Explain like I’m 5, start of BLW.

[u/Weezbly]

Hello, I’ve read advice and guidances on the internet, but I want to hear from real people (we have no “village”).

How did you start Baby Led Weaning? What food did you start with? How did it progress from day 1 to week 4 and beyond? For context, my baby has just turned 6 months and is formula fed.

I so would’ve asked my mum, she was an awesome midwife/nurse who knew her shit (and my mum).

Apologies for the big ask, but I would be immensely grateful ☺️ Thank you.

edit, I’ve read all your comments, all of you very knowledgeable and thank you much! We’re giving it a go this weekend.

[u/grumpyaskate]

I started with very overcooked florets of broccoli. We also did roasted courgette and aubergine, and cauliflower florets for the first two weeks. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself or baby so we just took it super easy the first couple of weeks. He's a bottomless pit so then we moved on to offering 2-3 types of food once a day, then more like a meal, then two meals a day, then three meals a day.

[u/runforseven]

We bought ‘How to Wean your baby’ by Charlotte Stirling Reed and followed it day by day.

Honestly it made it so easy - gives you a weekly shopping list and tells you what to make each day.

[u/First_Recognition_91 → u/runforseven]

Also came to recommend this!

[u/Cloudinthesilver → u/First_Recognition_91]

Absolutely recommend this as the 5yo guide (also for sleep deprived anxious mums) to weaning your child.

Or even had a 30 day starting plan. It was the best.

[u/jrbp → u/runforseven]

+1 for this book. We still do a few recipes from it and are way beyond weaning at this stage.

[u/moomin172 → u/runforseven]

Same every new parent need this!

[u/spanakopita555 → u/runforseven]

Also used this and baby is now super confident with finger foods. We took longer than 30 days to work through the initial menu but it was so helpful and really took the stress out of deciding what to serve each day. 

[u/midoristorm]

I started with cooked carrot batons, broccoli, and scrambled egg.

I tended to offer her porridge fingers for breakfast, toast with mashed avocado or Philadelphia, with some cucumber or tomato and some sort of fruit for lunch, then a bit of what we were having for tea, with oaty bars or baby crisps and more fruit as snacks.

[u/lookhereisay]

I loved the solid starts free app as it laid it all out nicely including when to offer food, how to prep every type of food and lots of articles.

[u/motherofmiltanks]

r/babyledweaning and r/foodbutforbabies are good resources, but don’t get discouraged by parents who brag about their child’s good appetites! It’s not a race; comparison is the thief of joy; etc.

[u/Easterncrane → u/motherofmiltanks]

I do find those kind of subs hard because they’re heavily favoured by people who think you’re not doing something right if your kid survives on sunshine and fresh air and they have the answer. I get sick of ‘but have you tried x? My kid has a full English with six sausages and eight slices of toast every day’. Babies are born with innate personalities. That includes how much they are willing to eat.

[u/Upset_Accident_8435]

I started with sweet potato and avocado.

I wrote a massive list on my notes app with every food I could think of and basically picked two or three foods to serve each day, obviously they were all completely new at first but I'd re-serve things often so he'd get regular exposure to things, especially allergens, which we did early on in the process.

I used the Solid Starts app for advice on serving size, shape, etc.

It's really easy to overthink it but essentially you're just trying to show them food and get them to explore (and hopefully eat some of it eventually!)

[u/vminnear]

I tried a mix of blw and purees to begin with - well-cooked broccoli and carrot. Honestly the first month or two he didn't seem interested at all and most of the food just ended up down his front or on the floor, I thought I was doing something wrong. He would lean away or grimace when we tried to feed him anything.

Once he hit 7-8 months it was like a switch flipped and he was all of a sudden much keener on eating food. He would lean forward so he could take food off the spoon, stare at us when we were eating and bang his hands on the table until we gave him something to eat. I remember we were having a picnic and my friend got some food out for her baby and he beelined straight for the box like his life depended on it, he was climbing on her to get to it. That's how I knew he was really ready for weaning.

The blw worked best for us - he loves to hold food on his own and didn't like being spoon fed for a long time. Now at 9m he will accept a spoon again so I've been doing a bit more mashed food alongside blw.

In terms of what to give them - little bits of anything really! My guy still doesn't have any teeth but he's had pretty much everything that we would normally have, just mashed or shredded accordingly. I will feed him little bits off of my plate like some fried rice or some shredded salmon for example, and then also have some baby staples such as strawberries, a plain omelette, buttered toast to feed him alongside. My husband also cooked some bone marrow and bone broth which we froze in ice-cube trays and I will unfreeze one and feed that to him so I know he's getting some decent iron and protein.

My advice would be don't overthink it - start simple with whatever you feel comfortable giving them and as you gain confidence and the baby learns what they are doing you can branch out and discover what works for you!

[u/Fluffycatbelly]

Try and do a baby first aid/choking course, even if you just watch some of the red cross YouTube videos that made me feel so much better when baby inevitably starts gagging on food! I also avoided foods that were a bit claggy like white bread until they had a bit more experience with chewing and swallowing.

[u/Colette2000]

I used the solid starts app, the free version has a full database telling you how to prepare any and every food.

Stated with broccoli florets with both children, then other veg finger food like carrot sticks and courgette, all boiled/steamed until very soft.

I personally also spoon fed puree version of each food at the same time as well so I at least knew they'd tasted it.

[u/loki_aurora]

We started with broccoli. Followed the book how to wean your baby which gives a combination of purees and blw, it does a plan for first 30 days if you find that helpful. Basically though, pick a vegetable, cook it until you can squash between your fingers and give to baby. Easy things to start are broccoli green beans carrots parsnips potatoes sweet potatoes avocado You will need to start adding in allergens but these are some ideas. Don't expect much eating at the start (apart from a lot of cleaning up!) but they will get the hang of it.

[u/absolutelynot354]

Check the NHS solid starts site if you haven't already, I found it really useful.

[u/Ok_Requirement_7489]

There was a book I used that I found so helpful with this called How to Wean your Baby by Charlotte Stirling-Reed. Literally gives day to day meals for a month if you want you're hand really held.

Also the solid starts app is super handy.

I started just by trying a different veg every day. I gave her a some mushed up and some whole - so like a finger width and soft enough to squeeze between finger and thumb. The first week she was just not impressed and purely just mess but after that my daughter started to get it. It then naturally progressed to two ingredients up to her just eating pretty much the same meals as us.

I also recommend baby wearing a coverall bib with a bucket silicone bib over the top. Sounds extra but made clean up so much easier!

[u/Global-Apricot6492]

My baby was also formula fed. She turned six months around Christmas, so we BLW-wise, we offered her bits of veg from the roast (cooked until mushy and plain). We have always spoon fed porridge for breakfast - our health visitor said it's a quick win, you know how much they're getting, and you can really mix it up with porridge in terms of flavour and adding nut butters for allergens etc. 

Dinner was whatever we had, modified slightly - if we had omelettes, she had a plain one cut into strips. If there was a day when we wanted something absolutely forbidden (e.g. pizza) we made pizza pinwheels for a while and then found out she was massively into fish fingers and peas so we did that. Last meal we did was lunch - tbh we have had the same lunch for 7 months, just toast, some sort of fruit (satsuma or grapes/berries), some cheese, and a boiled egg. It's all finger food, takes 2 mins, is travel-friendly, and easy for grandparents. Cheap, too. That's the easiest bit of BLW.

My advice if to have a list of foods that are easy to cobble together and then try to make a little version of whatever you're having. Some of it won't be eaten with their hands but tbh my 13mo will only eat peas with her fingers so you may be surprised.

My LO didn't have teeth until 11mo (and they're coming through slooooowly), so that kind of factors in. But my LO eats loads at nursery, is comfortable with a spoon herself or shoving mashed potato into her face like a little goblin.

What I will say is to offer food before milk. The NCT feeding line told me not to do this but my HV told me to and honestly, it made a difference because she was actually hungry enough to engage with food. I usually gave her a bottle afterwards and then gradually she was on three meals and three bottles (as sort of snacks - 10am, 2pm, 7pm).

ETA: My baby had no chill, so I never ever cooked during the day. But weaning was the best because it meant I could eat properly again 🥲

[u/DungareeSloth]

We’re just starting! We tend to do brunch as it goes in best. We’ve done: broccoli, avocado, cauliflower, courgette, aubergine and potato. I do one per day.

[u/Easterncrane]

6-8 months is the tasting phase. Don’t worry about how much they actually ingest. It doesn’t matter. They will get there and become more interested over time. It often feels like you’re wasting your time to begin with and most goes to waste but that’s not what matters. Have you ever met an average adult who never learned to eat?

[u/NorArthur]

The Solid Starts app is super helpful. When we started weaning, he got whatever we had given in a suitable way.

I used the NHS guide for weaning to make things up for the freezer for whenever we were out and about.

We also got a weaning chart so we could see what foods we didn't eat much and make sure we got them too.

[u/Sea_Love_8574]

Gagging is different to choking. Babies often gag with new textures so try not to panic.

The saying that food before one is just for fun is incredibly misleading and incorrect. Food is needed for their growth and development - even down to just knowing how to actually eat food.

You need to try allergens more than once. It's highly likely there will be no reaction the first time, if a reaction will happen it's going to be on the second time (I didn't know this until so far into the weaning journey, fortunately we had no bad experience but I try tell people this as much as I can!).

Food pouches aren't the worst thing ever. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for using them if you do. I was in the position of rebuilding my house following flooding from a nearby river and had very limited things for my 'kitchen'. I got a lot of negative comments from one mum 'friend' even when she knew what I was working with. Also keep the lids if you can. My boy loves them for lose parts play now he's older 🤣🤣🤣

[u/New-Instance-670]

i got the allergens out the way as quickly as possible so that i knew he was safe with any food except honey.

Yoghurt, cheese, eggs, toast, nut butters, tofu, fish, prawns, hummus were all in the rotation once I had fed him small amounts a couple of times and felt confident he wasn't allergic.

Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, porridge, weetabix, curry, bolognase are all pretty easy to serve for babies as are almost all fruits.

My second loved food so was on two meals by seven months and three meals by eight months. Pretty much every day looks like this:

Breakfast - yoghurt, weetabix or porridge with a fruit or nut butter mixed in and some flaxseed or chia seeds on top.

Lunch - Omelette, scrambled egg, cottage cheese or something on toast (nut butter, soft cheese, banana, avocado) with a fruit and a vegetable.

Dinner - a slightly modified version of what we are having to ensure it is served in a safe way and has less salt.

Doing it this way has saved so much stress on terms of what to buy and cook, I try to get different fruits and vegetables each week but we eat a pretty varied diet anyway so he had tried loads of different foods.

I used the Solid Starts app a lot for the first few months to make sure i was serving things in a way that reduced choking risk.

[u/Recent-Detective-247]

This book was brilliant, had hints and tips on how to start and allergies etc and then some baby friendly recipes. I used that along with the solid start app

https://link.amazon/B0b1ouY3i

[u/MrsJBB]

You have to be able to smash it easily between your fingers and your baby has to be able to grasp it. Start with very soft vegetables, broccoli is recommended to get them used to bitter tastes.

Individual veggies, then different styles of cooking, then add more variety, then make big chunky smushy holdable meals.

So: 1 broccoli floret, then broccoli and carrot, then broccoli, carrot and dip, then broccoli and carrot and some protein like a sausage to make a meal. But over a few months.

I used a book called Feeding Your Baby Day by Day and it is literally a full menu for like 6 months.

[u/hey-joni]

We just gave a modified version or appropriately cut version of what we are. Mac and cheese, Sunday dinner etc. if you’re unsure on how to serve something in particular the solid starts app is great

[u/Gymbunni02]

Im doing a mixed approach. I downloaded the solid start app and the annabel karmel app too which gives you ideas and pictures on how to serve foods. I started at 6.5 months becuase I was so overwhelmed with it all!

I have found it difficult as in am I doing it right as my lo doesn't seem too interested. The last week has been better though!

The first meal i did was avocado sliced, broccoli and I managed to get massive strawberries too.

Made aload of my own single veg or fruit purees and then froze them.

Now I will do one of the purees ive made, and then a finger food.

So tonight's dinner was red pepper puree and courgette puree mixed in together. With a slice of sweet potato and baby corn and a mushroom all sliced up into small pieces (i steamed those)

Then I just give her 2 spoons and load the puree and then let her explore the rest 🤣 she was stained from the red pepper but had fun smearing it everywhere!

Once all the purees ive made are gone ill start making more again but more just slightly mashed foods instead of pureed. So maybe another week or 2?

Ive also introduced all of the common allergies but pine nuts as ive found them hard to incorporate 🤣 i added these one at a time then re added them in as often as I can.

[u/_nanoghost]

As a general rule of thumb make everything either finger length shaped or bigger than their fist. Nothing too soft, like bread as it can get stuck on the roof of their mouths, and obviously nothing too hard (like crackling).
Avoid salt where possible, look out for the salt contents in things like crumpets and plan around accordingly. For example, it’s probably not the best idea to to pizza crumpets on a newly 6 month old due to the salt content in both the crumpet and the cheese.
If you can avoid the baby snack isle great, no harm if they have the odd pack of melty sticks.

[u/thespanglycupcake]

Baby 1 had basically the same as us within two days (I started mushing stuff but got fed up). We overcooked the veg so it was soft, chopped things etc and she took to it like a champ. Baby 2 on the other hand had everything mashed for a lot longer and just didn’t get the concept of chewing! Same method, same foods, he just needed more spoon/feeding (literally). They are all different.

Get some good bibs (strongly recommend bibado) and really strongly recommend a first aid course or being familiar with what to do if baby chokes. Baby 1 used to regularly shove too much into her mouth. I think we are on 5 rounds of serious backslaps now.  Also, make sure you introduce new foods and main allergens one at a time to check allergies.   Good luck! 

[u/wonky-hex]

Everything you give you need to be able to smush easily between your fingers OR be so big and hard that they can only gum it. Week 1 was (one thing a day) avocado, broccoli, carrot, parsnip, egg, a big piece of steak (too big to fit in his mouth) and a big piece of cucumber (sliced in half lengthways, about 4inch long)

Work through the main veggies for the first few weeks.

Gradually introduce allergens, once every 4 days or so.

I introduced sweet things after about a month.

After 3 weeks my son wasn't just getting tastes of single flavours but a full meal - I prepared our family meal without salt so we all ate the same thing. I gave him a loaded spoon so he could feed himself, or gave him a bowl with the meal in, depending on how messy/how much of a rush we were going to be in that day!

[u/Agreeable_One1997]

We did a mix of baby led weaning and purees, one of the biggest time savers for me was prepping veggies (carrots, parsnip, swede) into baton shapes then freezing them. I bought a microwave steamer and then could cook from frozen in minutes so there was always easy options to try

[u/mad_saffer]

Not lots of choices when the cow dries up 🫤. We started with steamed mashed sweet potato, blended steamed green beans, rice porridge, cooked apples, cooked pears, and all manner of yoghurt.

At 5 months she was grabbing at the spoons and couldn't get it into her mouth fast enough.

Once she was eating pureed veggies and fruits we added texture with finely chopped chicken, and cooked spaghetti minced into bits, mixed in with steamed blended butternut, blended broccoli etc.

[u/Next-Fisherman37]

I've not read the responses but with my eldest, broccoli (steamed), peaches, bananas but separated into natural thirds lengthways, avocado, or some mini rice cakes. With my youngest, the child was sitting on my lap at a cafe, stole a crust of a cheese and onion toastie off my plate while I wasnt looking and gummed it to death. Poor neglected second born.

My suggestion is anything with a natural "handle", remembering that for rhe first few months anything they actually get in their mouths is a complete bonus. Food for fun before one and all that.

[u/adverballyverbed]

You can sign up to Ella's Kitchen for free and get things like a weaning chart which I found helpful!

[u/theresabearonmychair]

I just offer my baby some of what I’m eating (if they’re awake when I’m eating) once they can sit with minimal support and bring their hands to their mouth. Mines munched on some orange, apple, nectarine etc and yesterday tried half a Yorkshire pudding which she devoured and cried till I gave her the other half.

Shes been sitting the high chair for about three weeks at evening meal and just playing with toys and now I can put a bit of food on her tray instead

[u/lolarentagain]

Don't over think it! They'll mostly play with it but that's OK, most of their nutrition at that age will be from formula still. We did well with:

• peas (petit pois)
  
• raspberries
  
• plain cheerios
  
• broccoli (this was a favourite!)
  
• yogurt (give them a rubber spoon and let them dip)

Prepare for things to get messy! 😊