Can you do baby led at 4 months

[Macaronibaloni]

So I've been told by pediatrician that my daughter would benefit from being weaned at 4 months because of bad reflux and the fact she isn't gaining weight as she should be. Does anybody know if you can still do baby lead weaning if you do it at 4 months as that's what I really wanted to do but not sure if there's reasons etc to stick with doing puréed food at 4 months? (First baby - so not a clue where to start) ☺️

No, it’s not advised before 6 months as they should be sitting up stably, have decent hand-eye coordination and good head control.

I would really doubt it. They won’t have the necessary coordination and unlikely to be able to hold their heads up well enough for it to be safe.

If you have been advised to start weaning early - I would recommend starting off with purées and then moving onto more finger food at 6 months. 4 months is too young for blw in my opinion.

We had to wean first ds at 13 weeks we have him pureed food until 6 months but what we used do whilst he was eating was give him an extra spoon so he could practise putting it down and up to his mouth and learn find it. With second he had really bad reflux and starting been sick more when we started him on pureed food so we had to wait till 6 months so he could baby led wean and eat solids it did then eventually go away by time he was 12 months old :)

That's gutting as I really wanted to do that ☹️ but like the idea of moving onto it when she hits 6 months, guess I should go get myself a blender then! Lol

I think you will struggle tbh. We did it at six months but our baby was 6 weeks premature so she only had the motor skills of a 4.5 monther. I had wanted to blw, but it really wasn't possible. She didn't have the coordination to feed herself, or any real interest in food tbh. We gave her purees, baby porridge and that sort of thing.

She's got really good head control for her age she's only 3 months at the moment which is why the doctor recommended starting early at 4 months, but she isn't sitting by herself yet neither does she have the best co-ordination so I will definitely wait until those skills come in and then start on the finger food around 6 months ☺️

is there any foods you would recommend to make purées i am assuming fruit and veg are the go to?

Ella’s kitchen do a graph which might be helpful but also I think Annabel karmel suggests the order things can be offered in following a traditional weaning method.

You will probably want to start with veg like carrots and then move onto fruit.

Even at six months a baby isn’t going to actually eat much food when doing baby led weaning. But that’s the point of baby led weaning is that they play eat at there own rate isn’t it?

It’s really not safe...they don’t have the core strength or control yet to eat properly and safely.

We had to wean early too - I believe we started out with carrot, potato and a few other veg, before moving onto fruits like apple, pear and banana. I recommend looking into Annabel Karmel as well, as I know she has a list of the order to give different foods.

Once our dd was 6 months we then started incorporating finger foods, and now at 1 1/2 she's a fab little eater.

If your paediatrician is recommending early weaning I’d speak to them or your health visitor for advice on what foods to give. I’ve heard of people being given weaning plans who have been advised to wean early. You need good medical guidance on this not forum ideas especially as you are feeling unsure.