Friendly Baby have teamed up with Mark-It Television for the Friendly Baby September Competition. This month we are offering you the chance to win one of THREE Baby-led Weaning DVDs!
Why have we teamed up with Mark-It Television?
Baby-led weaning (BLW) means forgetting the long slog in the kitchen preparing vast batches of baby purées and simply letting your baby feed themselves ‘normal’ food.
Gradually the recommended age for introducing solids has moved from three months to six months (in line with the advice of the World Health Organisation), but the way in which most people introduce solids is still geared towards a three month old. Parents traditionally wean their children on to single fruit or vegetable purées or baby rice, moving on to other pureéd foods as their babies become older, finally introducing mashed foods and foods containing small lumps after several months.
At six months old, most babies have strong necks and can sit up if they are supported. Their hand-eye coordination has developed to the extent that they can reach out and start to grasp food and grip it in their palms.
Gill Rapley, a health visitor for 25 years and now deputy programme director of UNICEF UK's Baby Friendly Initiative, believes that babies who are allowed to feed themselves by being offered a selection of nutritious finger foods can easily join in with family meals from the start, and are less likely to refuse foods or become fussy eaters as they grow older. Many feeding problems stem from a child's unwillingness or inability to accept foods which require chewing, and these problems become apparent when babies move from purées to "second-stage" foods which contain lumps. The baby food industry (and competition amongst parents!), puts unnecessary pressure to introduce puréed foods into their babies' diets at an early age.
We used BLW for Edmund, who is, and has always been, an amazingly good eater. He will eat almost anything given to him – much to the amazement of others. We recommend starting BLW using foods that are shaped like a chip, or have a handle, such as cooked broccoli spears. This is because small babies have not yet developed a pincer grip and can only clasp foods in their fists. At first it seemed Edmund was just playing with the food, occasionally sucking on a piece, however his nappies told us otherwise!
Our biggest concern before we started BLW was the possibility of choking. However, we were quickly reassured by all of the evidence that shows that babies are actually more likely to choke on pureed food as it easily slips to the back of their throat without them having any control over it. As long as babies can sit upright, and can pick up their own food, then they can move it to the back of their mouths themselves which means the risk of choking is minimal. However, it is important to remember that babies should never be left unattended when eating.
After such a positive experience with BLW we want as many people as possible to have the knowledge to make the decision over puree and BLW for themselves. For more information about BLW, and to discuss this with others that are following BLW or are considering doing so visit
Baby Banana.
So, to find out how you can win a Baby-led Weaning DVD see our
Competition page.
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