Baby Led Weaning (BLW) means introducing solid food by letting your baby take the lead. Your baby will be able to do this from about 6 months onwards. Most babies are developmentally ready for solids around 6 months.
It is important to ensure that your little one shows all signs of developmental readiness to start with safe introduction of solids. Your baby should be able to sit unsupported, show interest in food while you are eating and might also try to grab food from your plate. Your baby should have lost the tongue-thrust reflex, developed the pincer grasp and lastly, when your baby is willing to chew.
Why is it important to wait with solid food until baby is 6 months or around 6 months?
First of all, there are reasons why this is recommended by your registered dietitian, the World Health Organisation, American Academy of Paediatrics, UNICEF, CDC and so forth. Babies have immature digestive systems and that is one of the reasons why breastfed or formula babies have cramps. While we are on this topic, stop blaming your diet while breastfeeding your little one. There is no list of food that have to be avoided while breastfeeding! It is unnecessary to make the breastfeeding journey more difficult than it has to be for you as a mother.
Reason 1: Before 6 months, the digestive system of a baby struggles to digest food, therefore food passes through the digestive tract without providing the nourishment through absorption.
Reason 2: Breast milk or formula is much more energy dense than food, especially vegetables that most parents start with.
Reason 3: If solid food interrupts milk feeds, the appetite for milk will decrease. As breastfeeding works with supply and demand, less breast milk will be produced. The same goes for mixed feeding, every time a bottle is given and mom does not pump or hand express, less milk will be made. The overall intake in terms of energy and macro-/micro-nutrients will be less if food overtakes milk feeds.
Reason 4: Babies given food too early is at a greater risk of developing allergies and infections as the digestive system plays a major role in immunity and therefore poses a risk for the immune system if food was given too early. There is a study that shows that early introduction of allergenic foods such as egg, peanut butter, fish, wheat etc. can decrease the risk of allergies in you baby. If your family is suffering from allergies, I would suggest to work closely with your doctor to get some allergy tests done and with a registered dietitian with experience in allergies and the introduction of solids.
Also be aware of all the myths around introduction of solids. There are a lot of misinformation floating around in the web that causes a lot of confusion.
Myth 1: If you wait until 6 months/when baby has all signs of readiness to start eating, you are starving your baby.
Myth 2: If your baby wakes at night, giving food or even mixing cereal into milk will help baby to sleep throughout the night. There is no evidence whatsoever that this will help. It is actually very dangerous to thicken milk in a bottle with something like cereal as it is a choking hazard. Ladies, most babies will reach this milestone much, much later in life, if ever. Just take yourself as an example, before you had your baby or suffered from pregnancy insomnia…did you sleep through the night every night? Or did you also wake to go to the bathroom or take a sip of water or just woken up for no apparent reason? Continue to follow your routine with your baby, you are not alone in this phase of life and yes, this too shall pass!
Myth 3: If there is a slight plateau in weight gain. It is not a reason to start with solids early. There is so many reasons for a sudden plateau in growth and research found most reasons to be completely normal. Ask a specialist in the field to explain your baby’s growth chart if you are concerned or ask for a second opinion if your mother instinct feels uneasy with advice that you received.
Myth 4: Baby looks very interested when you are eating. Babies are like little sponges, they try to see everything that you keep yourself busy with and if you enjoy having a meal with family, like most of us do, they will get curious. It does not mean they are ready.
Myth 5: Having a big baby? This can be due to genetics or formula feeding. Usually it is because the baby is getting too much already, it is not a reason for introducing solids early. Apparently in the 1950’s it was recommended to start with solids once a baby reached a certain weight. This was scientifically proven not to be the best route to follow. Since then the research indicates to wait until baby is developmentally ready around 6 months of age. We need to keep up with the most current scientifically based evidence.
BLW has many benefits, among those are the development of your baby’s chewing skills, introduction of a wider variety of food, decreased risk of choking, better hand-eye coordination, learning new social skills and more importantly, he will learn only to eat as much as he needs. Babies that is following the BLW approach also enjoys mealtimes. The power struggle during feeding times that so many parents complain about is not an issue with BLW because your baby will be feeding himself.
With BLW there is no program to follow and there is no levels to tick off after completion. The idea, is to provide your baby with the food that your family is eating. Some items will have to be “dressed down” or deconstructed, but it is far less work. For example, let’s say the family is making home-made burgers for supper. You can cut the home-made patty (without the added salt) and bread into rectangular finger-shaped strips. Add softly, cooked vegetables to the meal that can be cut into sticks. Avocado can also be cut into strips. You can leave a piece of the skin to ensure better grip. This will ensure that your baby will be able to grab the appropriate sized food to suck on and chew when he feels comfortable. Your baby will spit out the parts that he does not feel comfortable with.
It is important to follow a healthy lifestyle and prepare healthy food as your baby will learn from what you eat and how you eat. It will help your baby to consume a wider variety of food and establish healthy eating habits from an early age if you as parents follow a healthy diet. Your diet should be rich in fruit and vegetables, low in fat and include a variety of animal- and plant-based protein options. By introducing healthy eating habits, such as eating at the dining room table without any electronics, will ensure that your baby focuses on enjoying his food without any distractions that can hinder the Leptin and Ghrelin hormones. Leptin is the hormone responsible for inhibiting hunger cues where Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for the stimulation of appetite among other function in the body.
How does BLW work?
In short, your baby will join the family at the dining room table where he will sit unsupported, in his high feeding chair. You provide your baby with different options of food that is healthy, cooked al dente (meaning firm to the bite), but also easy to squash between his fingers. Cut the food into sticks or crinkle cut items for baby to pick up with ease. Your baby will decide how much he eats and what he explores and what should only be inspected…for now! Your baby does not have to eat everything you put in front of him, but keep offering a variety of food.
If your baby is breastfed on demand, continue with your breastfeeding journey. You can wait about an hour after breastfeeding to provide your baby with food options to try, but it does not need to be a strict routine.
How much to introduce?
In the beginning it can be once a day depending on your baby. Some babies will start even slower and try food once every few days. It is important to continue to breastfeed on demand as breast milk is still your baby’s main source of nutrition for the first year of life. Around 8 to 9 months, most babies will join the family for 2 to 3 meals a day, but again, all babies are different, this is only a guideline. It is important to continue to introduce food that was rejected as he might be ready to give that food item a try later on.
Create a stress free environment during mealtimes and ensure that the first experience and the eating experiences thereafter are positive experiences, as it impacts the way your baby will feel about meal times.
Remember that not all babies are the same and all develop differently. If you are unsure, make an appointment with a registered dietitian that works in the field of paediatrics to help and guide you during this exciting time of your baby’s life.