Baby-Led Weaning Feeding Tips

Tips from our experts on how to feed your baby solid foods.

• Mess: Relax, things will get messy but nothing some paper towels can’t handle. Let baby play with and explore all the new foods. You may want to strip your baby and let her eat naked, so she doesn’t ruin her outfit or use a “catch-all” bib that will help catch any food baby’s mouth misses so it doesn’t all end up on the floor.
• Limit Distractions: make sure your baby isn’t distracted with things such as toys, TV, a pet, your phone, etc. while they are eating.
• Know the difference between choking and gagging: Gagging is a perfectly normal part of trying new foods but can easily be mistaken for choking. A gagging baby will be able to make noise, such as coughing, but a choking baby will look terrified, won’t be able to cough, and may have blue lips. 
• Serve Soft Foods: Foods should be soft enough so that they can “squish” with gentle pressure between your thumb and index finger. Not so soft that they fall apart in your baby’s hand, but soft enough so that no hard, small pieces break off. Most people think about steaming or cooking vegetables only, but keep in mind this will mean that you’ll also need to steam some fruits, too, depending on what you are offering.
• Same Meal… Sort of: While one of the biggest perks of doing the baby-led weaning approach with your baby is that they can eat the same foods as you… sort of. While the goal is to have one meal for the entire family, you will want to hold off on adding the salt, hot spices, store-bought sauces, and sugar to their foods. For the first couple of months, this may mean making a meal without those ingredients and then adding them to the grown-up options – make pasta with broccoli but hold the sauce for baby, cook a stir fry but hold the sauce until you have a portion for baby, etc.
• Give Baby a better grip as needed: Roll slippery or hard to grasp slices of soft foods, such as avocado or banana strips in finely crushed crumbs, such as those from plain cheerios or teething biscuits.
• Serve Food in Different Ways: Experiment with offering the same food in different ways – for example, your baby could try raspberries plain one day, pureed and stirred into oatmeal with nut butter the next day, and smashed with cream cheese on top of toast another day. 
• Establish a schedule: make a plan for when you will offer eating opportunities. Ideally, this will be close to, or at the same time that the rest of the family is eating, but making a plan ahead of time for when you’ll offer foods can still be helpful. You can start by offering 1 or 2 eating opportunities a day between breast or bottle feeds and slowly progressing to 3 meals and 1-2 snacks from there.
• Be present with baby: Sitting down and eating with your baby is not only good practice for safety, but it’s also good practice for modeling good eating habits.
• Consider temperature: some babies prefer room temp, while others might like cooler or slightly warm foods.