What is baby led weaning?

You might have heard the phrase baby led weaning (blw) and wonder what exactly it means.  It really is as simple as it sounds.  It’s the process of moving from a milk based diet to eating solid foods, but rather than parents leading the way baby takes charge!

The signs that your baby is ready to start eating solid food are the same regardless of whether you are planning to follow baby led weaning or traditional weaning.  Here’s a quick reminder:

• Baby can sit well, holding their head steady and not slumping in the high chair.  A straight line from mouth to stomach is important to minimise choking risks.
• Baby has sufficiently developed hand eye coordination.  They can look at, pick up, and put a piece of food in their mouth, with no assistance.
• Baby has lost the ‘tongue thrust reflex’ and can swallow food.  If your baby keeps pushing their food back out then they are probably not quite ready for food yet.

It is important that your baby has ticked all three of these boxes before you begin to introduce solid food.  Most babies will be ready around the six month mark.

How to get started

As your baby gets bigger it can be fun to start to include them in mealtimes.  Pull the high chair up to the table and give them some baby cutlery to play with. As they reach six months, providing they are sitting well in the high chair you can start to put some food on the tray/table and let your little one explore!

Baby led weaning means giving your baby control over their food. they are in charge of what, how much and how fast they eat.  They pick up the food and feed it to themselves rather than eating food off a spoon presented to them by an adult.

First foods

The best foods to start with are foods that can be presented as batons about the size of your finger.  Cucumber sticks, roasted carrots and parsnips, sweet potato wedges and batons of melon are all good options.  Fingers of toast or crumpets with various toppings and finger sandwiches are also good choices. Broccoli florets come with a built in handle and asparagus, baby corn and green beans are already the right shape.

Banana is a fab first food but it can get slippery and make for frustrating mealtimes for baby.  Try leaving the skin on part of the banana to give your little one something to get hold of.  Alternatively, if you gently compress a banana across its width it should break into three lengthwise sections which will be easier for little hands.

As your baby gets bigger their fine motor control will improve and they will be able to feed themselves smaller items of food such as pieces of pasta. When they develop their pincer grip at around 9 months your little one will be able to pick up peas, raisins and ‘O’ shaped cereals amongst other things. There are all sorts of recipes and ideas out there for porridge fingers, pancakes, frittatas, muffins and more!

What about wet food?!

Of course even as adults we don’t exclusively eat chunky foods!  Porridge, soup, yoghurt, risotto and mashed potatoes are all soft or even runny foods that we wouldn’t want the littlest member of our family to miss out on.  In the beginning you can load a spoon up with some food and let baby feed themselves.  This is a skill that takes time to learn so don’t be surprised if most of it ends up on their face at first! As they get bigger and gain more control they will want to start scooping the food up on their own.  Offering a pre-loaded spoon alongside one they can try with is a good way to make sure some of the food gets in their mouth!

How much should my baby be eating?

This is one of the advantages of blw!  As your baby is in charge of their food intake they will eat when they are hungry and stop when they’ve had enough. In the beginning most of the food will end up on the floor but most babies catch on pretty quickly.  In the first weeks and even months of weaning exercising motor skills and the sensory experience of trying all these new foods are just as important as the foods themselves.

Is it messy?!

Honestly? Yes! But then weaning with purées is not exactly mess free either! A good high chair for blw is one that has minimal crevices for bits of food to get stuck in.  A messy mat under the high chair to catch dropped food is definitely a good idea if you eat in a carpeted space and still useful even if you have hard floors.  Full coverage bibs that come right down over your little ones front and have integrated sleeves are not expensive but far superior to smaller varieties when blw.  Equally, eating dinner in just a nappy is an excellent way to cut down on laundry!

Is there any food we can’t offer?

Yes, there is a list of food that isn’t suitable for babies regardless of whether they are being spoon fed or are self feeding here are the things to steer clear of:

• Sugar – natural sugars in fruit are fine.  Your baby doesn’t need sugar added to meals such as on top of cereal.  Sugary drinks like juices and milkshakes are unnecessary.  Chocolate, sweets, biscuits and cakes are also best avoided.
• Salt – It’s not good for baby’s kidneys, so avoid jarred sauces, ready meals and gravy. Stock cubes, bacon and sausages are also high in salt.  Don’t add extra salt to your little ones meals.
• Honey – it contains a bacteria that can cause botulism, a very serious illness that can make your baby extremely poorly.  Completely avoid until baby is 1.
• Certain cheeses – unpasteurised cheese, mould ripened soft cheese, ripened goats cheese and soft blue veined cheese all carry a risk of listeria.
• Whole nuts and peanuts – ground and chopped nuts are fine from 6 months.  Whole nuts pose a choking risk, don’t give whole nuts to babies or children under 5 years.
• Raw shellfish – cook thoroughly to avoid food poisoning.
• Shark, Swordfish and Marlin – your little ones nervous system can be damaged by the high levels of Mercury found in these fish.
• Rice drinks – avoid until at least age 5 as they can contain high levels of arsenic
• Tea or coffee.

Gagging vs. Choking

Most babies gag when learning to eat solid food.  It’s part of the process of understanding how much food they can chew and swallow, and how much they need to chew before they swallow. If you’re not expecting it though it can be a bit of a shock and you might think they’re choking.  So how do you tell the difference?

A baby who is gagging will cough and make gagging noises. Their eyes may water and they might go a bit red.  Their tongue will push forward to force the food out and they might even vomit the food up. As tough as it might seem, if you let them get on with it their gag reflex will deal with it.  Don’t be tempted to try and remove the food from their mouth as you could push it further in and cause them to choke.

A baby who is choking will struggle to cough and may make no noise at all, their lips and face will usually turn blue or pale and they will need help from you:

• Get them out of the high chair and shout for help,
• Lay them face down on your lap with their head slightly lower than their bottom,
• Support their chin,
• Give 5 sharp blows with the heel of your hand right between the shoulder blades.

There is more detailed advice on how to help a choking baby on the Red Cross website.  If you can, attending a family/baby first aid course is always going to be a good idea.

To reduce the risk of choking there are a few simple things you can do:

• Sit baby up straight in their high chair.
• Never leave your baby unattended while they’re eating.
• cut small round foods, like grapes and cherry tomatoes, into small pieces.
• peel the skin off fruit, vegetables and sausages (though remember that sausages can be high in salt).
• remove hard pips or stones from fruit.
• remove bones from meat or fish.
• children under 5 years shouldn’t be given whole nuts and peanuts.
• never give raw jelly cubes, they can get stuck in the throat.

Baby led weaning is a brilliant way to introduce foods to your little one. Giving them control over their food encourages them to have a good understanding of their appetite.  Self feeding is a superb sensory and learning experience.  Not needing an adult to feed them means baby can take part in family mealtimes, and feeding baby family foods definitely cuts down on prep time for you!