Baby-led Weaning

Introducing Solid Foods

Baby-led weaning (often also referred to as BLW) is an approach to adding complementary foods to a baby's diet of breast milk or formula. BLW facilitates oral motor development and strongly focuses on the family meal, while maintaining eating as a positive, interactive experience. Baby-led weaning allows babies to control their solid food consumption by "self-feeding" from the start of their experience with food. The term weaning does not imply giving up breast milk or formula, but simply indicates the introduction of foods other than breast milk or formula.

Baby-led weaning picture

When to start Baby-Led Weaning

Wait until your baby is ready. Your child should be able to sit in a high chair unassisted, have good neck strength, and be able to move food to the back of their mouth with up and down jaw movements, Harrison says. "Most healthy children over 6 months of age are developmentally able to self-feed; however, strong chewing skills in some children may not be fully developed until 9 months. The baby-led weaning process will help develop those chewing skills."