Baby Led Weaning/Solids: The Begining

Well I was going to wait until we returned from England but I figured Lainey turns 6 months this next week and has been showing LOTS of interest in our food so figured I would take a very laid back approach and start tossing some goodies her way ;)

I have decided we would go the Baby Led Weaning/Solids approach (will share favorite informational links at bottom of this post) as why bother with purees if you don't have to? We can make normal meals for the family and include her by letting her sample a little bit of what we are having (within reason,not like I am gonna toss pizza her way anytime soon haha!).

Today Gabby and I were chopping up some carrots, potatoes, and onion (all from local organic farmers YAY) for tomorrows curry dinner and I decided "what the heck let's start with carrot today..."

I need to find better ways to prep Lainey some goodies but today I just washed off, cut up, and put into micro for a bit to soften the carrot....(off to look up better ways after this blog post and also my copy of the  Baby Led Weaning book should arrive this next week too)...

Without further ado pictures of Miss Lainey Bear sampling carrot

woopsie there goes my carrot!

And a short video clip of her chowing down...don't mind Miss Gabby gabbing away in the background ;)

Pros: easy enough to prep, rich in vitamin A; good source of vitamin C

Cons: none that I could think of!Taste great cooked or raw and easy to prep! Lainey wasn't 100% impressed but it was her first taste of anything food related....ETA..Lainey seemed quite gassy the rest of the evening and not sure if this was from the carrot or the fact I had more caffeine than normal (oops! sorry baby!)but thought I would put this down and wait a bit before we do carrot again...

A main thing is that Lainey is still getting all her nutrition from Mama milk and we are starting to explore nutrient rich foods so that once she is a year old she can really start diving in and eating what we eat! No trying to force spoons into her mouth or messing with mucky flavorless cereals! Lainey will learn to feed herself from the begining and develop her fine motorskills and (hopefully) diverse taste buds as we let her explore! Favorite links for information on this method/approach. Why Delay Solids(including cereal)? Wholesome Baby Food(ideas and more info about the approach) Nourished Kitchen BLW Recipes(UK mummy) Adventures in Solids(blog by a fellow BLW'r that has also been documenting their adventures) Please feel free to comment and share any of your faves as would love to have a whole page dedicated to these links!