Baby Led Weaning Foods By Age – How To Start Baby Led Weaning

You’ve decided you want to do baby-led weaning with your baby and you are preparing to start. Let’s look at baby led weaning foods by age so that you can make a plan on what you’ll serve. 

In this article, you will find a baby led weaning chart, baby-led weaning starter foods and feeding tips to keep mealtime safe and low stress.

Before serving foods, you want to ensure that your baby is developmentally ready to start eating soft, safely prepared solids. The typical age to start is 6 months old. This is when your baby’s gut is developed enough to digest foods and they are typically sitting upright on their own, able to safely swallow. 

It’s a smart idea to speak with your pediatrician before starting solids. That said, many doctors still don’t recommend baby led weaning because there is still very limited bodies of research around this feeding method. It is, however, advocated for by many dietitians, feeding therapists, occupational therapists and moms worldwide. The woman who coined the term spent her life studying and working with babies and you can see her bio and work here:  Gil Rapley, PhD.

Baby Led Weaning 6 months

At this age, your baby is still so tiny and is just starting to be able to move and handle things on their own. It’s such a magical time for them and for you to see the growth and exploration beginning.

Many parents, especially first time parents, are super nervous to start baby led weaning. If that’s the case for you as well, go slow. Know that your baby’s milk feeding schedule can remain the same AND they are still getting the nutrients they need from their milk until 1, so no need to pressure, worry or force foods.

Keep it simple and choose ‘gentle’ foods at this age. You may serve only slivers of banana for the first week because that is what you feel safe and comfortable with – totally fine! You have many many many weeks between now and their 1st birthday to gradually introduce more variety.

When I say ‘gentle’ foods, I mean gentle on the body to digest. For example, apples are more gentle than strawberries because strawberries are acidic and acidic foods can cause or worsen diaper rash or even make the skin on their face and hands flare up. Unlike a true allergy, this is just a sensitivity and often one your baby will grow out of with time. So, if you find a food creates redness on the face, hands or bottom, hold off and reintroduce after baby is 12 months+.

Know also, that baby’s don’t need teeth to eat safely prepared, soft-as-a-banana solids. (more tips on how to safely serve foods and avoid choking hazards below.)

Here are some great foods for 6 months:

This is a simple starting point for nervous moms, but they are by no means the only options. Go with what feels best and safest to you, just make sure that the foods are of safe softness, not choking hazards and consider holding off on serving allergens until you are more comfortable handling your baby during mealtime and have more experience with feeding/them eating solids.

*Safety note: If you have a family history of allergies or your baby has eczema, they may be predisposed for allergies. So check with your pediatrician for an allergy test before serving any allergens. Otherwise, it is recommended that parents serve allergens early and often to help reduce the likelihood of a future allergy developing. Thinking back to my nervous first mom days, I’d encourage you to hold off serving allergens until you’ve been serving and our baby has been eating solids for about 2-3 months, just to feel more comfortable and confident about it. You can read here about how to prepare for serving allergens, how to spot reactions and what to do if your baby does have an allergic reaction.

how to prepare foods for baby led weaning? 

• Always ensure that fresh fruit is very ripe/very soft so your baby can easily gum at or chew up and swallow safely. Gums are great for mashing soft foods, so baby doesn’t need to have teeth to start.

• For all fruit, a good rule of thumb is to have everything be as soft as a banana. 

• For cooked foods, use the same rule – as soft as a banana. Steam, sautee, roast, however you prefer to prepare it. 

• When presenting the food, the traditional way to prepare is to cut into slivers the size of an adult index finger. You can see other safe alternatives here, depending on your baby’s needs and abilities.

• Avoid choking hazards, like coin-shaped foods. Cut long ways instead or into slivers. You can see a full list of choking hazards here.

• How often to serve a new food: the most recent recommendation is one food per day OR per every few days, depending on your comfort level and baby’s abilities. As you see them handle a food well, and as you start to feel more comfortable and confident, you can begin to add another or switch to another.

• Keep salt and sodium-dense products to a minimum, as your baby’s kidneys aren’t quite developed enough to process it properly. The same goes for spicy seasonings – avoid those until baby is more accustom to flavors, and you can decipher what they are able to tolerate.

• Strongly consider taking an infant CPR class. Although studies have found that baby led weaning does not pose a greater choking risk than feeding pureed food does, the likelihood that you have choking fears is high. And, the reality is, choking can be a risk up until age 5-6 years old, so if you actually know what to do in case of a choking emergency, you are likely to feel far more at ease when serving foods.