Baby-led weaning is an approach to feeding that puts a baby in charge, with the basic idea that "parents and caregivers can follow a baby’s lead" and "baby is ready, allowing them to self-feed," according to experts at the Cleveland Clinic. The nice thing about baby-led weaning is that parents can skip the purees and just let their littlest eater chow down on the same food as the rest of the family (modifying for choking hazards, of course).
That all sounds great, but should baby-led weaning include bacon sandwiches slathered in butter and ketchup, sausage, and a hash brown? For a 7-month-old? For one TikTok mom (who goes by the handle @mom_ofboyss), the answer seems to be yes. In a viral video, she shows herself prepping an epic breakfast for a baby, with the voiceover claiming that this is her 7-month-old's "first bacon sandwich." Now, unless her baby has both the teeth and the calorie needs of a lumberjack, we're pretty skeptical this actually was a meal for a baby.
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This TikToker regularly posts food prep videos.
Like a lot of busy moms, this TikTok mom's videos of what she's feeding her houseful of four boys is a mixture of homemade food, fruits, and convenience foods such as hot dogs, fish sticks, and ramen noodles. Is it all organic, locally sourced, and perfectly "healthy" (whatever that loaded word means)? Nope! But is it pretty realistic for a lot of families? Probably!
But because this is the internet, food police were waiting in the comments, critiquing this mom for everything from portion sizes to the amount of salt her kids are eating.
The mom recently started baby-led weaning with her youngest.
This mom, who has shared that her youngest child was born at only 33 weeks, began her baby-led weaning journey about a month ago with a simple meal of toast fingers with jam. Her little guy happily smeared it all over his face but didn't seem to actually eat too much, which is super normal for the early stages of the baby-led weaning.
So, did he really go from mushing up toast and jam to eating full meals of bacon, sausage, and hash browns in just a few short weeks? We have our doubts, and so do some of the people leaving comments on her page, including someone who added a laughing emoji and the note, "I just love that you wind so many people up! My kind of person!"
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Some people freaked out about the adult-sized meal.
The comment section seemed divided between people who were shook by the meal and those who were convinced this mom must be kidding.
On the shocked side was the person who pointed out that bacon is a choking hazard and another who exclaimed, "Oooo girl!! Each to their own but I’d be way too scared to give my 7 month old that." Another person echoed that sentiment, saying, "my anxiety is through the roof" while watching the video.
But here's the thing: This mom never actually shows her baby with the sandwich. This, combined with some of her cheeky responses to the comments, such as claiming that the baby drank a Monster energy drink with his meal, makes us suspect she was just trying to troll the people online who live to judge other people's parenting.
Up next: baby's first fast food.
Since going viral with the bacon sandwich, this mom has been upping the ante with more videos that seem designed to get people fired up. This includes baby's first McDonald's (complete with a full hamburger), baby's first chippy dinner (including a full can of Coke), and even a full roast dinner with gravy.
Is this all a ploy to just get more followers and views on TikTok? Is it a way to troll mom critics? Is there a chance she's actually feeding her sweet baby adult-sized meals? Who knows, but we strongly suspect she's trolling.
And now we could totally go for a bacon sandwich!
