Baby-Led Weaning FAQ

When I was looking up all the ways of weaning my daughter, I was fully prepared to spend hours a week steaming vegetables and throwing them in the blender to make purees.  Then I stumbled upon baby-led weaning, and the idea would not leave my head.

We have a preemie, and at 6 months old she was much more like a newborn than a child who might be able to sit up and eat.  Following the US guidelines seemed detrimental when my 6-month-old was essentially a 3 month old.  

I decided to wait until she was ready. Then we would give food that was appropriate for her.

It worked!  She wasn’t interested in food until she was about 11 months old.  By that point, she had quite a few teeth and was ready to figure out how to use them.  We started with apples.  She would sit on her dad’s lap and they would share an apple for breakfast.  It wasn’t long before she started asking for apples… and then she would take the food right off our plates.

She still isn’t a picky eater and is interested in trying everything.  

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What is Baby-Led Weaning?

There are two main tenants to baby-led weaning:

1. Wait until the baby is ready
2. Feed them whole foods. Ideally, the same food everyone else is eating

That’s it. 

If it seems simple, that is because it is.  When we started with baby-led weaning, we thought it was too simple.  I thought I was missing something, so I spent hours scouring the internet for the hidden catch.  There isn’t one.

Now, while those tenants are easy to say and understand, they do lead to a lot of questions from new parents.  I’ll try to answer them all.

How do I know the baby is ready for solids?

Your baby is ready for solids when they ask for them.  Babies are non-verbal when they start solids, so how does the baby ask for food?  By reaching for it.

They show you they are ready for food by:

• Mimicking chewing when you chew
• Reaching for your food with their hands
• Coming over to you while you are eating and showing interest in your plate
• Attempting to take food from your plate
• Opening their mouth when you take a fork/spoonful of food in an attempt to encourage you to put the food in their mouth instead of yours.
• Taking food from you when it is offered

Once you have determined your baby is asking you for food, it is time to start giving it to them.  Be advised, it may take a while for them to eat significant amounts of the food.  In the initial stages, they are more interested in exploring the food with their hands and tasting small bits of it.

You will know they are actually starting to eat the food when you start to see chunks of undigested food in the diaper.  Corn is a great indicator.

What foods are safe?

Your baby can probably eat anything except sugar, honey, and salt. 

Here is a guide from Parents on what baby can begin eating when.   

When serving food for your baby, you do need to make sure they won’t choke on it.  Cut round foods at least in half to reduce risk (like grapes, berries, or cherry tomatoes).  Big foods that cant fit in the mouth all at once can just be given to the baby. 

Use your best judgment, and talk to your doctor if you are concerned.

Every guide I see says I need to feed my baby Iron-fortified infant cereals.  Is that true?

Babies use a lot more iron than we do.  To make sure your baby gets enough iron, you definitely need to feed them something iron-fortified.  But it doesn’t have to be infant cereal.

Lots of adult cereals are iron-fortified too.  So you could go with cheerios or Rice Chex instead of mushy, flavorless infant cereal.  Just read the labels so you don’t accidentally give your baby too much sugar.

You could also supplement with an iron fortified gummy vitamin.

All these guides say I need to feed the baby with a spoon so they learn to use it.  How do I teach them to use a spoon if they are feeding themselves?

We never fed our daughter with a spoon, but always had the appropriate cutlery available.  She would watch us and then try to feed herself with the spoon.

Yes, it was very messy, and at times she got more on her than she got in her mouth, but she learned.  Now she uses a spoon and fork better than some highschoolers I know.  

You don’t need to hold the spoon for her to learn to use it.  She will see how you use a spoon and then try to do it too.  Just have the spoon available and the baby will figure out the rest.

What if baby chokes?

Our hospital required us to learn infant CPR before we could take our baby home.  And man did that come in handy a few times.

Once, we were all just eating dinner, and our then 18-month-old starts choking on a piece of chicken skin she stole from her daddy’s plate.  In no time flat, I had her flipped over and was heimlicking her.  Chicken skin came right up and she was happily eating less than a minute later. We have only had to use this skill twice, which is not bad overall.

Point is: learn infant CPR.  You need to know how to save your child’s life regardless of how you start feeding them.  

What are the Downsides?

This is probably the messiest way to teach your child to eat.  They are the ones feeding themselves and delight in smearing and throwing food everywhere.  The phase doesn’t last long, but it is incredibly messy while it does.  

Our family used an automatic vacuum cleaner to keep things neat.  But if you don’t have access to one, a drop cloth may be necessary.

It can also take a bit longer for the baby to eat because they don’t get as much food in their mouths initially.  Instead of 15 or 20 minutes, dinner could take an hour.  Not great if you are on a time crunch. 

Because it takes longer for the baby to eat, it also takes longer for the baby to wean.  At 1 years old, she was still on about 75% breast milk.  But by 18 months she was fully weaned.  So if you need your baby weaned now, this might not be for you.

What are the Upsides?

The biggest upside is that you get to eat dinner.  Because the baby is feeding themselves, you don’t have to first feed them before you eat.  It creates a family atmosphere that encourages eating, family bonding, and decreases the probability of a picky eater.

The child also learns how to use utensils faster.  You aren’t controlling the way food gets to their mouth, so they spend a lot more time figuring it out.  Our daughter is much further on fine motor skills than other kids her age as a result.  

There is also a reduced risk of raising a picky eater.  Children experience their food as it is presented.  If you spend months mashing all their food, they expect peas to be mashed and then don’t want to eat them when they are presented whole.  But if you start with whole foods prepared the way an adult would eat them, they are used to the food being that way.  Then they are far more likely to continue to like whole foods. 

You also won’t spend a bunch of time preparing special food for the baby.  Just make your dinner without salt and serve it to everyone.  Much easier!

Are There Any Books I Can Read?

Absolutely! These two are by far the best I have read on the topic.  Informative, thoughtfully laid out, and great recipes for young babies (and the rest of the family).  Get either of these books and you won’t need to do any further research.

The first is Baby-Led Feeding by Jenna Helwig. It has a whole chapter on how to set up your baby’s feeding journey and how to troubleshoot it if you need to. Then there are a ton of recipes good enough to make it into your regular meal rotation. My favorite thing about this book is a lot of the recipes aren’t very messy for the baby to eat. Sure you will have crumbs on the floor, but for most of it, you don’t have to worry about stains or even think about throwing on a bib.

The second book is The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. Where the first book gives you new recipes to add to your repertoire, this cookbook gives you tips on how to tweak your current recipes so they are safe and nutritionally whole. I learned a lot from this book on how to create a properly balanced meal. It is fantastic!

Between these two books you will have all the tools you need to get your baby loving solids.

Wrapping it all up

Baby-led weaning is the only way I will ever wean my children.  It was so easy and she eats everything.  I can’t imagine spending hours a week making purees or feeding my children sugar-filled “baby food” bought at the store.

It is an easy way to control how much sugar my child is exposed to without significantly increasing my work load.  

I don’t mind the mess that it makes because her exploration of food is a great sensory experience.  She even helps cut up veggies for dinner. 

Should you go with baby-led weaning?  I think it is really the best way to go, even if you need baby to wean quickly. By the time we were weaning, my milk supply was drying up. We supplemented the milk and solids with formula, and only needed to use the formula for a few months, mostly at night.

Do you have more questions?  Leave them in the comments below!  And don’t forget to like and share!