Toddler led weaning

Repeat after mummy:

‘Cheese sandwiches are for mummy, daddy and Buttercup. Not for Primrose. She’s too small.’

A little voice says, ‘No fo Pimwose, too mall.’

Primrose is four months old and in danger of falling victim to toddler led weaning. Mummy’s intervention should ensure (fingers crossed) that she remains on a breast milk only diet until she’s at least six months.

When she weans we want her to do it at her own pace. We also want to help her develop a healthy attitude to food. To these ends we've decided to take the baby led weaning route. The idea is that as we introduce Primrose to a range of healthy foods we’ll let her decide how many breastfeeds she wants and how much solid food she’ll ingest. With breast feeding we’ve trusted her to regulate her own calorie intake and we’ll continue with that as she moves towards a diet containing less milk and more other food.

Like her sister, Primrose will be introduced to solid food gently and in a fun way (if it’s not forced into her by a toddler who wants to ‘share’). In order for her to enjoy experiencing the different tastes, textures and smells, we’ll go with finger food from the beginning and let her feed herself (closely watched of course).

Buttercup’s first taste of food was lightly steamed broccoli florets and carrot batons. She played about a bit and shoved them in her mouth and generally had great fun. Tgd (tinygreendada) and I were ridiculously excited when we discovered broccoli in her nappy – solid food has passed through her digestive system!

Buttercup is nearly 20 months now and loves her food. There are times when she'll refuse dinner and I’ll realise that maybe she’s had enough today or she’s had sufficient carbs so I’ll offer her some fruit instead. And sometimes it's just because she's asserting her will, but that's fine too. Mealtimes are a time to share and to enjoy both the food and each others company.

Now I just have to convince Buttercup that Primrose is 'too mall' to have her teeth brushed or be dragged around by the hand.



For information on baby led weaning see:

Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett’s book Baby Led Weaning

What, no puree? an article in the guardian by Joanna Moorehead. A good overview of BLW.

Baby-led. Baby led weaning website based on the book by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett.

Babyledweaning. Website and blog by mums, with lots of recipe ideas and ideas for starter foods.

Hannahled weaning a lovely BLW blog

Breastfeeding while pregnant

When I became pregnant last year Buttercup was only 6 months old. She was just beginning to experiment with solids and we were planning on breastfeeding for at least another six months as we were doing baby-led weaning.

My first indication of being pregnant was that latching began to be uncomfortable for me and Buttercup began to increase the time she spent feeding, I think this may have been because she was working to keep my supply up.

I found great support and advice on the parenting website Rollercoaster and on, the then newly launched, Breastway site. Someone recommended the book Adventures in Tandem Feeding by La Leche League and this really helped me to believe that, yes breastfeeding while pregnant would be possible for us.

Now it hasn’t been easy all the time. We had a teething marathon at the start of the year and as she wanted to feed all night for comfort, I was pretty exhausted. I also needed to go on iron supplements this pregnancy, I hadn’t when pregnant with Buttercup, but I put that down mainly to the teething weeks.

When I was seven months pregnant and Buttercup thirteen months old my supply and her interest (and mine too, if I’m honest) dwindled and after three days without a breast feed, I realised we were weaned. It was quite emotional as I had been prepared to the whole tandem feeding thing, but such is life.

Talking to other mums who have breastfed during pregnancy, experiences vary. For some they seem to lose supply quite early in the pregnancy, for others they have an abundance that sees them through the nine months and beyond. Physically and emotionally mums and babies reactions vary from the desire to wean almost immediately (especially if the baby is older) to being quite happy to nurse away into the foreseeable future.

Whatever your choice there is an increasing amount of information and support out there.