Feeding solids and our experience with Baby Led Weaning has become one of my most asked about topics here. As both a first-time mom and an SLP, I’ve had so much fun navigating this journey with Hudson. I’m so excited to break down our why for choosing this approach to feeding, and how we’ve gone about it!

Food is one of my biggest passions, and health & wellness are so important to me. So when I say that feeding Hudson solids was one of the biggest things I looked forward to in his infancy… it probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise. I was SO excited to start his “real food” journey, especially after a less-than-successful breastfeeding start (which you can read all about HERE).

My long term goal is for Hudson to be an adventurous eater that will eat anything, anywhere. I want him to have all of the skills and experiences needed so that he can eat all sorts of nutrient dense foods like his mom & dad do, without any aversions to textures or flavors standing in his way.

After working as an SLP and working through tons of different feeding issues with kids of all ages, I’m a little hyperaware of all of the things that can go wrong when it comes to feeding little ones. Sensitivities to flavors, textures, smells. Getting stuck on only eating certain foods or pouches or milk only, for example.

And while I know not everything is in my control, I’m all about doing what I can to set up Hudson for success from the start! Which takes me to our journey with Baby Led Weaning (BLW)!

*disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, pediatrician, etc. I am a blogger, an SLP with training in feeding, and just a mom doing my best to make all the best choices I can for my son. Always talk to your doctor or trusted medical professional, and please just take all of this for what it’s worth, leave whatever is not for you. Everyone’s baby and circumstance is SO different – do what works for your family!

What is Baby Led Weaning? And Why!?

Weaning from milk and transitioning to solids can be done in many ways – but the two big “approaches” are traditional vs baby-led.

What makes BLW different from traditional weaning (think pureed “baby food” spoon fed to baby by caregiver) is the emphasis on baby self-feeding and eating all safe whole foods and a variety of textures (i.e., not just purees!)

Why We Chose Baby-Led Weaning

  • promotes development of self-feeding skills (fine motor control, hand-to-mouth coordination, chewing, swallowing)
  • encourages intuitive eating by allowing baby to show when they are or are not interested in foods, and how much they want to eat (they learn when their body is hungry & full)
  • builds tolerance for a variety of textures through hands-on experience (messy, but worth it! 4 year olds who only want pouches are not always fun, haha!)
  • allows baby to slowly eat more and more as they develop their skills, and to wean on their own time vs. forcing too much food into a tiny belly too soon (when they still need nutrition from milk/formula)
  • allows for easier introduction of a variety of allergenic foods (e.g. fish, wheat, nuts, soy, etc. – not all easy or enticing to offer in a puree); which is recommended around age 6 months
  • nutrition:  they are so much more likely to get a variety of nutrient dense foods when exploring whole foods and various textures
  • convenience!  babies can eat what the family eats with a few small modifications, and participate in mealtime for social interactions and modeling of how to eat certain foods

When We Started

One of my most-asked questions… when did you start? When did you know Hudson was ready?

We started when Hudson was 5 months old. Our pediatrician recommended anywhere from 4 to 6 months. Most sources will recommend 6 months for BLW.

I started at 5 months with Hudson because he was showing all signs of readiness and because I wanted him developing his eating skills & working his way up to allergenic food exposure by 6 months.

Note: in the first month (or even few months) babies on the BLW path don’t typically consume all that much food at all. Hudson played a lot and tasted things in his first month, but not a ton was ingested. We took it slow! So 5 months made sense for us to start with him, hoping he would be actually ingesting food by 6 months.

Signs of Readiness:

  • can sit upright with minimal assistance (i.e., not relying on high chair straps for postural control/stability) – read more on this from Feeding Littles HERE
  • no longer has tongue thrust reflex (pushing food out of their mouth with their tongue right away)
  • shows interest in food
  • brings objects to mouth easily
  • shows ability to chew (we had a lot of practice with chewy toys like trainer toothbrushes, T shape chewers, and other baby chew toys)

Not sure if your little one is ready? Read more in this article (especially relevant if you’re breastfeeding) or this one that goes over some myths & facts surrounding feeding solids.

How We Prepared Before Starting BLW

  • Let Hudson sit with us during mealtime and watch us eat
  • Gave him chewy toys that were a long enough shape for him to reach back to his molar area of his gums (where the actual chewing action happens!)
    • helps babies learn to use their tongue to maneuver the toy to the side of their mouth where they will chew, and they’ll use this pattern for maneuvering & chewing food!
    • this also helped him quickly get the hang of “loaded spoons” (spoons with food already scooped onto it then handed to baby or placed in front of them to pick up) because he was so used to bringing toys to his mouth that looked similar
  • Building up strength for unassisted sitting
    • lots of sitting practice with support in our lap or with cushions on either side of him, to work on stability in a safe environment (fun toys in between his legs or in front of him to motivate him to stay up)
    • building up core strength and neck stability by giving him lots of tummy time lifting his head and chest up strong (with toys, books, or a mirror in front of him to keep his attention)
    • gently pulling him up by hands/arms from laying on his back into a sitting position to build up his tummy & neck muscles

What We Did Differently from Strict “BLWers”

Our biggest goal is for Hudson to eat a variety of nutrient dense foods. Some BLW groups out there (there are tons on Facebook – some helpful for ideas, but most just really over the top in my opinion, haha) are VERY strict about exactly when/how/what to feed your baby. That’s the opposite of our goal – I want Hudson to be flexible and open to anything that’s safe for him to eat!

We avoid any choking hazards, added refined sugar, honey (not safe for babies under age 1 due to the potential bacteria that their gut cannot handle) and added salt (another that babies cannot process). Otherwise – we are VERY flexible.

  • All Textures (even purees/mashes): We stick to mainly whole foods, whatever mom and dad are eating, but also offer mashed foods or foods that are naturally a thick puree consistency: yogurt, mashed sweet potatoes, banana smashed up with peanut butter, etc.
    • When I noticed Hudson was gagging easily with ground meat textures, I ground them up smaller in a food processor. I would rather meet him where he’s at texture-wise than omit foods that will give him the nutrients he needs (in this case, protein/fat/iron from high quality grass fed ground beef!)
  • Pouches: I’m okay with them from time to time!
    • We don’t offer these daily, but they’re great for convenience and a nice treat to have on hand. We like the “Once Upon a Farm” brand, and Serenity Kids for options with higher quality organic ingredients and an included protein/fat.
  • Hudson’s Servings
    • Many strict BLW peeps are very passionate about baby only getting EXACTLY what the rest of the family is eating, in the exact same form. You’re eating BBQ pulled pork with coleslaw? Baby gets that too. You’re eating Panda Express chow mein? Give a scoop to baby.
    • I’m all about babies eating at the same time as the rest of the family, so they see everyone eating and are included (they’re so much more likely to eat more when you’re eating!) However – I am totally okay with serving Hudson something slightly different than what we’re eating, if it means the texture/shape/size is safer for him to consume and the nutrient density is higher and more on par for what he needs (protein, healthy fats, iron, etc). Maybe mom & dad want a pizza night… but that doesn’t mean my 11 month old needs pizza too. Just my two cents, but you do you – I truly never judge! I’m all for a bite here & there – but this is just not where we’re at when it comes to his full meals at this time. He eats so little… I want it to be the good stuff when he does eat!

First Foods: Our Approach

We started Hudson with single foods – again, against most of the recommendations I’ve seen from other BLWers. But I wanted to be able to watch his reaction to each individual food before adding more into the mix, in case of potential allergic reaction.

There are some allergies that run in our family, and I’d just always rather start slow and add foods in – as opposed to starting off with a whole meal with 20 different ingredients and then working backwards to see what triggered a reaction. I also wanted to approach with a variety of textures and nutrient density in mind.

As you can see in my very excited first-time-mom calendar I made above (LOL), I worked in sets of 5 days at a time, and built his menu each week on foods he had already tried and reacted well to. We started the first week with no allergens, then added in one new allergen every other day once he had those first 5 foods established that we could work with.

I was very intentional about how I prepared his foods, especially in those early days – making sure the cooking fats I used weren’t allergens he hadn’t been exposed to yet, keeping the shape/texture of each food in mind so it was best for him to eat… I’ll share what I did for the first 10 days! You can watch videos of him eating it all in my highlights on Instagram @justjessieb

How To Prepare Foods for BLW

Soft strips about the length & width of your index finger are your best bet when just starting out. They’re easy for babies to grasp (compared to small pieces which really need that pincer grasp or otherwise get frustrating). The soft texture is easy for them to chew with their gums.

Anything hard like chips, crackers, raw veggies, or harder fruits (like raw apple or pear) can be a choking hazard. Also watch out for foods the size & shape of their airway – that could cause a blockage (cherry tomatoes, bluberries, grapes) and make sure these are cut into small pieces OR skin-off and smashed. Do your research on the choking hazards out there so you can avoid them & feel confident about what you’re serving, and how!

For meats, we make sure Hudson’s is well done. We served cut strips of steak for him to gnaw on in the early days, otherwise stuck to soft things like meatloaf texture that he could easily chew. Now we offer pretty much any meat, just in a small enough size for him to not choke on.

For mashed textures, like sweet potato or banana (or even yogurt) – make sure they are consistent for early eaters. That means no chunks. When babies are first starting out and are expecting a smooth texture, but then get a chunk, they’re more likely to gag easily and feel confused on whether or not to chew or just swallow. Give them consistent foods, one at a time.

Now that Hudson is a little older (11 months) he does fine with a mashed consistency with other chunks mixed in (think yogurt with chunks of mashed raspberry). He also is able to pick up small pieces of food like shredded meat, scrambled egg pieces, smashed berries, chopped cooked veggies, etc.

How Hudson’s Meals Have Changed with Age

At 5-6 months, we offered one meal per day as you can see in his menu above. At around 7 months, we moved to 2 solid meals offered per day. At 8-9 months, he was offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He still gets milk first (even now at 11 months) but has plenty of appetite for his solid meals as well.

As Hudson has grown & developed his grasping skills, we have started giving him smaller pieces of food that he can pick up easily with a pincer grasp, and even whole things like a whole muffin that he can hold and bite off of. He eats more and more like we do every day, and mostly eats small servings off of my plate at each meal. I make some accommodations for him, breaking things into small pieces or smashing them if a potential choking hazard (e.g., breaking down chunks of scrambled eggs or smashing whole blueberries) and I still always supervise him closely when eating. But each day he gets more comfortable with eating, and he is always trying new things! There honestly isn’t a single food I can think of that he doesn’t like. Some days he eats a ton, other days not much, but it’s all so normal – and he’s doing great!

My Favorite Resource – If You’re Ready to Jump In, But Still A Little Unsure

If you’re feeling unsure about gagging/choking, how to prepare foods, or any part of BLW for that matter, I would highly, highly recommend the course by Feeding Littles. It goes in depth on so many topics, is an at-your-own-pace video course that’s easy to work through on your own time, and has so many great tips and demonstrations. They shared a code just for my readers to save $10 off their infant or toddler course: JUSTJESSIEB. I don’t earn any commission from this, just warm fuzzies knowing you’re in good hands with Megan (the nutritionist) & Judy (the Occupational Therapist)!

Our journey has had its ups & downs with phases of not being interested in food, food sensitivities, a hypersensitive gag reflex, aversions to certain textures, overstuffing his mouth like a little hamster… the list goes on. I’ll dive into some of those things and how we’ve worked through & around them in another post! If you have questions on that, or anything here – leave a comment below!

Hope this helps!

xo, Jessie

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