When we started Scribble on solids at the end of February, we intended to start with purees. We loved the idea of BLW, but were a little nervous about giving him solid chunks of food to gnaw on when he wasn’t sitting up unassisted consistently. Still, Scribble was fascinated by the eating process. I had been giving him my empty cup and spoon to play with for a few weeks and they were without question his favorite toys.
But that’s the thing about Baby-Led Weaning…it truly is led by baby! When we tried to feed him, he immediately reached for the spoon! We gave it to him, and Scribble gleefully chewed on it.
Emboldened by his interest in self-feeding, I decided to try a soft banana the next day:
He liked it, but not as much as he loves spoons! With a piece of food, he’ll show interest for a minute or two before dropping it on the floor (making mealtimes awfully expensive!). And he doesn’t seem to know what to do with the food when I give it to him (same goes for the mesh feeders). But he knows exactly what to do with a spoon and loves to gnaw on them just like he sees mommy and daddy do.
So now our family loves feeding with a loaded spoon!
A loaded spoon isn’t technically BLW. But I’ve never taken a dogmatic approach to parenting trends! I want Scribble to enjoy fresh, unprocessed food and to be comfortable eating what the family eats–and how the family eats–at the earliest possible age. I want to encourage him to self-feed, and to be flexible when eating at restaurants and at group functions. I don’t want to be the parent toting a special kid-friendly meal, cup, and utensils to Thanksgiving dinner. I am not sure if those goals align completely with the purpose of BLW (I haven’t researched them), so it doesn’t matter to me if my process looks a little different from other folks! My task is to funnel any enthusiasm he shows toward good food into appropriate channels. This means letting him try my food if that’s what he wants to do, and letting him self-feed with a spoon if that’s what he enjoys about eating.
At this point, we take three approaches with solids. I start by offering Scribble a large chunk of food (so far we’ve only tried avocado and banana, which are both easy to handle– I usually give him one half of a banana or a quarter of an avocado). If he loses interest, I mash a little up and give it to him on a loaded spoon. On a few occasions, when I wanted him to get a taste of the food, I’ve put a little bit on my finger and fed him this way. Since he is mostly interested in doing what I do, I schedule his feedings around my lunch time so we can share our food. I do this until he loses interest or all the spoons have fallen on the floor! It is more playtime and mimicry than feeding.
Here’s a little video of Scribble feeding himself yesterday:
Teaching Scribble to self-feed with a loaded spoon is a messy process and it takes more time than it would to feed him myself. Right now, we aren’t even doing solids every day! I took my pediatrician seriously when she told me that “food before one is only for fun.” Still, I am thrilled to see his fine motor skills improving through his use of the loaded spoon and I think once we hit upon a flavor that Scribble loves, his interest in the process will increase!
Do you give your baby a loaded spoon? Does he or she like to mimic you?
Start Solids – How To part 7 of 7
1. Getting Started with Solids, Purees, and Baby-led Weaning by Mrs. Bee2. Operation Solids by Mrs. Yoyo
3. feeding an 8 month old by Mrs. Jump Rope
4. My Modified Baby-Led Weaning Approach by Mrs. Pen
5. Introducing Baby to Herbs and Spices by Sarah Crowder
6. Figuring Out Food at 9 Months by Mrs. Hopscotch
7. "Bad" BLW: Feeding with a Loaded Spoon by Mrs. Sketchbook
blogger / persimmon / 1207 posts
We used the loaded spoon a lot too around 6.5-7m when starting out. Usually it was with yogurt, which wouldn’t really make it to his mouth otherwise. Not like it did with a loaded spoon anyway, but ya know, it got spoon practice in! He’s rocking the spoon and fork these days, but not adult ones usually. Even our teaspoons are too big for his mouth and the forks are waaaaay too sharp. His toddler fork is just pointy enough to get a good stab on :)
blogger / apricot / 373 posts
Aw! Another spoon lover. Lowly adores spoons. She takes them for walks around the house; “And this, Mr. Spoon? This is a toilet. If we are fast, you can go for a quick swim before Mama catches us.” The other night I woke her up when she was almost asleep by laughing when she turned to the spoon on the floor and said, “‘poon,” with such sad, tired longing that I just couldn’t help myself. I don’t think your approach is as “bad” for blw as you aybe think. It sure seems like you’re giving him lots of autonomy at the table, and respecting his preferences.
nectarine / 2286 posts
Baby girl was obsessed with spoons. There a week where she wouldn’t drink pumped milk from a bottle or a cup, just a spoon. We did a mix of purees and food she could chew on. For the first couple months of solids the purees for us were a lot more successful and I think it was because of her spoony love. We have videos of her just gasping in excitement at the sight of her spoon. She also didn’t have any teeth until 11-1/2 months so that might have had something to do with it too.
GOLD / grapefruit / 4887 posts
There is no such thing as *bad* . . . only what works for you and what didn’t/doesn’t work for you! I am totally going to try this!
hostess / honeydew / 8372 posts
What a great idea, I want to try this with LO
guest
Our early efforts at BLW were very similar. My mom (who watches my son during the day) brings a jar full of spoons (those take and toss ones) to the table and fills and gives them to him. If he drops one, she moves onto the next spoon in the jar. He loves it and it saves her from picking up and cleaning the spoon each time it goes on the floor. Then she just washes all of the spoons after the meal.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6373 posts
We’ve taken a similar approach. Often I’ll put something on his tray in front of him and when he gets bored of it I’ll offer him a spoon with whatever it is mashed up on it. Or from the get-go with something like yogurt (which he loves, but the bulk of it ends up being painted with on the tray–I don’t mind, but I don’t want to waste so much yogurt so he can “paint”)
pear / 1892 posts
I don’t believe in being dogmatic about anything. I meant to do BLW, but it presupposes that the ability to self feed always goes along with desires and readiness to eat. This simply wasn’t the case for my late-physical-skills-developing daughter. She couldn’t really self feed until 8 months, but was otherwise ready to eat before 6 months. We did BLW by grinding up our own food and giving it to her, by feeding from our plate as she was ready and able, by making purees and mixes and such. It worked beautifully.
kiwi / 557 posts
We do pretty much the same thing. Try to give him food to feed himself, then end up mashing it a little to put on a spoon, which either goes in his mouth or he uses as a device to fling food everywhere.
Good times!