Baby-lead weaning.

Baby-lead weaning is simply amazing! The little man decided to start eating food when he was 7 1/2 months old. I knew he was ready because he reached out to my plate grabbed a handful of food and ate it. It took another few weeks for him to start eating regular meals. I know people get pressured into giving their babies food early or "cereal" crap so I want to be clear. My extremely healthy, thriving, and large boy had ONLY breast milk for 7 1/2 months. Now at 8 1/2 months he eats at least 3 times a day (not counting the times he nurses). I did fairly mushy stuff at first that had just enough texture he could pick it up and then squish it in his mouth. It only took about 2 weeks of doing that so he could learn to chew instead of just swallow. As soon as he figured out he needed to chew I have been able to give him pretty much anything. Keeping in mind he only has front teeth, so nothing hard. Right now he likes sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, bananas, avocado, hummus, oatmeal, bell pepper, quinoa, zucchini, venison, chicken, beef, pork, blueberries, and peaches. He is a big fan of eating! Just for lunch today (after oatmeal this morning and 3 nursing sessions) he ate; pot roast, zucchini, quinoa (with orange bell peppers and onions), and pear. He had quite a bit of food, but since he fed himself I knew he wasn't over eating. Of course he had water to drink along with his meal. He will look at the food and pick out what he wants to eat and get a drink as needed. It is so easy and such a wonderful thing. He can also eat crackers. I had some graham crackers on my plate today, and he reached over and started taking bites out of it. It made his dad a little nervous, but I knew it would be fine. He didn't take too big of a bite, and took a drink of water now and then to wash it down. BLW is simply the only way to go for us.