Baby Led Weaning (what, when, how.. help!)

[lizzyttc2017]

My baby turns 6 months in a couple of weeks and Id like to do baby lead weaning with her. For those of you who have done this too what do I do haha?

How much food do I give her, what kinds of foods and when do I add different foods/more foods/more 'meals' a day?

Im pretty clueless! Happy to get any book recommendations also :)

Thanks

I’d start by giving her food once a day then gradually build up to twice a day. The aim is to build up to offering solids 3 times a day between 8 and 9 months.

I found a couple of long sleeved bibs useful, it can get a bit messy and perhaps a cheap shower curtain to put on the floor, if you haven’t got a dog

As long as you don’t offer any of the foods to avoid baby can have anything from the start. My LO was one of the ones that started Weaning off all by herself by grabbing a butty and scoffing it as quickly as she could

Some things you could try are:

A banana, they split naturally from the top.
Porridge Fingers
A sandwich, you can cut them up into small rectangles.
Cheese straws. These keep for a bit in an airtight container.
Blueberry pancakes make a nice family breakfast too.
Cream cheese on toast.
My DD loved homemade sweet potato wedges too by really anything can be finger food. She had a roast dinner the second week

You don’t need to introduce one food item at a time, unless your baby has allergies and you’ve been advised to by a HCP.

Have a read of the MN info on finger foods and if you’re after a book, try this one and don’t forget to take tonnes of photos

Pretty much just offer healthy foods that are easy to pick up (fist or stick sized usually helps to start), whenever you have time to sit down with them, as often as you can manage (one meal a day is fine for the first month or so).

You'll find that it's easy to make what you're already eating finger food like. Having a salad? Cut tomatoes into wedges and cucumbers into sticks. Soup and bread, you can make bread soliders, dip into soup and put on the tray. Roast dinner, shred a bit of chicken, halve a yorkshire pudding, steam some broccoli. Then it's also helpful to have some special foods to hand for when what you're eating isn't really baby friendly. Toast with peanut butter or hummus is great. Fruit of all kinds. Crackers and cheese cubes. Snacky type foods.

It's a lot of work to cook everything from scratch and baby friendly to start and to clean up. So there's no hurry. One meal a day when you have time to do it is fine initially. You can add in meals and eventually snacks when you're ready. Both of mine have generally been on 3 meals a day by 8 months.

Thank you, so helpful!