you can lead a child to food, but you cannot make them eat.
we live this with DB every single day. his repertoire is slowly (very slowly) expanding, but for the most part he's a fruit and carb dude. on most days, that's the easy part. the frustration is when he loves bread, peanut butter crackers, PB cookies and PB granola bars, but won't eat a PB sandwich. explain that one!
in traditional fashion, we introduced him to cereals around 5 months and quickly moved into the pureed fruits and veggies. he ate ANY and ALL of the stage 1, 2 and 3 baby foods. this resistance came when we transitioned to "real" food. and because i don't want our dining experience (or his) to be associated with tension or tears, we’ve adapted and try to provide a variety of healthy options that he will eat (nitrate free, organics, whole grains, etc) and frequently offer up new options….that he frequently rejects.
flash forward to CJ's 4 month well check in mid-November when her pediatrician suggested we go ahead and introduce pureed foods. he even said it wasn't necessary to start with cereals, actually suggesting sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes for her 1st thanksgiving.
call it fate or a mommy miracle, but two days later baby-led weaning was in my amazon book suggestions. after reading several of the reviews and more details on baby-led.com, i jumped head first onto the band wagon. the premise is simple, widely adapted in europe and based on a paper written by gill rapley. baby led weaning means not giving purees, and instead introducing finger foods from the start. naturally, children teach themselves how to sit up, crawl and walk at their own pace. and around 6 months they are developmentally capable to teach themselves how to eat.
hence, the callie wean (CW) project was born.
stay tuned for chapter 1: supplies.
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