Baby-led Weaning
by Cordelia Uys, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor
Baby-led weaning is a method of introducing solids that allows the baby to feed themselves; no pureeing, mashing or spoon-feeding is required. After around 6 months, once a baby is showing all the developmental signs of readiness, he or she eats the same home-prepared foods as their parents, minus added salt and sugar.
Developmental signs of readiness for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support and hold their head steady.
Baby can co-ordinate their eyes, hands and mouth so they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth by themselves.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of their mouth with their tongue.
The above abilities coincide with the baby starting to produce the enzymes that allow them to digest solid foods. In fact, the way to know a baby is internally ready for solids is when they are externally able to feed themselves.
When babies aren’t developmentally ready for solid food, spoon feeding is the only way to ‘deliver’ food past their tongue thrust reflex.
Once babies are developmentally ready, there’s no need to introduce one food at a time.
BLW is often thought of as new-fangled but this is how humans have been introducing solid food since the dawn of time; our caveman ancestors would probably have given older babies bones with a bit of meat to chew on.
Baby knows best:
With BLW, parents choose which foods to offer, and when, and the baby decides how much, and what, to eat. An extraordinary experiment, The Self Selection of Diets by Young Children, carried out in the late 1930s by the paediatrician Dr Clara Davis, showed that when left to their own devices, babies know how much to eat and exactly which foods their body needs.
The only foods to be avoided are:
Salt – babies’ kidneys are not mature enough to deal with salt and too much can cause severe illness.
Sugar – can cause tooth decay and is best avoided completely for the first two years.
Fast foods and ready meals.
Nuts and peanuts (whole and in pieces) - the NHS recommends waiting to 5 years due to the risk of choking. (Nut butters are fine.)
Honey - there is a small risk of botulism
According to research (see link below) done by Prof Amy Brown, of Swansea University, there is a growing body of evidence that BLW:
Encourages a wider acceptance of food and less fussiness
When there is less interference from carers, and babies are given autonomy over what, and how much, they eat, it makes picky eating and mealtime battles less likely.
Provides a more positive experience of family meals
Exposes babies to a wider variety of foods
BLW allows babies to explore the test, texture, colour and smell of foods.
Allows babies to develop positive ingestion learning
When a baby eats a whole carrot, for example, they start to associate what a carrot looks and feels like with what it tastes like, and how eating a carrot makes them feel. When babies eat purées, they are deprived of that learning experience.
Helps to develop hand-eye coordination and chewing skills
Helps with appetite regulation and protects against becoming overweight
Babies are born with an innate ability to self-regulate. When allowed to feed themselves, they will stop eating as soon as they’re full.
With spoon-feeding, the temptation to coax the baby to eat more than they want is strong, but this stretches their stomach, damages their ability to self-regulate and puts them at risk of becoming overweight.
Helps to develop hand-eye coordination and chewing skills
Benefits to parents
BLW is less work because babies eat the same foods as the rest of the family, and parents love seeing how much their baby enjoys eating. Grandparents who are initially sceptical are soon won over by their grandchild’s enthusiasm for food, and their self-feeding skills.
Choking concerns
Many parents worry that Baby-led Weaning increases the risk of their baby choking, but in fact research shows that choking is no more likely with BLW than when solids are introduced via traditional spoon feeding:
Baby-led Weaning workshops
I regularly facilitate introducing solids workshops with a focus on BLW:
https://www.cordeliauys.co.uk/solids
Here’s baby Bee, one of my protegées, demonstrating her BLW skills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Y-47wnqcw
Quotes about Baby-Led Weaning:
“I’m so thankful I discovered the BLW method, as all 3 of my kids eat beautifully! (My sister-in-law has two young kids who are still on shop-bought baby mush at almost 3). I’m so thankful mine love real food! Doing BLW is one of best decisions I made as a mother.”
“I can’t say how thankful we are that we chose to use the BLW method. BLW gave us the freedom and confidence to have Ellie live life alongside us rather than feeling trapped by mealtimes! My favourite part has been the ability to travel the world without the worry of packing food for Ellie.”
Research:
Research by Prof Amy Brown: Baby-Led Weaning: The Evidence to Date:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438437/
In a randomised trial into BLW, the BLISS Study, which was carried out in New Zealand: ‘BLW infants had significantly lower food fussiness and were less likely to be described as ‘picky’ at age 12 months. BLW infants also showed higher enjoyment of food at both 12 and 24 months and were more likely to feed themselves most, or all of, their food than control infants at every age (until 24 months) (Taylor et al, 2017). There were no significant differences in choking risk (Fangupo et al, 2016) or iron intake and status (Daniels et al, 2016) between the two groups.’
'Parents may be allowed a free choice in the manner of infant weaning…baby-led weaning might even be encourage as an approach to address concerns regarding food neophobia, food refusal, and disruptive mealtime behaviours.’ Lakshman et al, 2017 (Jama Paediatrics)