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Ditch purees and let babies feed themselves real food
Baby-led weaning is a new name for a very old concept: Feed babies food.
More specifically, let babies feed themselves regular food instead of spoon-feeding them purees.
When I was pregnant with Julian, who is now 4, I thought I’d be a good hippie mom and make my own baby food instead of buying the shelf-stable jars that are the focus of so many disgusting baby shower games.
Then I heard about baby-led weaning, a term coined by British nurse and researcher Gill Rapley for letting babies feed themselves regular food.
But babies don’t have any teeth, so how can they eat anything but soup-like foods?
Babies have hard gums and an even harder bite that are perfectly capable of mushing up already soft foods like bananas and avocados. But those are only the most obvious foods suitable for babies who can sit up and put things in their mouth. Almost any vegetable or fruit can be cooked until it is solid enough to hold its shape but soft enough to to be mushed between your fingers (or in baby’s mouth). Pasta is easy to overcook, even if you don’t mean to. Rice is fun for them to try picking up with their wee fingers.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a time and place for applesauce, yogurt or iron-fortified cereal. Tracey Murkett, who co-authored two baby-led weaning books with Rapley, recommends letting babies use spoons, celery, carrots or sliced apples as a dipper for purees or other foods that are hard to pick up.
As I wrote in today’s print column about baby-led weaning, it’s been so nice — not to mention a whole hell of a lot less expensive — not to have to buy a single jar of baby food for either of my boys. I’m not a perfect baby-led weaning mom, though. There are times when we don’t have time to let Avery play/eat a meal (it does take patience and a little extra cleaning) and I’ll spoon feed him some applesauce mixed with rice cereal, but in general, he sits in his high chair and eats some variation of what we’re eating.
Here’s a recipe from Murkett and Rapley’s baby-led weaning cookbook, and as you can tell, it’s not much different than any other recipe you’d cook.
Mild Vegetable Biryani
This dish is a tasty accompaniment to curries, making a change from plain rice. The rice is soaked before cooking to help the grains stay separate — perfect for when your baby is able to pick up tiny things.
1/3 cup basmati rice
1 Tbsp. sunflower oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2/3 cup frozen peas
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed
Pinch of chili powder
Boiling water
Wash the rice and soak it in a bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes before cooking. Warm the oil and cumin seeds in a large saucepan (don’t allow the seeds to get too brown). Add the drained rice, vegetables, garlic and chili powder, and stir to mix. Pour on boiling water to cover the ingredients by about 1/2 inch. Cover with a lid, bring back to a boil, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the water has been absorbed and the rice is plump. Fluff up with a fork and serve with a curry.
— From ‘The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook’ by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett (The Experiment, $18.95)
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