Name: The best Baby Led Weaning foods by age | Sorry About The Mess
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The best Baby Led Weaning foods by age | Sorry About The Mess

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Total1SharesIn this guide to Baby Led Weaning foods, I’ll walk you through the best first foods for your baby at different months of age. Plus, when to introduce the common food allergens.You’ll also discover what I gave my baby from his first foods at 6 months old, all the way to 120 days later when he was 10 months old and eating proper meals.&nbsp;&nbsp;This advice on the best&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;foods by age comes from a mum who used a&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;approach (with a little mix of&nbsp;spoon feeding&nbsp;too) with all four of my children.&nbsp;Baby-led weaning&nbsp;(otherwise known as BLW) is a wonderful approach to introducing your little one to&nbsp;solid foods, allowing them to explore new tastes and textures at their own pace.&nbsp;I answer the most common&nbsp;Baby Led Weaning&nbsp;questions here:&nbsp;Baby-led weaning&nbsp;is all about letting your baby take the lead in their journey of transitioning from a diet of&nbsp;breast milk&nbsp;or formula to eating food with the&nbsp;rest of the family. This approach encourages self-feeding, fine motor skill development, and a positive relationship with food from the very beginning.Baby Led Weaning&nbsp;allows your child to eat the quantity of food that is right for them. Unlike&nbsp;spoon feeding, where there is always the possibility of overfeeding as the adult controls the food intake. There are other numerous benefits to&nbsp;baby led weaning, such as improved&nbsp;hand-eye coordination&nbsp;and&nbsp;palmar grasp. Plus you don’t have to spend time making lots of purees!Baby led weaning&nbsp;is also&nbsp;great idea&nbsp;when you have older children. Everyone can eat variations of the same meals, and your hands will be free to cook and clean whilst your baby confidently helps themself to their own meal.&nbsp;Before diving into solid foods, it’s crucial to ensure your baby is developmentally ready. Look for signs such as the ability to sit up with support, good head control, and the disappearance of the tongue-thrust reflex, which usually occurs around six months of age. Always consult your paediatrician or health visitor before starting solid foods.When my eldest child was approaching 6 months old, I started to think about weaning. I read&nbsp;Gill Rapley’s popular&nbsp;Baby Led Weaning&nbsp;book. It seemed a logical way to introduce&nbsp;solid foods, so we gave it a go. Our&nbsp;introduction to&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;went really well, and we didn’t look back.&nbsp;With my second baby, there was no question that we would be doing&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;again. Rory started with carrots and cucumber. You can watch the video of him trying his very&nbsp;first&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;foods&nbsp;here.&nbsp;He quickly became a&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;pro. It was much easier following the&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;method when I had a toddler to help at meal times too!&nbsp;I filmed a timelapse video of his&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;journey, from his very first&nbsp;finger foods, to 120 days later when he was eating proper meals. That video now has almost half a million views. It is used in NCT weaning courses throughout the UK, so you may recognise it!If you are thinking of trying baby led weaning, my video is a great example of&nbsp;baby led weaning food ideas.&nbsp;By the time it came to my third and fourth babies, baby led weaning was just part of our routine.We didn’t always stick to BLW religiously. My children also ate their fair share of purees, and yogurts. The occasional jar of supermarket baby food and those ready-to-eat baby food pouches were very handy, especially when travelling!Trying baby led weaning doesn’t mean forgoing convenience. There are no rules, do what works best for you.&nbsp;At around 6-7 months of age, your baby is typically ready for their first solid food adventures. The best first foods for BLW are easy-to-grasp soft foods like:Each of my children started with carrots the&nbsp;first time&nbsp;we gave them solid food. By the fourth baby, carrots had become our&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;first foods tradition!The best starter baby led weaning foods are long shapes that your baby can easily hold. Make sure the finger foods are not too small. If your baby can put the whole piece in their mouth, this is a choking hazard.&nbsp;Now&nbsp; you’ve given your baby their first baby led weaning foods, perhaps you are wondering “What else can I give my baby to eat at 6 months old?” Here is a list of the best baby led weaning foods for 6 month olds. (Spoiler – it’s all the fruit and vegetables).&nbsp;Top tip:At this early stage of baby led weaning, avoid anything too hard, crunchy or sticky that is likely to get stuck in your baby’s mouth. Stick with soft fruit and vegetables for the first few weeks until your little one’s baby led weaning skills are a little more advanced.&nbsp;As your baby becomes more comfortable with eating, introduce finger foods with different textures. After around a month of baby led weaning, it’s time to add to the diet of pure fruit and vegetables.Now things can get a little bit more exciting by introducing some grains to your baby’s mealtimes.&nbsp;Your little one’s fine motor skills and pincer grasp will improve during this period. Offer foods that encourage their development. Your baby might also have a few teeth by now, which means it’s a great time to introduce tender meat finger foods.You’ll likely find yourself introducing more dairy at this stage, too. Dairy can be a common food allergen, so it’s best to introduce one thing at a time.&nbsp;Top tip:Up to now, your baby may have only been having one or two meals a day. The great thing about baby led weaning is that you can take it as slowly as your baby needs. Food is fun before one!By 8 months old, it’s a good idea to introduce at least two meals a day. So it’s time to get fun with baby led weaning breakfast ideas!At this point, you’ve likely moved onto mixed meals that look more like family meals, rather than a different collection of finger foods. Your baby will be getting skilled at feeding themselves with a spoon. So you can offer them low salt variations of the meals you usually cook the rest of the family.&nbsp;This is an exciting stage of baby led weaning where your baby will be enjoying new flavours and developing their tastes. Will your baby love spaghetti bolognaise or curry the best?Eggs are another common food allergen. I’ve always think it’s best to leave a gap between introducing dairy and eggs, hence why I’ve included eggs here in the list for 9 month olds, and dairy in the list for 8 month olds. But you could swap those two around, or introduce both in the same month if your baby isn’t showing any signs of food intolerance.&nbsp;At this point in your child’s baby led weaning journey, they should be well on their way to eating a wide variety of foods. You probably won’t need more baby led weaning food inspiration as your baby will largely be eating the same meals as the rest of the family!The World Health Organisation suggests that introducing&nbsp;allergenic foods&nbsp;like peanuts and&nbsp;tree nuts&nbsp;early in your&nbsp;baby’s diet, around 6-7 months, may help reduce the risk of allergies.&nbsp;Peanut butter&nbsp;is one of the best ways to start. However, consult your healthcare professional before doing so, especially if there’s a family history of&nbsp;food allergies.Gagging is something that will happen quite a bit when your baby begins baby led weaning. It can sound quite alarming, but it is a natural part of the learning process as your baby hones their gag reflex. The gag reflex actually works to prevent choking by pushing food back to the front of the mouth. Gagging sounds like a wretch or a cough.&nbsp;Choking is when a piece of food blocks the airway. There may not be much sound, as air cannot get through. Always make sure you are watching your baby whilst they eat. The Red Cross says that a&nbsp;baby who is choking will be&nbsp;unable to cry, cough, make any noise or breathe.It’s very important to know the signs of choking. I highly recommend doing a first aid course with a focus on choking before you embark on baby led weaning. The method for assisting a choking baby or toddler is different to that of the famous Heimlich manoeuvre for an adult.&nbsp;Thankfully, none of my children ever choked whilst doing baby led weaning. But I found it reassuring to know what I was meant to do if it ever did happen.There is more of a risk of choking with baby led weaning than with purees. However, baby led weaning done correctly should minimise that risk.&nbsp;Remember, there’s no&nbsp;particular order&nbsp;to introducing foods. The&nbsp;most important thing&nbsp;is to make mealtime a positive and enjoyable experience for your baby and the&nbsp;whole family.&nbsp;Baby-led weaning is a great way to foster healthy eating habits from the very beginning and set your child on the path to a lifetime of nutritious, enjoyable meals.With these pointers on the best baby led weaning foods by age, you have everything you need to get your baby started on their food discovery journey!When should I start baby led weaning?Most people start&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;when their baby is 6-7 months old. Your baby needs to be able to sit up independently and be showing an interest in food.However ‘food is fun before one’, and you can &nbsp;wait a month or two if you feel your baby isn’t ready yet.With my third and fourth babies, I followed their cues and waited until they were 7.5 months.How can you tell how much your baby is eating with&nbsp;baby led weaning?In the early days, think of&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;more as though your baby is learning to play with a new toy rather than about hunger and sustenance.You won’t be dropping any milk feeds just yet, so it doesn’t really matter how much they are actually eating.&nbsp;Do I have to do&nbsp;baby led weaning?All babies are different, and all families have different needs. You don’t have to do&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;if it doesn’t work for you.&nbsp;Having had four children go through the weaning process, I can safely say that they all get to the same stage whether you spoon feed, offer&nbsp;finger foods, or a mix of both. In a few years time, you really won’t be worrying whether you followed&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;or not.What are the negatives to Baby Led Weaning?Baby Led Weaning is definitely messier than traditional weaning where you spoon feed your baby. But it’s really not too bad.&nbsp;Cleaning up after your baby eats quickly becomes part of the routine. The messy stage doesn’t last long as your baby develops their feeding skills.&nbsp;The floor mess became much easier to cope with once we got our dog! ; )&nbsp;Find out the pros and cons to these two popular highchairs. Plus which one will last the longest.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Total1SharesHello! I'm Chloe.I live in South London with my four children and their dad. I love storytelling through film-making and photography - cameras have made me happy ever since I was a child.Click below to read more about our story:ARCHIVEShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzBvBnGNT7wInput your search keywords and press Enter.This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.NecessaryNecessaryNecessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.Non-necessaryAny cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.SAVE &amp; ACCEPTLast Updated on September 24, 2023 by

Total1SharesIn this guide to Baby Led Weaning foods, I’ll walk you through the best first foods for your baby at different months of age. Plus, when to introduce the common food allergens.You’ll also discover what I gave my baby from his first foods at 6 months old, all the way to 120 days later when he was 10 months old and eating proper meals.&nbsp;&nbsp;This advice on the best&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;foods by age comes from a mum who used a&nbsp;baby led weaning&nbsp;approach (with a little mix of&nbsp;spoon feeding&nbsp;too) with all four of my children.&nbsp;Baby-led...

The best Baby Led Weaning foods by age | Sorry About The Mess

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