Monday, March 9, 2015

Baby Led Weaning: Food #1

Baby led weaning is a term used to describe a way to start baby on solid foods by feeding themselves. It is important to note that "weaning" in this context does not mean to end breastfeeding or formula feeding. With baby led weaning, there are no purees or typical "baby foods". Baby starts out on soft solid foods, such as avocado or bananas. One of the benefits of baby led weaning is that is helps to teach babies to chew foods. I am excited to chronicle our journey here!

Here is the baby led weaning website:

Baby Led Weaning

I also found a great group on Facebook:


Baby Led Weaning for Beginners

We started Marlene with baby led weaning just a few days before her 6 month birthday. She was showing signs of readiness, such as sitting up, and displaying an interest in our foods. I had conducted a lot of research and educated myself, my husband, and our teenage son on what to do if she were to choke. I think this is absolutely necessary, even if you aren't doing baby led weaning. 

Her first food was avocado. I chose avocados that were ripe and cut them into long slices. She immediately picked up a slice and put it in her mouth. She sucked on a few slices here and there, but I'm not too sure if she really ate any of it. 

I gave her a slice of avocado at meal times for the next few days. Each day she would play with the avocado and suck on it. Sometimes it would get a little slimey and I would pat it dry. 

What I liked about giving her avocado is that it is soft, easily sliced, and nutritious. What I did not like was that it was hard to store. Since she ate so little at each feeding, some of it went bad, or I ate a lot of avocado that week!

Overall, our first few days of baby led weaning were a great success! 

What was your baby's first food? I'd love to hear any questions or comments! 


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