First days of Baby Led Weaning

As the little man had been increasingly curious about food over the last few weeks we decided to start him on solids over the weekend. Here's what he has eaten so far and his reactions:

Porridge beard

Day 1

• Steamed broccoli - I may have cooked this too much as it went everywhere, but this could have been down to the stems were not long enough for him to hold too. I'm going to try with sprouting broccoli next to see if that works better. As his very first taste he was intrigued. 
• Steamed carrot - Again I might have gone too far with steaming so it kept breaking in his fingers before he got it to his mouth. Its definitely a big learning experience holding something that breaks! I wasn't sure that he swallowed any of it until I saw his nappy the next day
• Galia Melon - He loved this and cried when we ran out of it. 
• Strawberry - I gave him this in one of these little net things. I'm pretty sure he has my sweet tooth as he was very fond of this

Day 2 

• All the same as day 1 - no real change. 

Day 3 

• Porridge - Ill admit I did spoon feed him this although it was still very messy as his hands kept going into his mouth. 
• Avocado - a little too slippery for him to get into his mouth 
• Steamed sweet potato - He chomped away on this but it spat a lot out too. 

Day 4 

• Porridge - this time I filled the spoon and gave it to him - incredibly messy but he loved playing with it. There's definitely no point dressing your baby before porridge! 
• Banana - lots of smiles, lots of mess

What we have learnt so far: 
Overall so far its been very messy and a little bit scary but I can see that he is learning a lot and enjoying eating immensely. A lot of the food was spat out after being gnawed, often a few minutes after he finished eating which was a great reminder to keep him upright for a while after eating. After a few days of using baby wipes to clean him Ive decided to keep a face cloth in the kitchen to wipe him down. Despite lots of warning from friends the gagging is very unnerving but doesn't seem to bother him at all. There has been no change at all to his milk feeds so far.