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The Best Way To Start Baby Led Weaning As A Nervous First Time Mom (Updated 2024)
Here are some questions I want all nervous first time moms to think most about when starting baby led weaning:
- How can I do this in a safe way that also makes me feel comfortable?
- When am I already feeding my baby milk? Do they respond more to solids when I feed them before or after milk?
- Can I teach them some sign language now so they start to learn it and use it as they get older like “eat” and “all done”, and I can know when they are hungry and full?
- Once they start getting a hang of chewing, swallowing and bringing foods to their mouth better, how can I make sure they get a variety of foods so they get all the nutrients they need like iron, calcium, protein…?
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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!
Tips on 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.
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.
So there you have it! If you are a nervous mom starting baby led weaning soon, I hope you not only got some great baby led weaning starter tips BUT also some reassurance about how it all will go, behind the scenes, and not in the spotlight of staged social media posts!
For more content on baby led weaning, you can follow me on Instagram!
Read this next:
Baby Not Eating Much Solids? 7 Common Things Babies Do With Solids Besides Eat Them
The Ultimate List! Top-Rated Baby Led Weaning Supplies Other Moms Are Loving
About Low Stress Motherhood
Let's harness the chaos so we can find your happy place in motherhood. I'm here to help moms find some solace and helpful resources that ease the load of motherhood and allow them to show up as the person they want to be, for themselves and their children.
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It Doesn’t Have To Be Instagram-Perfect
You don’t have to do it all, at the beginning.
Or ever.
Yeah, all those BLW pictures you see on Instagram, your food doesn’t have to look like that.
Aim instead to break down meals you already make for your family, and feed those safe components to your baby, with the goal of inching them toward eating the full meals you make already.
Makes sense, right?
And keep this in mind – you don’t really know the type of eater your baby will be until you start solids.
ALSO, the type of eater they start out as at 6 months, is not an indication of the type of eater they will grow into with exposure, practice and positive modeling (mom eating and enjoying her food, not forcing bites, hanging out together at mealtime feeling happy…)
Did you know some babies seem to ‘not like solids’ when they start? It’s true that it appears that way BUT it is actually what their ‘learning solids’ looks like!
To learn more about what is common for babies to do with solids (besides eat them) when starting solids, read this post (and put your mind at ease so you’re not freaking out if your baby doesn’t chow right away!):
—->7 Common Things Babies Do With Food When Starting Solids (Besides Eat Them!)
Read this next:
EVERYTHING You Need To Know Before Starting Solids With Baby Led Weaning
7 Foods To Avoid When Starting Baby Led Weaning
The Ultimate List! Top-Rated Baby Led Weaning Supplies Other Moms Are Loving
