Published on Mar 31, 2014 A brief overview of baby-led weaning, with some quotes and details from recent peer-reviewed academic research. Spoon feeding babies is not Is spoon feeding enjoyable – for you •Introducing solids from the WHAT DO YOU NEED? • High chair with tray • Bib with a pouch WHEN CAN YOU START? •Able to sit up •Wants to try food WHAT FOOD TO OFFER BABY? •What everyone else is having SAFETY – BE PREPARED the minefield of parenting advice WHY TRY BABY-LED WEANING? research is required on whether infants following BLW have adequate energy and iron intakes in particular (Cameron et al. 2012: 1600) To date, there has been very little research to support baby-led weaning and, until there is more evidence, it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the potential benefits or problems it may offer. Our results suggest that infants weaned through the
baby-led approach learn to regulate their food intake in a manner, which leads to a lower BMI and a preference for healthy foods like carbohydrates. has implications for combating the well-documented rise of obesity in contemporary societies (Townsend & Pitchford 2012: 1) Studies have shown that infants between the ages of 4 months and 2 years who consume foods that require chewing generally have higher intakes of all macronutrients than those infants who have yet to be introduced to chewable foods (Carruthet al. 2004, cited in Reeves 2008: 108) responsive feeding [is] one of the most important practices for encouraging healthy eating habits in early life and should be encouraged in parents to reduce the (Schwartz et al. 2011, cited in Cameron et al. 2012: • What do you need for BLW? • Basic equipment: chair & tray, mat, bib with pouch • When can you start? • Once Baby can sit up, and wants to try your food
• What foods can you start with? • Simple foods: vegetables, fruits, bread • Should you stop breast feeding? • What are the possible benefits? • Hand-eye coordination, Speech, Family meals, Less stress, Cost, healthy relationship with LISTEN TO OTHER PARENTS • Is it easy to do? • Do babies like it? • Do babies eat enough? • Do parents like it? • Does research tend to support it? • CAMERON, S. L., A.-L. M. HEATH & R. W. TAYLOR 2012. How Feasible Is Baby-Led Weaning as an Approach to Infant Feeding? A Review of the Evidence. • REEVES, S. 2008. Nutrition Bulletin 33, 108–110 (available on-line: • TOWNSEND, E. & N. J. PITCHFORD 2012. The impact of weaning style on food preferences and body mass index in early childhood in a case–controlled sample. • VOLDERS, E. 2013. Baby-led weaning: food and the minefield of parenting advice. and-the-minefield-of-parenting-advice-8637, accessed 11 September 2013).
69725/ (accessed 11 September 2013). 76093/ (accessed 11 September 2013).Once your child has hit the 6-month mark, he or she is ready to try some food and begin the weaning process! Charlotte is a few short months away from the year and 6-month mark, so how timely, right? This post is obviously overdue.)In any regard, here is our list of weaning essentials - Montessori style.1. Weaning table and chairIn Montessori (as well as RIE), children are encouraged to experience the world at their own level, rather than be asked to conform to an adult’s. This is why babies, toddlers, and young children in these communities and homes eat from a very small table and chair rather than a high chair. The child is able to sit on his own and get up when he is finished. The child is empowered in this way.Our weaning chair is a 5" chair from Community Playthings. The height of the sides/armrests are ideal to help her to get in and out of it. Our weaning table consists of a 12" by 18.5" piece of ¾" plywood and premade table legs - inexpensive and functional.
Many other families choose to purchase specific weaning table and chair sets or cut down the legs of a small table. We went for a DIY option because we like cheap and simple.We purchased IKEA’s Molger step stool and it ended up working perfectly as a place for me or James sit while Charlotte eats. From here, we can assist her as needed, such as refill her glass or plate and enforce limits (staying at the table with food and directing her to her handwashing station if she decides she is finished). But more on limits with regards to meals below.We hung a small picture above her table for her to enjoy as well. This, of course, isn’t absolutely necessary, but adds elements of beauty and respect to the space. The art communicates a message of importance to the child about her spaces and her importance in the home. This is her home, not just ours. (To be fair, here, I just added the art a few months ago. Proof that no set of parents have it all together from the start. It takes time and money to prepare a space, whether it’s a child’s or an adults.
So go easy on yourself if your space isn’t perfect from the beginning.)For Charlotte’s tableware, we use the ceramic salad plates and fruit bowls that came with our adult dishes (Fiestaware). The plates are 7 ¼ inches in diameter and the bowls are 5 3/8. I highly recommend doing this because your child sees you using dishes that are really similar to yours, making her feel like you in that way. Ceramic rules, because breakages are an important learning opportunity, and because plastic is more likely to be abused since you won’t care as much. Ceramic plates and bowls allow a wonderful opportunity for your child to learn gentleness and care. Also, you don’t have to all of a sudden expect your child to not throw his plate when he’s 5, he’s known since he was young. Our daughter is 16 months old and she hasn’t broken a dish so far. And no, she isn’t just perfectly angelic. She’s wild, just like yours.Cocktail silverware is most often less expensive than baby silverware.
We purchased World Market’s Luna cocktail set for Charlotte’s first silverware. It is perfect for her tiny hands.We have used these shot glasses from Amazon to provide drinks of water during Charlotte’s meals since she was 6 months old. A shot glass is the perfect size and weight for tiny hands. It holds a perfect amount of water for them to experiment with and learn to drink, while also keeping spills small. Recently Charlotte graduated to a larger glass (pictured below on the left), as the shot glass was needing to be refilled every 5 minutes. The new glass is also very small in diameter, so it is still easy for her to grasp, but it is taller so it holds more. These glasses I purchased at an estate sale. They are the common jelly jar glasses from the old days.Glass is optimum for the same reasons I mentioned above. Charlotte broke one early on, but that was my own fault for not watching her closely. I will also note that while she is allowed to drink water at any point during the day, I always get her cup for her to drink and put it away when she is done.
Eventually she will have unlimited access, but for now I help her. I don’t have to hold the glass for her, but I watch so she doesn’t throw and puts the glass down gently. For the first 6 months or so, I had to help her set the glass back down on the table.Charlotte has been watching us pour water into her glass with this pitcher for almost a year now. Since it was built for small hands, soon she will be able to refill her own glass. It is clear so she can see the liquid inside as she pours.While it is not particularly natural material, we chose a DIY laminated placemat for Charlotte. This way she or I can wipe it clean after meals and not have to have 17 cloth placemats laying around needing to be washed. I made this one by tracing the items with Sharpie onto cardstock and laminating it with my new Fellowes laminator. This placemat will help her to know where to place things as she learns to set the table before meals. (This is another item that I recently added. I should have done it a year ago, but I didn’t.)
9. Bibs, cloth napkins, & wash rags or spongesThough I didn’t include a picture, Charlotte wears a cloth bib during meals. Ideally I would have little cloth napkins for her to use as well, to wipe her face and such, but I haven’t gotten that far. I have a large bed sheet that I plan to cut up and hem for this purpose, but I just haven’t made the time. We do keep a wet rag or sponge nearby to wipe up spills either as they come or at the end of the meal. Early on we kept a rag for her hands and face, though now she washes her hands at her kitchenette sink after each meal.Lastly, the most important weaning essential is the approach. We chose a combination of Montessori, baby-led, and the RIE approach to weaning, while recognizing the AAP and WHO recommendations for breastfeeding. For more information on the differences between the Montessori approach to weaning and the oh-so-popular baby-led weaning, check out this chart written by Kylie from How We Montessori.I recently wrote a guest post for Confessions of a Montessori Mom, where I outline our take on breastfeeding and weaning.
I have also written a post on breastfeeding essentials here. I won’t regurgitate this information to you, but I will give you my advice in a nutshell.Modifications will be made to this setup as Charlotte grows. For example, the legs of her current table are 12" tall. They, along with the 5" chair, have served her well since she was 6 months old and will last until she is approximately a year and a half. They could last longer, but we want to keep her comfortable. So, we have purchased taller table legs (16") that will easily screw in to the existing hardware, and a taller chair by Anatex (8"). We used this chart from Community Playthings to plan the table and chair heights.The picture below shows the difference in the chair heights. They are very similarly built, though the Community Playthings is a bit nicer in quality. She can navigate the taller chair decently now, but we will wait a bit longer to switch completely because her feet just don’t quite rest on the floor as she sits.
When Charlotte begins using a knife, I will make a new placemat with a knife outline added.I anticipate that Charlotte will outgrow her cocktail silverware before she is ready for adult silverware. In that case, we will probably purchase IKEA’s children’s silverware, or something similar. I am not 100% sure, but I think it is a bit larger than her cocktail set but definitely still smaller than adult flatware.Of course I will gauge her needs as far as plate, bowl, cup, and pitcher sizes are concerned. I think the current sizes will serve her well for the next few years, but of course we will adjust when the time comes. Montessori truly advocates against using high chairs. Since the child cannot access the chair him or herself, the chair serves as a sort of trap that the child has no control over getting in or out. However, our family does value eating some meals together, and we find that including Charlotte in those meals is quite respectful.So, like many other Montessori families, we have found the most Montessori-esque high chair solution we could find.