Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Not only being cared and applied by many Western mothers, self-directed weaning foods are also being disseminated and widely spread among Vietnamese mothers. However, there are many opinions that, when exposed to solid foods too early, it can harm the child's digestive system, even harm the stomach.

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Mother's questions about self-directed weaning method

1. What is self-directed weaning?

2. When should baby self-directed solids?

3. Will self-directed weaning cause difficulties for baby's digestive system?

4. Self-directed weaning can cause the baby to choke, choke?

5. How much baby eat is enough?

The effect of self-directed weaning

1. Skilfully coordinate the index finger and the thumb

2. Promote language development

3. Limit anorexia

4. Connect hands and eyes

5. Increases sensory sensitivity

6. Help your baby be independent

Self-directed weaning menu

Note when choosing the self-directed weaning method for your baby

Is self-directed weaning good for babies? MarryBaby will help you learn in this article to choose the method of weaning good for your baby's growth and development.Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Mother's questions about self-directed weaning method

Unlike the Japanese or traditional weaning method, when applying the self-directed weaning method, the mother does not need to puree the foods from before, but can feed the baby to eat raw and soft foods. . According to experts, this weaning method not only stimulates the baby to eat more deliciously, but also helps children develop development skills between hands and eyes. However, there are still many mothers who are concerned that too early exposure to raw, solid foods will harm their baby's health.

 

1. What is self-directed weaning?

Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is one of the most famous weaning strategies for babies. It skips the steps of spooning or mashed foods but goes directly to raw feeding and letting the baby choose the food himself. For that reason, mothers who choose this method will encounter some specific difficulties.

 

2. When should baby self-directed solids?

As recommended, mothers can start to practice solids when baby is 6 months old . At this point, the baby is able to sit on its own with little or no assistance. Babies can also control their head movements as well as activities of jumping with and holding objects. The baby's tongue-out reflex now also disappears. These milestones are crucial for deciding whether your baby is ready for self-feeding. The mother should also not assist in feeding the baby or taking food for the baby because the baby will have to do all these things on her own.

Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Mom can start to introduce solids when baby is 6 months old

3. Will self-directed weaning cause difficulties for baby's digestive system?

In fact, no matter which weaning method the mother uses, in the early stages, the main purpose is still to help the baby get used to the taste of many different foods. Milk is still the main source of nutrition and babies can only consume 1-2 tablespoons of food. This dose is not too much to make it difficult for the child's digestive system.

In addition, in the process of chewing and swallowing, the food that the child has just eaten has been "mixed" with a sufficient amount of saliva. Enzymes in the saliva convert starch into glucose. When it reaches the stomach, food is once again hydrolyzed by gastric juices and transported to the intestines, where it is absorbed into the blood and lymphatic system.

Thus, if according to the "working structure" of the digestive system , eating raw foods does not affect the digestive system or negatively affect the baby's stomach! Even so, many opinions even suggest that feeding your baby raw foods can also help your baby's digestive system work more easily. Because during chewing, swallowing, children have more time to "mix" amylase into food, helping the process of hydrolysis of food in the stomach to be more gentle.

4. Self-directed weaning can cause the baby to choke, choke?

In addition to worrying about the child's digestive ability, many mothers are concerned that feeding their baby on their own may increase the risk of choking, choking while eating. However, this concern is also easily resolved if mothers are more careful in preparing and feeding the baby. Mother should avoid choosing small, hard foods such as grapes, longan, and custard-apple, but choose foods that are soft, easy to handle, and of moderate size. In particular, mothers must remember to "supervise" carefully in the process of self-feeding to limit the potential risk.

5. How much baby eat is enough?

Most healthy babies will eat just the right amount of food their body needs and the self-directed weaning method is a way to help babies control eating according to their own developmental needs.

Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Let your baby decide for himself how much he needs to eat

Therefore, let your baby decide how much to eat is enough. You just need to ensure a balanced diet in your baby's diet to ensure that the food your baby gets into his or her body is adequate and adequate. In addition, mothers should consult with pediatricians or nutritionists to limit foods that can cause allergies for babies.

The effect of self-directed weaning

1. Skilfully coordinate the index finger and the thumb

Between 7-10 months of age, babies begin to develop the ability to hold, grasp using the index finger and thumb. It looks simple enough, but this is a step up in fine motor skills in babies. By letting your baby practice solids by the self-commanding method, the mother will help her practice picking and picking up skills regularly.

2. Promote language development

Your baby's eating story is closely related to speaking skills. When your baby chews, the muscles, jaw joints are regularly trained and this is the necessary preparation step for your baby to practice speaking at a later stage. What mothers should do is to familiarize babies with a variety of foods such as boiled vegetables, meat, eggs, rice balls and liquid foods to encourage their children to perform various movements for their mouth and facial muscles. Jaw will help your baby learn to speak more easily.

3. Limit anorexia

Letting your baby learn to pick up food and get used to food early will help her reduce anorexia in the toddler stage (1-3 years). Babies at 6-7 months old are ready to get used to many different food states: solid, liquid, and piggy. Therefore, mothers can plan a variety of weaning menus. If you are worried about your baby not eating much, you can combine BLW weaning with many other methods, while maintaining breastfeeding.

Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Letting your baby learn to pick up food and get used to food early will help her reduce anorexia in the toddler stage (1-3 years)

4. Connect hands and eyes

Not only is it good for your baby's fine motor ability, but self-directed weaning also encourages the use of hand, eye and mouth combination. Just one movement of holding food and putting it in the mouth creates the connections between different organs. Giving your baby a combination menu, many colors will help him strengthen that coordination ability.

5. Increases sensory sensitivity

Letting your baby eat well requires a combination of many senses. BLW weaning is a good choice to enhance baby's sensory ability. From the sight of seeing different colors and textures of food to the touch of food, taste when tasting the dishes of your choice and finally hearing, when the sounds made by food. out in the mouth becomes throbbing.

6. Help your baby be independent

This is the outstanding advantage of the BLW method compared to other traditional weaning methods. For babies who don't like to eat food fed by their mothers, using their hands to pick up food on their own is a much better option. And when using their hands skillfully, babies who follow the BLW method often know how to use a spoon and fork early compared to babies who do not learn to pick up.

Self-directed weaning menu

Food moms can cook and puree for your baby will also be great choices to get started with BLW, such as:

♦ Apples

Mothers can feed babies when they are about 6 months old. Just wash, peel and give the baby to chew or cut into small pieces and feed them gradually. Grilling an apple, then crushing it and feeding it to your baby is also a great way for your baby to really feel about his food.

Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

feed the self-commanding weaning baby with apples

♦ Butter

Avocado contains all the important nutrients needed for your baby that no fruit can replace. Therefore, butter is an indispensable item in your baby's self-directed snack menu. In addition, avocado is also quite soft, easy to eat and easy to digest. The mother can cut it into pieces so the baby can feed it by themselves or puree it to feed the baby.

♦ Rice or nuts

After cooking, mothers should put the food in the cup and let the baby eat it by themselves. When your baby can eat different grains, mothers can mix these together to form a nutritious and flavorful dish and feed them.

♦ Sweet potatoes

Whether grilled or steamed, sweet potatoes are a great starter for weaning. You can cut it into thick sticks and bake (like a french fries) or steam it and puree it.

♦ Egg yolks

Boil eggs and then break the yolk into small pieces for easy to reach baby. The egg yolk is soft, fragrant and easy to eat.

♦ Bananas

You can give your baby half a banana and peeled, just ripe, a little bit hard for the baby to easily handle and more difficult to break. Depending on the baby's ability, we will feed him half or a whole banana.

Is self-directed weaning safe for babies?

Give your baby self-command solids with bananas

Note when choosing  the self-directed weaning method for your baby

In the early stages when the baby's teeth are not fully developed, mothers should choose self-directed snacks that are soft, easy to digest and can hardly cause choking and choking for the baby.

For children to eat solids in a self-directed method, mothers should prepare napkins and use carpet under the baby's chair.

Only let the baby exposed to a moderate amount of food and the mother can add if the baby has eaten all but still shows signs of "craving"

Introduce your baby to a variety of foods and change foods regularly

For babies under 1 year old, mothers should not use salt when preparing baby food.

 

 

Introducing self-directed solids to help them build many skills such as chewing, swallowing, holding, holding, and bringing food into their mouth In addition, this method also helps the baby's digestive system to adapt better to new foods so mothers should apply it.

MarryBaby


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