This Is How I Shape My Toddler's Understanding of Bodily Autonomy and Healthy Eating Habits for a Lifetime

Because CONSENT Starts At The High Chair.

Photo by Harry Grout on Unsplash

A few months before I delivered my baby, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon multiple resources surrounding traditional versus baby-led weaning (BLW) methods.

While it was too early for me to comprehend what all of that meant at the time, I had bookmarked them because it piqued my interest quite a bit.

What stood out to me was how BLW lets 6-month-old babies grab food and eat by themselves, unlike traditional weaning.

Now, according to WHO and UNICEF, a baby should be breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life and introduced to nutritionally-adequate and safe complementary (solid) foods at 6 months together with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.

So I did just that and when it came time to start solids, a long list of Do's and Don'ts arrived in the kitchen before I did.