Baby Led weaning
One of my most frequently asked questions is regarding the babies and their transition into solid foods! As promised, here’s all the tea regarding baby-led weaning including why we chose this approach, when we started, why we waited, all of our favorite products, and a special q&a with registered dietician, Katie Ferraro.
With Carson, we started solids right on the traditional dot of 6 months old and also took a modified approach to baby-led weaning and enjoyed it. I knew with the babies I wanted to go full steam ahead with it for a couple of reasons. For one, spoon-feeding quadruplets is a time consuming task and I’m only one person. The thought of going back and forth from baby to baby like I’ve seen moms of higher order multiples do on TV seemed daunting and frustrating for both mom and impatient, hungry babies. Baby-led weaning is an alternative to traditional spoon-feeding whereby babies learn to feed themselves soft, age-appropriate foods from their first bites.
Some start introducing solids sooner than that 6month mark, some later, but I’ve found this to be a pretty good rule of thumb for the green light from peds. Our quads were born at 30 weeks + 4 days, which means that we follow an adjusted timeline for their development. While they've been keeping up with peers their age, we still like to follow their corrected age, or adjusted age, which is a preemie’s chronological age minus the number of weeks they were born early. So we started the introduction to baby led weaning just two days shy of 9 months chronological, which was really 7 months adjusted. Got all that? In short, we techhhhhnically waited until the babies were 7 months old and here’s why:
1.) Breastmilk/formula is sufficient for babies nutritional needs up until about 6 months of age — in the event of preemies, even longer.
2.) They weren’t showing any signs of readiness until this point. As excited as we were, we didn’t want to rush the process and make it a forced or unpleasant experience.
3.) I like to wait until babies can sit up with little to no support.
Okay, let’s get into the rest!
Since she specializes in baby-led weaning, I passed your top questions along to Katie & she was gracious enough to share her responses with my audience. She listed a number of resources in the answers to your questions below, but you can check out more about BLW & Katie’s work on her instagram @babyledweanteam, her blog The Fortified Family or her podcast “Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy”.
I hope these answers help you learn more about baby-led weaning and if you’re doing this approach to starting solid foods too, I’d love to hear how it’s going for you!
Q: What is the advantage of BLW vs. just doing purees and following the traditional method?
Baby-led weaning is an alternative to traditional spoon-feeding. Allowing the babies to feed themselves soft, age-appropriate foods from their first bites helps promote their independence in feeding and helps prevent picky eating down the road. The quadruplets are learning to eat with their hands a lot, but they also are learning how to eat by spoon too; however, they are using the pre-loaded spoon technique which honors the self-feeding principles of baby-led weaning but allows babies to eat naturally pureed foods like whole milk full fat yogurt, unsweetened applesauce and oatmeal too. Lindsay here… I will also add that it helps fine-tune motor development, hand-eye coordination, and is a great way to give them a little sensory play right at their seats! I also love how it feels more inclusive with the rest of the family… No need to prepare different purees or food options for babies. Instead, they just typically what we eat and it brings everyone gathered around the dinner table that much faster.
Q: Do you have them try 1 new food a day?
Research shows that the greater the number of foods, flavors, tastes & textures babies are introduced to early and often helps increase the likelihood that the baby will become an independent eater and helps prevent picky eating. It is perfectly safe to introduce 1 new food low-risk food per day. With the Big 8 allergenic foods (...those are the 8 foods that account for 90% of food allergy), you do want to wait a few days after introducing in order to observe for any potential allergic reaction. But there is no need to wait between low risk foods and it is safe to do 1 new food per day. For me personally, I love the concept and goal of attaining 100 new foods before age 1, but I found it a bit hard to keep up with. To rid myself of any pressure or expectations, I decided to aim to hit the goal by the babies’ due date — especially since they technically got off to a “late” start with solids. Ultimately, the more foods the better!
Q: Are you doing just one food at a time? I’ve seen BLW as full meals
Babies need to see a food sometimes 10-15 times before they will like or accept it. One way to do this is to ensure you’re offering a variety of foods “early and often.” The quadruplets are trying 1 new food a day (give or take), but also being reintroduced to the familiar, previous foods they have already tried, too. At 6-7 months of age, try to feed your baby solid foods 1-2 times per day, at 8-9 months of age bump that up to 2-3 times per day and at 10-12 months babies can be eating 3 meals a day with breastmilk and/or formula in between.
Q: How old does a baby need to start eating pieces of food?
Most babies are exhibiting the signs of readiness to eat at or around the 6 month mark. If your baby or babies were premature, it is safest to wait until their 6 month adjusted age. Caiden, Madison, Lucas & Grayson were born at 30 weeks, 4 days - so approximately 10 weeks early. The family waited until the babies were 6.5 months + 1- weeks and they were 2 days shy of 9 months chronological age when they did start solid food with BLW. Not only do babies not NEED anything other than breastmilk and/or formula prior to 6 months of age, it is not safe to start feeding a baby who can not sit up relatively unassisted. Most preemie babies will need additional time to show the signs of readiness to feed, and it is safer - not to mention way more fun - to wait to feed a baby who is ready than to try to make one who isn’t eat!
Q: Do your babies actually eat much of the food? My 7 mo old just plays with it. Any tips?
The first few days and weeks of baby-led weaning can be frustrating. That is because it SEEMS like the baby isn’t really doing anything. They might pick up the food and sniff it or smash it or even try a little taste… but there isn’t any actual eating going on early on in BLW. And that is fine, because breastmilk and/or formula is providing most of the baby’s nutrition in the early stages of weaning. Babies need time to learn HOW to eat, and baby-led weaning allows for that. For most babies, everything “clicks” with BLW around the 8 month mark. That’s when the baby starts really getting into self-feeding, when food intake takes off, milk intake starts to decline, and then you’re well on your way to raising a self-feeding baby!
Q: Are the quads just trying fruits and veg or having meals as well
Starting at 6 months of age babies need to be getting iron from outside sources. The iron stores baby received from mom at the tail end of pregnancy are starting to wane, so weaning foods should include iron foods. Although fruits and vegetables are important foods for babies to learn how to eat, they are not the ONLY foods that babies can eat. Introducing meats and iron-containing foods as well as the Big 8 allergenic foods and whole grains are important, too.
Q: Did any of the babies have trouble with gagging or anything?
Gagging is a necessary and natural part of learning how to eat. It may not be comfortable to watch, but it is part of the learning process and once baby is 6 months of age and presented with age appropriate texture foods, your baby will be able to handle it, even if he or she does not have teeth!
When your baby is first starting to eat he or she will bite off pieces that baby might not know what to do with. Baby will explore and munch or chew, and some of the food might be swallowed, but baby will likely spit food out and play with it as well. This is all part of learning HOW to eat. Because breastmilk and/or formula is still the primary source of nutrition until age 1, don’t worry that baby isn’t eating “enough.” Learning HOW to eat is just as important as what baby is eating or how much!
Some parents feel the need to manually put their hands into baby’s mouth and remove food. Putting your hand into baby’s mouth can actually increase the risk of choking. I know it’s hard but NOT intervening with a gag is actually the best approach. When baby is gagging, stay calm, don’t lunge at baby, talk calmly and using encouragers like, “It’s ok baby….” “This is just a gag…” “You got it baby....” and do not hit baby on the back to dislodge food during a gag as this can actually increase risk.
Watching other babies gag and then recover on their own can be strangely inspiring and can give you confidence in letting your baby recover from a gag on his or her own. If you check out my instagram page @babyledweanteam I post a lot of videos of other babies gagging, which is really helpful when you’re just starting out with baby-led weaning.
Q: Do they choke easily since the foods are given whole?
Choking is a very real - but rare - risk. Research shows that babies who start solid foods with a baby-led approach are at no higher risk of choking than are infants who do a baby-led approach...PROVIDED THAT parents are educated about reducing choking risk. Making sure your baby is 6 months of age + exhibiting the other signs of readiness to feed helps reduce choking risk. Also having an adjustable footrest on the high chair so that the baby’s feet can rest flat on the footrest helps stabilize the baby’s core and facilitate a safe swallow.
The chairs the quadruplets are eating out of are the Nomi high chairs and they are ideal for baby-led weaning. They have an adjustable footrest and the chair grows with the child until they are adolescents. You can remove the tray and bring the baby right up to the table so the baby can join in family meals even from his or her first bites.
Q: What foods are off limits for beginners?
Knowing what foods NOT to feed your baby is important. The majority of the “no-go” foods are in order to reduce choking risk. But we also don’t feed honey to babies as honey has the potential to cause infant botulism when fed to babies under 1 year old. You should also take caution to minimize sodium and avoid added sugars in foods being fed to babies. If you want more information on foods not to feed your baby, you can download a free list called “15 FOODS NEVER TO FEED YOUR BABY” by clicking here.
Q: How do you know what size to cut the food so they don’t choke?
When it comes to the size of food to feed baby for baby-led weaning, a good visual is to cut it in shapes about the size of your pinky finger. This is big enough so that baby can pick it up - even at 6 or 7 months before that pincer grasp is developed. The stick or spear size helps facilitate self-feeding because baby can scoop it up and bring the food to mouth unassisted. These foods should be soft enough so that when you squeeze between your forefinger and thumb there is a little “give.” Avoid hard and crunchy foods as these are choking hazards.
Try to avoid cutting up foods very small (like the size of diced frozen vegetables) - that’s too small and the perfect size to choke a baby. It seems counter-intuitive, parents and caregivers often cut up food really small thinking they are helping baby, but it actually can increase choking risk (that size is JUST the size of food that can block baby’s airway) and also, an early eater doesn’t have the fine motor skills to pick up food that small so it’s just frustrating to them and not a positive way to introduce foods.
Best bet is to stick with the stick and spear shape at first and once your baby gets the hang of it you can open it up to other sized foods. Usually around 8 months of age is when you can move on from the stick and spear shaped sizes of food.
Q: Have you taken infant CPR lesson? I would be so scared to feed them.
One of the most important things you can do prior to starting solid foods is to take a refresher infant CPR course. I know most parents have done this prior to the baby’s birth....but that was at least 6 months ago and you were focusing on different signs of distress than you are now that you’re about to start solid foods.
Your local hospital or healthcare system usually offers friends and family refresher CPR courses, but if you are looking for an online options, here is a great and affordable online CPR course. You can use code lindsayhay10 to save $10 off your training! Everyone who feeds your baby should know CPR and CPR skills can save your baby’s life.
Lindsay here — I’d also recommend checking out my friend Shannon Tripp’s Mastering Medical Emergency Tools for Mom course. It is jam packed with invaluable information.
Q: were you scared to do allergy foods? Do you have a plan if an allergic reaction occurs?
Allergic reactions to food may sound scary but more often than not any reaction your baby will have to a food can usually be solved with Benadryl. That may sound over-simplistic, but you do not need to drive up outside of the Emergency Department to administer peanut protein to your low risk baby. If your baby is truly at high risk for food allergy, that is an important conversation to have with your pediatrician and to take appropriate steps for allergy testing before introduction.
For the other great majority of babies with low or no risk for food allergies, proceed with introducing the Big 8 allergenic foods (the 8 foods responsible for 90% of food allergy) early and often.
In my 100 First Foods approach to starting solid foods, I recommend introducing 1 new allergenic food per week starting at 6 months when baby starts solid foods. If a reaction occurs it will be within minutes and hours, not days and weeks following the ingestion of the food. There is no reason to wait 3-5 days between all of the other non-Big 8 low risk foods.
If you are feeling anxious about all of this allergenic stuff, a good place to learn about food allergies is from Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) at www.foodallergy.com - especially their page about Symptoms of an Allergic Reaction to Food at: https://www.foodallergy.org/life-with-food-allergies/food-allergy-101/symptoms-of-an-allergic-reaction-to-food
Allergic reactions don’t always occur the first time you feed the baby the new food. Reactions most often occur on second or subsequent exposures. Also, there are many things in addition to or instead of food that can also be the cause of reactions, but it is always wise to consult with your healthcare provider if you suspect a reaction or if your baby is high risk for developing food allergies.
Q: How did you know they were ready?
As mentioned above, waiting until the baby is 6 months of age (or 6 months adjusted age if premature) plus exhibiting the other signs of readiness to feed is key to ensuring a safe start to solid foods for baby-led weaning. If you’re interested in knowing if YOUR baby is ready for BLW, check out this free tool which includes a readiness-to-feed decision tree map here.
Q: Do you have to wait to introduce certain foods until they have teeth?
Your baby does not need teeth to start or be successful with baby-led weaning. As teeth come your baby will be able to expand his or her repertoire of foods and textures, but there are many aspects of self-feeding your baby can experience even without teeth! (...and that includes meats too - let baby suck and munch and play around with meat even if not “eating” so much at the earlier stages!) Some babies may not even get teeth until close to 1 year of age - yet it’s very important that they can try a variety of foods, tastes and textures prior to that age. There are a few foods that personally I do wait until baby has teeth to try; these include corn on the cob, chicken on the bone and some of the more challenging raw fruits and veg like bell pepper strips (which if you don’t feel safe or comfortable doing these until after 1 that’s fine too!!)
Q: Where can I learn more about baby-led weaning?
If you’re interested in learning more about giving your baby a safe-start to solid foods with baby-led weaning, here are a few of my resources that may help:
Free online workshop called “BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without you having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches!”. Everyone on this free workshop gets a copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS LIST, so you can start knocking these foods out with YOUR baby. Click here to register for this week’s workshop times.
Follow my BLW instagram page @babyledweanteam - there are a ton of videos and photos and BLW training information there to help you get over your fear of gagging, safely introduce the allergenic foods and help you raise an independent eater from your baby’s first bites. Click here to follow.
Listen to the podcast BABY-LED WEANING MADE EASY….with Katie Ferraro. Each week I release 2 new episodes walking you through the essentials of getting a safe start to solid foods, plus interviewing feeding experts as well as other parents just like you who are interested in learning more about baby-led weaning. Subscribe to the podcast here.
Guys! How amazing was that? I am so grateful to Katie for taking the time out of her busy life to share all of those responses for us. Not only is she a fellow quadruplet mom, but she’s also a twin mom, and a singleton mom… And she rocks! Hoping you all feel a little (or actually a lot!) more informed about baby-led weaning after reading this. For us, it has been a great experience and it’s so wonderful to see how well the babies are eating after only a few short months. While clean up might not be my favorite, the benefits are far greater than any mess!
Before I go, I will leave you with all of our favorite baby-led weaning essentials here. Xo, Lindsay