Baby led weaning for beginners
Congratulations on starting solids with you baby! This is such a fun next step in your baby’s development but it can be overwhelming. I am here to help you start off on the right foot by giving you my top 5 Baby Led Weaning (BLW) foods to begin with.
Before I share my favorite baby led weaning foods, I want to give you some general information about starting solids and BLW. Have you seen our comprehensive BLW e-guide or PurĂŠes for beginners e-guide?
General Information
- Be sure to only introduce 1 new food every 3-5 days to watch for allergic reactions.
- Make sure your foods are all fork tender/cuttable and mashable
- Be vigilant about watching for choking and never leave your baby unattended while they are eating! Choking is a rare event but we want to be sure you are prepared in case of an emergency were to happen at home. We suggest you be up-to-date on your infant CPR and choking skills so ensure your babyâs safety.
- We offer in-home CPR classes and Kate also has an online infant + child CPR refresher course available (use code BUMBLE15 for discount)! We highly recommend taking a course so you are comfortable responding in an emergency situation. This is essential for your babyâs safety!
Book in-home CPR now / Book online CPR class with Kate
- Feed your baby the rainbow! Give them a wide variety of fruits and vegetables of all different colors and flavors. Babies donât start to develop food preferences until around 9 months of age so now is a great time to expose them to as many different textures and flavors as you can to help develop their taste palates.
Important Things to Know about baby led weaning
How you prepare your foods for BLW is very important! Many fruits and vegetables that we serve our babies are raw and too hard for babies to safely eat.
- Texture: foods should be soft enough to easily mash between your fingers! Steaming or roasting fruits and vegetables are great ways to make them safe for your baby to eat!
- Size: babies between 6-8 months have typically not developed their pincer grasp yet (thumb and index fingers) so they will need foods that they can easily grab with their whole palm. Cut their foods about the length and width of an adult size pinky for easy grabbing!
- Ease: many of the first foods we serve our babies are naturally slippery and therefore hard for them to grab onto which can make them frustrated with self feeding! Try using a crinkle cut knife or coating their food in baby oatmeal to provide texture!
My top 5 baby led weaning foods for beginners!
- Baked sweet potato âfriesâ – the perfect first food for them to try, not too sweet but full of flavor!
- Crinkle cut avocado – create some grooves for your baby to hold onto by using a crinkle cutter to make self feeding a little easier!
- Sectioned bananas – have you seen our instagram reel on the easiest way to section a banana?? Check it out!
- Steamed carrots – be sure to cut them to be about the size and width of your pinky!
- Baked or sautĂŠed apples- cook until soft + mashable with the skins removed. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon for a sweet treat!
Want more information?
For my detailed information on baby led weaning checkout my Baby Led Weaning Basics and Tips E-Guide and my BLW calendar in our store!
If youâre thinking about combining purĂŠes and BLW, check out my purĂŠes for beginners e-guide, purĂŠes calendar and my simple purĂŠes for beginners blog post, too!
We also have a new solids bundle – which includes the BLW e-guide, BLW calendar, purĂŠes calendar + our favorite mess-free bib! (only $40 for all of this which values over $54!)
Head to the bumblebaby amazon page for all of our solids favorites – sippies, plates, utensils, cups and more. Donât miss out on our FAVORITE bib in our store – the collar prevents outfits from getting ruined!
Do you need more help? Schedule a text or video chat consult with Kate, Lauren or Natalie (NICU RNs) and they can help answer any questions that you have!
Want an easy way to introduce allergens to your baby? Try Ready, Set, Food! They’re daily supplements that gently introduce your baby to the most common allergens. Simply add a packet to breastmilk/formula/solids of your choice starting between 4-11 months and continue for 6 months or until your baby is eating these foods regularly in their diet. Deema did this with her daughter and highly recommends it! Use code Bumble40 for discount.
Other helpful blog posts:
- Simple purees for beginners
- 5 easy finger foods for beginners
- Why learn CPR
- 5 common choking foods and how to safely feed them to your baby
**This post is educational and not meant to take the place of your provider. Bumblebaby makes a small commission on some of the items listed above
