When to start baby led weaning
BABY LED WEANING: HOW TO START (& DO IT RIGHT!)
hey guys my name is Ashley and I'm a mom
of two little girls I have a two and a
half year old toddler named Kylie and I
have a six-month-old baby named Mia who
is just about to start solid foods a lot
of you guys have asked me about my plan
for how we're going to introduce all the
foods to Mia and we are going to do
exactly what we did with my first
daughter which is baby led weaning so
this video is going to be an
introduction to kind of how to get
started with baby led weaning based on
my own experience because we were very
successful with it with my first
daughter and I am planning to do a total
of about four or five videos for this
little mini series just to kind of dig
into some of the nitty-gritty details on
the different aspects of baby led
weaning just a quick disclaimer I am NOT
a nutritionist I am NOT a pediatrician I
am in no way an expert on this topic
however I did go through this entire
process with my two and a half year old
and I would say for the most part she's
a pretty good eater so I thought that I
might have a few tips to share with some
of you first-time parents who have never
done this before and hopefully you'll
find something that's helpful so first
off let's start with what exactly is
baby led weaning it's just a fancy way
of saying that you skip the purees and
go straight to solid finger foods for
your baby from day one and by the way
the term baby led weaning is actually a
bit of a misnomer the term originated in
the UK where weaning actually refers to
starting your baby on solid foods
whereas in the US where I live
weaning typically is associated with
getting your baby off of breast milk or
formula and technically when you do
start your baby on solid foods you kind
of are decreasing their milk intake but
in no way does that mean that you are
pointedly sitting down and saying okay
I'm giving my baby less milk now that
they're having solids it's actually
quite the opposite for baby led weaning
your job is basically to just start
introducing different solid foods and
you don't touch your baby's milk
schedule whatsoever however many times
your baby is still nursing or getting a
bottle throughout the day you're going
to continue doing that straight up
through their first year there's a
popular saying that food before one is
just for fun so that's important to
remember during baby led weaning you're
only introducing foods to help them
explore and kind of figure out how to
eat but otherwise the milk stays exactly
the same
and what's interesting is that as your
baby gets a little bit older like closer
to the nine to twelve month mark you're
going to see yourself that your baby is
actually starting to consume more of the
solid foods and naturally on your baby's
own he or she will start decreasing
their milk intake but that's entirely
baby less on their own now because the
use of rice cereals and purees have been
pushed by pediatricians for so long for
many of us parents right now the idea of
introducing your baby to solid foods
from the get-go seems like it's kind of
a new thing maybe it's hip or trendy but
if you think about it baby led weaning
has actually been around for centuries
just put yourself in the shoes of
cavemen or even people in today's
society but in third-world countries
where they don't have access to jars of
baby food or the little pouches they're
introducing their babies to the same
things that they eat it's not something
special just for a baby they might mash
it up a little if that's what they feel
more comfortable with doing but
otherwise they're just getting the same
foods that the rest of the family is
getting and if you find yourself gagging
at the thought of pureed turkey do you
really think your baby is going to enjoy
it it's not exactly a first class
introduction to the joy of eating food
so I know that my general rule of thumb
as a mom is if I wouldn't eat it myself
I am most certainly not serving it to my
baby now this might sound all well and
good to a lot of parents out there but
then their first question is what about
choking and that is a totally valid
concern as parents especially first-time
parents we're going to be very worried
about our baby and their safety and you
should be I know that I am very vigilant
about making sure that my baby is not
choking every single time she eats I
never leave her side while she's having
a meal just in case there's actually
research out there that shows that
babies are not any more likely to choke
on solid foods than they are on pureed
foods when they first start eating I
will be sure to include some links to
some resources about it in the
description box below in case you're
interested in reading a little bit more
about that the one thing that you do
want to make sure that you read up on
before you start baby led weaning though
is that you understand how to handle
choking if true choking were to occur of
course you can always take an infant
first aid CPR class to make sure that
you are
100% in the know on how to handle such a
situation and I will also include links
to a couple of videos that I personally
found and watch that I thought were
really helpful that kind of taught me
how to approach choking if my infant
were to start choking which by the way
has never happened the one thing that I
am well-versed in is when a baby gags
gagging is 100% totally normal it's a
baby's natural reflex to get food out of
their mouth that has gone too far back
and it's nothing to be scared of it's
pretty easy to tell the difference
between gagging and choking generally
gagging comes with lots of sounds and
facial expressions which you'll actually
see in this video today and it's very
common for babies in the first couple of
weeks of starting solid foods to gag up
a little bit because they're learning
how to maneuver food around in their
mouths even babies who start on purees
will do this sometimes too so it's not
exclusive to baby led weaning if a baby
is choking it will be very obvious
because they will have a look of terror
on their face and there will be no air
no choking sounds nothing passing
through and in that case of course that
is an emergency but for the most part
you're just gonna see a lot of gagging
and spitting and things like that in the
beginning and then once baby gets
accustomed to the feeling of food in
their mouth and learning how to swallow
little bits of food the gagging stops
some babies do get a lot more than
others
you just kind of have to feel it out and
to be totally honest you have to like
sit on your hands in the first couple of
weeks while this is happening and try
not to freak out because you want to
remain calm you do not want to alarm
your baby oftentimes it's a lot scarier
for the parent to watch than it is for
the baby I can't tell you how many times
my toddler Kylie when she first started
doing this would gag things up and then
just go right back to eating like
nothing happened
one other thing that you might be
wondering is doesn't my baby need teeth
in order to eat solid food and the
answer to that is no when my toddler
Kylie first started she only had I think
one tooth and it had just barely broken
through the guns and she had no problem
chomping down on some broccoli they
figure it out just fine their jaws are
very strong their gums are very strong
and they power through it without a
problem if your child happens to have
teeth already then it's just a bonus all
right so let's jump into what tools do
you need in order to do baby led weaning
I'm gonna come out right now and say you
don't need any
special if you want to sit your child in
your lap in a diaper and hand them a
piece of avocado to eat then that's
totally fine however with that said
there are a couple of tools that will
make things a little bit easier and a
little less messy for you as a parent so
I wanted to share some of those things a
few guys they're things that we use in
our house and I would recommend them to
other parents if it would make you feel
more comfortable to have some of these
things on hand
the first thing are bibs you can use the
traditional fabric bibs that most people
have laying around
personally I prefer these little
silicone pocket bibs because they
they're really really easy to wash and
reuse you don't have to do constant
laundry you just rinse it off as soon as
they're done and let it dry and it's
ready for the next meal but also the
pocket on the front is really convenient
because babies drop a lot of food
especially with solid foods there's
chunks of things constantly falling down
and this the pockets just so big on this
thing that it really prevents most of it
from getting down into the high chair
and getting squished all over the
clothes and all over the highchair so
this is incredibly helpful these are
actually the same ones that I used with
Kylie and we are now using them with Mia
twos as you can see they hold up really
well we have two of them and that's it
for slightly Messier foods like yogurt
and things like that when you get around
to it
some parents also like to use the
sleeved bins which is kind of like a
glorified art smock in my opinion it's
basically just like a waterproof kind of
cover that you put over your baby like a
little shirt and then it's open in the
back right here and then it just ties
around and you just tie it around their
neck and that's it so they're completely
covered on the front and on their arms
and then the back is open and I found
that really helpful for anything
involving a sauce like spaghetti or
yogurt things that tend to just get all
over the place things are still going to
be pretty messy oftentimes the abuse
will just rub it all in their hair it'll
be all over their eating space but at
least you can kind of reduce the amount
of food that is getting all over their
clothing again you don't need these
things if you want to just leave your
baby in just a diaper with no shirt on
at all and hose them down when they're
done eating them that's fine too another
great tool to have on hand is a crinkle
cutter this is perfect for cutting out
the big chunks of food that baby is
gonna try to pick up in the beginning
they're not very good at it and some
foods tend to be a little more slippery
than others so having the crinkly wavy
texture on some of those foods
especially things like bananas or
avocados is really helpful in enabling
your baby to actually pick it up
successfully on their own and get it to
their mouth so it basically just kind of
reduces frustration again not necessary
in fact I didn't even have one with
Kylie I just bought this for Mia and
we've just started using it as far as
where your baby is going to be eating
their meals typically most people start
out in a highchair I feel like a lot of
people really like the IKEA antelope
highchair because it pulls up to the
table there is a tray option as well
which I'm actually using right now with
my daughter because she's a little bit
short for the height of our table but as
she gets bigger we can eliminate the
tray and she can eat dinner at the table
with the rest of the family the other
bonus is that it's a very basic
highchair no frills no fabric
attachments nothing no little crevices
so it's really easy to just wipe down
and clean off when baby is done with
their meal and I can personally attest
to that because Kylie had a different
highchair and it was a pain in the butt
to clean once baby is crawling and
sitting up really well and able to sit
at a Montessori weaning table which if
you don't know what that is I will link
the Montessori eating video that I have
also filmed this week up for you guys
that you can check that out as well but
basically once baby is ready to sit up
in a chair on his or her own
I recommend moving baby from a highchair
to a weaning table but that is obviously
entirely up to your personal preference
if you choose to leave your baby in a
highchair for the entire first two years
of their life then that's your decision
baby led weaning will work whether or
not they're in a highchair or at a table
you also want to invest in something for
your child to learn how to start taking
sips of water out of for some people
this is going to be a sippy cup of some
kind but personally our family follows
Montessori philosophies when it comes to
eating so we've started out both of our
daughters on a small child size or baby
size in this case glass yes this is made
of real glass so it does have the
possibility of breaking these kinder
actually made of tempered glass and
we've dropped them on the floor several
times and they
not broken yet in fact the only ones
that have broken have been two that I
broke accidentally while I was washing
the dishes because I somehow flung it
across the kitchen and it landed on the
floor at a really high speed
but my babies have both dropped these
several times from the highchair and
they've never broken I will put a link
in the description box to the exact set
that we have but these are literally
just shot glasses and they're perfect
for a baby's hands they're just the
right size the fact that this one has
ridges around the edges really helps the
baby to kind of learn how to grip on to
the cuff when they first start one of
the videos that I'm going to be doing in
this series is about teaching your baby
to drink from an open Cup and you're
gonna do this basically from day one so
look forward to that video I'll go into
a lot more detail on how to do that and
finally once your baby is ready to start
using a fork and a spoon it will be wise
to invest in a small child size fork and
spoon the kind that both of my girls use
are just a simple set that I purchased
from a Montessori supply service but
honestly there are tons of different
types of toddler utensils out there that
you can purchase and it doesn't really
matter which ones they use the one thing
that I will recommend is that they are
made of metal and I remember when Kylie
first started using this fork a lot of
people including my own parents were
very concerned about her poking herself
on the tines of the fork it never
happened honestly I think as parents we
worry about a lot more things than we
need to next up is the foods what type
of food are you feeding your baby
basically anything you're eating is fair
game the one thing that you do want to
make sure of is that the food is soft
enough that your baby can eat it in the
beginning so the rule of thumb is if you
can squish it between your two fingers
pretty easily and then it's soft enough
for your baby to eat you can introduce
foods to your baby in whatever order you
want I know that I personally started
out with roasted or steamed fruits and
vegetables and then I kind of slowly
worked my way through some of the grains
and eventually meats it honestly depends
on your culture and what type of diet
your family eats there really are no
hard and fast rules for this so whatever
you're comfortable with I say go for it
the one thing that you want to avoid
though for baby especially in the
beginning are highly processed foods as
well as anything that has a lot of salt
or a lot of excess sugar in it it's not
healthy for baby and you've definitely
not something that you want to start out
their food journey with this
if you are preparing something for your
family for dinner that you're planning
to share bits of with your baby you want
to make sure that you pull out bits of
it for your baby before you add any
extra salt to it seasonings are totally
okay even spicy ones I definitely heard
of some babies who actually really liked
spicy food but I would urge you to start
out small and give them just little bits
at a time and kind of play it by ear you
also need to take into consideration
your family's history of food allergies
obviously if there's something that
someone in your family is highly
allergic to then it's a possibility that
perhaps your baby could also have that
same allergy so you definitely want to
consult your pediatrician before you
introduce any of those types of foods to
your baby and in case you were not aware
of this babies are not allowed to have
honey or cow's milk before the age of
one honey actually contains botulism
spores which can poison your baby
basically and could actually kill them
so you want to make sure you steer clear
of honey and cow's milk just doesn't
have the right levels of nutrients in it
for a baby so they always tell you to
wait until one before you introduce that
before the age of one you want to stick
exclusively to either formula or breast
milk all right so how do you actually do
baby led weaning first you want to make
sure that your baby is very good at
sitting up mostly unassisted this way
they can actually sit in their high
chair or weaning table chair by
themselves if they're slumping over
constantly and they're not able to hold
themselves up then that presents a
choking hazard
so sitting up is very important your
baby should be showing a genuine
interest in food are they reaching out
for things on your plate are they making
chewing motions with their mouths as
they're watching you eat these are all
signs that your baby is interested and
ready for solid food baby should also be
capable of picking things up and
bringing them to their mouths on their
own pretty well you're really not
supposed to put food in your baby's
mouth for him or her because again that
could create a choking risk so baby
should be able to handle food entirely
independently and again realize that
gagging is totally normal and it's gonna
happen a lot in the beginning I put
videos down below that you can recognize
the difference between gagging and
choking and what to do if your child
does actually happen to choke and
finally realize that in the beginning
not a lot of eating and swallowing is
actually going to happen for the most
part the very beginning stages of baby
led weaning are just about exploration
babies learning how to pick foods up
bring it to their
I'll kind of get little bits off move
those bits around in their mouths
probably spit a whole bunch of it right
back out some bits might get swallowed
but again it's about exploration and
learning how to do this whole solid food
thing so if you start a meal with your
baby and hardly anything has been eaten
by the end of it it's just kind of been
smashed around realize that that's
totally normal and to be expected your
baby is really not going to start
actually sitting down and thinking to
himself Oh food I'm hungry until closer
to the nine to twelve month mark so
don't expect a whole lot for those first
couple of months again you want to make
sure that any food you serve is able to
be squished between your two fingers so
that it's soft enough for your baby to
kind of gum to death and then swallow if
they actually get a piece off once they
have more teeth and they're a little bit
better at chewing then you can start
introducing things that are not quite as
soft until your baby gets better at
picking things up with their pincer grip
so they're still using their whole hand
in the beginning you want to offer
little sticks of food that are about the
size of your finger it's a lot easier
for a baby to grab something of that
size off of the tray and hold it
independently than it is something
that's super small around nine months
when they actually start mastering their
pincer grip that's when you can start
offering little bite-sized pieces of
food and smaller foods like green peas
and Cheerios and things like that and if
anything is super slippery again don't
forget the crinkle cutter is really
helpful in creating that texture that
enables the baby to pick it up a lot
more easily the one exception to the
squishy rule is introducing meats to
your baby and in that case you want to
make sure that it's a pretty sizable
piece they're likely not going to be
able to get pieces off of it in the
beginning especially if they don't have
any teeth so stick to the finger sized
pieces of meat or like a whole chicken
drumstick or something like that
this way they can kind of get the taste
and the flavor and kind of experiment
with the texture but they're not ripping
off huge chunks that they could
potentially choke on as far as when to
feed your baby I would say start out
with one meal per day you can make it
either breakfast lunch or dinner
whatever you're most comfortable with or
whenever your baby is in his or her best
mood but just start out with that and
then as baby gets a little bit more
adept at eating and it will be obvious
you'll notice that your baby is actually
taking off chunks of food and chewing
them and swallowing them once your baby
is capable of doing that
you can start kind of upping their
number of meals to two and then three
times a day plus snacks just like the
rest of the family and you can expect a
typical feeding session to take anywhere
from five minutes to twenty five minutes
a half-hour it honestly just depends on
your baby and how interested they are in
the food that you've presented to them
now as far as where to feed your baby
again hopefully he or she is in their
high chair or at their reading table as
I mentioned earlier the baby could also
be just sitting in your lap the
important part is that they are in a
seated position to avoid a choking risk
on the go eating or absent-minded eating
while your child is watching TV
especially when they're first learning
is not very safe and not to mention I
would hope that most parents would want
to teach their child to sit down and
enjoy their meal from its early an age
as possible so you set up your baby's
mealtime area you've cooked the foods
you decided what time of day you're
gonna do it you're ready to dive in the
first thing you need to do is remember
to not give your baby too many choices
you want to put two or three pieces of
the food down on their tray at a time
and allow your baby to choose what
they're going to pick up and put in
their mouth allow your baby to feed him
or herself it's very important that you
never put chunks of food into your
baby's mouth for him or her no matter
how much it looks like they're
struggling you want them to be 100% in
control the reason for that is because
if you put a piece that's too big for
your baby to handle and they're not
ready for it you could accidentally
caused them to choke not to mention self
feeding is kind of the spirit of baby
led weaning so if you're doing it for
your child you're kind of totally
defeating the purpose as soon as your
baby starts to show the dexterity to be
able to bring a utensil to their mouth
on their own and this is going to be
different depending on your baby I know
from experience that my daughter Kylie
was ready to actually start putting a
pre loaded spoonful of yogurt into her
mouth at about seven seven and a half
months some babies might take a little
bit longer others might be ready for it
sooner it's kind of something that you
just have to feel out and see what your
baby is ready for but don't wait to
introduce a fork and spoon just because
you think they're not ready give them an
opportunity to try if you get them
started early and you basically hit
their sweet spot when they're interested
in learning how and they're capable of
it then you will
find quickly that your baby becomes
pretty good at it and I know that by
eleven twelve months just before my
daughter's first birthday she was
entirely independent with using a fork
and a spoon and drinking from an open
Cup all by herself and finally you do
want to make sure that you're giving
your baby a few sips of water with each
of his or her meals not only for a
practice sake but also to ward off
constipation often times when babies
first start solid foods it tends to stop
them up a little bit so having that
little bit of extra water in their diet
again not too much just a few sips here
and there that will kind of help their
body learn to process the fiber a little
bit more easily okay so for the last
part of this video I want to share with
you just some clips of my six-month-old
Mia trying her first week of solid foods
so I will be following the same
progression of foods that I used with my
toddler because we again we're very
successful with it so I see no reason
not to go the same route and because I
am a total nerd about this whole topic
when I was doing this with Kylie I
actually recorded every single food I
fed her exactly how I prepared it I took
videos of Kylie also in case you're
interested in watching those just for
comparison's sake but I will leave a
link to that blog article down below so
if you guys are interested in following
the same progression and learning how to
prepare these foods for your baby all
the information is right there and you
can follow it like a road map
[Music]
okay so that's it for this very long but
very important basics of baby led
weaning intro video as I mentioned
earlier this is just the first in a
little mini series of videos that I'm
going to be doing on baby led weaning in
future videos I will be covering how to
drink from an open Cup introducing and
using cutlery with your baby as well as
managing mealtime behavior and just kind
of troubleshooting some of those common
problems that parents run into if you
guys have any questions about something
I mentioned in this video today then
please leave me a comment down below and
I'd love to chat with you guys about it
and again be sure to stay tuned for all
the other videos that are forthcoming in
this series thanks so much for watching
and I'll see you next time bye
[Music]
