Rethinking Age Guidelines in Baby Led Weaning

#87: We had 7 kids in 3.5 years and I have made a LOT of mistakes in my brief parenting journey. Before I changed my dietitian career to specialize in infant feeding and baby-led weaning I was a super stressed out mom trying to figure BLW out on my own to feed my quadruplet babies.

It was hard for me to narrow the list of BLW mistakes I made when I was starting out down to just 7. I went through my phone, back to the first week that the quads started BLW and I am just cringing because I made SO MANY MISTAKES. My quads are fine, they lived through it...but if I can save you some heartache or stress or help you reverse an unsafe feeding practice early on in your BLW journey, well that’s my intention with this episode.

Listen to this episode to learn:

1.  Dangling feet in feeding table - we had a SUPER COOL LOOKING quadruplet feeding table...that was also totally dangerous because it didn’t have a footrest and the babies’ feet were dangling.
2. Feeding directly on the table - seemed to me like putting plates or bowls out was just making more dishes. But actually putting the food directly on the tray or the table can really frustrate babies early on in feeding.
3. Wiping baby’s face - neat freak, big time. I thought if I “cleaned as I go” the post-BLW mess would be less. But constantly wiping your baby during a meal is a really negative sensory experience. Babies NEED to experience what it feels like when food or liquid drips out of their mouth.
4. Not practicing with an open cup - did NOT know that the progression wasn’t breast/bottle to sippy cup to baby eventually learns how to drink out of an open cup.
5. Comparing my baby to other babies - we all do. But what they say is true, “Compare and despair”. I’m sharing how 1 of my quadruplets would NOT participate in eating during the first 6 weeks of BLW and it stressed me out to no end because I was comparing him to other babies namely his 3 quadruplet siblings instead of respecting his individuality.
6. Passing on purees - big misconception about BLW is that it means no purees. Um….wrong. Purees are an important texture for babies to learn how to eat...they’re just not the ONLY texture babies can eat.
7. Stressing when my baby didn’t eat - If you don’t have Ellyn Satter’s “Division of Responsibility in Feeding Theory” burned to the inside of your brain,



Shownotes for this episode can be found here:

https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/87

Links from This Episode:

• Episode 40 6 Reasons to Skip the Sippy Cup with Dawn Winkelmann, MS, CCC-SLP is here. 
• Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro program with the 100 First Foods™ Daily Meal Plan, join here: https://babyledweaning.co/program 
•  Baby-Led Weaning for Beginners free online workshop with 100 First Foods™ list to all attendees, register here: https://babyledweaning.co/baby-led-weaning-for-beginners

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Not sure about which foods to offer your baby next? Get your copy of my original 100 FIRST FOODS list on my free online video workshop called BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS.

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Want guided help on how to make all of the 100 FIRST FOODS™ safely for your baby? My program BABY-LED WEANING WITH KATIE FERRARO has a 100 FIRST FOODS daily meal plan and everything else you need to start solid foods safely with baby-led weaning. CLICK HERE TO JOIN.

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Be sure to follow @babyledweanteam on Instagram and our Baby-Led Weaning YouTube channel for more information about helping your baby transition to solid foods safely.

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