How to Know if Your Baby is Ready for Baby-Led Weaning?

12/18/2024

What Does Baby-led Weaning Stand for? 

BLW (baby-led weaning), also referred to as baby-led feeding, is a process that makes babies responsible for their mealtime experiences.  In other words, baby-led weaning is a stage where different solid foods are introduced to babies when they start eating solids instead of feeding them purees with a spoon. The prime concept behind BLW is that it exposes babies to different textures of food and allows them to self-regulate their appetite.  When parents embark on a journey of introducing solids to their babies, they usually begin with spoon-feeding around 6 months with infant cereals and pureed foods. 

Parents gradually add food items to the menu, such as foods with coarser textures like mashed and chopped foods, followed by finger foods. Thereafter, babies are familiarized with family food (food items eaten by everyone in the family at mealtime) when they are 12 months old or older.

Introducing solids around the age of 6 months is highly essential. As soon as the baby reaches the mark of 6 months, many micronutrients obtained in the womb will start to fade out. Also, milk usually doesn’t have enough micronutrients to support a baby’s growth as needed. When babies eat whole food via baby-led weaning, it increases their calorie contents, delivers essential micronutrients, and avoids chemical consumption usually found in processed baby purees.

What are the Benefits of Baby-led Weaning?

Letting your baby eat themselves not only allows them to explore a wide range of new food items with textures but also helps them get complimentary nutrients from the food in addition to breast milk. The following are the top benefits of BLW or baby-led weaning:

Allows you to Save Time, Effort, and Money:

One of the core benefits of baby-led weaning is that this approach allows you to save a lot of time and money as you don’t have to cook separately for anyone; everyone will enjoy the same meal in the family, including your baby. This way, you will be cutting down on money and preparation time, allowing you to save money for other needs.

Cooking separate meals for your baby can be both challenging and time-consuming. After preparing food for the baby, you then have to cook for other family members, too, as they wouldn’t like a jar of purred string beans. 

If you opt for prepared baby food, you will have to spend a good amount of money now and then. However, if you cook the same meal for everyone in the family, you don’t have to look out for anything separate and special.

Helps Build Social Interactions:

When you begin baby-led weaning, it brings the baby to the table, and they get to experience new things. When a baby is prepared to sit and eat with other people, use it as a good opportunity to begin normalizing the experience of eating with family.

Eating with your family is always wonderful. Therefore, families should encourage eating together to build healthy and strong relations. By eating together whenever possible, babies can learn how to eat and swallow just by observing others eating.

Exposure to New Foods and Textures: 

No matter if you are cooking purees at your place for your babies or getting them from outside, your baby is experiencing one texture of food. You might buy different flavors, but the texture will remain the same, i.e., something similar to pudding. 

In addition to the above, purees are not the only safe option for your baby. By practicing baby-led weaning, you allow your little baby to dive into a wide range of tastes and textures. Also, you will introduce them to food items they will be eating throughout their life. 

Foster Development Skills: 

Letting your baby eat the same food the entire family consumes at the dinner table will allow your little one to develop highly useful and age-appropriate skills. Additionally, it also allows baby to control and regulate their appetite on their own. Over time, babies can self-regulate their hunger levels. It will also prevent overeating as they have control over what they eat. 

Baby-led weaning will also help babies develop fine motor skills that they will need later to do other activities without any hurdles. Letting babies eat themselves will help them practice picking up food, putting it into the mount, chewing, and swallowing. All these actions require fine motor and oral skills.

Top Myths Associated with Baby-led Weaning 

Myth 1: Babies will not be Eating any Purees. 

Baby-led weaning primarily focuses on introducing new tastes and textures through pieces of food. However, there are no strict rules that you can’t feed your babies purees. You can follow both feeding approaches together.

There is a variety of foods that are already pureed or can be mashed, such as hummus, nut butter, yogurt, mashed potatoes, soups, mashed avocados, etc. Such foods are highly recommended for baby-led weaning so that babies can experience a broader array of tastes and textures. 

Myth 2:Baby-led Weaning Results in Choking.

There are many studies that disclose that baby-led weaning doesn’t elevate the chances of choking in babies as compared to other solid feeding approaches. Choking is more likely to occur in babies due to wrong food choices, such as round and hard pieces.

Before you begin any approach, parents must learn CPR and choking first aid. In addition to this, you must also learn the difference between gagging and choking. It is common to see babies gagging when they start to eat solids. The reason behind it could be either a new texture or a stronger gag reflux.   

Myth 3: Babies will not Get Nutrients.

When your babies start eating solids, breast milk or formula milk should be the primary source of calories and nutrients; once they are fully weaned, the nutrients a baby receives from other solids are complementary. 

All babies grow at different rates and hold different tolerance for flavors and textures. It might take several attempts before they adapt to new textures and tastes. Baby-led weaning stands as an exploratory process for your baby, so you shouldn’t be disappointed when you see food ends up getting mashed, smeared, or dropped on the floor. 

When Should You Start Baby-led Weaning? 

The majority of babies start baby-led weaning when they are ready to eat solid foods without any hurdles, often around the age of 6 months or older. Parents shouldn’t start baby-led weaning before 6 months; you should carry on with either breast milk or formula milk until a baby reaches 6 months. On the contrary, some babies may take more than this for baby-led weaning.

No doubt every baby is different, and so are their needs. If your baby was born prematurely, you might stumble upon the signs of readiness around their corrected age of 6 months instead of their chronological months of 6 months.

If you are worried about your baby's readiness for food as they reach 6 months of age, please get in touch with a healthcare provider.  Seeking medical advice is very important if your baby has any kind of health condition that may interfere with their ability to eat and feed themselves.

If you observe any of the below-mentioned signs, it could be time to let your baby become in charge of their feedings: 

• They can sit upright with little to no support from parent or caregiver.

• They are able to reach nearby objects.

• They can easily put things in their mouth.

• Their tongue thrust reflex is fading away or has faded.

When your baby is on baby-led weaning, it doesn’t mean you can’t feed them purees at all. You can mix both approaches and lead a balanced life. 

The Takeaway:​

Baby-led weaning, abbreviated as BLW, stands as an alternative to the traditional method of spoon-feeding when it comes to introducing your baby to solids around the age of 6 months. In this approach, you give liberty to your little ones to feed themselves and self-regulate their appetite. This growing trend across the world helps babies become independent and take control over how much to eat and when to stop eating.  Babies don’t become picky eaters and avoid overeating. If you offer the same food to your baby consumed by the rest of the family, make sure that the baby’s food is not too salty, sweetened, or seasoned.

FAQs:

1. How do I know my baby is ready for BLW?

BLW is the acronym for baby-led weaning, which should typically start at around six months.  Make sure you look out for the following signs before you start baby-led weaning or baby-led feeding:

• Able to sit up without any support
• Often brings toys to mouths
• Reflects an interest in table foods
• Loss of tongue thrust reflex

2. When should you start baby-led weaning?

You can commence BLW or baby-led weaning when your baby reaches the mark of 6 months. 6 months of age is also the age when you will introduce your baby to other foods via spoon-feeding. After hitting the mark of 6 months of age, your baby will be able to sit properly without any support, bring food to their mouth, and swallow and chew food easily.

3. What are the signs of readiness to wean a baby?

​​The following are considered the indications of readiness for BLW:

• Often brings toys and other things to mouths
• shows an interest in table foods
• Able to sit up without any support
• Loss of tongue thrust reflex

4. What are the signs a baby is ready to wean?

If your baby has reached the mark of 6 months and is showing the following signs, you can definitely start baby-led weaning or baby-led feeding:

• Loss of tongue thrust reflex
• shows an interest in table foods
• Able to sit up without any support