Learn about how to seamlessly integrate your baby into mealtimes, and help prevent future picky eating with baby-led weaning.
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice! Please consult with your pediatrician before beginning baby-led weaning.
When my first baby turned 4 months old, well-meaning friends and relatives asked me if I had started giving him solids yet. A growing boy needs to eat, I thought, so I bought the baby jars, dutifully sat him in a brand-new high-chair, and fed him. I tried to convince him to like mealtime: playing airplane, teasing just one-more-bite, and reading books. After all, he was probably so hungry! And he’s a growing boy! And babies have to learn to eat!
Fast forward to my youngest. At 5 months old (maybe 6? He’s my youngest, it’s harder to remember), I sat him in a well-loved high-chair, surrounded by the cacophony of a growing family’s dinner time. As I made bowls of meatballs and spaghetti for his big siblings, I made him a bowl too. I put on his bib, and sat back to enjoy dinner with the family.
Sounds ridiculous? Maybe the part where I sat back is: I probably spent dinner passing the bowls, cleaning the spills, and mediating the fights. But baby eating the same food as the family? Totally possible, with baby-led weaning.
Baby-led weaning means skipping the spoon-feeding pureed jars stage, and going straight into eating table-ready foods. And the benefits are amazing! It exposes your baby to more foods (think helping avoid picky eating), helps develop independence, and increases fine-motor skills. Plus, it frees up your hands to eat dinner too.
Here’s what you have to know:
- From 6-12 months old, a baby’s primary source of nutrition is still milk. As long as they’re drinking, they don’t need lots of solid foods to develop. Think of it as practice time! This is where you’re training them to be independent, exploratory eaters.
- Babies are incredibly social. When they see Mommy, Daddy (or older siblings!) eating, they want to join in. You know how baby’s eyes track your bites as they grow? They want in! They inherently are more motivated to taste different foods when the people they love are doing it too.
- Learning to eat can be tricky! There’s lots of mouthing, drooling, dropping, and oh-so-much confusion. You can help by guiding their food or their spoon to their mouth, using their own hand. Remember, independence is ideal, whenever possible.
- Expect some coughing, and even gagging. Hashem created babies with an incredible gag-reflex: when they try to swallow a piece that’s too big they may have to gag it up. Before you start baby-led weaning, speak to your pediatrician about when it’s necessary to intervene and how to intervene if needed. There are lots of videos out there too on how to intervene if you think your baby is chas v’shalom choking. HOWEVER, as a general rule, your baby knows what to do. Stay calm (show your baby how calm you are!) and they will gag or cough the food back up. If your baby sees you panic, they’ll panic! If they see you calm, they’ll be just fine.
What does mealtime look like? Well, baby eats what the family eats, in his/her high-chair (with exceptions as needed). Babies can eat most foods! As a rule of thumb, anything crunchy and hard to chew or sticky is out (carrots, raw apples, nuts). Also, avoid anything round, like grapes or hot dogs, unless sliced lengthwise. Other than that, your baby can enjoy most foods that you’re serving your family.
I’ll take the chicken/meatballs/salmon, and the rice/soup/broccoli and put it on the baby’s tray. Any foods that are ‘grabbable’ like chicken cutlets I’ll cut into spears so the baby can grasp it more easily and bring it to his mouth. Softer foods like cholent go into a bowl with a baby spoon. And that’s it.
Baby sits in his chair, and has fun exploring with touch and taste. Will baby be covered in food? Absolutely! But I believe integrating them into our family’s meals and setting them up for future eating success trumps all messes.
Here are some ideas for beginner foods:
Banana
Avocado
Cooked Zucchini
Vegetable soup
Chicken soup (carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes)
Sweet potato fries
Apple sauce (pouches)
Cheerios
Baby puffs
Soft roasted vegetables
Once they eat the above, can add:
Chicken
Potato kugel
Pasta
Noodles cut small with chicken soup veggies
Bamba
Cholent
While you don’t need any special equipment for baby-led weaning, below are some favorites to make it just a little easier.
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