BLW – what does baby-led weaning mean?

We talked to nutritionist and mother of young children Elin Oresten, who wrote the book Knatteplock and runs the Instagram account of the same name. Here she answers questions about what BLW is, when you can let your baby try it and what to look out for.

Baby Lead Weaning – or BLW – what is it?

Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is when you offer your baby finger food and let them feed themselves right from the start (often around 6-months-old). The parent serves the food and the baby can explore it as much as they want. The process of gradually weaning from breast milk or formula then occurs naturally as food intake increases.

The food served when a baby or toddler is given the opportunity to eat on their own is called ‘finger food’. It is often the same food that the rest of the family eats, with some modifications if necessary. Letting babies feed themselves from the start is something that more and more parents are choosing to do. Some only serve finger food (BLW) while others choose to mix finger food with spoon feeding (but this is not BLW). There is no right or wrong way, it’s all about experimenting and seeing what works for your baby.

What are the advantages of BLW?

A lot of parents recognise the benefits of BLW and finger food. They report that mealtimes are enjoyable (most of the time anyway…) and that their babies are naturally excited about food. BLW and finger food can also make life easier. Firstly, parents don’t have to cook separate foods for their baby and for themselves. Everyone can eat the same food, with perhaps minor modifications for the baby. It’s also a great way to involve your baby in family mealtimes right from the start, assuming you eat at the same time. Eating together is very good for a child’s development in terms of diet, as children learn by imitating others. Many babies who are allowed to feed themselves from the beginning also get to try lots of different textures, consistencies and flavours early on. This has many advantages, including encouraging them to try and appreciate new foods even as they get older.

How early can I allow my baby to start eating finger food?

You can introduce finger food as soon as your baby shows all the signs of being physically and mentally ready.
Before you introduce finger food, your baby needs to:

• be able to sit independently with minimal support;
• be able to hold their head up for long periods;
• be able to move objects to their mouth on their own;
• and show an interest in food.

Typically, this will happen when your baby is around 6 months old. Teeth are not necessary for eating finger food, but the food must be prepared so it has a soft texture that the child can easily crush in their mouth. Food pieces that are solid enough for your baby to suck and gnaw on without breaking into hard pieces can also be given.

So how do you get started with BLW?

The first step is to start exploring food. A 6-month-old baby won’t eat a lot, and may not even put food in their mouth for the first few meals. The first phase is more about smelling, feeling, throwing, mashing, etc. Your baby can use all their senses to explore food. Start by placing a soft piece of food on your baby’s tray/table. One food item at a time is enough in the beginning; more than that can be overwhelming for your baby. Then you need to gradually increase the amount of food over time so that their little tummy can keep up. This can be different for everyone – some parents might give their baby a small amount of food at each family meal, while others might give their baby one meal of solid food per day. After a while, you can try giving your baby a plate of food instead of the individual pieces. Over time, more food will end up in your baby’s tummy than on the floor, but this often takes a while.

There will be a process where your baby will ‘play’ with the food, spit it out, lick it and mash it. This is a positive and important step, although it can be frustrating to watch as a parent sometimes.

If you find the idea of pieces of solid food scary, you can always start by loading spoons with puréed food and handing them to your baby. This allows your baby to bring the spoon to their mouth and practise independent eating. You can also offer large pieces of food that can serve as teethers and won’t break, such as a mango stone, the inner part of a pineapple, bread crusts or corn on the cob. This develops your baby’s oral motor skills.

What kind of food is needed for babies fed through BLW?

When your baby is between 6–9 months old, you should cut the food into long pieces. This is because babies often have not developed a sophisticated enough grip to pick up small pieces. Larger pieces may also be safer for small babies as they are more easily recognised by the brain. A good rule of thumb is that the pieces of food should be as long as an adult’s index finger and longer than a baby’s palm. The piece of food should be able to stick out of the hand when the baby grips it with the whole palm. Large pieces of food give babies the opportunity to practise their ability to bite and also trigger their chewing reflexes.

By about 8–9 months of age, babies have often developed a ‘pincer grip’ (where the tips of the thumb and index finger meet). Most often it is an intermediate pincer grip at that age, where the flat parts of the thumb and index finger meet. This allows them to start picking up smaller pieces, such as a piece of macaroni. At this point, you can start cutting the food into small bite-sized pieces, about 1x1 cm. When your baby can start picking up small pieces, more food usually ends up in their tummy. This is because before this they often bite off excessively large pieces of the stick-shaped food, and when they get too big to handle in their mouths, they usually spit them out again.

Won’t there be a lot of mess?

Yes, there will be a lot of mess when your baby feeds themself. But there’s a lot of mess when you feed them too. The mess has a very good purpose though – the sensory aspect of it. Children need to feel and touch the food to familiarise themselves with it. Imagine if you are given something completely new to taste – you might want to give it a little squeeze and smell it, rather than just put it in your mouth. Children learn through play, and mess is simply an important part of their development.

If your baby throws a lot of food on the floor, my recommendation is to remove the plate for a while. Put the food straight onto the tray, and only give them a small amount at a time. It is also important that your baby is hungry when it is time to eat. A baby who is full and content is much less likely to taste the food, and this can lead to a lot of throwing instead. This also applies to sleep – a very tired baby might also find it hard to explore food since it requires a lot of energy – especially for little ones.

Is it too late to start BLW if I have an older baby?

It’s never too late for your child to start eating finger food, giving them the opportunity to eat their food independently. Technically, the term BLW is only used if spoon feeding is eliminated completely in favour of beginning with finger food as soon as solid food is introduced. But it doesn’t matter what you call it – exploring and independent eating is what matters. At some point your child will have to eat on their own, so it’s never too late for finger food. However, it is a good idea to introduce foods with more texture before 9 months, as research has shown that this is good for future diversity in the diet.

Should I be worried about my child choking?

Of course, there is always a risk when it comes to children and food. And even adults and food. You can choke on most things. Reassuringly, research shows that the risk of choking is no greater with BLW/finger food than with more conventional baby food. Babies also have an instinctive reflex to chew, although they need to practise chewing, and they chew well with just their gums and palates.

It is important to serve age-appropriate food and to supervise your baby at all times, and you should avoid giving babies food while they are moving about. You can’t serve a hard carrot to a small baby, it needs to be soft food. And avoid any ‘high-risk’ foods, such as whole nuts, whole grapes, pieces of sausage, etc., all of which are round and firm. As long as you keep this in mind, the risk is very small, but it is of course good to learn what to do if the worst happens – and I recommend that all parents learn what to do. Children can choke on all kinds of things, not just food.

Then again, many babies may gag and cough a lot in the early stages of food introduction. It might look scary but it’s not dangerous. I felt really scared at first when my daughter gagged, and some mealtimes were worse than others. But, gagging decreases over time as babies get more practice with different food consistencies and as babies generally explore their environment with their mouths. Gagging is also an important protective mechanism to stop babies from choking and suffering a real airway obstruction, so it’s actually a good thing.

Are there any disadvantages to BLW?

There is very little research on BLW so far. One disadvantage that has been identified is that some parents do not have enough nutritional knowledge to prepare their own food for their children. Buying baby food is easier in that respect, because it is produced by experts. However, store-bought baby food in puréed form is difficult to give to a baby as a finger food, so many finger food parents mostly cook their own food for their children. This means parents have to prepare nutritious food, for example with a high iron content. But by doing a little research and getting a basic understanding of what children need nutritionally, it’s not difficult to cook good food for the whole family.

Elin’s tips for getting started with BLW

The good thing about finger food is that your child can eat the same food as you from the start. However, it can be helpful to have some tips on good ‘first finger foods’. The important thing is to think ‘lots of nutrition in a small space’ (mainly iron), as small babies often don’t actually eat much food in the beginning. And the food should be relatively easy to hold and chew.

A few examples of good first foods to offer:

• Well-cooked broccoli
• Banana sticks*
• Pancake or waffle strips (preferably with iron-enriched food added)
• Cooked pear or apple in wedges or halves*
• Sandwich strips with liver pâté
• Strips of black pudding
• Strips of liver pâté
• Omelette cut into strips
• Avocado wedges*
• Mashed beans on a toasted stick-shaped slice of bread without the crust

*Roll in seeds (such as sesame seeds) for more nutrition and to make the piece of food less slippery.

Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.