Starting Baby Led Weaning
If you asked our parents what “Baby Led Weaning” is, they’d probably have no idea since it’s a much newer practice. I actually hadn’t heard of it until our friends started it with their baby when he turned six months old. And to be honest, it made me really nervous to think about doing it with my own child. Giving my baby big chunks of food just sounded like an automatic choking risk. But, we decided to try it anyway because of so many success stories and reassurance from our pediatrician. I am, by no means, an expert on this topic. I’m just going to share our experience with Baby Led Weaning in case other moms are curious about it, like I was.
Once babies are six months old, doctors usually recommend starting “solids” as a second source of nutrition. Breast milk and/or formula should always be first according to the AAP. For years, giving babies “solids” meant giving them solid foods that had been puréed. And let me say, there is nothing wrong with choosing to give babies purées. We still give them to Callie when we’re on the go because it’s just easier.
Instead of the traditional purée route, Baby Led Weaning is an approach of serving your baby the exact foods you eat (non puréed) and letting babies self-feed. And while they are eating the same foods you are, preparation is different for safety precautions. The goal is for baby to participate in mealtime just like you do while facilitating a positive, interactive experience.
Baby Led Weaning can be time consuming and take some time at first. Callie was actually very interested (one sign that baby is ready for BLW) in our food at mealtimes. So, we did start her on purées at about 4.5 months and she LOVED them. It was a great experience for us, because I know some babies will turn their heads away, spit out the food, or react negatively with gagging or coughing. Callie figured out how to swallow right away and actively showed us that she wanted more. This was a great sign that she would be ready to start Baby Led Weaning (BLW) once she showed the subsequent readiness signs.
Readiness Signs and Introducing Food
Just because Callie was showing interest in our foods, didn’t mean we could just jump right into BLW. One of my friends recommended Solid Starts as a resource for us getting started and it was such great education. I will link their website here and I highly recommend browsing their resources if you are interested in BLW. We took their course before starting, and I would also suggest taking that as it has loads of great information. They have an awesome app as well that shows appropriate ways to cut food which I use frequently.
Another readiness sign is baby being able to sit up mostly unassisted and reaching/holding objects. Around six months, Callie could sit mostly unassisted and was able to hold objects and bring them to her mouth. So we knew she was probably ready to start BLW. We decided to give her banana as her first food and like I said, I used the Solid Starts app to find out how to prepare it.
At the six month mark, most babies are still using their whole hand to pick up objects instead of their fingers. So small, bite-sized pieces are not ideal because babies this age will have a hard time picking them up. Callie fit right into that category and used her whole hand to grab food, almost like a bear paw. Because of this, larger chunks of food are more appropriate so that babies have a better chance of success at grabbing the food and bringing it to their mouths.
Since we chose banana as her first food, we served it to her in two different ways – one half unpeeled, and one half semi-peeled. Bananas are so slippery so I thought having some of the peel still on would help her hold it. At this age, the primary purpose/goal of BLW is for baby to explore and investigate their food. Very few babies will successfully consumes a significant amount of food at this age (which is why breast milk or formula should still be their main source of nutrition.) Callie did taste the banana, but wasn’t very successful at bringing it to her mouth because of the slipperiness. Overall, it was a great first experience with food even though she mainly “played” with it.
Moving Forward
For the next few weeks, we introduced one food at dinner time. That was the easiest time for us because Colin and I were both involved in this meal. We tried to expose her to a wide variety of textures and flavors. She didn’t really consume much, but she enjoyed being with us while also getting to explore her own food.
Colin and I quickly realized why milk is still the primary source of nutrition because at the end of each meal, almost all of the food we gave her was either on her tray or in her bib. And while she wasn’t consuming much, she was learning constantly. We watched her eyes locked on a piece of food identifying the texture, firmness, colors, and more. This was just as educational as her sitting on the floor playing with her toys. And we were able to see her get better and better at holding food every day.
In the early weeks, she tried banana, orange, chicken, potatoes, yogurt, green beans, avocado, eggs, pancakes, strawberries, and more. She took a liking to orange slices and it quickly became her favorite.
The Fear of Choking
This is probably the number one hesitation of BLW because it definitely scared us. When you’re giving your baby purées, it feels like the risk of choking is so much lower because there aren’t chunks of food that can get lodged in baby’s throat. However, I am so glad that we decided to jump into BLW because it has actually taught Callie what food she can handle and what food she can’t.
There was some gagging in the beginning (which is normal) and had we not watched Solid Starts course or done our research, we probably would have thrown in the towel right then and there and called it quits. Choking and gagging are not the same thing and actually gagging is good to see during BLW. I won’t go into the details because, like I said, I’m not an expert. If you want to read more about the difference and what is safe/unsafe there is a great article here.
We Have a Great Eater
I know that not every family who chooses to try BLW will end up with a fantastic eater. But I’m here to say that this approach worked successfully for Callie. We’ve been able to expose her to so many different foods, include her in mealtime with us, and watch her learn so, so much along the way. Another bonus is not having to prepare anything separate or taking additional time spoon feeding baby!
To see if Baby Led Weaning is right for your family, do your research, but I would recommend it again and again. There is a post here discussing all of the products we like and don’t like for BLW if you need some ideas as well, and I will share another post with more up to date information regarding BLW soon! Let me know if you would also like some BLW recipes and I can share some of those as well!
