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How To Serve Foods For Baby Led Weaning - 3 Sensory Ways To Suit Any Baby
how to serve foods for baby led weaning
My goal with this article is to help nervous or frustrated moms and their hesitant eaters, recognize the safe options they have when it comes to serving foods for baby led weaning.
Some babies really lean into the learning side of starting solids (they feel, play, lick, rather than just eat them – and that’s completely normal, too). This can leave their moms feeling like they are doing something wrong or that their baby can’t do baby led weaning.
If you notice your baby is hesitant to eat and exploring foods more as they do toys, one of the best things you can do is to tweak how you present the food (while still following the necessary safe softness guidelines – soft as a ripe banana is an easy way to remember it) and see if they take to foods more when they are in a specific shape or presentation.
I am not a baby led weaning purist but rather, a fervent advocate for the feeding method, first coined by Gil Rapley, PhD. I’ve started 4 babies with this feeding method to date, and it is my preferred and recommended method, when speaking with new families.
I own a Montessori-inspired daycare & preschool, and focus on safety, variety, simplicity and mealtime enjoyment. I’ve seen first hand the benefits baby led weaning provides the baby and the adult, including more mealtime happiness, healthier dinner table habits, more food acceptance, less picky eating habits, less power struggles and ability to practice intuitive eating – to name a few.
When doing baby led weaning, I adapt to each baby’s needs, as each baby I’ve worked with so far, has had their own preferences, learning pace and challenges. Here is how you can serve foods for baby led weaning that will cater to your baby’s individual learning and eating style…
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Here are 3 sensory ways you can serve any solid to your baby when doing baby led weaning
1. Traditional index-finger size
If you’ve researched, you’ve most likely seen the traditional recommendation for how to serve foods for baby led weaning is an index-finger-sized size strip of food that is easily squished between your fingers, for easy and safe chewing and digestion.
What I don’t want you to think is that, if your baby doesn’t take to this, this is your only option. It’s not!
We can safely adapt and still allow our babies to exercise self-feeding, which is the key, distinctive aspect of baby led weaning.
If your baby does take to this shape, wonderful! No real need to switch anything up.
But, for the babies who don’t take to this shape after a few exposures, you can switch it up a bit to see if they simply prefer another presentation!
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2. grated
This adaption on how to serve foods for baby led weaning is easy to whip up and can be a safe and sensory way for baby to get hands on with a food. And being hands on with a food is one step closer to eating it! We have time to focus on getting them hands on and not worry too much about intake (while they are still getting majority of nutrients from their milk), so let them get their hands on different textures!
You can easily grate a strawberry, a piece of roasted chicken, a steamed carrot, cheese, steamed broccoli stalks – most anything!
One thing a lot of babies like about grated foods is that many fruits and vegetables have more wetness to them when grated. This is fun and experiential for them! (Who’s baby likes playing with water raise your hand! Lol.)
When serving grated foods, make sure that you are not placing a heap on our baby’s tray. Instead, do a sprinkle. This will ensure that your baby, especially if they use a palmar grasp (slap and grab fistfulls of foods; ages 6-9 months approx), that they are not easily able to put too much in their mouth at once, which can be a choking hazard. (From 9-10 months+ most babies are using a pincer grip with their foods)
Remember, your baby is just starting to learn how to control their hands and arms – bringing foods to their mouth. Another thing they are learning is how much to put into their mouth. Be sure to keep them as safe as possible by ALWAYS sitting with them to monitor while eating, and serving safe sizes, softness and amounts of foods. Sprinkle more as needed until they have complete control of gripping foods and putting a manageable amount in their mouth.
Avoid choking hazards, which you can see here: Choking Hazards You Need To Know About When Starting Solids With Baby Led Weaning
And, I always recommend that new parents take a pediatric CPR class or at least get informed about what they can do to help their baby in case choking does happen. It’s really the safest choice, as babies up to 5 years old are at high risk for choking, even on toy parts etc. *Note: baby led weaning studies have shown that this feeding method does NOT pose more of a choking risk than parent-led spoon feeding does, if done safely (avoiding choking hazards, monitoring baby when eating etc).
3. on a baby-appropriate spoon
If your baby has good control and can easily bring toys and teethers to their mouth, they may do very well with a baby spoon at mealtime! I’d recommend staying away from forks until they master a spoon and have been self-feeding for a little bit, only because they can poke themselves in the face or mouth easily. Once they’ve practiced more, this won’t be a issue or a worry.
I’ve been feeding babies for almost a decade now, and the absolute best spoon I have come across (that they can actually grip and use correctly from the first time they grab them!) is from Grabease. If your baby is under 1, don’t waste your time with any other utensils!
When using a spoon with baby self-feeding, you will have to be a little more active with each bite than you would be if you just set an index-finger-size slice of steamed food down or a grated sprinkle of steamed food down.
Still, your baby may prefer it and it is easier than spoon feeding every bite… You can pre-scoop for your baby and set it on their tray. You can also get a suction bowl and put some mashed avocado let’s say, in the bowl, do the first few spoonfuls and then see if baby tries on their own.
One thing I liked to do was mix this serving style with another one from above. So, for example, I would grate some steamed carrot and place on baby’s tray PLUS do some pre-scooped spoonfuls of smashed strawberry.
I’d keep the suction bowl of strawberry on baby’s tray or next to me/my bowl, depending on how messy they were or how much they struggled with the scooping themselves.
This gave them options to go between one or two (and as they get older and eat 2-3+ foods), at a time during meals.
Check out these helpful starting solids tools:
additional feeding tips
When just starting solids, many babies don’t know that a piece of food is different than a toy that they aren’t interested in. In this case, you can eat a piece yourself, model eating and make sounds to encourage they engage with their food as well.
Finally, do you know if they are hungry? It’s a great idea to sit down for some food after they have showed you some hunger cues, so you are more likely to have an interested and engaged eater. Babies are intuitive eaters, so they won’t eat if they aren’t hungry.
Some common hunger cues are:
- tracking food with eyes
- fussing and then reaching for foods if offered
- opening mouth when food is offered
- getting excited or relieved at the sight of food
Keep in mind at this stage, they might not know what to do with foods yet. Show them what to do by doing yourself, expose them to a variety of colors, shapes and flavors, and make sure they are hungry when you sit down to serve them foods.
That’s it!? One little nibble?! One thing babies do when just starting solids is lick or chew a little tiny bite and that is all. The rest is left on their tray. Normal! Don’t decide just yet if they like or don’t like that food. It’s more about their eating skills and overall eating experience at this point than it is about the foods themselves.
With starting solids, there is so much newness for your baby – self feeding is way different than drinking form a boob or a bottle. All the colors, textures, smells – there is a lot to take in and a lot for them to actively do, unlike when they were just drinking milk.
Don’t stress if your baby is slow to chow. Keep serving new and different things, presenting them in different ways and let your baby get practice in. Try a super soft zucchini stick one day, zoodles another day and garlic smashed zucchini on a spoon another day. Which do they go for more?
Another thing to keep in mind is chewing comfort and teething – certain foods may be uncomfortable for them to chew (ground beef vs a smooth banana) not in a bad way, just different.
As for teething, some babies will eat less when sick and/or teething. So, keeping a helicopter view of what they eat over the course of 3-4 days will keep you from stressing over things if they don’t eat much during one meal.
To help you understand what is NORMAL and COMMON when it comes to starting solids (the stage that I like to actually call ‘learning solids’) you can see this (very reassuring) article: Baby Not Eating Much Solids? 7 Common Things Babies Do With Solids (Besides Eat Them!)
*Another hugely important thing to know if you are just getting started is how to prepare for and handle serving allergens. Know that if you have a family history of allergies or if your baby has eczema, they may be pre-disposed for allergies. Check with your pediatrician before starting solids and you can see more information on serving allergens here: Introducing Allergens With Baby Led Weaning
Check out these starting solids with blw books:*
Try these 3 ways of serving foods to your baby for baby led weaning, and see which your baby takes to most! And remember, one time of serving is not enough! Keep exposing your baby to foods in no-pressure, relaxed and happy settings and let them naturally explore. Model and show them how to eat yourself, and you will have a happy, busy eater within months!
Note: ALWAYS consult your pediatrician for professional guidance on starting solids. There is a lot of educational information, like mine here, on the internet that is never to replace medical advice from a medical professional.
For more content on baby led weaning, you can follow me on Instagram!
Read this next:
EVERYTHING You Need To Know Before Starting Solids With Baby Led Weaning
The Ultimate List! Top-Rated Baby Led Weaning Supplies Other Moms Are Loving
7 Foods To Avoid When Starting Baby Led Weaning
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Everything you need to start solids with more ease and confidence. Includes: what to expect, introducing allergens, how to serve foods, foods to avoid, sample feeding schedule and more!
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