Tag: baby-led weaning

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Baby-Led Weaning explained

Starting Solids (Weaning) Workshop, Nottinghamshire

As you may know, I am running private starting solids sessions (weaning) in Scarrington, Nottinghamshire. The starting solids (weaning) workshop explores different ways you can wean your baby including baby-led weaning.

What is baby-led weaning?

Baby-led weaning, also known as BLW, is a method of introducing solid foods to your baby. BLW allows your baby to be in control of their eating experience from the very beginning. Instead of relying solely on purees and spoon-feeding, BLW encourages your baby to self-feed and explore a wide variety of age-appropriate foods, tastes and textures.

The concept behind baby-led weaning is quite simple yet revolutionary. It promotes the idea that babies are capable of feeding themselves and have an innate ability to know how much and what they need to eat. With BLW, there’s no need to spend countless hours pureeing fruits and vegetables or worrying about the perfect consistency of mashed food. Instead, parents can offer their little ones soft, easily graspable finger foods that they can explore, touch, and taste on their own.

By adopting baby-led weaning, parents can increase a positive relationship with food for their children right from the start. It allows babies to develop their motor skills by practicing the pinching and grasping movements needed to pick up food. It also encourages them to explore different textures, tastes, and smells, which can help expand their palate and reduce picky eating habits later in life.

One of the many benefits of baby-led weaning is that it promotes self-regulation and helps babies develop a sense of satisfaction. Since they are in control of how much they eat, they can learn to recognize their own hunger and fullness cues, leading to a healthier relationship with food as they grow older.

It is important to note that baby-led weaning does not mean entirely abandoning purees or spoon-feeding. It can be a complementary approach, with babies being offered a combination of finger foods and purees as they navigate their journey to solid foods. The key is to offer a wide range of nutritious foods, while also embracing the mess and allowing babies to explore and enjoy their meals at their own pace.

In summary, BLW is a method that empowers babies to take an active role in their eating experience. It promotes independence, motor skill development, and a positive relationship with food. Whether you choose to embrace it fully or incorporate elements of it alongside traditional feeding methods, baby-led weaning can be a wonderful way to introduce solids to your little one.

Starting Solids (Weaning) Workshop, Nottinghamshire. Baby-led weaning, Puree weaning

Sources and further reading:

  • Brown, A., Jones, S.W. and Rowan, H., 2017. Baby-led weaning: the evidence to date. Current nutrition reports, 6, pp.148-156.
  • Cameron, S.L., Heath, A.L.M. and Taylor, R.W., 2012. How feasible is baby-led weaning as an approach to infant feeding? A review of the evidence. Nutrients, 4(11), pp.1575-1609.
  • D’Auria, E., Bergamini, M., Staiano, A., Banderali, G., Pendezza, E., Penagini, F., Zuccotti, G.V. and Peroni, D.G., 2018. Baby-led weaning: what a systematic review of the literature adds on. Italian journal of pediatrics, 44(1), pp.1-11.
  • First Steps Nutrition Trust: https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/eating-well-infants-new-mums
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Baby Weaning – signs of readiness

starting solids baby weaning

Baby Weaning or starting solid foods with your baby. How do you know when, how and where to start? Where can we find some tried and tested recipes? Are we exploring baby-led-weaning (BLW) or are we starting our baby on purees first? So many questions new parents have with regards of weaning their baby.

The current recommendation (at the time of writing) is to start weaning your baby around 6 months of age.

starting solids baby weaning
starting solids baby weaning
starting solids baby weaning
starting solids baby weaning

Baby Weaning – Signs of readiness

There are (only) three true signs of readiness

Your baby…

  1. can sit up unaided and hold their head steady.
  2. puts things to their mouth accurately
  3. has lost their tongue thrust reflex and can swallow
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The golden rules – How to start

When introducing solid foods to your baby and during their first year of life follow these golden rules:

  • Offer simple and unprocessed foods – Make the main part of the meal of simple and unprocessed foods.
  • Offer natural foods – Your child needs to see & touch their food so that they can
  • connect food tastes with how things look and feel – this enables them to learn how to choose foods for themselves.
  • Let your baby get involved in the eating experience – Make eating a pleasurable, calm and relaxed experience. Eat together with your baby. Starting solid foods is not just nutrition it is learning and play, too!
  • Avoid ultra-processed foods – If there are too many ingredients on the label (5+) avoid giving it to your little one!
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Baby-Led Weaning or Purees?

Start introducing solids at about 6 months of age alongside breastmilk or infant formula. Your baby’s milk will still be the main source of energy and nutrients for your baby.

Whether to start off with purees, finger foods or a combination pretty much depends on your baby, your personal preferences and your life style.

Some babies will happily start off with finger and mashed foods, and may move on swiftly to a range of tastes and textures. However, other babies may progress
more slowly and start off eating smooth foods off a spoon. When spoon-feeding, offer foods they can hold themselves alongside, to encourage your baby to move on to mashed and finger foods.

  • Smooth foods have no big lumps, pips, seeds or skin.
  • Mashed foods are raw or cooked foods mashed to a slightly lumpy consistency.
  • Finger foods are raw or cooked foods shaped/cut into batons. It is best to cut them bigger than a baby’s hand, so that your baby can hold them more easily. Use your (adult) finger as a sizing guide.

Always pay attention to your baby when they are eating. Never leave them alone.

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Finger foods – tips for parents
  • Remove any pips, stones or stringy bits
  • Cut foods such as grapes, blueberries in half or quarters
  • Avoid nuts, popcorn and any hard-ish chunks of food
  • Stay with you baby when they are eating
  • Start off with soft and cooked foods such as vegetables and fruit
  • Wash your raw foods thoroughly

Learn more about weaning your baby

If you’d like to learn more about weaning your baby, book a starting solids (weaning) workshop with me! I offer the workshop in different formats:

1:1 (up to two adults with their baby/babies) or group (up to 8 adults with their babies). You can book these in-person to be held in Scarrington, Nottinghamshire at my home or I can travel to your home with a 10-mile radius of Scarrington/Bingham. Alternatively, I also offer a online live video course option.

In addition to the traditional starting solids workshop, I also offer a live online cook-along version. This is available online and as a 1:1 format only.

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