An introduction to baby led weaning

What is Baby Led Weaning?

Baby Led Weaning is a fast growing new approach to weaning your baby. The idea was developed back in 2006 by Gil Rapley author of the book Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food. Gill is also an experienced health visitor and midwife. Her approach was that as we are weaning our babies later and later (WHO guidelines now recommend babies are 6 months before weaning begins) the need for purees is negated and offering them a range of healthy finger foods is a more natural way of getting babies onto solids.

How and When to Start Baby Led Weaning

Once your baby reaches 6 months and is able to sit unaided in a highchair and hold his/her head up properly you can start BLW at any time. its best to wait for a quiet time of the day where you can sit with your baby and eat. This should be a time when baby is not too tired or hungry as at first they wont eat anything they will more just play with and squish the food with their hands.All you need to do is choose some food chop it into easy to hold shapes and place it on your babies highchair tray. Breast or Bottle feeds should still be given as normal, your baby will decide how and when to drop these feeds when they start swallowing solid food offered to them. From this just continue to offer nutritious fingerfoods at family mealtimes and let your baby choose what and when she eats.

The Advantages of Baby Led Weaning

There are many advantages to this method of weaning your baby.
!, Your baby can join in with family mealtimes right from the start.
2, Your baby is less likely to be a fuusy eater or to refuse foods.
3, It is easy to eat out with your baby.
4, You do not need to buy a blender, bowls ,ice cube trays and other items associated with puree weaning.
5, Your child is learning at every mealtime and of course its so much fun to watch them.
6, a child who is weaned in this manner won’t overeat they will stop when they are full.

The Disadvantages of Baby Led Weaning

The disadvantages of this method
!, It can be very messy. a good idea is to invest in a coverall bib and a mat for under your highchair
2, Baby Led Weaning can be time consuming as at first your baby will want to play with and squash every bit of food and throw it onto the floor. Be patient it may take a couple of weeks but she will soon start to put it in her mouth and swallow.
3, Some foods can be difficult to get into a fingerfood shape so you need to be quite inventive to give your child a balanced diet.

Baby Led Weaning FAQs

Will my baby choke?
It is very rare that a baby will choke on food. They have a far strionger gag reflex than adults and sometimes look like they are choking when in fact they are gagging to bring food from the back of their mouth to the front to chew it. It is argued that a baby who is Baby Led Weaned is less likely to choke than a baby that is puree weaned as with Baby Led Weaning the baby decides how much food to put in her mouth and when. Also the sucking motion from the spoon of a puree weaned baby can cause food to shoot to the back of the throat ans pose more of a choking hazard.

Are all foods safe?
Pretty much al foods are allowed except whole nuts which arent recommended until the age of 5

Will my baby be eating enough?
At first you should continue to offer as many milk feeds as your child was having as she wont be swallowing any of the food. Your baby will decide when she is eating enough to start droppping or missing feeds

What equipment do i need?
All you need is a baby who is able to sit unaided and support her head, a highchair or similar with a tray to put foods on and a lot of time and patience. Although a messy mat and coverall bibs are a very good idea.

Please remember your baby should never be left alone when eating