What is Baby-Led Weaning?
Baby-led weaning (BLW) is allowing your child to experiment with foods and become independent in feeding himself. Food is not pureed and the baby uses his hands to explore textures of a variety of foods.
Some parents choose to try BLW. If so, allow your baby to join in during family meal time and offer him a range of nutritious finger food.
As your baby grows older, he may enjoy more filling foods with stronger flavours. You can introduce him to:
- spinach
- pieces of softer fruit – pear/banana/cantaloupe
- pieces of toast cut up
- different types of breads
- chunks of ripe avocado or cucumber
- soft, cooked meat, fish and poultry
- hard-boiled or well-cooked eggs
- cooked pasta
- well-cooked carrot sticks
- mini rice cakes/ rice biscuits
- strips of pancake/ toast
- pieces of cheese
I personally avoid giving my baby sweet biscuits and rusks as these offer little nutritional value.
Remember, your baby will find it easiest to pick up food which have a handle, such as broccoli.
You may find that bub will initially just play with the food or throw it on the floor. Soon they might suck on it and begin to enjoy the flavours of the different foods. Keep up giving your baby breastmilk or formula between his meals as the amount of soilds may not be enough to keep him sustained.
Benefits of BLW?
Babies get the chance to explore foods for themselves. It means they can cope with different food textures from the beginning of weaning.
Babies are generally more likely to eat anything and everything and this helps to take the worry out of starting solids. Babies who are allowed to feed themselves from the beginning of weaning are also more likely to join in with family mealtimes from an early age. they are introduced to a wide range of family foods early on and therefore may be less fussy.
BLW – not for everyone!
You may find that BLW can be a messy process and food can get wasted. I found that a lot of my baby’s food ended up on the floor opposed to his mouth!
When I first began BLW, I was very afraid that my baby would choke on the pieces of food. I soon learnt that as long as babies can sit upright, they are generally fine. Babies should still never be left alone when eating.
Tips during mealtime:
- Place the high chair close to your table, so they feel apart of the family.
- Give them their own bowls, spoons etc.
- Offer a lot of encouragement to your baby for ‘good trying’.
- Use lots of different colours and arrange the foods in an interesting way on the plate (EG: a smiley face!).
- Begin with smaller portions so your baby is likely to finish their meal.
Do you have any other tips or strategies you use for BLW? Please share them with us in the comments section below.
Originally posted 2014-03-20 05:23:54.
I did a mix of baby and parent-led weaning and it worked out really well for my now 2-year old little boy. He loves a variety of food, and while he does tend to stick to his favourites, he is a lot more open to trying to new things and will generally eat a large variety of fruits, veggies, meat and grains. We have some great photos of him chomping on a corn cob and lamb shank at about 10months old. Precious!
Great article!
Starting with smaller portions is a great idea which we cottoned onto with baby no 2. We’d literally give her one piece of food (eg. One steamed carrot stick) and wouldn’t give more unless she ate it. Much less food wasted that way!