My 3-year old toddler enjoys eating with the whole family. She has a healthy  appetite and loves a variety of fruits, vegetables, fishes, chicken, cheeses and yogurt, rice, pasta, noodles, and more.

Before she started with solid food, I chanced upon and started reading up on a concept called baby-led weaning.

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a way of introducing solid foods that allows babies to feed themselves – there’s no spoon feeding and no purées. The baby sits with the family at mealtimes and joins in when she is ready, feeding herself first with her fingers and later with cutlery. {Gill Rapley}

I’m happy to say it worked for us though I personally prefer the term child-led feeding – because, well, we are not ready to wean just yet.

Child-led feeding allows the child to explore taste, texture, color and smell and encourages her to be independent and more confident in trying out new food.

Letting her feed herself also helps develop fine motor skills. My toddler now learned eating not just with her hands and fingers, but also with a spoon, fork, and even chopsticks. [Read more…]