Baby Led Weaning. Banana good. Tomato bad.

Well, Chickpea is almost 5 and a half months old now and thoughts turn to weaning.  With my boys I did the whole puree thing, anything goes as long as it is on the colour wheel between beige and burnt umber...except eggs or honey, because they do 'bad things' to babies.  However, this time I am attempting Baby Led Weaning (BLW). 

I bought the Gill Rapley book and read it from cover to cover.  It really does make you question why we feed our cubs how we do.  I mean, it does make sense if we see the consistency of what we feed babies in a linear sense; liquid to smooth puree to mush to lumps to solids.  But if you look at the history of infant feeding, the puree stage is a pretty recent addition, babies at the turn of the 20th century were  breastfed until around 8 months of age and then given smooth bones to teeth on and possibly mutton stew as a first weaning food!

So, we are entering the weaning stage with open minds and with a kitchen devoid of tiny tupperware pots.  We are mid-hunt for a practical yet easily cleanable high chair as apparently BLW gets a bit messy!  I wonder, does anyone who might be reading this have any suggestions for a decent high chair because we are stuck!   The one I want gives Adam wallet palpitations and the one he wants just isn't preeetty or reassuringly expensive enough.  At the moment Chickpea sits on either mine or Adam's lap during meal times, so she has the chance to touch and 'omnom' the food, even if she doesn't actually eat anything.  She has taken quite a shine to bananas but when she omnommed a bit of tomato from my salad yesterday (that reminds me, I must polish my halo) she looked at me like I had force fed her a slug, most unimpressed was she.  I do actually love that she is developing preferences already.  How very female!

I would be most interested to hear about any BLW experiences if anyone might like to share. 

Am off for much needed cup of tea.  N x