Baby Led Weaning: the Essential Guide

Baby-led weaning has been steadily growing in popularity since the early 2000s, thanks to new books, apps and studies showing its benefits. For many parents, it’s the Holy Grail: Serving baby what you’re eating means you’re only cooking one meal for the whole family, and it lets baby experiment with food independently, which is said to help keep picky eating at bay. Other parents prefer to go the puree route, whether it’s because it’s what their parents did or because introducing textures to baby seems tricky. Pediatricians will often say there’s no “right” way to start solids, and to go with the method that’s best for you and baby.

When starting our son with solids around 6 months, we ended up combining purees with baby-led weaning. I wasn’t totally comfortable starting him with chewable solids at 6 months old, so we tried purees and oatmeal first. Once he was comfortable with those, we moved on to bite-sized pieces of pasta, veggies and fruit at around 8 months. By 9 months, he was an avid fan of chunky chicken-and-veggie soup—which he is to this day, at 3 years old. By going with the flow and organically introducing him to foods we love, we minimized the pressure. This approach may not work for everyone, but it’s good to keep in mind that there’s no one way to do baby-led weaning.

Ahead, learn the ins and outs of baby-led weaning, including benefits, the ideal time to start and the best baby-led weaning first foods.

Key Takeaways

• Baby-led weaning—or BLW—promotes independent feeding, lets baby practice crucial oral and motor skills, and allows baby to try a variety of textures and flavors.
• While some are concerned about the risks of choking with baby-led weaning, it’s no more common than with purees as long as you take certain precautions and is rare overall. But you will want to avoid serving common choking hazards for babies, such as hot dogs and popcorn.
• Before starting, make sure baby’s at least 6 months old, able to sit up with minimal support and shows interest in food.

What Is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-led weaning, also sometimes simply referred to as BLW, is a process that follows baby’s cues while introducing them to table foods that the whole family eats. The practice of baby-led weaning allows baby to self-feed finger foods as their first solid food, rather than the more traditional oatmeal or fruit and vegetable purees.

Many American parents associate the term “weaning” with easing baby off of breast milk or formula, but baby-led weaning is all about adding solid foods into baby’s diet, not taking milk or formula away (at least not right away). In fact, baby should still be getting the majority of their calories and nutrients from breast milk or formula until they turn one year old.

Baby-led weaning vs purees

The difference between baby-led weaning and purees is more about the method than the actual foods, says Kary Rappaport, OTR/L, SCFES, a pediatric occupational therapist, senior feeding therapist at Solid Starts and a co-author of new book Solid Starts for Babies. “The traditional method of starting solids with spoon-feeding encourages parents to control the spoon and use staged purees to slowly build up to chewable foods,” she explains, while with baby-led weaning, baby’s feeding themselves a variety of textures and sizes from the start.

Rappaport adds that it’s perfectly okay to start with feeding purees if you prefer that, but recommends doing it in a baby-led way, “such as by allowing baby to reach out and dip their fingers in the puree or by allowing baby to grab and hold the spoon so they can bring it to their mouth.”

Benefits of Baby-Led Weaning

Proponents say there are numerous benefits of baby-led weaning, which include:

• Fostering independence. With baby-led weaning, baby has control over what and how much they eat. “Baby’s allowed to explore foods that the rest of the family enjoys, at their own pace, which can help build internal motivation at the table and a love of the same foods and flavors the rest of the family eats,” says Rappaport.
• Practicing oral and motor skills. Self-feeding a variety of foods helps baby to work on tongue movements, jaw strength and swallowing, as well as on the fine motor skills needed to pick up various sizes of food with their fingers. Hand-eye coordination is a big skill here too.
• Trying a variety of textures and flavors. This “helps baby to become familiar with these textures and helps baby develop strong chewing skills,” says Rappaport. Plus, trying more types of foods early on can help prevent picky eating down the road, research suggests.
• Convenience. Simply put, it can be easier to serve baby the same meals as the rest of your family rather than preparing something different. Eating at restaurants is less tricky too. Since you don’t have to buy special baby food, it can also be less expensive!

When to Start Baby-Led Weaning

Wondering when to start baby-led weaning? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends starting solids when baby’s around 6 months old, although individual development plays a role. In general, baby’s typically ready to start solids when they can sit up with minimal support, have good head control, and reach and grab for objects. Plus, it helps when they show interest in food—like grabbing for the food on your plate.

Rappaport notes that research points to a critical time window between approximately 6 and 8 months when “babies are most developmentally open to, and capable of learning to eat.”

“So many things come together in such a beautiful way during this important time,” Rappaport explains. “Babies in this window can sit up and bring food to their own mouth, they have a strong drive to explore all things with their hands and mouth, they have a high tolerance for flavors and smells and they have strong reflexes and mechanisms to help them learn to chew while also keeping them safe.” She says that if you wait to introduce chewable foods to baby after they’re one year old, it may be more challenging for them to learn to chew, and it could take longer for them to accept new foods.

Personally, it felt right for us to start baby-led weaning at 8 months, but I do wonder if my son would be a little less of a picky eater now if we had started earlier and consciously introduced a wider variety of foods. (We tend to be creatures of habit in our busy day-to-day lives: chicken, tomatoes, yogurt, repeat.) That said, I’ve heard plenty of stories of babies who tried every food only to turn into picky toddlers.

How to Start Baby-Led Weaning

Once baby meets the requirements listed above, it’s time to get started! Here’s some advice on how to start baby-led weaning, according to Rappaport and Solid Starts:

• Create a peaceful environment free of distractions.
• Let baby self-feed—which means resisting the temptation to bring food to baby’s mouth!
• Offer small portions of different foods at each mealtime. Make sure to prepare foods that baby can easily grab and hold. Check out some easy baby-led weaning recipes here.
• Rappaport encourages “responsive spoon-feeding,” in which you pre-load the spoon and let baby eat off it or grab it themselves.
• Don’t pressure baby to eat.
• This might not be easy, but let baby get messy! Mess is inevitable with baby-led weaning, but keeping things stress-free is key.

How to cut food for baby-led weaning

To make foods safe for baby-led weaning, they need to be the right shape and texture, says Jenna Helwig, a food editor, personal chef and author of the cookbook Baby-Led Feeding. “Shape-wise, you want to make sure they’re either in long, thin strips or very small pieces,” she says. “Anything round or coin-shaped could be a choking hazard. In terms of texture, you should be able to smush the food with gentle pressure between your thumb and forefinger.” And make sure that the food is chewable for baby, she adds.

At around 6 months, babies are still using their palmar grasp to pick up foods, Helwig explains. “This means they use their whole hand and why foods cut into long, thin strips are easier for baby to pick up, bring to their mouth and still access part of the food,” she says. See examples below:

Once baby’s pincer grasp has developed, often around 9 months, you can decrease the size of the food to smaller pieces since baby can now pick up food with their thumb and forefinger, says Helwig. She recommends lightly smashing small, round foods like chickpeas and blueberries before serving them. See examples below:

Baby-led weaning and choking

Choking can be a concern for many parents considering baby-led weaning. But rest assured that by following a few simple baby-led weaning tips, parents can keep the risk of choking at bay. In fact, a 2016 study from the AAP found that baby-led weaning babies weren’t any more likely to choke than babies fed traditional purees. Rappaport adds that choking in babies is extremely rare, and that parents can sometimes mistake choking for gagging, which looks like retching, coughing or crying and is pretty normal when starting solids.

Of course, it’s still important to take precautions. To avoid choking, the AAP advises against giving a child 12 months or younger any food that’s considered a choking hazard. When you try baby-led weaning, foods to avoid for risk of choking include:

• hot dogs
• nuts and seeds
• chunks of meat or cheese
• whole grapes
• popcorn
• raw vegetables
• anything diced too small, like fruit chunks
• hard, gooey or sticky candy
• honey (it also poses a risk of infant botulism)

Aside from not giving baby those foods, here are some additional safety tips to consider with baby-led weaning:

• Give baby safe, baby-led weaning foods (listed out below)
• Have baby sit in an upright position at the table while eating
• Always supervise baby when they’re eating
• Avoid distractions that could cause baby to choke, such as trying to make baby laugh or letting them wriggle around excessively
• Take CPR lessons and request for your caregivers to do the same. Things happen, so it’s always best to be prepared
• Allow baby to explore their gag reflex on their own, but know how to tell the difference between gagging and choking
• Be patient and don’t attempt BLW when you’re in a rush!

First Baby-Led Weaning Foods

At least initially, mealtime should feel like playtime to baby, suggests Gill Rapley, PhD, coauthor of Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide, who first coined the concept of baby-led weaning. Given that your little one will still be getting the majority of their nutrition from breast milk or formula, mealtime should be more about exploring food than caloric intake. Some of the best baby-led weaning foods are those that are soft and easy to mash up, and therefore—you guessed it—messy! Ready to start prepping? Check out these tasty baby-led weaning foods below:

Fruit:

• Bananas (cut into thirds with peel partially removed, to serve as handle)
• Sliced strawberries
• Mushed berries
• Sliced orange wedges (without membranes or seeds)
• Sliced avocados

Veggies:

• Steamed broccoli florets
• Steamed carrot strips
• Baked sweet potato wedges
• Steamed green beans and peas
• Sliced tomatoes

Protein:

• Cut-up or shredded chicken
• Quartered hard-boiled eggs
• Tofu strips
• Shredded boiled beef
• Ground beef casserole

Grains:

• Spaghetti
• Whole wheat toast cut into strips
• Bagel with hummus or cream cheese

Dairy:

• Cottage cheese
• Plain or Greek yogurt
• Shredded full-fat mozzarella or swiss cheese

Sample BLW Baby Feeding Schedules

As you begin introducing baby-led weaning, you’ll continue breast- or bottle-feeding as usual but add in opportunities for baby to explore new foods at breakfast, lunch and dinner. So what does that new daily routine actually look like? Every family’s day will look a little different, of course, but to help you introduce baby-led weaning, consider these sample feeding schedules based on baby’s age.

6-8 month baby-led weaning schedule

7 a.m.: Wake up and nurse or bottle-feed
8 a.m.: Breakfast (soft fruits and yogurt)
8:30 - 10:30 a.m.: Nap
10:30 a.m.: Wake up and nurse or bottle-feed
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: Nap
2:30 p.m.: Nurse or bottle-feed
4:30 - 5 p.m.: Quick nap
5 p.m.: Wake up and nurse or bottle feed
5:45 p.m.: Dinner (soft veggies and protein)
6:45 p.m.: Nurse or bottle feed
7 p.m.: Bedtime

9-12 month baby-led weaning schedule

7 a.m.: Wake up and nurse or bottle-feed
8 a.m.: Breakfast (soft fruits and hard-boiled eggs)
10 - 11:30 a.m.: Nap
11:30 a.m.: Wake up and nurse or bottle feed
12:30 a.m.: Lunch (whole wheat bread with hummus and avocado slices)
2:30 - 4 p.m.: Nap
4 p.m.: Nurse or bottle-feed
5:45 p.m.: Dinner (soft veggies and protein)
6:45 p.m.: Nurse or bottle feed
7 p.m.: Bedtime

To Sum It Up

Baby-led weaning is a safe way to introduce baby to solid foods that can encourage them to be more independent. Try not to stress too much when starting (including about the mess!)—baby’s an expert at this. “Know that your baby was born to learn to eat and can do this, so try to trust baby and follow their lead,” says Rappaport.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.