How I discovered and embraced Baby-Led Weaning/Feeding (BLW)
A few weeks ago I sat at the dinner table and watched Clara furrow her brow as she focused on a centimeter square piece of omelet that was sitting on her dinner tray. She reached a chubby arm and closed her dimpled hand over the egg, raking it closer, before clutching it in her tight grip and transferring it to her mouth. It took some effort, but she succeeded, and thoughtfully chewed and swallowed the omelet before looking around for more. I actually blinked back a few tears in awe and pride.
Clara is not quite six months old and is eating on her own like a little champion. She is slow, messy, and doesn’t actually ingest all that much, but gracious me, she is not picky! In fact, quite the contrary, she wants to eat everything. In solid form, too.
How did we get here? No drippy rice cereal? Brown-colored puree? Well, while I was still pregnant with Clara, my doula tipped me off to a method for introducing solids called Baby-Led Weaning
, or as I like to call it, Baby Led Feeding. I have no intention of weaning Clara yet, but have been supplementing her diet for a month or so now using BLW.
Baby-led feeding is the common-sense practice of giving your baby soft, palatable whole foods and letting her feed herself her first ‘bites’, while continuing to breastfeed. The theory is that babies will experiment and discover food at their own pace, as well as develop new abilities including chewing and keen hand-eye coordination.
I’ve certainly seen firsthand the benefits of skipping purees and moving straight to solids. Not only is it less work in the kitchen, but Clara is continually astounding us with her early ability to chew and participate around the dinner table. And of course I’m hoping in the long run that she’ll be open to a much wider range of food than my boys were.
What are the advantages of BLW?
Skipping purees and going straight to solid food sure sounded attractive to me, as I never enjoyed the spoon-feeding days with my boys, but I have to admit, I wondered if it would really be a success. It only took a few days for me to observe that a baby who is ready and eager to eat, as Clara was, is completely capable of handling, chewing, and eating solid foods.
In brief, here are some of the advantages of BLW versus jarred baby food/purees:
- Baby eats what you eat. So, no extra meal prep, dishes, etc.
- Babies are in control of what they are eating. They stop when they are full, or continue when they are hungry. There’s no (less?) power struggles.
- Babies are more likely to be better eaters as toddlers and young children because they have been exposed to such variety of taste and texture, and been in control of their eating, from such an early age.
- Babies feed themselves, leaving you free to use a knife and fork of your own – while supervising, of course.
- Babies learn to chew first, and then swallow, as opposed to just letting the puree slide down, which, in my opinion, makes for a difficult transition to chunkier food and real solids.
Getting Started
Whether Clara is a budding ‘foodie’ or not, I have to credit BLW for giving me the confidence to set whole foods down in front of my tiny little girl – and allowing her to swipe an occasional slice of tomato off my plate.
We started, unofficially, at 4 months, when she tucked into an ear of corn and proceeded to give it about 20 minutes of her time. From there we moved on to chicken bones, with shreds of meat attached. I had noticed the signs of early teething, so likely the corn and the bone felt good on those sore gums; still, she was obviously interested in food. I just wasn’t sure if her tummy was ready.
By 5 months she was holding a peach and sucking the juices from it. We moved on to vegetables, some braised meats, and pancakes and her chewing improved drastically. A favorite food was oven-roasted zucchini sticks.
Hand-eye coordination and dexterity already surprised us at (almost) 6 months. She now eats as if hungry, although food is still like a toy for her and she gets most of her ‘food’ from breast milk.
Tips for Baby-Led Weaning
Watch for signs that baby is ready.
We eat together as a family every evening as a way of creating a healthy family food culture. While sitting on my lap at the dinner table, Clara would take my hand and gently redirect my fork to her mouth. It doesn’t get more obvious than that.
Other signs we noticed were:
- intently watching others eat
- making little noises and sucking motions with her mouth
- drooling
BLW and a Whole Foods Diet
Families that are striving for whole foods diets are already on the right track to Baby-Led Weaning. Most of the foods on your table are suitable for baby, too, meaning they feature organic ingredients, and are for the most part, unprocessed.
What a time-saver when the entire family can sit together and eat the same dinner!
Clara’s Diet:
I’m starting slowly with Clara, so although she’s been grazing for almost two months, her diet is still limited. I’m holding off on grains (difficult to digest) save for a triangle of French Toast here and there, as well as dairy, although I may try goat yogurt soon.
I’m also waiting on very sweet fruits such as banana, blueberries and pineapple. I’d prefer if she formed an attachment with vegetables and savory flavors before going ‘bananas’, as it were, on sweeter food.
- chicken, usually braised until soft and tender
- beef, some steak, some ground beef (easy to pick up and chew)
- salmon
- peaches, pears, whole or sliced, very ripe, peeled
- strawberries
- broccoli, whole steamed florets
- sweet potato, zucchini ‘fries’, baked
- avocado
- corn on the cob
- carrots, roasted
- scrambled eggs & omelets
- French Toast, pancakes
Right now we’re waiting for Clara to be a little stronger when sitting up, and then it will be time for a whole new menu! Squash, apples, beets – fall has so many lovely foods that I can’t wait for her to try.
Here’s what a few ‘real food’ mothers have to say about Baby-Led Weaning:
Nicole, The Art of Simple.
“BLW has been super fun. I’ve been amazed at the dexterity Hallee has acquired in less than two months. I like that with BLW I am teaching my baby to put food in her mouth and chew it (or suck/gum it to start), rather than teaching her to swallow first, which is actually a little backwards if you think about it.”
Katie, Kitchen Stewardship.
“Baby-led weaning may mean that my 12-month-old eats like a carnivore who loves fruit but I’m okay with that. It feels really good and natural to trust his instincts (except when he throws food overboard onto the floor), and I haven’t missed the special cooking and reheating of “baby food cubes.” My little guy hardly ate anything until 10 months old and then had 4-5 foods he enjoyed, and I’m so glad I didn’t feel like I had to feed him so much food and so many choices. Those power struggles over the highchair tray aren’t worth it.”
Brittany, A Healthy Slice of Life.
“Hailey eats what we eat! I make sure it’s modified to fit her needs (soft, long pieces with no spices), and we can all eat together. And if we’re out? She can eat off our plate- no spooning her food! So far, I love baby led solids.”
Looking ahead
I’ve been told to expect a bit of a lull around 7-8 months as babies get over the novelty of handling and eating foods, but pick up with renewed interest around 9 months. We shall see. I think once Clara discovers how her mama can cook she won’t want to leave the table! *wink*
For me, there is no haste to make and freeze cubes and bags of frozen puree. Clara will eat what we eat and celebrate the seasons and the variety they bring. I’ll definitely be reaching for the The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook
along the way.
Now, if only we had a dog to take care of the mess under the high chair…
Resources:
- The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook
- Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods – and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater
- BabyLedWeaning.com
- BLW Facebook group
Comments? Questions? Experienced BLW parents, I’d LOVE your input!
I’m confused why you would hold off on serving grains and dairy (especially yogurt) because they are difficult to digest, but serve meat (especially red meat and dark meat chicken) which is difficult to digest. Yogurt is easily digestable but the saturated fat content in meat means it is not. What is your rationale here?
Im so glad that other parents are so into this I did it with my little guy who now is a toddler and he is amazing eater all my friends say katie hes not picky and he eats everything its wonderful, we have a 6 month old as well and Im starting him on BLW and I hope he does as well as my toddler did so glad I came across this method saved us so much money in the long road as well.
what a tempest in a teapot!!! BLW is simply common sense…babies need to progress to “normal”foods once their teeth start coming in…40 years ago when my kids were little i would sit them in their playpen in the kitchen, …..wearing only a cloth diaper, and give them a chicken bone to knaw on… they also ate all beef franks and steamed vegetables cut into little squares… all this is frowned on now as children might choke… rubbish!!!! you do need to watch them. babies and toddlers should never be left unattended… so yes, go ahead and feed them, mashed with a fork at first and then in pieces….just cut back on seasoning and salt…
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When they say “weaning” they mean it in the British sense, meaning to introduce something, not in the American sense meaning to take something away. 🙂
Who knew that the way we fed our son 12 years ago had a name? We did this just because it seemed natural to us.
I love this!! My daughter is 7.5 months old and we do this!! I started her on cereal bottles at a month old, then baby foods at 5 months old, and at 6 months old she refused to touch the baby food. Yeah we woul give her little bites of things but after she refused the baby food I had to find an alternative! I have been giving her things that we eat. She loves it. She is also extremely advanced! She started with the puffs and yogurt drops at 4 months old because she was wanting snacks so she started with hand eye coordination early. But her pediatrician knows what I have done with my daughter since day one and she finds it great! I had someone express to me that my daughter was not getting the nutrients she needs from “people food” but she is. We make sure she has all the food groups that she needs on a daily basis. But it has made the choking on bites less frequent because she knows she has to chew and then swallow. I love this technique and it is the same thing my mom did with me, my husbands mother did with all of her kids and I love it!!!! Great post. I just never knew a name for it!!!
I didn’t know this had a name!
We did this with my son. We tried the cereals and purées. He HATED them. Gagged. But he was so interested in what everyone else had. We allowed him strong bones with little meat and he was in love! We also had little mesh bags that you can lock foods into. When they chew it lets juices and small particles through. I think this helped my son learn to love a vast variety of foods and flavors. I also believe it helped his fine motor skills. His doctors were fully supportive!
I will be doing this with this next one too.
What an interesting article. its not surprising that this is getting a lot of controversy. consider this…other species of mammals dont provide a secondary food source when weaning their young off their milk. the young learn to eat by eating exactly what their mothers eat. it may start as nibbling on the bits of grass falling out of a mothers mouth, or simply as imitation. this is the way they learn the difference between food and nonfood items.
i raise chickens along with other animals and not only do i see this everyday with them, but its just common sense. the young chicks, while they arent mammalian and therefore do not have the transition from milk to solids, learn to eat in the same way. the hens will show them what to eat and they must do it themselves. they will go after the same food as the mother in just days of being born. why would we not use the concept on our own children?
besides, consider the nutrtional value of the jarred or processed foods like cereal; they are better than ever, true, but nothing is quite as good as the freshest, unprocessed food we ourselves eat. children need to be exposed to foods in their natural time of progression and instead of sticking to a supposed schedule, why not let them individually grow?
With anything, you must use caution, but don’t let fear stop you from doing something good for your child.
Hi,
My LO is almost 9 months. I had been giving her small pieces of soft food and we did fine until we had 2 choking incidents one of which we almost ended up in the ER. One was on one of those gerber puff things and the other was a cheerio which is something my pediatrician said I could give. I am now really nervous about giving her anything that could cause a “gag” or choke. I plan to talk to my ped about this but was curious if you thought it was too late to start. She is used to the bottle and baby food.
I started using this “method” with my second child. My first is a whole different story due to medical problems, but I am pretty sure I would have done the same with her would she actually put anything in her mouth! It just seemed a natural transition as I knew he was supposed to be getting the majority of his nutrition at the breast, but he really wanted what was on my fork. He was a very curious eater and really enjoyed food. I started with the softest foods off our plates, and I always tried to include at least one thing I knew he would be able to eat. He has always been open to new foods and will still eat just about anything I put on his plate. Now, 7 years later, little sister is doing the same thing. She has always fed herself, unless it was something (mashed potatoes, etc) that really required a utensil. She is still working on using a fork/spoon at 18 months, but she has motor control issues due to an in utero stroke. She, too, loves food and loves to eat. She lets us know in no uncertain terms when she is hungry and when she becomes full. Yes, there is always the fear of a choking incident. It is understandable to be concerned by such things. Alas, the danger of these types of incidents (and many other heart-stopping ones) do not go away. I occasionally almost choke on something I am eating. Actually, it happens much more frequently to me than my baby! Possibly because eating has become rote to me and is something she is still very much experiencing second by second. As stated in the article, starting with actual soft bites seems to train them to chew the things they put in their mouths before they try to swallow rather than becoming accustomed to there not being anything to choke on. I have also noticed that she does not pick up any small thing up off the floor to test in her mouth as food. She has already learned that food objects come from us and that the things she finds on the floor are just debris for her to look at. I have actually witnessed her pick something up and inspect it to see if it was edible and then discard it when she decided it was not. She then picked up the piece of cereal she dropped while eating earlier and, recognizing it, popped it in her mouth. Both pieces had gone unnoticed by me because they were under the edge of the counter. I am not saying there is an actual cause/effect relationship, but there does seem to be a correlation. My son was never one to put random things into his mouth, either. I have really embraced this BLW thing even before i knew it was a “thing”. It has been the same with just about everything. I have let my son and daughter progress through things as they have become ready for them and most transitions have pretty easy. Potty training my son took a week or so (daughter isn’t there yet). We bed share, and when they were ready for their own beds, they pretty much let us know by getting tired of us being in the way. When night time became us all fighting for space and getting no sleep, they went into their own bed and everyone slept well once again. Children will let you know what they are ready for. Usually, if you have to push it, they aren’t ready. If they are trying to do it themselves, they just might be!
I always fed my babies like this just intuitively. I don’t know if it prevented them from being picky. I have four and they are all varying amounts of food-brave. However, they don’t turn their noses up at things without trying them and they all enjoy a healthy variety of foods. I never thought to attribute it to the way they were fed as babies, but it’s possible..
Thank y’all for writing about this. “We” (my friends but he’s a communal baby) have this baby and he eats everything. The parents don’t use bottles or sippy cups or any of the baby stuff (not from the US). He is 7 months now. At 5 months he was eating regular food, all he could get his hands on. His mom and dad weren’t worried (I was, I don’t know babies except for our 7 m/o sister ). He is exclusively breastfed. At my house Sunday he was eating pizza, Doritos, avacado shake. He drinks water like a parched animal. I was worried there was something wrong with him. I seriously breath a lot better now. The only concern now is choking. His sister wasn’t orally inclined like this at all. Our 7 m/o is polydactyl and had 1 surgery all ready. I was worried his eating like a hog was something developmental. Again, thanks for posting this. I’m really glad my little dude isn’t edocrinology different.
Now, if we could get the 3 y/o to eat (or swallow). I call her ET, and she is just so curious. She’ll take a bite and hold it in her mouth until it more or less dissolves. I’m a slow eater, but she’s not following my lead. I almost croaked a few weeks ago, we were coming home from WT’s (7 m/o) f/u ortho, we were eating and the dad half chewed her food then put it in her mouth. Like a bird. (It didn’t help, she still held it in her mouth)
Learning about babies, as well as how babies in diff cultures are raised is fascinating.
Thanks guys!
Sorry,quick add…I know Doritos and pizza aren’t exactly amazing (or even good for him).
I want to try this with our seven month old but am so concerned about choking…. Can you calm my fears?
Don’t worry about chocking. I have been feeding my now 7,5 month old like this for over 2 months now and he loves it. He chews realy well en when something gets in the way at the back of his throat he just coughs it up and resumes chewing ;).
We started with orange veggies like sweet potato, pumpkin and carrots. He now also eats green beans, all kinds of bellpepers, zuchinni, brocolli, cauliflower, green peas, white potato, banana, apple, pear, mango, pineapple, blueberries (big favorite), grapes, steamed chicken or fish and boiled meatballs. And chews on a crust of bread, sometimes with margarine and ham or homemade fishpate (some cottage cheese with salmon). And just plain yoghurt or cottage cheese.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this post! As a first-time mom, I had no idea there was another method of feeding other than jarred or homemade “baby food”. My son is 9 months old and loves to eat and is constantly trying to get his hands on whatever I’m eating. This post has given me the confidence to let him try feeding himself “real foods”. Thank you!
Kerry, I saw your comment and thought I’d offer the information I have come across. We are doing BLW with our son, have for about a month now, and it’s going great. One thing that might help ease your mind is knowing about the difference between gagging and choking.
When you allow the baby to put the food in their own mouth and start learning to chew, they will sometimes gag. This is part of the learning process and it actually helps keep them from choking. It’s like a built in safety feature. 🙂 Other things you can do in order to prevent choking would be things like making sure really crunchy foods are softened (baked, boiled, etc), making sure the pieces of food are big enough for them to grab, and making sure you smush down any round foods so they aren’t as slippery, and are less likely to get away from them.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Im not sure how I feel about this feeding style. Im.concerned that the introduction of foods too early increases the risk of allergies. I’ve noticed a lot of moms focusing on the time to make baby food or prepare it and I wonder why we have to always find the quick way to go. Fast isn’t always better. I’ve always believed in doing what feels right for your family and don’t judge. I feel that babies and small kids arent small adults. They require certain foods and food prep for a short while and can’t we leave well enough alone.
Some studies are showing that waiting TOO long to introduce food can cause food allergies, too.
Aimee is correct – studies do show what holding off on the introduction of foods can be what is causing so many food allergies.
Side note: Studies are also showing that keeping your babies completely (or virtually) germ-free is also a contributing factor to allergy formation in children.
http://www.circleofmoms.com/breastfeeding-moms/early-solids-cause-or-prevent-allergies-early-being-before-6-months-601849.
Follow the link and the first answer says it all.
Have used blw with both my babies (now 3 and 1). Loved it. They both eat everything and our only problem is encouraging them to use cutlery! If you look at you tube there are videos of babies eating and you can see the gag reflex.
How do you know your baby will not take off a huge chunk and not choke?!!! Please help! I’m dying to try this but terrified he will choke! Of course he will be supervised!!! But how does it work?!!! If they take a big bite off? Do the try to swallow it? Or what! Your babies must have had choking instances! Please educate me!!!
My baby just tried her first solids today and I had the same fears. And you know what, she did take off a huge chunk of sweet potato and tried to swallow but she brought it back out of her mouth. she then took a smaller chunk, and swallowed – and it went down. no problems. We were of course very intently watching to make sure it all went well. I still can’t believe it.
My one question is how often to offer solids when starting out?
Hi Aimee, thank you for sharing this.. this is the first time i know about BLW.. my baby is 9 months old, from 6m he eat puree, now he still eat puree with a texture, i wonder how to intoduce him this BLW method? Do you have any suggestion to start it? Because i don’t want to make him so much surprised with the changing of his food, i’m afraid he won’t eat because of the different texture.. but i think this BLW method is really fun 🙂
Thabnk You!
Don’t mean to nitpick, but it’s called baby-led weaning for a reason–giving your baby anything other than breast milk is a form of weaning. Whether that is a good or bad thing for a mom will depend on your baby’s age, your nursing relationship, and baby’s health.
Calling it something different just because your baby isn’t completely weaned could be confusing to other moms and cause moms who have no intention of beginning the the weaning process to think this isn’t weaning when it is.
Kellymom.com has great information on baby-led weaning. Be informed before you start–the weaning process can vary greatly between children.
I know this is a late comment, but it’s actually called “weaning” because it was developed in the UK and they refer to the introduction of solids as “weaning” there. It has a completely different meaning than it does here. I know many moms who have followed this way of feeding and not experienced a decrease in nursing sessions or supply.
Technically the introduction of any solids is the start of the weaning process (even if one continues to nurse past the age of 2). Erin is correct in stating this process should remain labelled baby-led weaning.
We tried this eith both my kids ( and others in the family ), sadly both my girls are picky eaters at 4 and 8. While young under 1 to 2.5, they would happily try and explore any food, but not all inquisitive eaters stay that way. As kids grow their pallet changes, they also be one more assertive about choosing their own foods. My 4 year old is dead set against eating noodles and cheese, but will eat Chinese noodle soup and cheese pizza. I don’t mean to be a Debby Downer, but I wanted to make sure those reading know that baby led feeding, doesn’t always guarantee a child who’s a great eater.
My 14 month old would eat just about anything until a month or two ago (king ranch chicken! enchiladas!)!and now he won’t eat even PB&J. He is living on yogurt, muffins, waffles, and oatmeal currently. Oh and bananas and grapes. I don’t understand what happened!
This is the first time I’m hearing of this. It’s a bit scary but awesome. How were you sure she won’t choke?! Does she even have any teeth yet? I can’t imagine how she can possibly eat things like chicken and steak or corn on the cob without teeth!
My six month old is very interested in food but I give her homemade purees. Never even thought of letting her have the stuff she tries to grab off my plate!
You’d be pretty surprised at what babies can “chew” with those gums!
My little ones both ate all kinds of stuff before they had teeth.
Of course you don’t know for sure that they won’t gag, but as someone else pointed out, that’s a part of the eating/learning process. Gagging is not necessarily a bad thing and typically doesn’t require intervention as the gag reflex itself is trying to correct the situation. But I digress.
If your baby is trying to grab food off your plate, let her try it! Within reason, obviously. But my kids were eating steak, chicken, fruits, veggies, even sushi and no one ever choked on anything.
Thank you! I was wondering about that. This sounded too good to be true. I’m curious about this method but still couldn’t understand how it might help in the long run
Stumbled upon this thru Pinterest. I recently moved and have become good friends with the neighbors across the road. They have a 6 month old boy and I watched in shock as the mom just allowed this boy to eat whatever she was having. I was so used to seeing new parents give jarred baby foods or blending their own that I couldn’t help but wonder about it. I’ll add that the young couple is Amish so I assumed it was an “Amish thing” but reading about this makes me realize its not and that the parents doing this are actually going back to the way feeding babies began. Cave people didn’t have studies and pureed food yet people are still here. In the end the parent should do what they feel most comfortable with. I have been given an education watching this baby eat and I’ve not seen a jar a baby food around.
Baby ked weaning is awesome when done correctly. Introducing solids prematurely and damaging your child’s gut is not.
BLW is wonderful. My son (now 9 months started on puréed food at 5 months but was bored with it and interested in ours by 6. As far as choking or them not being able to chew it up, he still hasn’t gotten a single tooth and does fine. He will occasionally gag, but has never choked. He gets a little red in the face and sometime spits it back out, but he’s sure ready to try again as soon as possible! Just keep an eye on them. You’ll be surprised by how good their instincts are already.
This is a great article. I ended up doing this with my daughter who got bored with icky purees within six weeks of starting, I gave her basically everything we ate and I could nog believe her appetites. Now 18 months shes turned into a pickier eater than she use to be, but I think she just wants new things all the time. One of the biggest benefits that I think come fromBLW is learning to chew and swallow, she has never come close to choking and had always been aware when something was too far back in her throat and coughed it up. And due to that I have a greater confidence in her eating abilities I have friends who freak out when she munches away on a whole hot dog or carrot but she wants to and can eat like that because we started so early. I plan on doing this with my next child too.
I am very interested in starting this with my daughter (10 months), but she is an easy gager any tiny little bit of solid food makes her cough and gag. She is primarily breastfeeding and eats pureed foods well. I would love to hand her a picked over cob of corn but I’m afraid she will gag and choke on the pieces she gets. How do I encourage her to chew? Is it just a matter of practice? Baby’s airways are so reactive that giving her solids makes me nervous. Gaging and coughing are a protective reflex in children to help prevent choking but there are times when they can aspirate the item into their airway and possibly lungs then you are put into a situation of trying to clear an airway and a blue baby. Maybe I am just a little too educated in the world of emergencies. I assume I should wait until she is over a year before I try this with her since she is so sensitive. What do you suggest?
I didn’t know this was what we have been doing, but we are doing this as well. =) My first child did not want anything to eat till she was 8 months of age, and by then we had gotten the purees. My second daughter loved EVERYTHING. Broke out the soft foods and purees at 6 months, and she has been inhaling food ever since. My third child, though, is the one that gave us problems.
6 months rolled around, and she would not eat the purees. No biggie, neither did her oldest sister. Then 8 months rolled around. Still refused to eat. She wouldn’t even drink water! 10 months, 11 months, nope! And around that time my husband and I decided to switch our family to whole foods, vegetarian, and we juice once a day. She immediately started eating! Only a week or two shy of her first birthday, just in time for cake!
She LOVES fresh fruit and veggie juices, homemade pizza, soups, roasted veggies, hummus, and even sushi rolls. She’s nearly 14 months, and she’s still getting most of her nutrition from breastmilk which feels very natural. She’s happy and growing. Still a bit of a weirdo, though. Picky for whole foods? Refusing stuff like cookies? I’ve never heard of a kid like that. lol And the first birthday cake? Refused to eat it. Guess it was too processed.
My girls were great eaters. I unknowingly was doing BLW. They loved veggies, fruit, everything!! The only difference I did was NOT give any meat, but choose tofu in small amounts.
Umm FYI you aren’t actually doing a grain free diet if you let her eat corn…corn is a grain.
Corn on the cob is not a grain. It’s a vegetable.
I think the important part about this style and the main difference is that it skips over the blended/rice/goo phase and introduces actual solids. If you want an exclusively breast fed baby until a year then don’t introduce any other types of food at all, blended, solid or otherwise, hence the “exclusively” breastfed. The point is that when your child shows interest you give him the same stuff you eat instead of blended mush. Introducing a chicken bone is going to have the same “effect” -if any- on your breastfeeding relationship as introducing blended chicken baby food. The decision to wean/introduce solids and how young your baby is ready to do so, is completely separate. This is simply an alternative way to introduce your baby to other foods.
Please don’t wait a full year until introducing solids. The AAP recommends introducing solids (purees, etc.) at six months because the baby requires iron and other nutrients that breastmilk will not exclusively provide.
You can still breastfeed up through (and past) one year in conjuction with feeding your baby solids.
Above all, please consult your doctor before making any drastic feeding decisions.
I just stumbled on your blog from searching for baby led weaning recipes. Will become a regular reader, thanks for the quality information!
I did this with my daughter because she was premature and I worried about anything else harming her after 5 surgeries and wow, at 11 months people think she’s a small 2 year old because of how well she manages her food and her goid motor skills. Her speech is above that of her cousin and she is willing to eat anything. BLW helped her develop more than any therapy or doctor did.
I love this! I did this with my first child and started at 4 mths too. I’m planning the same with my second child too. My son is now five and eats ANYTHING, while he doesn’t hesitate to try it out first and will say if he likes it or not. There are very few foods he won’t eat. We just start with veggies when we did start with him and waited till he was about 9/10 months with fruits ( just because of the natural sugar in fruit). Babies have tons of natural instinct and they know when the pieces are to big. I think as parents we fear it more than they do. But this is a great method and i think it helps babies become more independent and curious about different things. My son is a great eater and loves homemade foods and still till this days eat veggies on a daily basis (raw&cooked). This is great post. Love it
Great article! If you’re interested in the history and creation of processed baby food, Dr. Amy Bentley from NYU will be presenting an author talk at Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware on May 7, 2015. Dr. Bentley will discuss her book, Inventing Baby Food: Taste, Health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet, which explores how thinking on childhood nutrition has been shaped over the years. The lecture is free and open to the public, and mothers are welcome to bring their children! For more information, visit Hagley’s website or send me an email with any questions! http://www.hagley.org/author-talk-amybentley
Ok here is my problem with this and don’t take it the wrong way. I am really interested in trying to do BLW but every time I come across a post like this it seems like BLW is only meant for breast feeding babies, I have yet to come across something that says you can transition from Formula to Food.
Hi Aimee
I have tried so many things post 5 month completion of baby ,but nothing was working out….
As I hail from India , here one cartoon character “Chhota Bheem” & another one which is famous across the world “wheels on the bus” is extremely famous & kids can easily develop connect with this….while watching this cartoon my baby take the feed very easily & comfortably & 🙂 really he dont take a single pie if I pause this cartoon on youtube.
My husband made a Youtube video of baby’s feeding during watching it & posted there (he was considering this trick as a help for feeding) , kindly spare time & have a look on this this as this has become an oncession for my baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlW6h3TpUHI
My question is , how can I develop the habbit of taking feed regularly while he not watching the cartoon ?
I have already visited many doctors but baby is not keen to take the feed.
Kindly help & pls suggest what to do………..
You have written a good article (https://simplebites.net/how-i-discovered-and-embraced-baby-led-weaningfeeding-blw/) but I am still searching answer for my problem.
Please suggest
So I really wish I would have known about this before I started my son on pureed foods. I have mini heart attacks every time I feed him now that I’m introducing “chunky” purees to get him used to chewing. My question though is were any of you mommys that have introduced food this way ever super scared of choking?? I am terrified! I am a first time mom so I guess everything kinda freaks me out but am I the only one here??
Also if anyone has any tips on how to start my kiddo on finger foods it would be much appreciated, I used to look forward to feeding him now I am a tensed up mess…HELP!!
So, I read in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, that up to about 6 months old, babies have a reflex in their tongue that automatically blocks off their throat from anything passing by that isn’t milk/formula/trusted. You can try it out for yourself if you have a six month old or younger: try to stick your finger in their mouth and get passed the mid-arch of their tongue. They’ll block it every time unless there’s an underlying issue. That reflex begins to fade after 6 months and is almost gone by either 9 months or a year–the very age-range babies begin to explore food naturally. So when it comes to food, babies learn what they can eat and what they can’t based on texture, taste, color, shape, smell, pleasurability, etc. The things identified as food go down, the things that aren’t come back out because they aren’t rewarding in the way that food is. This makes babies far less likely to choke than their parents might expect. Also, a baby spends it’s first months eating by sucking (think developing muscle tone), so unless there is an issue with their swallowing or reflexes, they are very unlikely to choke. My suspicion is, then, that when my 10 month old stopped putting stuff off the floor (legos, rocks, etc) in his mouth, it was because he had learned that that stuff was not food, and not worth his time to explore orally anymore.
My first two kids had both lost the tongue thrust by 4 months old and were crying and grabbing for my food. I had intended to wait until 6 months, but one day at about 4 and a half months I was trying to eat a peanut butter sandwich out of reach of my baby while he whined. And I thought to myself, if he wants it that much, just give him a bite. I did – he chewed and swallowed it and then I started freaking out about the possibility of a peanut allergy. Luckily he was just fine. After that I decided it was okay to let him start trying things. Different babies grow at different rates, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that some babies are ready to start on solids at 4 months and some not until 7 or 8.
I LOVE the idea of Baby Led Weaning. When my son was very young, I read tons about it, so excited to give it a try when he turned 6 months old. He’s now nearly 11 months, and has such a severe issue with textures that he literally doesn’t eat ANY solids. He’s barely beginning to take his first bite of purees!
Really hoping to be able to try BLW with baby #2 one day, but I think I was given a good reminder that I’m not the one in control (; Thank you so much for sharing <3
I wish I would’ve known about this method when introducing baby food. My twins are 10 month old and just started on solids. We are doing baby food and finger foods in each meal. Its very confusing for my husband and I. We are first time parents and dont really know what to do. I was wondering if you could give me some advice. Like I said we are doing both baby food and solids in each meal. My twins are doing very good chewing the foods (we have done avocado, peas, broccoli, bread, bluberries, strawberries and eggs). We are offering only one solid during each meal, but we dont know how to completly remove baby food. We are scared that they will not eat enough food, since some of it doesnt makr it to their mouths. We are also worried to offer any type of meat since they only have the two bottom teeth. Please any advice that you can give me is appreciated. Thank you.
Just wondering if it’s ok to feed my baby chicken bones before he’s a year old… I thought they couldn’t have that kind of protein when they are that age?
The only question/worry i have is what happens when you have a child who “shovels” food into their mouth? Also can you start baby led weaning with a child who has previously had purees and mushy food? I am so afraid of choking and my son is almost 11 months. Is it to late?
This form of feeding to me is extremely dangerous! Think about it, the baby only has two teeth in front on top an two on bottom. There are no back teeth yet. How do you suppose the baby is fully and adequately chewing without any back teeth. Now parents, take a small piece of cut up peeled apple or bread of what have you and place it in your mouth and try chewing it with your tongue. Do not use your teeth and then swallow. Do this for a few bites when your hungry and see how quickly a lump of backed up unchewed food starts to lodge itself in the base of your throat, feel th pressure build in your chest. Now go to bed and sleep like that. See if you don’t awaken nearly choking on your recurgitated food in the middle of the night and then tell me how great this new found lazy way of feeding your child is.