Why Choose Baby-Led Weaning? Ten Good Reasons

Thinking about baby-led weaning? The method – in which you effectively let your baby feed itself – means no purées and supposedly helps to make your child less fussy about food. I was sceptical myself to start with, and it is not for everybody, but I really enjoyed weaning my daughter, Mrs T, in this way. Here are some of the reasons why…

1. No need to purée food. It may be a bit messier to start with (much of the food goes on the floor) but you don’t have to wash any blenders, food processors, sieves or spend loads of time (and cooking apparatus) preparing meals. To start with baby-led is basically giving you child finger food.

2. No spoon feeding – I didn’t like the thought of ‘force feeding’ my child but wanted her to learn about food herself from the weaning process and take control.

3. With Baby-led Weaning (BLW), babies get to learn about the texture and colour of food and how to hold it and taste it. It enables them to develop their eating abilities at their own pace and become more independent.

4. It helps develop your child’s chewing skills which is also important for learning how to talk.

5. Improves hand-eye coordination. By letting her feed herself, Mrs T has had the opportunity to handle food and put it in her mouth. At eight months old she loves picking up very small pieces of food like lentils and breadcrumbs and guiding it into her mouth (she also licks her fingers).

6. You can eat at the same time – I like meal times to be sociable and fun. We can eat more or less the same thing now she is older. Kids love to copy so she can learn from me. I don’t tend to worry about how much she has eaten – she knows when she has had enough (like children who are breastfed do). It helps avoid meal times becoming an ‘issue’ which can lead to children becoming fussy or refusing to eat certain foods. I can also (while still keeping an eye on her) get some kitchen tasks done at the same time.

7. Your child gets to decide what they eat on their plate, how much they have and how quickly they eat it. It apparently helps avoid over-eating and aids digestion too.

8. I get real satisfaction and pride from watching her exploring new foods, touching them, looking at them and working out how to eat them.

9. No need to worry about the specific set ‘stages’ which are recommended in the puréed weaning process.

10. It is good if you are out and about a lot or away on holiday (like Wander Mum). I let her share my food most of the time.

Mrs T absolutely loves her food and it is a delight watching her try new food and chomping away by herself. But Baby-led Weaning can have some disadvantages. Some of these include….

1. Getting used to their ‘gagging reflex’ can be very difficult with many parents panicking and thinking they are choking.

2. You should only use this method from 6 months old (so if you have been told by your health visitor to wean early then you will have to start them on purées).

3. It can take a longer for them to start consuming lots of solids.

4. They can take a long time to eat their food so if you have another child who eats quicker or have a very rushed lifestyle it can be tricky.

For more information read the book, Baby-led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett, and check out this website.

The first food I gave Mrs T was broccoli. She got the hang of chewing straight away. I was SO proud of her!