While we eat to nourish our bodies and provide ourselves with fuel for the days labour, there is no question that food also comes with a social component. Whether sitting down for a family dinner, or coming together in celebration, food is often central to our gatherings. We break bread, we raises glasses, and we loosen our belt buckles. When food is so intertwined with social activities, wanting to invite the littlest members of our families to partake in the festivities by offering food should come as no surprise.

Left: Broccoli is a great example of food with a natural handle. As a first food, steamed broccoli offers nutrition, easy handling, as well as introduces a few different textures. Right: Here, at 7 months, little R already knows that wellness includes eating well and exercising!

Planning to Feed the Babies

Before we were even expecting our little renegades we discussed parenting, and food in particular, ad nauseam. We both have parents who have so much love to give but who also show their affection with food. Neither Matt nor myself have a problem with treats, we'd be lying if we said we didn't enjoy eating a goody or two. The problem arises with frequency. When you have three sets of grandparents all living within an hour, visits are often, and so too are treats. We know that we don't want to foster the belief that food equals love.

We also knew that before solids we would be breastfeeding our little renegades as long as possible. There are so many benefits to breastfeeding including supporting growth and development, boosting immunity, increasing IQ, lowering the risk of SIDS, and being cancer protective. Additionally, breastmilk provides the most complete nutrition for human babies, and can save you both time and money by not having to buy and prepare formula.

I was surprised to learn that when babies nurse the sucking action helps to pull their skull bones into place for proper growth. The action of the tongue lifting to the roof of the mouth also widens the palette making ample room for teeth to set properly.

Left: Little H is demonstrating the pincer grip by using his thumb and forefinger to grasp food. Right: Surprisingly, the ability to open your hand to bring food to your mouth is a developmental skill.

When babies are born their guts are still in the process growing and closing which means they are at their most vulnerable. By introducing solids before the gut is ready, there is a risk for food particles to enter the blood stream and trigger the body to develop immune responses to that particular food. While formula isn't "solid" it's composition still carries the same risk.

I will add the caveat that formula can be live saving and should absolutely be used where necessary. Our babies were small when they were born and little H was having issues regulating his blood sugar. Because I was dealing with a challenging recovery, our breast feeding relationship had a rocky start and we ended up having to temporarily supplement with formula for a few weeks.

So What is Baby-Led Weaning?

I can't remember exactly how I was introduced to Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) but I didn't take long before I knew it was the right fit for us. We wanted the process of weaning our children onto solid food to be as easy and affordable as possible. Plus, I wanted to avoid preparing separate meals and battling jars of food.

A typical breakfast includes plain yogurt and some fruit. Every three days or so we take a break from yogurt to have oatmeal or buckwheat/chia cereal. Sometimes, I'll stir in some unsweetened applesauce or berries to change the flavour. H loves yogurt. He typically eats 1/2 to 3/4 cup while R only eats 1/4 cup.

The BLW method begins with recognizing your babies readiness to eat solid food. Babies will naturally be interested in everything their parents are doing because they are learning through observation but that doesn't mean they're necessarily ready to to eat what you're eating. Signs that your baby is ready to eat include unassisted sitting, overcoming the tongue-thrust reflex, willingness to chew, using the thumb and forefinger pincer grip, and an eagerness to participate in mealtime. Some babies will even go the extra mile and begin to unexpectedly grab food and bring it to their mouths. Waiting until at least six months of age will allow their guts to be in a much more prepared state to accept solid food as well.

BLW advocates foods with handles like broccoli or long sticks such as carrots so long as they're cooked soft enough that your baby can easily mash the food with their gums. This made a lot of sense to me because babies need to develop the skills to open their palm to bring food to their mouths so having a handle gives them easier access to chewable areas.

Here is an example of lunch: baked cod, spaghetti squash, sweet potato, and cucumber. These are White Hot Munchkin Plates which were gifted to us. The design in the middle changes to white if the food placed on the plate is too hot to eat.

However, we found that cooking food so it was firm enough to hold but soft enough to chew was incredibly tricky. Long handled food would easily break off making the eating process challenging. Alternatively, if items were a bit more firm they would bite off pieces large enough to be a choking hazard that they could no longer easily mash in their mouths. We finally settled on cutting foods to smaller more manageable sizes that they would need their pincer grasp to handle.

Our Experience Introducing Solids

While the approach also encourages parents to let your children eat what you're eating we decided to take a slower approach to introducing foods. Since I have food sensitivities we knew our kids could be at risk too. We were glad we made this choice because little H ended up having a bad reaction to bananas and after some digging we discovered that he was having FPIES reaction which is a non IgE allergic reaction to the food. I won't get into the specifics of FPIES in this post but the good news is there is a possibility he will grow out of the reaction between 1 and 3 years of age.

I'll admit that I was envious of the moms who just let their kids dig into whatever they were eating and I began to be a little more relaxed with the foods I was offering. I was tired of preparing separate meals and decided they could just eat what I was eating, until they couldn't. One morning little H broke out in hives during breakfast and he began struggling to swallow. I rushed him to emergency and was told we might never find out what he reacted to, but one thing was for sure, I was going back to slow food introductions.

Here is one of the first meals we were able to share after a slow introduction of all the ingredients. This paleo ham chowder is packed with goodness and is so flavourful. The kids loved everything including the broth. We picked out the components of the chowder for the kids to eat with their fingers and offered spoonfuls of broth throughout the meal.

We decided to introduce one new food for three days to ensure no negative reactions. Once we knew a food fell into the safe category we could start combining it with other safe foods. After months of being patient we could start preparing our own meals that included all of their safe foods and finally share the same meal. I do still prepare them separate foods but I will use items that are in what we're eating without the sauces or seasonings so preparation is easier.

So What Do Our Little Renegades Eat?

Protein / Fat	Vegetables	Fruits / Carbs
Beef Steak	Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Celery	Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry
Chicken, Turkey, Eggs*	Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Yams	Watermelon, Honeydew, Cantaloupe, Pineapple
Ham	Broccoli, Kale, Squashes, Cucumber	Orange, Pear, Apple, Apple Sauce
Cod, Haddock	Avocado, Carrots, Green Beans	Grapes, Banana*
Yogurt 11% MF, Milk, Butter, Coconut Milk	Pickles, Olives	Oatmeal, Buckwheat/Chia cereal

*Eggs are a question mark for little H while we wait to see the allergist so we have removed them from his diet. Because banana is an FPIES trigger for H only R eats them and even then it's occasional.

Above is a list of the foods we've successfully introduced. We tend to let little R try new things from our plates since she hasn't had any adverse reactions but little H is more restricted. Since I am preparing specific food for H, to make things easier R tends to have the same meal as he does.

Quite often doctors recommend introducing rice cereal because it's blandness is considered low-risk and it's also fortified with iron. However, breastfed babies are able to maintain normal hemoglobin values and iron stores*. In some cases, babies who are exclusively breastfed for one, and occasionally even two, years will receive enough iron from breastmilk to stay healthy. Even though formula, rice cereal, and other solid foods may have more iron content those food are not as well absorbed as breastmilk. Our personal choice to maintain healthy iron levels in our twins is to ensure they are eating whole foods and red meat in addition to breastfeeding.

Here is an example of what we might serve for supper. Steak, spaghetti squash, mashed yams, and steamed carrots.

We choose whole foods to allow our kids to experience real flavours because we want them to appreciate food in its most natural state. At the moment, we are steering clear of refined foods to avoid hyperpalatable triggers. Our desire is to foster a healthy relationship with food, where our children understand that, while food brings people together, it exists to nourish our bodies. Does this mean we will never have treats? No. It means that we will not place importance on treats; sometimes we will have them, sometimes we won't and neither occasion will be cause for intense emotions.

We trust that our kids are listening to their bodies while they are exploring new foods. Yes, fruit is sweet and they could develop a preference for it, but so far they haven't. H is a protein fanatic and will typically eat all of his protein before moving on to anything else while R prefers starchy vegetables and fruit. H took a while to place himself on the WHO Growth Chart but now that he's eating solids he's really taken off. We suspect he's doing a lot of catching up right now, which is why he's eating adult-sized meals. Despite both of our twins being small, they are crushing their milestones. Plus, there is no specific growth chart for twins.

BLW has worked extremely well for our family but when I look for new food ideas I typically come across "healthy" muffins, "healthy" cookies, and "healthy" pancakes. While these foods are convenient, I sometimes find there is a lot of emphasis on refined foods. As much as I'd love to toss a muffin on their tray and call it done I want to make sure I am giving my kids the best possible start. Even with whole foods, I am able to give my kids plenty of variety to keep their meals interesting. But at the end of the day, we all have to do what works best for our families. If we decide to build a little renegade colony, I may just resort to some gluten free breakfast muffins.

And if you're wondering, yes, BLW can be extremely messy at times! At one point I felt like I was changing their outfits a couple times a day. I started with cloth bibs and if I didn't get to cleaning them right away they would end up stained, or worse, with mold growing on them. Yuck! I did discover some amazing bibs from Bumkins, to which I have no affiliation. They are wide enough to cover their shoulders and have a pocket to catch dropped food. Little R treats her pocket like a treasure chest and checks it for goodies before and after eating for some extra num nums.

So, what are your kids eating? Have you tried baby-led weaning? Did it work for you?

*Source: https://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/#ironsources

All photos and illustrations in this post are the original work of Mrs. Canadian Renegade.

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