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My son is a little over 7 months old, and we started baby led weaning at 6 months. A lot changed throughout that month! Here is a little recap of our entire experience during our first month of baby led weaning.
Diving into the world of baby led weaning and food with my son was absolutely something I was majorly looking forward to. We are just about a month and a half into our journey with solids and it’s been a blast (minus all the cleaning). He has grown and changed so much in such a short amount of time, it’s been amazing to watch!
I know baby led weaning can be intimidating for some. I also know it’s a newer concept and perhaps you’re curious but not sure where to turn. Don’t worry, I got you!
Below I’ll be sharing my go-to resources, the progression of baby led weaning for my son, how I dealt with anxiety, some of my son’s favorite meals, and more!
This post is all about baby led weaning 6 months – our experience.
What is baby led weaning?
What even is baby led weaning? It’s definitely a newer concept or approach to solids with babies. Previously it was just purees, but now there are two choices when it comes to solids (purees or baby led weaning.)
In a nutshell, it’s letting your baby lead their food journey. It can look like giving them full pieces of food (cut appropriately and safely) as well as more pureed textures that are fed with a spoon mom or dad had preloaded instead of them feeding the baby. It can look like fully sharing your meals with baby!
It helps expose your baby to new flavors, textures, and creates an overall positive experience around eating. There is a ton of research around it, I encourage you to go digging if you’d like to read more.
I personally wasn’t all for baby led weaning (not against, just neutral), and just wanted to see what worked best for my son. It was clear he wanted to take the reins, so I leaned into that.
Can you do purees with baby led weaning?
Yup! Doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can preload spoons and hand them to your baby, and just like that you’re doing baby led weaning.
You also can do some meals where baby is “in charge” and some meals where mom or dad is, depending on baby’s preferences and the parent’s comfort level.
You also can do a more hybrid of pureed texture and solid texture with mashed foods like avocado, steamed carrots, etc.
My favorite resource:
I absolutely adore Solid Starts. Not sponsored, no affiliate link.
They have a bundle linked here with a ton of resources. They also have an app, that outlines how to safely prepare foods for babies 6-9 months 9-12, and 12-18.
I did use the bundle for allergens and their cpr video. I think I need to revisit some of their recipe ideas. I used the app a TON. A little less now that I have an idea of how to cut and prepare foods safely, and find myself rotating through the ones I know. But I know I will continue to use it a ton. It’s $10 for a year!
Cannot recommend them enough, especially if you are nervous to start, or simply don’t know where to start. SO helpful.
Their Instagram is also a great place to go for free information!
How I knew my son was ready for solids:
We started to get asked when my baby would start solids from friends and family starting around 4 months, as that can be when some littles start. My son had zero interest. So little in fact that I wondered how I’d be ever able to tell he did have interest. He could not care less about the food my husband and I were eating.
Then one day a switch flipped! He was staring, he was following the silverware as we went from plate/bowl to our mouths. You couldn’t miss the interest!
He also was starting to sit up (although he still at 7.5 months isn’t sitting unassisted completely, so that qualifier confuses me. My ped didn’t seem concerned.)
He could bring things from hand to mouth.
He had great head and neck control.
It went from wondering when he’d ever be ready to BOOM ready really quick.
How it started:
Because it came on so suddenly, we started very casually. I had some leftover canned pumpkin, and he tried some spoonfuls of that while sitting in my lap. Loved it. I cut up some cucumber spears and he devoured those. It was just what we had on hand, but those two interactions made it clear he was more than ready and I needed to make things official.
We started putting him in the high chair for meals, and serving him meals 30-60 mins after a nursing session.
I started off slow with one food at a time. Lots of gagging (NOT choking) at first. It was a lot of exploration and figuring things out, for both him and me. He definitely knew what was going on, but it was clear he had some learning to do with his mouth and tongue.
We started off offering one-ish meals per day. Sometimes more if I felt like it.
1-2 weeks later he went from not quite sure what to do with the food once he got it to his mouth, to clearly chewing and swallowing. He also went from accepting 1 meal a day to needing 3 😳 .
For my son, it ramped up VERY quickly. From what I read, the change from exploration to truly eating meals happens anywhere from a few weeks to a few months later. There is a range of normal. It seems like my son is on the earlier side of making the switch to meals, although he has barely cut back on feeds lol. He’s a big boy, off the charts for height and weight, so I’m not surprised.
How it’s going:
We are solidly doing 3 meals a day, usually 30 minutes after nursing. I offer him a full meal, 3 different options on his plate. He needs minimal help from me and handles it all himself. It’s the coolest thing!
He doesn’t hand scoop feed himself anything yet, so I will preload spoons for him.
He’s a good eater and still is open to trying anything.
No reactions from allergens, thank goodness. Reactions from food getting in his neck folds though lol.
It seems like really establishing these 3 meals a day helped him drop night feeds on his own. They still happen here and there, but he basically weaned himself. I hope day feed weaning happens in the same way and I can just follow his lead!
Dealing with anxiety:
One of the goals of baby led weaning is creating a positive food experience for baby. If you are incredibly anxious the whole time, it’s probably unlikely to do that.
Also, if you’re incredibly anxious, it’s not going to be all that positive for you either. It’s okay to stick to purees until you’re more comfortable. NO shame in that, no harm done to your baby. Seriously. It’s very trendy to do blw now, but that doesn’t make it the right choice for every family!!
I was definitely anxious, but I felt like I wanted to push through it because I could tell my son preferred to feed himself. He really took to food he could hold in his hands. I watched the Solid Starts cpr video – which helped calm me a ton. It helps explain the difference between gagging and choking. Gagging is NORMAL and to be expected. It’s the body’s natural defense mechanism against choking.
The Solid Starts app also helped me because I knew how to safely prepare foods for my son, greatly minimizing any choking risk.
The more he ate, the more I learned to trust him, and the less anxious I felt. He would take too big of bites, then gag and spit them out. He was doing exactly what he needed to do! A month and a half in, he rarely gags now. He has learned so much so quick!
My son’s favorites:
We’ve been lucky in that my son has liked everything he’s tried so far! Early favorites were cucumber, applesauce, teething rusks, bamba, butternut squash, bananas, and toast (we did Ezekiel bread).
Allergens:
Please discuss with your pediatrician before starting to test allergens, they will give you the best possible advice specific to your baby.
We followed the fast version of the Solid Starts introduction plan. They say to regularly incorporate allergens into your baby’s diet after safely introducing, which imo means you’d just constantly be serving allergen related food. I haven’t been stressing that so much and just give it to him when it makes sense.
Truly it’s been one of my favorite phases of motherhood. It’s absolutely amazing to watch how quickly he learns, his preferences, and just sitting with him during meals. I can’t wait to see what the next few months bring in this solids journey!
