All About Baby Led Weaning
BLW is the idea that you should introduce soft finger foods from the start, and allow your baby to feed themselves. This means not spoon feeding purees at every meal, but offering things like soft avocadoes, or steamed carrots and allowing them to eat at their own pace, play with their food, and make a mess. Arguments for BLW say that it allows them to be more comfortable with the textures of foods and they can learn to listen to their hunger cues. Coking and gagging is common during BLW but the risk is minimal because they are eating such soft foods. It allows them to learn how to move food in their mouth and adjust their gag reflex so they are ready for whole foods. Many argue that purees don’t teach them how to chew, but rather just swallow. This leads to more choking when they are older because they are so used to ‘drinking’ their food.
Most babies are ready to start BLW around six months, as this is when they can typically. If your baby is ready around 5.5 months or 6.5 months, that is okay!
Sit up with minimal support
Show interest in what others are eating
Reach out to grab food
Have lost the tongue-thrust reflex (which pushes food out of the mouth)
It is important to be aware of the top allergens. You introduce these one day at a time and start with a small amount. A smaller amount means a smaller reaction, in case of an allergic reaction. Moderate reactions include hives and rashes, more severe reactions will be swelling or hives focused around the neck and mouth. Severe reactions will typically happen within 15 minutes. For example, I would dip my finger in peanut butter and just place it straight in babies mouth and wait at least 30 minutes to make sure there are no reactions. Then I could give another food, or more peanut butter, but I would not introduce another allergen until the next day.
My personal preference, is to introduce allergens at breakfast time, so I have the morning to contact the pediatrician. I also feed without clothes, just so I can watch for any rashes that may appear. Anything that has high acidity like tomatoes, kiwi, lemon, strawberries, or limes, may also cause contact rashes around the mouth or may cause a diaper rash from the acidic content. But this isn’t anything to be concerned about and is totally normal!
Cows Milk
Eggs
Wheat
Finned Fish
Shellfish
Peanut
Sesame
Soy
Tree Nuts
When feeding a baby, whether purees or whole foods it is important not to offer sugar before 12 months. This greatly increases the likelihood that they will be picky and prefer high sugary food. If they expect healthy food at every meal, they won’t be surprised to see some broccoli on their plate. You must also never serve honey to a baby under 12 months because of the risk of botulism. Even cooked honey cannot be served. If you need to offer something that has been sweetened (such as lemon garlic tea to help the immunity) you can sweeten with maple syrup if they are under 1 year old.
Salty foods can be hard on babies kidneys. This doesn’t mean don’t ever salt your food, but I would not give them store bought pizza or pre made meals for that first year. The salt content on prepackaged foods is extremely high due to the need to preserve the food.
Doctors worry the most about babies Iron stores as this are generally getting depleted by 6 months, so it important to serve iron rich foods (meat, liver, beans, oatmeal, farro, teff, lentils..). If you serve this in conjunction with Vitamin C (tomatoes, peppers, oranges, and citrus fruit) then it actually allows your body to absorb more Iron from the meal. This can be helpful to remember when pairing foods!
Vitamin D is another important vitamin that ever single family needs to supplement with, no matter how much time you spend outside. While it is naturally found in eggs, Vitamin D drops for Baby’s are super easy to come by and it is so important for their development.
