"Baby Led Weaning"??

Specialties Pediatric

Published

Hi all. I just found out my daughter-in-law has found this "amazing" new movement online. It is called "Baby Led Weaning" which is a misnomer.

Basically, it encourages women to start to wean at six months and start solid food without making the texture easier to swallow. I was shocked to find out that they want parents to give babies food that they have to learn to chew! And that gagging on the food is a normal way to get babies to learn to chew!

As a nurse, I know choking is a bad thing for babies and that food is the number one cause of choking.

I watched my granddaughter being fed large pieces of banana, strawberries, and cucumber cut into thirds and about 4 inches long. She gagged. She choked. She turned red. She finally got it out. I was so angry.

My daughter-in-law will not listen to me. My son gives in to her.

Here is their website:

http://www.babyledweaning.com

Here is their Facebook page which I highly recommend reading because women write about their concerns about gagging and are told it is all fine. Oh, and this group also says rice cereal is evil.

https://www.facebook.com/babyledweaning

What do you think?

My daughter in law also does baby led weaning. It terrifies me. My Gdaughter is 9 months old and has 3 teeth. She was eating strings of pot roast and gagging over and over. Then she was trying to avoid the pot roast and go for the carrots and potatoes--wouldn't you. How fun must it be to come close to vomiting over and over while you eat. Mealtime should be enjoyable, not a huge struggle. Another thing that I worry about is that the kid can't actually eat as much as they normally would. This means too much milk, which equals too much weight gain. And an infant needs a lot of iron for brain development. If they are on breast milk, they won't get enough without iron rich foods. I say let the kids develop their oral-motor skills with purees then chopped foods. Stop the parent competitions. Anybody can shove a chicken leg into a 6 month old's hand and get a snapshot when it goes into his or her mouth. Big news--it's no accomplishment. They stick things in their mouth. Anybody with experience knows that they peruse the environment grabbing anything and everything. As parents/Gparents, it's are job to pull dangerous things out, not to stick them in. As for the rice cereal scare: It's about orificenic. It is absorbed into our foods from the environment. It has been found that rice absorbs a lot more of the stuff than other foods. (and white rice more than brown) The AAP has decided that it is safe as long as it is not exclusive and is being fed with a variety of other cereals. They also have changed their recommendation for reflux kids to the use of oatmeal instead of rice cereal.

I have 2 young children, today is actually the baby's 1st birthday. It's huge right now in mommy groups. They claim it's not "real" choking and gagging is different than choking. They have a superiority complex, that this is "better" in some way. They post pictures feeling their babies hunks of steak, uncut pizza, etc. It's clear there's a lack of understanding in anatomy and child development... I believe within a few years this will fall out of favor.

My friend does this.. she's also anti-vax vegan anti-pharmac etc.. point made.

I don't agree with it.

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