Baby Led Weaning? - Kalamazoo,MI

I let my baby decide when she was done nursing. She got to eat other food, and drink water with her solid meals, and if she wanted to nurse more she got to. As she stopped asking to nurse, I wound up just nursing her almost on a schedule... In the morning when she woke up, before nap time, and before bed time. She started refusing those nursing sessions when she was around 22 months, and I didn't try to force her to keep going.

So to me, baby led weaning means that you allow them to keep nursing until THEY choose to stop... rather than weaning them from the breast on purpose.

I *think* baby led weaning means YOU don't feed your baby, you let your baby feed himself - so you by-pass the whole "babyfood" stage and go right into soft foods. Of course, this only works if your baby can hold food so typically this starts a little later.

We accidentally did BLW with our youngest. She REFUSED babyfood at 6 months....7 months....8 months....then I tried to give her a little puffed wheat on her tray to play with during dinner and she picked it up and ate it! So then we did some banana pieces and other fruit....*very* cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, pasta, etc. She ate like it was going out of style when allowed to feed herself, but the moment *I* tried to feed her something (like yogurt) - forget it! haha

Usually when I hear this term, the user means they allow their baby to decide when they will stop nursing. For example, if you are nursing a 2 year old with no plans to wean and want to allow your child to stop when he wants (even at 4 years old) that is child led weaning...as opposed to you cutting down sessions etc in an attempt to encourage weaning earlier.

I nursed my kids. On demand.
They self-weaned. That is the wording I, use.
They each stopped nursing, when "they" did.
It was not because *I* stopped or made them stop.
So to me personally, they self-weaned.
Sure, my kids were on solids from 6 mos. old.
But, they were still nursing. So nursing is nursing. And I still had milk being produced.
My daughter stopped nursing at about 2.5 years old. On her own.
My son stopped at about 1 year old. On his own.
It is not real complicated.

In our family, we don't start solids until 1 yo. Tasting, sure. But nothing beyond that until 12mo.

That said... I lost my milk at 10mo. Wheeeeee turquoise milk!!! (ahem, mastitis). So I switched to formula. We finished with formula somewhere around 18 mo. It was a gradual thing. Going from 1 can per day, to having a bottle's with left over in the morning. To 2, then 3 then 1 can over 2 days, etc.. Not an intentional thing. Just a gradual thing that worked itself out on its own.

Two different terms here: Baby led weaning, which uses the British sense of the word weaning, to introduce food, is also called Baby Led Solids in the US. Child Led Weaning (sometimes called full-term nursing) means allowing a child to nurse until they are ready to stop.

Hope that helps!

With my babies I have not really thought of feeding solid foods as weaning, I started them on solids around 6 months old. At first I think it is helpful to think of solids as supplementing breastmilk, breastmilk is still the main source of nutrition for the first year of life. After they turn one and start eating more solid foods, breastmilk gradually becomes the supplemental food and solid foods become the main source of nutrition. Personally I have nursed my babies for 2 1/2 years, 3 1/2 years, and I am still nursing my youngest who is 2. I have kind of done the toddler led weaning, but I do say no occasionally, I usually will tell my toddler "later" rather than no, and distract him with something else like "big kid" foods or a book or trip to the park etc. So I am down to 2-4 nursing sessions a day. You just cut down on nursing really gradually, and sometimes if your toddler gets sick or is just feeling really down s/he may want to nurse more frequently, and I allow this. Weaning is a process, it doesn't happen overnight, and if it did then you'd end up with clogged milk ducts and even mastitis! Happy nursing!

In my opinion, these terms are pretty flexible. In essence, it is the child, not you who decides when to stop. I personally think that parenting is a partnership. This goes for nursing as well. It is not I or the child who makes the decision but rather, I know my child and what his needs are and I work with him to help maximize his growth and development. I never thought I would nurse my son until past 2 1/2. I was ok with it but I also decided on limitations such as no nursing in public and only before bed or when ill past 18 months. My son was almost 3 and we had moved the previous month when I decided that I did not want a 3 year old who was nursing. We were down to 1 time a day. One night I said ok, 10 seconds and we are done. He didn't complain. The next night I said 5 seconds. Same deal. The next night was 3 seconds. The final night I did not offer and he did not ask. That was it. We were both ready. So my advice to you is to know your child, don't focus on these terms, rather, let them guide you into making the best decision for both of you.

I think that most people say it to mean that you keep nursing until the baby is ready to stop. And yes, that's in addition to table food. So no, I would not consider your baby to be in the middle of weaning just because he's trying some baby food.