Baby led weaning

We started offering Michael solids last Sunday, 05/08/11. It occurs to me that maybe it would be handy to record his likes and dislikes out of what I've offered him. I haven't been good about keeping track of what I've offered, but to the best of my recollection, here is what he's tried (or at least been offered, picked up, and stuck in his mouth):
- chicken drumsticks (cooked in an Indian tomato sauce)
- herbs and spices (parsley, basil, turmeric, cinnamon, curry powder, black pepper) and oils (olive, maybe coconut)
- avocado
- carrot
- spinach
- asparagus
- lentils
- beans (kidney/garbanzo)
- wild Alaskan salmon (low in mercury, high in DHA)
- noodles
- sweet potato
- broccoli
- oatmeal
- apple
- celery
- kale
- bell pepper
- blackstrap molasses
- wheat germ (I rolled some avocado and banana in this to make it easier to grasp)
- ground beef
- toast
- cabbage

I'm trying to buy local, organic ingredients where I can.

It's hard to tell what actually makes it down the hatch, because a lot of it comes right back out his mouth. I noticed that two days ago (05/16), his diaper output was a tad chunkier, so some of it went down! The night before, he woke up in the middle of the night and wailed, didn't want to nurse... he had a BM and went back to sleep. I think he might have had a bit of indigestion.

So far, his favorites seem to be avocado, toast, banana, sweet potato, and he really got into his chicken drumstick! He didn't seem to care for beans and lentils.

I mostly try to make baby-appropriate portions of whatever I'm eating, within reason. I don't add any salt to his food, and I don't give him eggs, nuts, popcorn, cheese or other dairy (though yogurt and egg yolks are coming soon). On Monday I attempted to make meatballs with grass-fed beef without using eggs to bind them! I also added some more veggies to the meatballs. They squished a little more than usual but were still yummy.

I do often spice things, so he's tried a lot of Italian and Indian seasonings.

A lot of people are concerned about choking and allergies. I might address those issues in a future post, but for now rest assured I've done my research to ensure Michael's safety and wellfare.