What is baby-led weaning?
The received wisdom of the last few decades has been that you should wean your child first with small amounts of spoon-fed baby rice, single fruit or vegetable purees, while gradually introducing new flavours and eventually moving on to mashed and lumpy foods. In contrast, baby-led weaning (BLW) puts the focus on letting your baby feed herself from the get-go at six months by offering suitable finger foods rather than spoon-feeding with purees.
Why no purees?
Until recently it was recommended that you wean your child gradually onto solids from four months onwards, an age when babies are still too young to start chewing and to deal with finger foods, so pureed foods made perfect sense. With the World Health Authority and the British health authorities now recommending that you wait until six months to wean your child, proponents of BLW argue that we should now be tailoring first foods to what six-month-olds will be interested in and can, literally, handle. In most cases this is significantly different to what's suitable for four-month-olds as by six months babies have developed strong neck muscles, can often sit well, can reach out and grab sticks of food in their fists and bring it to their mouths themselves, although most have yet to develop an effective 'pincer grip' with their fingers.
One of the most prominent supporters of BLW, Gill Rapley, a health visitor for 25 years and deputy director of Unicef's Baby Friendly Initiative, has even argued that giving a six-month old a solids diet of purees may even interfere with the development of babies' chewing abilities. In her view a puree diet is at best unnecessary and at worst unhelpful.
Some also believe that BLW will eventually result in a less fussy eater as a baby has chance to experiment with a variety of flavours and textures from an early age. The evidence for this is so far anecdotal, however.
Why is BLW becoming more popular?
The baby-led approach to weaning is becoming increasingly popular with parents, not least because it means you don't have to create separate, special meals for your baby and spend time painstakingly spooning it into, sometimes unwilling, mouths. As long as you tailor your cooking to include foods that your baby can enjoy (and you pass on the heavy seasonings) you can include your baby in family meal times from a very early age.
In fact, reading this you might find yourself asking what all the fuss is about, as many parents now do in fact adopt BLW to some degree without taking a conscious decision to do so or realising that the approach has a name. Our first, for example, was happily chomping into uncut banana at seven months: I had it, he locked his jaws around it, it was that simple. And of course his curiosity didn't end there and he was soon munching a range of finger foods swiped from our plates with great gusto, alongside all the usual mashed foods we spoon fed him. Many mums skip the puree stage without really thinking about it: It's particularly common for second, and subsequent babies to wean by feeding themselves partly because of the influence of their older siblings (they want what the siblings have and the siblings will often give it to them) and probably a more relaxed parental attitude to weaning also.
Are there any special rules for BLW
There isn't really a definitive set of rules, although various supporters and adopters of the approach are always ready to supply helpful guidelines. The key aspects of the approach are to:
- Ditch the purees and spoon-feeding and allow your baby to feed herself as much solids as she wants while still continuing to offer regular milk as per traditional weaning
- Allow your baby to choose from a selection of suitable finger foods at meal times and don't force any particular food on her
- Offer foods initially in pieces that are easy for your baby to grasp, such as brocolli florets or sticks of (steamed) carrot or cheese. As your baby develops her pincer grip she'll be able to manage smaller pieces herself, by which time she'll have developed the chewing skills to eat them
- Follow the usual guidelines for avoiding obvious choking hazards such as nuts and offer soft or lightly steamed fruits and vegetables that your baby can easily suck, gnaw or chew on
- If a food is rejected then offer it again at intervals
- Avoid 'junk foods' and offer on fresh and nutritional foods without added salt and sugar
- Always supervise your baby's meal times
What about choking?
Choking is a risk for all of us, and more so for young babies who are still learning to deal with solid foods. However, the risk of choking is still quite small and there's plenty you can do to avoid it, most obviously keeping your baby away from foods that are more likely to cause choking (such as nuts and hard raw vegetables) and by staying with your baby to watch over whenever she eats. It's a good idea for all parents to be aware of what to do if a baby does choke.
Most babies will probably gag at some point, a natural reaction when something that they aren't ready for or able to swallow moves to the back of the throat. This isn't the same as choking, which is when a piece of food actually blocks the windpipe and obstructs breathing.
If your baby is coughing and gagging then it's usually best to let her clear her mouth herself, nature's way of avoiding actual choking.
What about jars of baby food and their age recommendations?
If you looked at the plethora of jars with varying age recommendations on the supermarket shelf you'd be forgiven for thinking that your eight-month-old could only cope with the tiniest chip of vegetable smothered in a thick and creamy goo. But it's understandable why the manufacturers of jarred baby foods err on the side of caution when it comes to the content and consistency of their foods. A mum isn't going to sue the greengrocer who sold her a carrot if her baby chokes when eating it, but a baby food jar that claims to be suitable from eight months needs to easy to eat for any child of that age.
When is BLW not a suitable approach?
BLW can be a good weaning option for many mums, but there may be times when it isn't an appropriate way to introduce solids. If your baby is not developmentally ready for self-feeding (she can't sit up, form a fist and hold her neck well etc.) as is more often be the case for premmie babies, then spoon feeding first solids is the way to go. If for some reason you introduce first solids before six months then stick with baby rice and purees. If your baby has any condition or illness that you think may affect her ability to start self-feeding at six months then talk to your doctor before trying BLW.
