up to the table - included in the meal just as another member of the family should be. He was enjoying watching people going past the window outside and bopping along to the latino music in the background while we waited for our food.
When the food came we all tucked in to strips of chicken and corn on the cob - Henry included! He watched me carefully, looking for tips on how to tackle the corn and enjoyed making use of his new front teeth! As he's had plenty of practice handling food by now there was hardly any mess on the floor and most of it made it into his tummy.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our meal - talking, laughing and eating together as a family. It was a really happy experience.
In contrast, another couple came in with their baby who must have been around 9 months old. Now I have no frame of reference for traditional weaning methods, so I'm not going to make a sweeping generalisation about puree feeding, this is just what this particular couple experienced.
Their food arrived pretty quickly, as it does in Nandos, but instead of tucking in to a nice hot dinner together, they sat in silence while Mum spoon-fed the baby it's puree. This took a good 15 minutes. Then she prepared a bottle and gave that to the baby - another 5-10 minutes. All the while their food was sitting piled up on the table going cold - poor Dad was pinching the odd chip by now and looking longingly at the chicken!
When the baby was full of puree & milk, they put her back in her pushchair away from the table and turned to their own food, enjoying cold chicken and talking together now that their parenting duties were finished.
Now don't get me wrong, BLW doesn't agree with everyone and for many people traditional weaning methods work. No doubt about it. But for me, I am so grateful that I've been given the opportunity to enjoy such a lovely family experience with Henry at such a young age. I have to say a huge thank you to the people at the Breastfeeding support groups for introducing me to BLW and of course to Gill Rapley for her excellent book on the subject, because without that it would have been me eating cold chicken.
Posts
