Baby Led Weaning

[LauraElizabeth92]

My little girl has recently turned six months and I really want to try baby led weaning, but don't really know where to start!! What finger foods what you suggest starting with? And any other advice on baby led weaning would be very helpful and gratefully received!

I would borrow a copy of the Baby Led Weaning book and/or cookbook and have a read of the ideas behind it. That's probably the best way of finding out the answers to most of your questions.

The idea is to offer normal family food so not necessarily specific finger foods just for the baby. I tended to cut veg for family meals up into baton or wedge shapes as that's the easiest for babies to pick up. Don't add salt to your cooking, avoid honey and obvious choking hazards like whole nuts, whole grapes, etc.

I started my DS on whole fruit that I'd taken a bite out of first (to help him grip it) and that he could hold with both hands e.g. pear, nectarine or peeled banana or orange segments - things he could hold easily and suck/gum on while he learned how to chew. As their motor skills develop you can go for smaller things like peas! But literally just offer whatever you're having. I used to just make a slightly bigger portion on adult plates for me and DH then we'd hand him chunks of food off our plates (once cooled down obv)

It can take a while for them to warm to veg, particularly green - cucumber and lettuce produce funny faces! But it can take 20 tries to get used to a new taste so keep offering.

The baby led weaning book is great - www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Baby/dp/0091923808?tag=mumsnetforum-21

And I found this website had good inspiration and advice - www.babyledweaning.com/

Enjoy the funny faces (disgust and delight) and know that one day you'll look on constant cleaning of floors as a distant memory!

Thank you ladies, do you know when I can start introducing toast? So far we've tried: broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, banana and strawberries and she's liked them all, just about to try some cauliflower!

You can feed a baby anything apart from the very short list of foods to avoid (for a summary you can download this which is relevant to any approach be it BLW or traditional weaning www.healthscotland.com/uploads/documents/303-Fun%20first%20foods-July2017-English.pdf) . All the babies I've met love toast especially smothered in loads of butter!

My top tip for BLW - buy a length of that plastic coated tablecloth fabric and put it on your floor under the highchair to catch most of the mess. Also useful for when they get a bit older and start playing with paints, crayons etc.

We started giving toasted thins first and dd seemed to get on with them well. Loved them with melted cheese or avocado. They're a nice size and can get them in white and brown.

Apart from seafood, honey, soft cooked eggs, nuts and alcohol (I think that's it) you can introduce anything from 6 months. No problem with toast.

DS's first solids- a 6 months- was a tuna baguette.

Thanks so much ladies. One more question, I've read different things about giving babies weetabix, so a bit confused!!

As far as I'm aware no issues with weetabix. Dd has had no issues and they give it at nursery. I think some babies get nappy rash as it does show in poo but that hasn't happened here

Oatibix can be easier for them to digest if you wanted to try that before weetabix.

You need to avoid honey, more than a 1 gram of salt, rare meat and whole nuts (peanut butter is fine) and if you have no history of allergies then everything else is fine.

As babies are still developing their digestive systems, I think the point about weetabix is that too much of it might, errr, leave things rather loose!!! Same as for adults really. Think about how foods affect you and chances are it will be similar for your little one, only magnified a little bit.

Porridge is quite easy from BLW perspective as it tends to clump together making it easy for babies to pick up with their fists.

Thanks Op I'm in the same boat!