Our Experience with BLW
Why we chose BLW
Back when Kale turned six months I wrote a blog post about the importance of food in our family and the relationship that I hope Kale will have with it. You can go back and read that post here. For us, choosing to go the BLW route was an easy decision that made a lot of sense for our family.
How We Started
For the first five months of Kale’s life Kris and I would basically tag team every meal. One of us would hold him while the other person would eat their food as fast as possible so we could switch. When Kris was at work I’d eat when Kale was napping. It worked, but it wasn’t ideal. Kris and I rarely got to sit at the table together since one of us was always entertaining Kale. It meant we lost that part of our day when we’d chat about what we did and catch up on gossip and that plain sucked.
When Kale was five months and sitting up on his own like it was no one’s business, we started seating him at the table with us for meals in the highchair. We’d give him a few toys and he’d normally hang out there for 10-15 minutes before he got bored and demanded his release. This basically meant that Kris and I got to eat our meals together as fast as possible and one of us would always have their meal cut short. Again, it worked, but it wasn’t ideal.
The main reason we put Kale at the table during mealtime was not so we could eat together (although this was a very close second reason), but it was to see if he showed any interest in what we were doing. But he didn’t. For his entire fifth month, he’d sit at the table with us and never once showed interest in our food. He didn’t reach for anything, he didn’t look at our chewing mouths, nothing.
So when Kale turned six months and we were prepared to introduce him to solids, we were also prepared for him to show no interest and delay solids for longer. We were never stressed about him starting to consume solids immediately. We knew he was getting what he needed from breast milk and would start eating solids when he was ready, providing we kept giving him the opportunity to explore and experiment.
Imagine our surprise when Kale started eating EVERYTHING we offered him. He just picks up the food, puts it in his mouth, mashes it around and eats it. I know, not rocket science, right? Except this is the baby who never watched us eat, he just knew how to do it. It was totally natural and completely amazing to watch.
We’ve given Kale almost every fruit and veggie you can think of. If it’s too soft (like banana or avocado), we spread it on rice cakes. If it’s too hard (like an apple), we bake it or steam it or roast it so it’s soft enough he can chew it, but hard enough that he can still pick it up. He’s also had things like falafel’s, quesadilla’s, and samosas.
Choking, Gagging & Making a Mess
I’m not going to lie, BLW hasn’t been entirely stress-free and smooth sailing for our family. For starters, the gagging thing takes some getting used to. At first, we weren’t eating together as a family because I was frozen in fear sitting in front of Kale, panicking at every little gag. I listen to my instincts though. There have been times where Kris will start yelling “he’s choking! He’s choking!” and jump out of his chair, and I’ll just sit there calmly and say “no, he’s working it out, he’s ok.” I blow Kris’s mind when I do this. He had no idea that I have the ability to not freak out over every little thing when it comes to Kale. Also, if I feel that something might be too big even if the book or some blog told me otherwise, I’ll take it away. If I feel like Kale has too much food in his mouth, I’ll scoop it out. Rapley & Murkett’s book talks a lot about babies following their instincts with BLW, but I think it’s just as much about parents following their instincts too.
Has Kale ever choked? Uh, yes. Twice. Both times happened within the first week of BLW and I was totally ready to throw the towel in. The first time he ended up throwing up the food and the second time it worked itself out. Both times it was over before I even had a chance to pull him out of the chair (and I was moving FAST). Both times, he cried for about two seconds and then started eating the food again.
The first week was the hardest but I’m glad we stuck with it because it’s been incredible to see how well he’s adjusted and learned how to handle the food. After that first week we didn’t have any more choking incidents and he very rarely gags anymore.
The mess on the other hand, has not improved. In fact, it’s probably become worse. Kale normally eats at the start of the day and/or the end of the day so we either strip his pj’s off in the morning, feed him, and then clean him up and get him dressed for the day, or we strip him down at night and go straight from dinner to the nightly bath. Clothes and Kale eating do not mix. We also put newspaper down on the floor under his chair since he’s pretty keen on watching his food fall off the tray at the end of his meal. One day I will find one of those bibs that’s like a shirt or an art smock, but until then we just take his clothes off.
Is he getting enough?
This has probably been my main concern with BLW. Unlike purees which you can store in neat little containers that hold a certain amount or bottles that come in certain sizes, we don’t know how many ounces of food Kale is actually consuming. At first we weren’t sure he was consuming anything, since most of his food seemed to be smeared on his face and dropped all over the floor. His diapers, however, told us otherwise.
Sometimes I forget that it’s Kale leading the way and he’s eating as much he needs to. I have to remind myself that it doesn’t matter how much at this point. Rather, it’s more important that he’s exploring and becoming a confident eater. I’m more comfortable with this than I was in the beginning and as I watch Kale progress and enjoy mealtime I know we’re doing the right thing.
Iron & Allergies
One reason that many parents introduce rice cereal early on is because it’s fortified with iron and many mama’s know that iron stores in healthy full-term babies begin to deplete around the 6-7 month age mark. For information on iron and your baby, I recommend this article by wholesomebabyfood.com. Rather than introduce commercial baby food fortified with iron, we simply give Kale food that is rich in iron. The article has a great list of these foods, as well as a chart outlining how much iron your baby needs.
I think that every parent is told that they must follow the “four day wait” rule when introducing solids to a baby. The purpose of this is to identify foods that your baby may be allergic or sensitive to. More information on this is here.
We made the decision not to follow the four day wait rule. Neither of our families has a history of food allergies. Kris’s mom has a sensitivity to gluten and so we were careful with introducing that, but otherwise we’ve offered Kale a wide variety of foods and haven’t had any issues. Of course, we don’t give Kale peanut butter, egg whites, or other “forbidden foods,” but we do offer him things like yogurt and meat which some may delay until 9 or 10 months.
Adapting our Meals
For the most part, Kris and I are pretty healthy eaters. I also avoid processed and commercialized food and cook from scratch. This means that adapting our meals to include Kale has been relatively easy. I can control the ingredients I use and can leave things like salt and chilli powder out of the recipe. However, it would be a lot easier if we were a meat and potatoes kind of family. Then we could just offer Kale the vegetable of the night and be done with it. However, we tend to be more of a curry and Mexican family and so sometimes I do have to separate our food and make it differently. As we progress, we have started to add some different spices to Kale's food, but still not the same amount that we are used to having in our own meals.
How Things are Going Today
BLW has worked really well for our family and even though it hasn’t been entirely stress free, I can’t imagine introducing solids any other way.
Not everything is BLW though – we do spoon feed oatmeal and yogurt because it’s just way too much of a mess otherwise. I let Kale guide the spoon as much as possible and try to just offer the spoon and let him wrap his mouth around it rather than putting the spoon in his mouth.
Kris and I still spend a lot of our meal watching Kale like a hawk, but as he gains confidence in his skills we are starting to relax.
It really is amazing to watch how quickly he has learned. The first time we gave him a banana he totally squished it in his fist and couldn’t figure out how to get any in his mouth. A week or so later we tried again and he was able to figure out how he needed to hold it and now he can chomp on a banana with no problems. His pincer grasp has improved dramatically as well, and now he can easily pick up smaller pieces of food (as well as every little fleck of dirt and dust he can find on the floor).
I know that one day Kale might wake up and decide he hates food, but so far he seems to enjoy a variety. I totally attribute this to the fact that we let him explore and move at his own pace. It might also have something to do with the fact that he shares his name with a vegetable.
