Baby Led Weaning is all about having your child move straight onto solid foods rather than first introducing purees. You can read more about it here.
We’ve been attempting BLW with the Baby with mixed successes, which you can read about here and here . Here are some lessons we’ve learned along the way.
Do inform other carer givers about Baby Led Weaning.
Don’t be surprised if they choose to ignore you because they are terrified of your baby choking.
Do give your baby finger-sized pieces of food.
Don’t given him whole steaks or pork chops.
Do offer a variety of food.
Don’t offer too much at once if you don’t expect him to chuck half on the floor straight away.
Do share your food with your baby.
Don’t share everything.
Do make allow him to pick up food and feed himself.
Don’t expect this to be a clean and tidy process.
Do give your child soft food which can be crushed between the roof of his mouth and his tongue.
Don’t give your baby all soft foods.
Do offer the same food multiple times, even if he doesn’t seem to enjoy it.
Don’t expect that he’ll eat it the next day just because he wolfed it down on the first day.
Do give him a pre-loaded spoon.
Don’t give him the bowl.
Are you pureeing, Baby Led Weaning, or both? How’s it going?
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Fabulous BLW tips here, and your little illustrations never fail to make me chuckle! Thanks so much for linking up! #MMWBH
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Thanks, Debs. And thanks for hosting!
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Great weaning tips here. We did baby led weaning with MM but not B and only because that’s what they both preferred. MM wants whole foods right from the start and never liked homemade purees whereas B didn’t do chunks until about 18 months without a fight and much prefered the purees. I think if you follow the guidelines and the child we all get there in the end no child will starve themselves will them. Love the coffee drawing. lol hahah Made me chuckle. Great post. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
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I agree. Whatever works, works. No judgement from over here!
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Great post and I love your illustrations! Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky
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Thanks for hosting!
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Very funny but also very helpful and informative list thanks for linking to the Binkylinky
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Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for hosting!
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Brilliant. Love how you suggest not to give them a whole pork chop.
Here in Ireland they still have a love affair with potatoes, so #BabyPinks first food will be mashed potatoes no doubt.
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Yum! I shared mash with my baby in a restaurant once (although in retrospect there’s a distinct chance it was out of a box, shudder) and he gobbled it all. He flat out refuses to eat the homemade on though. Sigh.
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Funny and informative post! We did BLW too and I found they did better if I offered a wide variety of foods straight off the bat and anything they didn’t like or was new, I offered them every day for 10 days. That really worked for us. Another tip is to use a J-cloth a meal: clean baby, clean table, clean floor, washing machine….!
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#brilliantblogposts!
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I love BLW. So much easier. And it’s great for terrifying the grandparents. Love your pictures. Thanks for linking up #FridayFrolics
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Yes, fab at scaring everyone, really. You should see some of the looks we get in restaurants.
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OMG! I totally hear you! I’m going through the same things. My daughter loved blw but her grandparents look after her while I work and we shifted to pouch food. Desperately trying to get back on track and I’ve experienced every tip you’ve given, the do’s and the don’t’s. I didn’t know lots of parents go through the same issues. Great post!
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Haha! It will be the same when our Grandparents visit, I’m sure. I bet those pouches are hard to move back from. All the sugary deliciousness. I’d be chucking that homemade healthy stuff too.
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Lovely illustrations, as always 🙂
We have experienced alllll the don’ts so far (except for the coffee thing…) 😉
BLW is really fun, isn’t it? You always end up having to clean a mess afterwards… x
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So.much.mess.
It can be a lot of fun. I can also find it stressful and annoying when the fussiness kicks in or he decides he’d rather just chuck it all on the floor. I can’t wait until he understands the concept of bribery 😉
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Hehe we did BLW with Boo and it was so messy but so much fun. We did used to give her steak and watch her gnaw at it for ages she loved it!!
Bowls still get thrown about now!!
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I stand corrected! I wish our lad would enjoy gnawing. It would be nice to have a wee break while he was occupied 🙂
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Never give them the bowl, never! This gave me a good chuckle. Popping over from #brillblogposts
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Definitely not. Learned the hard way. Also never have faith in those suction bowls. My tot can tear them right up!
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We did a mixture if both. Purees to get the good in him, babyled so he could gradually start doing it himself. Seemed to work. Totally get the first point about others ignoring it cause they are scared. Explained so many time to them the difference between gagging and choking but I can see why they are too worried! And it’s so messy lol! #brilliantblogposts
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Right. I think I’d be frightened a bit with someone else’s child. I’m not convinced his grandparents would cope well with seeing him gag or spit up either. So very messy. I’m cheating now and mostly letting him deal with easy to clean up stuff. I did spag bol once and swore never again!
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We are doing a mixture. Baby E loves very smooth fruit purees but will not take anything spoon fed that has texture. He is however happy to grab finger foods and munch on them although there has been a good few occasions where that gag reflex has kicked in at random times and he loses whatever morsels he managed to actually swallow!
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Forgot the #sharewithme!
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Oh yes. We have had a lot of that too. It’s getting much better, though. He drinks a lot of water while eating and when he gags, mostly it’s just a bite and some water. Unlike the vomit fountains of before.
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This gave me a good giggle! LOVE the art! haha
We have always done BLW from around 6-7 months. Or 8 months corrected with our daughter as she was premature. 🙂
Good tips here and yes I do recognise the problem with people thinking baby will choke. 🙂
There’s a big difference between ‘gagging’ which is actually a brilliant thing, and ‘choking’ which is..well… very much not a good thing.
Babies who do BLW are not prone to the latter while pureé fed babies are more prone to choking… 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
#MMBH
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I never knew puree fed babies are more inclined to choke. That’s interesting. The first time my mum saw me hand my tot a piece of watermelon she watched from behind her fingers, lol.
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Hehe. 😀 Mine is the opposite, she never did puree with any of us kids, so she introduced me to it when it came about for my oldest hehe.
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A brave Granny!
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I loved the pics – I will not show them to my husband though or baby number three will be even less likely! It sounds like you guys are doing really well. With our first baby I honestly don’t think solids really made up a significant part of her diet until she was 9-10 months. Baby no.2 was a bit of a porker and was chowing down on rice cakes with cream cheese at 4 months, she just wanted whatever her big sister had. Rice cakes with Philadelphia was our staple food…..still is really! #MadMidWeekBlogHop
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Ooooh, I forgot about good ol’ philly! Thanks. Mentally adding that to the shopping list!
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I love your funny illustrations! At 6 months, we started with purees and quickly moved into BLW. My son was a terrible eater for around four months, and now he seems to like everything. THANK GOODNESS. I was getting so frustrated taking the time to make him little meals 3x a day for nothing. We still do a mix of purees and solid food (and breastfeeding), and it seems to be working well for us. #sharewithme
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Great, a wee glimmer of hope. Our tot is getting quite fussy and I’ve got my fingers crossed this will change. Sooooo annoying when I spend half an hour cooking and prepping a lovely, nutritionally balanced meal and he only wants to eat a rice cracker. Sigh.
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We did purely BLW with my son but a mix with my daughter. More because the mess was too much to handle with a toddler running wild too, haha.
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Gosh, I’ll bet. Imagine the food fights they could quickly get into. Nightmare. There is definitely a place for spoons, in my opinion.
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I’ve been doing BLW for about 5 months now, so I suppose we are off the “weaning” part. It makes SUCH a mess. She just loves throwing food around. I agree, never give them the bowl! I just put it on the tray and let her help herself. The only problem is she now wants to start spoon feeding herself. Sometimes she is a good as gold and puts it in her mouth, other times it is propelled across the room. I’ve really had to take a deep breath on cleaning! #mmwbh
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Haha, right there with you. Plus our dog is fast and now almost as wide as she is tall. At 9 months old our tot is a sneak too! He teases me, pretending to throw, then shoving things in his mouth. But the minute I take my eye off the ball you better believe that food is destined for the dog’s belly.
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We’re doing a bit of a combo with mixed success! Love the pictures and descriptions, made me chuckle 🙂 xx
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I hear the ‘mixed success’. One day I think we’re nailing it, the next? Disaster.
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When my children weaned we just started with purees and then moved quickly to a bit of everything. I don’t really remember even hearing the phrase baby led weaning at the time.
Great tips! #MMWBH
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Same jazz re-branded, I think. I only know the phrase because I have an unhealthy association with google.
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Glad to read some tips! My son is now 3 months, so we’re getting ever closer to the weaning stage now! I think we’re going to try a mix of BLW and Purees, but really I have no idea yet, just trying to read up on it all so we’re prepared!
#MMWBH
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I’d say just see what works for your tot and what works for you. Although I started with BLW, the baby wasn’t ready so we did a month of purees before moving on. But some kids take to it straight away. BLW is definitely easier, in my opinion but purees are less stressful (and wasteful).
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At 9.5 months I’m trying to transition from purees to solids, but it reminds me of your first post about BLW. He makes this face like I’m trying to poison him. What foods has your guy liked?
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Haha. We still get the poison face, even for stuff he loved. It depends which day. His favorite yesterday was banana, but today that was tossed in disgust. Potato, tomato, cucumber, toast, humus, apple and cheese also have had their days in the sun.
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Oh, and Rusks, baby biscuits (sweetened with grape juice) and rice crackers are always in vogue. Obviously
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Baby led weaning gets my support – but the key is “baby led”. So for us it did often mean purees, and no mixed textures, as with severe reflux and swallowing difficulties I needed the be led by them to ensure they were safe. #sharewithme
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Very true. We’re also having some issues with swallowing at times but the Baby has decided purees are not for him anymore. Sigh.
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Good guide. Funny too. Weaning can be so much fun if they enjoy the food and tough if you have a picky eater.
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I so agree. Our tot is getting fussier by the day. It’s hard when you’re worried about getting some calories into them.
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Hehe, ice cream. We’re doing a combo. When Darwin is really hungry I’ll feed her purees, but when it’s just about the act of getting to try out foods we give her solid bits. So far the favorites are peanut butter (have to be careful due to friend’s kid who is allergic), banana, squash, and chicken. She bounces for chicken. Feeding scared me at first, but now it’s become fun!
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That’s a good balance. Our tot will not eat chicken or any other meat. He chews it until its really dry and then can’t seem to swallow. Nightmare.
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