Brock's eating..... Baby Led Weaning Style

Where's the jar foods? What are you feeding him? You CAN'T feed him that, he's a baby. I have gotten a lot for comments on how we feed Brock, some good, a lot of judgements and I am sure some just think I am plain lazy.

We don't do baby jar foods often here for a number of reasons. {Disclaimer here: I have been known to crack open a jar of pears and let Brock feed himself with them when we were running low on real foods, my emergency stock.} We do about 98% Baby Led Weaning with Brock. It's pretty simple. We offer him food that is offered to him in appropriate ways...such as some of his 1st real foods were, sweet potato sticks. I cooked them until soft, cut them into hand holdable sizes, put some butter on and gave them to him. Broccoli was great because it already had a "handle." He made the funniest faces with broccoli. Avocados cut into sticks, apples, pears, banana's.....Basically anything that was soft and mushable with gums.


How we got started: We did the initial jar foods at first and he ate them ok. He loved veggies more than fruits. I was happy to have a kid eat! It was amazing to watch him open his mouth wanting them! It was a first for us. ;) As a month went by he wanted less and less solids and started grabbing food off our plates and sucking on them. Of course I was like " no buddy your going to choke." {I will get into choking/gagging in a min} But he always did ok with it...he did gag some, nothing crazy or scary. Anyway--it was one day he went like 3 days without any soilds, he refused, shut his mouth, turned his head. Out of frustration I gave him a preloaded spoons of some baby jar stuff and he ate the whole thing by himself! humm.... I saw pictures about BLW, but didn't really think about it. One day I just put a piece of toast on his tray, buttered and jellied...he ate it! A while slice...all while saying MMMMMM....so cute. Then I threw a banana up there, he ate some of it, gagged a little, but was ok. He loved being in control and me not trying to sneak a spoon in of stuff he didn't like. He was eating so much better. So, Brock made himself a BLWer. I mean really, what's better jar foods or real foods with flavors and seasonings? Some of the jar stuff is kinda bland.

Now I know a lot of people will think  OMG he is going to CHOKE! I was one! Yes he gags on stuff every now and then.....He gets too big a piece, but he quickly brings it back up. He is learning. Does he gag now at almost 8 months? Yes at times. Yesterday bc he shoved his finger in his mouth too far....gagged some and looked at me like WTH mom! Lesson learned, did he shove his finger in there any more, no. There is a HUGE difference in gagging vs choking. My husband wasn't very excited about BLW, but Brock wouldn't eat jars, he simply refused. He still gets nervous when he gags, I hear, "Umm babe, come here, come here now, Brock's choking, gaggin I mean, oh he got it, good job buddy." If he does gag on too big of a piece, I have confidence he will get it back up, me panicking and sweeping my finger in his mouth is just going it make it worse, I could jam the food down his mouth further if I did. Of course he still gets his milk. He typically takes 6-7 oz 4-6 times a day or more if he wants.  I always offer milk before solids. He needs his milk more than foods. His diet is still 90% milk.

Here is a sample day for him:

B Fast- He has never taken much milk for B-fast, ever. He MAY take 3-4 oz, then toast, cheerios, and yogurt, some fruit slices...whatever we have, bananas, apples, pear slices, whatever. If he eats his solids awesome, if not oh well.  He is loving pre-loaded spoons of applesauce. He is really good at getting it to his mouth.

Bottle at 10am 7oz

lunch at 12:30ish: Turkey slices, avocado slices, Cheese, Crackers...this kid <3 crackers! with his milk offered in a sippy or bottle, which ever he wants.

Bottle at 2:00 7oz

Snack around 5ish: He just recently started eating goldfish crackers whole. He loves them.

Bottle at 6 7oz

Dinner what ever we are having, in his size pieces. The other day it was bbq chicken, cut into hand held sizes, peas and carrots.

Bottle about 6 oz and bed.

Does he eat well every day, no. Some days are better than others. Do I always offer this much, no, just bc I offer it doesn't mean he eats it all. Have I been known to help him get food in? Sure, if he turns his head or spits it out, so be it. He didn't want it. We have adapted it to work for us. Is it messy? YEP, sure is, but it's really cute to watch them eat.

Just because we feed him like this doesn't mean we are lazy or harming him in any way.  He is fine, happy and smiley. We have been to dinner at people's houses and they thought his food was too big for him and ripped it up into tiny, tiny pieces. He couldn't even pick them up. Please, let me feed him. If it's too tiny he can't get it. His pincer grasp is getting good, but not that good yet. I know what works best for his little hands.

If jar foods works for you and your baby--great! I would still give Brock jar foods if he wanted them, he just won't take them and honestly by this point, I wouldn't go back, plus I am pretty sure he wouldn't eat them. Do I hate jar food and think its the devil?  Not at all. After Noah, whatever works to get them to eat, is our motto! This is what works for Brock and how he eats the best.

He is happy--and on the flip side, Noah watches him eat sometimes and tries some of Brock's food too so he can eat like Brock. Always a plus! Maybe he will want to eat like Brock too! Wouldn't that be nice!