I would say that one of the most difficult things about Baby Led Weaning (aside from the gagging and fear of choking in the first month or so) is learning to have patience and trust. "What if they never figure it out?" "What if they don't get the hang of it?" "What if she never learns to eat?" the kicker "What if I have to breastfeed her until she goes to school and is forced to eat [GASP]?"
Aside from what I see in her diaper, I really just don't know what goes from her hands to her belly. I just have to let go and trust that her body and brain are figuring what this whole food thing is all about. It's scary and exciting all at once.
She seems to enjoy food. There's not much that she WON'T put in her mouth. Until the last week or so there hasn't been significant ingestion though. Then her and carrots (always her favorite food) just kinda clicked. She's legitimately been taking bites and swallowing.
Last night was a big milestone though. Dinner included a skillet of several veggies and black beans. She's never been the type to shove a handful of food in her mouth. She's always loved the sticks of food and ignored everything else. She tasted everything on the tray, she seemed so excited about the variety. She was particularly interested by the Black beans though. And as I watched, she spent several minutes just poking one specific black bean around the tray. She finally cornered it and started wiggling her thumb around too. I was hoping what was about to happen next but she hadn't shown any signs of doing it before now. Sure enough her thumb and index finger both steadied, grabbed the black bean, and shoved it in her mouth. She smiled so big and let out her excited raspberry/elephant noise that she does when she's overly excited (often sending said food back out into the world).
Aside from what I see in her diaper, I really just don't know what goes from her hands to her belly. I just have to let go and trust that her body and brain are figuring what this whole food thing is all about. It's scary and exciting all at once.
She seems to enjoy food. There's not much that she WON'T put in her mouth. Until the last week or so there hasn't been significant ingestion though. Then her and carrots (always her favorite food) just kinda clicked. She's legitimately been taking bites and swallowing.
Last night was a big milestone though. Dinner included a skillet of several veggies and black beans. She's never been the type to shove a handful of food in her mouth. She's always loved the sticks of food and ignored everything else. She tasted everything on the tray, she seemed so excited about the variety. She was particularly interested by the Black beans though. And as I watched, she spent several minutes just poking one specific black bean around the tray. She finally cornered it and started wiggling her thumb around too. I was hoping what was about to happen next but she hadn't shown any signs of doing it before now. Sure enough her thumb and index finger both steadied, grabbed the black bean, and shoved it in her mouth. She smiled so big and let out her excited raspberry/elephant noise that she does when she's overly excited (often sending said food back out into the world).
We were both so excited. You could tell by her excitement that she knew she did something new. I called Kevin in there and she smiled and showed him the smooshed up black bean on her tongue.
She picked up 2 more black beans after this.
Little milestones like this are such a huge confidence booster that things are happening the way they should be. She's beginning to figure out that that food on the tray belongs on her belly. Through the ups and downs and gagging freak outs, it's all slowly beginning to piece itself together.
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