“Baby Led Weaning” is a method of introducing solids to your chunk that allows your baby to feed himself. Attributed to Jill Rapley, author of Baby-Led Weaning and Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food, BLW promotes sensory play through different tastes, colors and flavors just as much as it promotes healthy eating. To me, this approach is a logical, fun way to introduce babies to solids that doesn’t involve force feeding, artificially preserved slop.
“What the fuck?”
You might think, when you first hear about Baby Led Weaning. “My baby regularly hits himself in the face! How the hell is he going to get food into that slobber factory of an adorable mouth?”
The answer is, he probably won’t. In the early months, Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is about sensory play and exploration more than it is about getting food into his little body. As us crunchy and crispy moms love to recite as our mantra, “Food before one is just for fun”. Baby’s primary source of nutrition should still be breast milk or formula, and table foods are complimentary.
“But why not purees?”
Isn’t there scientific research that says that pureed foods are best for babies? Nah, bruh. Pureed baby foods, particularly those in cans and jars became popular during the Great Depression when people couldn’t afford fresh, nutritious foods, and moms had to spend more time away from their babies working in factories. This was the same time that prune pudding was all the rage, so…yeah. This articlein National Geographic gives a great history of the baby food we know today. If you decide that purees are the best fit for your baby, they’re super easy to make yourself, and you can freeze them ahead.
“Won’t my baby choke?”
If done safely, there’s not a big chance that your baby will actually choke (true choking is when the airway becomes partially or fully blocked). A 2016 study cited on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) site, comparied incidences of choking in infants who self-fed and infants who were fed purees by their parents from antenatal to 9 months. Though 35% of all infants had at least one choking event, there was no significant difference in the number of choking incidences of baby led feeders versus those fed by caretakers. Gagging is a much more realistic possibility as baby learns to navigate how much food to put in his mouth, how to chew, etc. When you begin BLW, your baby won’t have fine motor skills or a very refined “pincer grasp”, so you’ll cut food into long, thin strips that are long enough for baby to grasp, leaving some food poking out from his tiny triumphant fist. As he sharpens his skillz, you’ll be able to serve smaller items like peas, corn, etc. Small, round fruits like grapes and blueberries should be cut into quarters or halves or squashed to avoid choking. Finally, whole nuts, popcorn, and slices of hotdog or circular shaped, hard meats should never be given to baby until baby is no longer a baby…baby.
“So does this mean that we’re weaning now?”
No! This should really be called “Baby Led Feeding”. Let that little milk smuggler have at it for as long as you both are comfortable nursing. As I learned from my local La Leche League, it is very uncommon for a baby to self-wean before 18 months, and the purpose of this approach to feeding is not to encourage baby to wean – it’s to explore, play and learn. Make sure that you are keeping breast milk or formula as your baby’s primary source of nutrition for at least the first year, and always offer the boob or the bottle before you offer solids. I like to offer the boob one hour before offering solids, and immediately after he eats to wash them down.
“So what do I start with?”
“Real” and “hard core” Baby Led Weaning moms, dads, and caretakers feed baby everything that they eat from day one. Another core principal of BLW centers around involving baby in family meal time, which means that she eats what you eat, when you eat it, no exceptions. We modified this in our family because we’re anarchist rule-breakers, and we started with long strips of avocado. We later moved on to sweet potatoes, bananas, and roasted or sauteed zucchini. I originally said to myself that I would only do veggies and add fruits later so that Lawless didn’t develop a sweet tooth, but a banana was the first thing that he grabbed out of my hand, and it didn’t make a lick of a difference. He loves spinach, peas, asparagus – you name it, he eats it. Do steer clear of any added salt, sugar and processed foods – if you give those to your baby, you’re a she-devil.
“This sounds awesome – When can we start?”
Research suggests that all babies should wait until at least 6 months before being introduced to solids to ensure that their guts are mature enough to handle digesting them. Benefits of waiting until 6 months to start solids include decreased chance of unpleasant symptoms like gas, tummy aches, and constipation, and increased immunity if you are breastfeeding.
In addition to waiting until at least months, your baby should be able to sit unassisted (with no help from you or a seat), is starting to develop a pincer grasp and can pick up some smaller items, is interested in food and grabs for it, and has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and no longer automatically spits food out.
“Sign me up.”
Start stocking up on wall-to-wall tarps for your kitchen floor and tell the dog it’s about to be Christmas in July (and to stop mean mugging the baby because they’re about to be best friends). Baby Led Weaning is a messy, hilarious and FUN way of introducing your baby to family meal time. Get ready to be amazed at what you little one is capable of, and to flood Facebook with pictures of your kid with oatmeal covering every square inch of his body, making each and every one of our single friends gag (but not choke) simultaneously.