Baby-Led Weaning: Guidance From A Doctor

Highlights

Baby-Led Weaning method has been popularized and long been used around the world. It allows self-feeding babies to use their natural abilities to explore taste, texture, color and smell.

When Dr. Rohini Rau’s daughter completed six months, she had already decided she was going to let her baby lead the way.

Rohini did her own research and looked out for ways to include Indian food as well as other world food into her diet.

She shares her experience on Baby-led weaning along with 100 days of meal plans she followed for her little one.

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Starting solids for an infant who has always known breast milk or formula fees is an overwhelming and emotional journey for parents, especially mothers. It is a very important milestone for the child, for now this six month old infant, who has been dependent on one type of food since its birth is now going to be exposed to what the world has to offer in terms of foods and taste and this can be the time when the child will also develop food choices and preferences which may last a lifetime.

But this journey is not an easy one for the caregiver because this means hours of experimentation, trial, and errors to find out not just what the child prefers but to also check for any food allergies or intolerance they may have towards certain foods. But we know that parenting doesn’t come with a guide because each child is unique and every parent is different so you may have to navigate your own way through the process. However many parents have been kind enough to have documented their baby weaning journeys and these become the testament for new mothers.

Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant to its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother’s milk. Once the child can hold its neck, begins to sit upright with support, and shows readiness for other foods, you should know that they are ready to be weaned.

While most parents opt for formula food, or homemade purees and foods, and choose to feed their child, learning from experience what works and what doesn’t, here is another method to wean the baby. Baby Led Weaning is a process where you let your child take charge. It means skipping spoon-feeding purees and letting babies feed themselves finger foods right from the start at about age 6 months.

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-Led Weaning, a book written by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett, this method has been popularized and long been used around the world. Says an excerpt – “Though many believe that babies should be weaned by being spoon-fed purées, self-feeding allows babies to use their natural abilities to explore taste, texture, color and smell. It also encourages independence and confidence by allowing them to experiment with foods at their own pace”.

When Dr. Rohini Rau’s daughter completed six months, she had already decided she was going to let her baby lead the way. Rohini did her own research and looked out for ways to include Indian food as well as other world food into her diet. She shares her experience on Baby-led weaning along with 100 days of meal plans she followed for her little one.

Baby-led weaner — Dr. Rohini Rau is an Internal medicine specialist and mother to a nine-month-old baby girl. She is also an international sailor and has represented the country at the Olympics. Last year her team had secured 4th place in an international sailing competition after a sabbatical of 7 years. She is also a TED Fellow & TEDX speaker.

“I started BLW from day 1 after my baby turned 6 months old”, says Rohini. “It’s been an amazing journey watching her go from pears to pineapples to dosas, pancakes, pasta and millet khichdi. She started feeding herself with a preloaded spoon. Yes, it was messy! But it was so lovely to see how her eyes lit up with excitement to try new food”.

“If anyone is on the fence about starting Baby-Led Weaning, I would highly recommend it”, suggests Rohini. “It has definitely been one of the most rewarding experiences so far. This is a milestone I am definitely proud of, as my entire family has supported me even though they initially had their doubts. They have listened to me when I’ve told them not to entertain her at the table, not to get alarmed when she gagged, not to worry if she didn’t eat something and not to get angry if she made a huge mess. Also planning the meals every day! It is not easy! But I know it will pay”.

Watching her explore different kinds of food for the last 3 months was an amazing experience for her as a mother. BLW teaches to take cues from the baby, stay calm when she gags or throws food, watch her use a spoon and drink water from a cup. By 7 months, her baby was already eating Capsicum, raw tomato, Brinjal (Aubergine), Ladies finger (Okra), Millets. Rohini gradually added different spices like turmeric, coriander powder, cumin, asafetida, mustard, and fennel.

“It’s amazing how good the food tastes with just natural sugars (fruits) and no salt. We can definitely learn a few things from our babies. I don’t force her to try new things, or force her to eat more. She loves her independence of eating so much that she doesn’t like me trying to feed her!”

Here are some tips she shares on BLW

1. Make sure you have a gap of 30-40 minutes between feeding milk and solids. That way your baby is not too hungry while trying solids and is more likely to be happy and willing to try more challenging foods.

2. Invest in a spoon and start with preloaded spoons right from day 1 – you will be surprised at how fast they understand that they have to hold the spoon to scoop food into their mouth.

3. Offer them water/ milk in an open cup – EZPZ or a shot glass. My little one loves taking sips from my glass as she can see through. But with a little help she is able to hold the glass with her hands and bring it to her mouth.

4. Some days they definitely eat better than others – so don’t worry if there isn’t much going in on certain days. They make up for it on other days.

5. Make cleaning up fun! Use a bib; I take her to the sink to wash her face, hands – sometimes her entire body. Try not to clean in between and wait for them to finish their meal. You could bring a container of water just to wash the hands and face to prevent dropping food on the way to the bathroom.

6. Be adventurous! And trust that your baby knows how to eat it. Even if they bite off something too big – they will gag and be able to spit it out. If you think they need help – try making them look down so gravity can do the trick. DO NOT put your finger in their mouth and do a blind sweep as you might end up pushing the food even further.

7. Bigger is better – In the first few months – they find it easier to hold onto food that’s bigger ( e.g. half a tomato, finger size width/ length, pancakes or dosas as big as your palm, whole strawberries, quartered grapes (length wise), watermelon – large thin rectangular pieces ) just to mention a few.

8. Try spices – everything apart from salt and chilli. You will be surprised at just how good it tastes and your baby loves tasty food too.

9. Using a high chair helps – especially with a footrest. Try and restrict high chair use only for food and not to put them in for play or other reasons.

10. Try not to let people around you talk to the baby while they are eating. It is easy to distract them, and they might get used to looking at your reaction especially if you give them encouragement on eating.

Dr. Rohini Rau’s meal combinations through her 100 day BLW journey

When I was raising my kids, I had no idea about BLW. But today, through blogs and social media, mothers are willing to share their experience with other new moms and this is a beautiful bond we women can share with each other especially at the part of motherhood where most of us feel lost and alone. Rohini took help from other moms @solidstarts @weaning_tales_by_mommas for guidance, support and recipes on her BLW journey and now shares her experience with others. More power to her!

You may contact Dr. Rohini Rau for guidance and consultation at rohinirau@gmail.com

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When Stuti first told me about Shreya, I knew I had to write this story!

I had to write this for my cousin who couldn’t talk for two days after delivering her first child — my former editor who still feel that she didn’t love her daughter enough when she was a toddler — for the lady who had to keep her profile anonymous while sharing her story on Quora — and for several other women who might not even know what they have gone through or are going through.

PPD or Postpartum Depression is not just a term but a very common phase through which more than 10 million women go every year. And the fact that not even 10% of them are aware of this condition is really worrisome.

Four years later, Shreya still regrets that she couldn’t preserve the memories of her son’s first year. “It was a gloomy dark phase, the phase where I fought every single day to make it through another day,” recalls the 29 YO mother who has been diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage, postpartum depression (PPD), and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Life was a wonderland until her first year of marriage — she fell in love, had a beautiful wedding, the couple got settled in Jamshedpur, and soon had their first child. But what Shreya calls afterwards is nothing less than a nightmare for somebody.

“I can never forget 2016! While getting pregnant was wonderful, I lost my grandma the very next month of I found about it; and that impacted me. I felt sick. My mother got diagnosed with cancer. My son got diagnosed with clubbed feet in my anomaly. My husband got down with dengue. It was a hell of a period for me,” Shreya recalls. “While my mother flew back to me from Mumbai for my delivery, it was difficult to see her in that condition.”

Shreya gave birth to little Shaan on 01.12.2016, and five days later, got diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage. She was immediately taken to Chennai by her husband and father-in-law. Her life was at stake, and Shaan stayed back with his grandmother and aunt.

“I was saved. Yes, I fought a lot, but soon I started getting panic attacks, anxiety attacks, unexplainable postpartum rage, and I went into depression,” Shreya calls it a horrible phase, and it wasn’t easy to overcome it. The worst was not knowing what was happening to her because all the reactions were behavioural.

I became a monster! I knew I needed help, but I had no idea about what was changed. I shared my emotions on a mothers’ forum, and when I told them how I felt about hating motherhood, feeling disconnected with my child, sudden anger and crying moments, unwillingness to wake up every morning, they asked me to get screened for PPD.

And that was it — that’s how Shreya got introduced to PPD. She started taking sessions, and though the depression phase was getting fade, her anxiety persisted and was only triggered when someone in the family fell sick.

It went haywire after the 2020 pandemic and Shreya had to restart her medications. Her anxiety was hormonal and was termed as Borderline PMDD. What she thought would be PMS turned out to be PMDD. “It was hard for me to accept it. Someone like me who never had any sort of health or hormonal issue was suddenly suffering due to a hormonal imbalance. And due to my unbalanced hormones, I had thrombosis too,” Shreya further continues.

Shreya knew that she had to do something, “I realised how the guilt, and society becomes a reason for so many mothers to not talk about it. And I had to break the stigma!”

In my time, I wish someone would have mentioned about the PPD even once! It would have helped me earlier, and I wouldn’t have suffered for so long!

After her diagnosis, she posted a happy picture of her family on social media quoting, ‘postpartum depression may not appear to be like this, but it exists, and you may not see and understand, but PPD is a part of this picture.’

After this, a lot of women, including Shreya’s friends, reached out to her and shared their experiences. She soon started Raising Shaan where she mostly writes about maternal mental health. Shreya is trying to increase awareness about maternal health, normalise depression, its causes and consequences. She doesn’t believe in online research and thus reaches out to people via different mediums and try to know about their motherhood journeys. She also collaborates with brands to increase awareness about PPD and PMDD.

“Even if there is one woman I can reach out to and say that what you are feeling is normal and things would get better, you don’t need to be guilty; I think I would be able to justify my work. This is how much it matters to me,” Shreya finds it really fulfilling when other women reach out to her and find it comfortable to share their emotions with her.

Being someone who went through the same, Shreya finds it easy to connect with people. She realises how much the screening of mental health along with PPD matters in the first 45 days and how it should be a part of the regular health checkups.

“PPD took away one whole year of my life, and I don’t know who to blame, or how to get closure. I will never get the first year of my child back, and it hurts knowing that it would have been prevented or tackled in a better way if I had known about it earlier,” Shreya says.

PPD did impact not only Shreya but also her family. Her husband was clueless. “He wanted to help, but I was cutting everyone off. He didn’t know what had happened but kept saying that something about me changed after giving birth to Shaan,” for someone like Shreya who used to be a jolly and amicable started getting angry for no reasons and she felt pathetic every time she cried or felt disconnected from Shaan.

Shreya advises soon-to-be mothers to plan their nine months in a better way. She recommends future mothers to get in touch with mom support groups, educate themselves about lactation, baby blues, PPD, PMS, PMDD, etc.

“If you’re someone who’s suffering from mental illness and feels that you’ve changed after delivery, it’s not you, it’s the hormones. It might be hard to believe, but yes, it does get better over time. All you need is support and love,” Shreya concludes.

While talking to her, I could hear Shaan’s melodious voice and his constant calls to his mamma, and I wondered how hard it would be for mothers to pass this phase, and to avoid the guilt of not loving their kids enough!

Like Shreya, every woman suffering from PPD carry her own story, her own emotions and own guilt. If you know someone going through something similar, share this story with her and tell her that it’s normal and it will get better. You can connect with Shreya Mitra via Instagram or Facebook. #MyStory #InfanoWomen