No early birds in BLW
Sunday, October 15, 2006
There is one thing I worry about the information about baby-led weaning spreading through "word of mouth" in the internet forums. Every now and again I come across a post where a mother, anxious to give their little ones a taste of something else than breast milk or formula, is happily talking about starting to give their child foods to hold from as early as 18 weeks.
It is actually dangerous to start baby-led weaning too early. It's amazing what small things babies manage to scoop in their mouth with the palmar grip, but a baby's eagerness to put food in her mouth does not automatically mean that she is ready for it. When babies are in the oral development stage, they will put everything in their mouth – regardless whether it is food or not.
Unfortunately the parents should wait until their child starts developing the pincer grip. This developmental stage usually coincides with the fading out of the tongue-thrust reflex, which means that the food is no longer automatically thrust at the back of the baby's throat like in suckling.
Like in many other start-of-weaning conversations in the forums, also many mothers considering BLW express their keenness to start solids prematurely. This can be backed up with a variety of excuses, most common ones being "the baby seems hungry/ready/eager" and "the relatives are asking why I haven't started her on solids already". The fact is, that breastmilk (and formula) have far more calories than any solid food you can possibly offer a child, and therefore they will be perfectly happy waiting until past 6, or even past 8 months. It's usually the mother who is in a hurry to start.
Mothers who are in a hurry to start weaning their baby are missing a very important point of baby-led weaning. The whole point of the method is to delay the start of the weaning until the baby is ready for it. This means the puree phase can be skipped, because pureeing the food for the baby is only necessary for the while they are not developed enough to handle pieces of food. Although the method is baby-led by definition, it is down to the parents to make sure that the baby is developmentally ready to start eating solid foods. Exclusively breastfed babies are "nutritionally sound until 8-9 months", so there is absolutely no reason to hurry the start until they show all the signs of readiness.
Read more about the signs of readiness at Kellymom.
An article about baby nutrition by Linda Folden Palmer.
It is actually dangerous to start baby-led weaning too early. It's amazing what small things babies manage to scoop in their mouth with the palmar grip, but a baby's eagerness to put food in her mouth does not automatically mean that she is ready for it. When babies are in the oral development stage, they will put everything in their mouth – regardless whether it is food or not.
Unfortunately the parents should wait until their child starts developing the pincer grip. This developmental stage usually coincides with the fading out of the tongue-thrust reflex, which means that the food is no longer automatically thrust at the back of the baby's throat like in suckling.
Like in many other start-of-weaning conversations in the forums, also many mothers considering BLW express their keenness to start solids prematurely. This can be backed up with a variety of excuses, most common ones being "the baby seems hungry/ready/eager" and "the relatives are asking why I haven't started her on solids already". The fact is, that breastmilk (and formula) have far more calories than any solid food you can possibly offer a child, and therefore they will be perfectly happy waiting until past 6, or even past 8 months. It's usually the mother who is in a hurry to start.
Mothers who are in a hurry to start weaning their baby are missing a very important point of baby-led weaning. The whole point of the method is to delay the start of the weaning until the baby is ready for it. This means the puree phase can be skipped, because pureeing the food for the baby is only necessary for the while they are not developed enough to handle pieces of food. Although the method is baby-led by definition, it is down to the parents to make sure that the baby is developmentally ready to start eating solid foods. Exclusively breastfed babies are "nutritionally sound until 8-9 months", so there is absolutely no reason to hurry the start until they show all the signs of readiness.
Read more about the signs of readiness at Kellymom.
An article about baby nutrition by Linda Folden Palmer.
