Hellobee Boards

Have you checked out the HB BLW series? http://www.hellobee.com/baby-led-weaning/

I didn't plan on it, but LO was an independent little guy that hated me trying to spoon feed him. We started with slightly mashed avocado and then baked sweet potato. Any soft, mushy food we could slightly squish and he could get a hand on - banana, baked pear, green beans, steamed zucchini.

The biggest thing about BLW is to not panic if your baby gags. It is very normal, and it helped me during the times he did gag to not intervene. As long as he wasn't turning blue or went silent, which are signs of choking, he was fine.

We didn't start solids until 6 months, but once we started we did a mix of purees and BLW. Then by 7 months transitioned to full on BLW once I felt they had better control of their gag and swallow reflexes. I also felt more comfortable introducing one food at a time those first couple weeks too, so slowly ventured into BLW.

We tried it starting at 6 months (when DS was able to make a chewing motion) but it makes me very nervous since he will just keep gnawing and sucking on a bit of food, filling up his mouth non-stop! He properly choked on some pear the other week (gagging wouldn't have fazed me). The extra vigilence required in our case makes it hard for me to eat my meal at the same time. He prefers to feed himself though, so we'll persevere with finger foods and mashed up food. He normally just eats whatever we're having... That is one principle of blw that we have stuck to!

We started BLW after a few weeks of purées because she was sooo keen to feed herself. She loved it, I remember watching her tearing the meat off ribs and devouring broccoli like it was her job. Best thing is, they feed themselves so you can eat too rather than feed them first. I agree with @Tanjowen: about not panicking if they gag, gagging and choking are very different.
We loved BLW but it didn't save us from the pickiness toddlers develop when they are two/three, even though people swore it would.
And like @oliviaoblivia: said, it looks like a big old mess

Same as @oliviaoblivia: it was/is a mess! We did chunks of stuff, and sometimes a pouch of puree, but both of our babies have hated being fed with a spoon. They'd use a spoon, sure, but their chubby little hands better be on it too

We didn't do cereals or really many grains/carbs at all for quite awhile with LO1. I also can't remember when we transitioned her to eat what we eat...like @qbbride: said, mealtimes didn't line up really well for awhile, but she would just eat it early or leftover. LO1 is a great eater, but i'm not sure it'd be different had we done anything different!