Skipping the Spoon

You often hear how second (or third) time mommies take a more laid back approach to parenting. As a mommy you learn as you go and make changes as necessary.  I’m no exception and indeed there are things I’ve done differently with each child, some deliberate and some accidental.

 One of the perhaps biggest deliberate changes I’ve made from Honeybun to Doodle is how I’m approaching solids.  With Honeybun  I did the typical “American” way: I went to the store and bought a bunch of jars of food and boxes of baby cereal and spent my days painstakingly mixing her meals to just the right consistency and then spent (what felt like) hours spooning the perfectly prepared goo into her mouth.  It “worked” for us at the time.  It got her fed and we all survived.

With Sugarplum, my choice of store bought baby food was more limited. With Honeybun I was working 4 jobs and spending 1-4 hours a day in the car so store bought was the only workable option but with Sugarplum I had plenty of wintery days stuck at home to make homemade food.  Sugarplum was a giant pain to spoon feed, a few weeks in I declared “Spoon feeding Sugarplum is what I imagine feeding a lizard would be like…”

Aside from getting to spend extra time bonding with my girls, looking at their adorable faces, funny talking to them and spending valuable one on one time with them, I hated every second of spoon feeding.  So I made a decision with Doodle:  no spoon!

 There is a theory of baby feeding called “Baby Led Weaning” which focuses on letting the baby decide when an what to eat and letting them finger feed from the start.  The idea is to let the baby be in charge of what they want instead of “force feeding” them by spoon.  Both of my girls were given puffed rice at the same time they started rice cereal (in fact Sugarplum had puffed rice the day before we started the cereal).

 While I’m okay with the theory and reasoning behind Baby Led Weaning, I’m doing it for more selfish reasons.  I have two other kids that need my attention and I don’t see any merit (for me or Doodle) in taking the time to sit around shoving food in his mouth.  With the self-feeding I can sit him at the table during our regular meal time (as we have always done) and give him finger foods to nibble on while we eat.  If I were spoon feeding I’d have to do that before or after I fed myself and he would continue being restless and fussy during family meal times.  This way he is doing what the rest of us are when we are and everyone is happier!

Pictures:  ABOVE, Doodle having squash on Thanksgiving

BELOW, Doodle having rice puffs