image of a baby plate filled with solid foods (banana and other green and pale yellow food pieces) with a baby's hand holding onto some of the food near it's mouth.

All about Baby Led Weaning for beginners

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If you’ve been hearing about baby-led weaning (BLW) and wondering if it’s the right feeding method for your baby, this essential guide is here to help — think of it as a Baby Led Weaning for Beginners Guide. Let’s break down what baby-led weaning is, when to start, its pros and cons, and how you can safely introduce your baby to a variety of whole foods.

What Is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-led weaning, or BLW, is an approach to introducing solid foods where babies feed themselves from the very start. Instead of spoon-fed purees or commercial baby food, you offer your baby home-cooked soft finger foods in small pieces that they can pick up and bring to their own mouth. This feeding method was popularized by Gill Rapley, a leading advocate of responsive feeding, and is praised for advocating that children foster a healthy relationship with food from the beginning.

One of the most important things to know about BLW is that it encourages babies to explore various textures and flavors at their own pace. It aligns with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for complementary foods, which suggests introducing solid foods alongside breast milk or formula as babies’ primary source of nutrition during their first year.

In addition, some Baby Led Weaning methods advocate for “loaded spoon” feeding while others don’t — neither way is right or wrong.

However, there’s another important point I want you to keep in mind. Baby Led Weaning is not an all-or-nothing approach. Meaning, that while it’s recommended to stick with it, you need to be flexible and do what works for your family. It’s quite common for parents to incorporate a mix of baby led weaning and pureed foods to help introduce a variety of first foods.

So, don’t let the pressure of any one way of feeding cause you too much stress, that’s the last thing parents or even just a busy mom needs in life.

When to Start Baby-Led Weaning

Knowing when to begin baby-led weaning is going to be your key to not only success but safety throughout the process. Most babies are ready to start between 6 and 8 months of age, as this is when they typically show signs of developmental readiness:

  • Can sit upright unassisted
  • Maintains good neck and head control
  • Can bring toys or objects to their mouth using their hands
  • Has an interest in foods (for example, reaching out for table food)
  • Loss of the tongue thrust reflex

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), signs of readiness include good head and neck control, the ability to sit upright unassisted, and a diminished tongue-thrust reflex.

It’s also a good idea to observe your baby’s interest in family meals. Does your baby watch you eat, reach for your food, or open their mouth when you offer them a piece of food? These behaviors indicate that they’re curious and ready to explore new foods.

At this age, your baby should still be receiving the majority of their nutrients from breastmilk and/or baby formula. So be careful not to wean them from that source too quickly, rather think of baby led weaning as an introduction to solid foods and as they get closer to one year of age, you’ll likely notice they will start to begin to wean themselves. They may begin to slowly nurse less, drink less per feeding, etc…but never force that weaning upon them.

Cons of Baby-Led Weaning

While BLW has many important benefits, it’s also important to consider the potential drawbacks:

  1. Messy Meal Times: Baby-led feeding can lead to more mess compared to traditional weaning. Babies love to explore their food with their hands, which often means food ends up on the floor, highchair, in their hair or even walls. When my son first started, he would get sweet potatoes mashed into his hair, peas on the floor — it was always a big mess to clean up, but I truly enjoyed watching him explore.
  2. Higher Risk of Gagging: Gagging is a natural reflex and an important part of learning to eat safely, but it can be unsettling for parents to witness. The first time I saw my son gag I won’t lie, it was hard to see. It’s crucial to understand the difference between gagging and choking, and taking a baby first aid course along with a baby led weaning course can help ease your worries. 
  3. Nutritional Balance: Some parents worry their baby isn’t consuming enough food through BLW alone. Since breast milk or formula remains your baby’s main source of nutrition during the first year, it’s normal for them to consume very small amounts of solid foods at the start.

The Many Benefits of Baby-Led Weaning

While the idea of baby led weaning might sound a little scary (new parents, I see you because I was so worried before starting BLW) there’s actually some pretty awesome benefits:

  1. Encourages Independence: Babies will learn to self-feed, improving their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and pincer grasp — all crucial skills for them to develop as they grow.
  2. Supports Oral Motor Skills: Chewing different textures helps to develop the muscles needed for speech production and development.
  3. Fosters a Positive Relationship with Food: The idea is that babies are exposed to a wide variety of foods through baby led weaning, reducing the likelihood of being picky eaters later on. In addition, your baby will learn how to eat until their body is no longer hungry, by allowing your child to grow this important skill of listening to their body, they may benefit from more positive health outcomes, thanks to their positive relationship with food, in the future.
  4. Promotes Family Mealtime: BLW allows babies to join the rest of the family at the table, leading to a positive feeding dynamic between baby and their family. Simply pull up their sturdy little highchair and let them enjoy their food with you and the family — this means they’ll have a great foundation for a present mealtime and hopefully won’t be distracted by things like screens at the dinner table later on in life.
  5. Less Time-Consuming: Offering small pieces of soft foods from your own plate means you don’t need to prepare separate meals or spoon-feed purees. Of course, you need to make sure the texture is safe for baby, but it does simplify the process of feeding at times.

Point made, right? Now that you know more about the important pros and cons of baby led weaning, you might be wondering — so how do I begin?

How to Begin Baby Led Weaning or Offering Baby Solid Food

If your baby shows all of the signs of readiness (see list above), that’s great news! You’re officially ready to offer your little one some solids! Now, this article won’t dive into everything you need to know about how to start baby led weaning, but we can go over some of the basics:

Essential items needed for baby led weaning:

  • Get yourself a sturdy highchair — aim to get one that promotes good positioning for baby during mealtime (they should have excellent back support and feet support)
  • Get your baby a sippy cup (preferably a 360 cup or a fully open cup to help them develop the skills needed for holding and sipping from a cup).

How to get started with offering baby their first foods (the BLW way):

  • Offer baby large enough pieces of food (like strips or wedges) that are soft enough for them to gum, but not so soft they’ll become mash when baby grasps it.
  • Allow baby to be in charge of the foods they grab and explore.
  • Keep portions small, 1-2 foods, maybe 3 at a time. 
  • Enjoy watching your little one explore new foods, tastes, and textures!

While we mentioned this earlier in the article, you should be familiar in child CPR before beginning baby led weaning (or offering any solids for that matter). Please know this is NOT intended to scare you. It is, however, important to familiarize yourself with what to do IN THE EVENT your baby does choke during this process. 

I personally started with purees with my first little one for a few weeks before moving on to chunkier foods and then transitioned into full-on baby-led weaning. As a new mom who needed a refresher on the pediatric CPR basics, I didn’t feel ready to offer full-on solids until I had that refresher.

Top 10 Best Foods to Begin When Introducing Solids

When starting BLW, it’s essential to choose soft foods that your baby can easily mash with their gums. Here are some top first foods you can start offering your baby:

  1. Avocado slices
  2. Banana strips
  3. Steamed sweet potatoes
  4. Scrambled eggs
  5. Cooked or steamed broccoli florets
  6. Soft fruits like ripe pears
  7. Shredded chicken or fish (ensure no bones)
  8. Iron-fortified cereals (offered in small pieces or mixed into soft food)
  9. Soft tofu chunks
  10. Whole-grain pasta or bread strips

If you choose to offer “loaded spoon” feedings, this means you simply will load the spoon with whatever food you’re offering (yogurt, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc…) and then hand the spoon to baby so they can be the one to initiate putting the food into their mouth. 

Introducing Allergenic Foods

This one can be really worrisome for parents, reasonably so. This is why you should always discuss it with your child’s pediatrician beforehand.

Believe it or not, it’s recommended to introduce allergenic foods early to help reduce the risk of food allergies. According to the AAP, you can start introducing allergens such as peanuts, eggs, dairy, and tree nuts (in safe forms) once your baby has successfully eaten several non-allergenic foods. 

Always offer allergenic foods in very small amounts and monitor closely for any allergic reaction as per your child’s doctor’s instructions.

Ready, Set, Food! offers a great solution for parents when it comes to allergens — one at a time, premeasured packets of top food allergens that you can mix into their milk, formula, or food! These allergen introduction packets were designed by leading allergists, making allergen introduction simple for parents using a 3-step process.

Foods to Avoid During Baby-Led Weaning

While BLW encourages exploring a wide variety of foods, there are some foods to avoid for safety and health reasons. Here’s what they are:

  • Honey: It’s recommended to avoid honey as it can cause infant botulism if it contains certain bacteria (Clostridium botulinum) in babies under 12 months.
  • Whole Nuts: These are a choking hazard for babies; opt for smooth nut butter(s) instead.
  • Hard Raw Vegetables: Never give your baby hard raw veggies as they can also pose as a choking hazard, always cook their veggies (in a strip like piece) until soft.
  • Round Foods: Grapes, cherry tomatoes, and similar foods should be held off until baby has a better hang of feeding themselves and they should be cut into smaller pieces whenever they’re ready (typically around 8+ months old, but double check with your child’s pediatrician).
  • High-Salt or High-Sugar Foods: Babies don’t need added salt or sugar in their foods as they’re just getting used to the flavors and textures as it is, so hold off on any additions there.

For more guidance on safe foods, the AAP and World Health Organization provide excellent resources on food safety and nutritional needs for infants.

10 Easy Baby-Led Weaning Recipes to Try

  1. Mashed avocado spread on toast 
  2. Steamed carrot sticks with a drizzle of olive oil
  3. Soft scrambled eggs with spinach
  4. Sweet potato fries baked until soft
  5. Banana pancakes made with oats and egg
  6. Shredded chicken with mashed peas
  7. Yogurt with small pieces of soft fruits
  8. Zucchini fritters
  9. Baby lentil patties
  10. Mini meatballs made with ground turkey and breadcrumbs

Ways to Simplify Your BLW Meals

Meal prepping for just baby can be really time-consuming for busy families or families of multiples. Try to make a few “batch” options at once when you’re cooking dinner for the family or plan to give baby items from your meal.

If cooking just isn’t your thing or you’re a family who often eats out, you might find that using meals like Little Spoon’s Biteables — premade early finger foods for baby so all you have to do is heat and serve!

They offer a ton of variety ranging from organic baby food blends to little baby puff snacks, toddler lunches, and more! And they actually taste really good, too! Hands down, using a company like Little Spoon can save you so much time in the kitchen. Plus, when you know you’re getting high-quality, delicious meals for your littles, is trying it out at least once really a question anymore?

If you’re pressed for time when it comes to preparing foods, you can also try using these meal prep tools below to help speed up the process:

Resources to Learn More About Baby-Led Weaning

For new parents looking to dive deeper into baby-led feeding, check out Gill Rapley’s book on Baby Led Weaning. Additional resources include:

Baby-led weaning is a wonderful way to help your baby explore new foods, develop essential skills, and build a deeper connection with you along the way. With the right preparation, a little learning, and a focus on feeding safe foods, you’ll create positive mealtime experiences that will benefit your little one for years to come! What’s your biggest worry about baby led weaning? Drop a comment and let us know below!

Other Baby Led Weaning Posts:

>> Easy baked turkey meatballs for baby

>> Clever tips to help baby sleep through the night (the ENTIRE night

>> What to do when your breastfed baby is refusing a bottle?

Baby Led Weaning Guide for Parents

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