What is BLW?

What is baby-led weaning?
Baby-led weaning is a way of  introducing solid foods that allows babies to feed
themselves - there’s no spoon feeding and no purées. The baby sits with the
family at mealtimes and joins in when she is ready, feeding herself  first with her
fingers and later with cutlery.
Baby-led weaning:
*  allows babies to explore taste, texture, colour and smell
*  encourages independence and confidence
*  helps to develop their hand-eye coordination and chewing skills
*  makes picky eating and mealtime battles less likely
All healthy babies can begin to feed themselves from about six months.
They just need to be given the opportunity.


Why baby-led weaning makes sense
Baby-led weaning is based on the way babies develop in their first year.
Babies’ immune and digestive systems aren’t ready for other foods until they
are about six months old - breastmilk (or formula) is all healthy babies need
until then. At six months, a baby is able to sit upright, pick up pieces of  food,
take them to her mouth and chew them - in other words, she can feed herself.
In the past, when babies were started on solid foods at three or four months,
they had to be given purées because they were too young to feed themselves.
If  you’ve waited until your baby is six months to introduce solid foods you’ve
skipped the purée stage, so there’s no need to start that way.
Won’t she choke?
For a long time parents have been encouraged to introduce finger foods at
around six months to help their baby develop chewing skills - the difference
with baby-led weaning is that you don’t spoon feed as well. So, provided
simple safety rules are observed, choking is no more likely than with any
other method of  introducing solids. In fact, allowing babies to control
what goes into their mouths may actually help them learn to eat safely


How do we get started?
*  Sit your baby upright, facing the table, either on your lap or in a
  highchair. Make sure she is steady and can use her hands and arms freely.
*  Offer your baby food, rather than give it to her - put it in front of  her,
  or let her take it from your hand, so that the decision is hers.
*  Start with foods that are easy to pick up - thick sticks or long strips (about 5cm) are
  best at first. Introduce new shapes and textures gradually so that your baby
  can work out how to handle them.
*  Include your baby in your mealtimes whenever you can. As far as
  possible - as long as it’s suitable - offer your baby the same food as you
  are eating, so that she can copy you.
*  Choose times when your baby is not tired or hungry, so she can
  concentrate. Mealtimes at this stage are for play and learning - she will still
  be getting all her nourishment from her milk feeds. For example half hour or and hour after milk feed
*  Carry on offering breast or formula feeds as before - this is still your
 baby’s main source of  nutrition until she is a year old. When your baby
 needs less she will reduce feeds herself.
*  Offer your baby water with her meals so she can drink if  she needs to.
*  Don’t hurry your baby or distract her while she is handling food -
 allow her to concentrate and take her time.
*  Don’t put food into your baby’s mouth for her or try to persuade  
 her to eat more than she wants.