But it isn’t anything goes. Because while we don’t want foods to be too hard (see below), we also don’t want them to be too soft and gummy. Getting started on baby-led weaning. I gave A a piece of toast with smooth peanut butter, which he loves. Here are some tips for baby-led weaning success. And for small round foods like chickpeas or blueberries, smash them lightly before serving. Remember, to err on the side of caution with baby-led feeding and always stay with your baby while she’s eating. Because if your baby can’t pick up the food, then she can’t actually eat it! But, lightly toasted bread is ideal for self-feeding. Instead, baby will need food that they can grasp in their whole palm or fist. View topic - Toast? I think it's something to do with it being hard, but then turning soft. Self-feeding takes a lot of eye-hand coordination, and that’s an ability your baby is still developing. And, when you sign up, I’ll send you three of my favorite healthy smoothie recipes for the whole family. Food size recommendations from folks like us typically factor in two things: food sizes that are easy for babies to pick up and eat independently and food sizes that minimize the risk of choking for the given development stage. The feeding approach known as “baby led weaning” or “BLW” for short, is a style of feeding infants that allows them to feed themselves right from the start. 6 to 9 months ... 9 months + Breakfast. Join our community to share the journey. 15 of my favorite toast toppings for babies, How to Make a Flax Egg for Babies With an Egg Allergy, How to Cut Strawberries for Baby-Led Weaning. Both should be considered. Since you want your baby to still access the food while it’s in her palm, it’s best to cut food into long, thin sticks. Baby-Led Weaning (Baby Led Eating) is the no fuss, no mush way of weaning your baby on to solid food. I've also had this experience! You may be skeptical that your 6-month-old will be able to handle whole pieces of food right off the bat, but your baby’s ability to chow down will likely amaze you. But don’t be alarmed if it seems like little of the food is actually making it into her tummy. Dinner. Also, it can have a tendency to stick to the roof of their mouth in a big, soggy lump. So to pick up foods they grasp them with their whole palm. If you begin baby led weaning with baby from 6 months’ old, they won’t have developed a good pincer grip. At around 6 months — Most babies just starting solids haven’t developed their pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger) yet. Meat should also be very, very tender. Join our community to share the journey. (I hardly need add that she expresses the concept rather more elegantly than I just did.) Oh my God, look! I’ll send two emails a month, including one with a recipe. I look forward to being in touch! The photo above is also from Baby-Led Feeding. But, is this safe? At all ages, foods should be soft enough that you can smash them with gentle pressure between your thumb and forefinger. Baby led weaning in a nutshell means letting your child feed themselves from the start. It will take practice for her to get the hang of eating with the spoon, but you can pre-load the utensil to start, and of course, practice makes perfect. He was doing great, just sucking the toast, occasionally chewing and generally licking the peanut butter off it as he usually does, then he started gagging on a piece of toast. 7 Month Baby Food Chart. Some of my other favorite single-ingredient foods at this stage include chopped hard-cooked eggs and small pasta shapes. For that reason, food batons can work very well for baby at this stage. Here’s how to make sure that the foods you give your baby are safe and easy-to-eat for your baby’s developmental capabilities. Explain baby-led weaning to everyone who takes care of your child so that they follow the same safety precautions you do. Baby-led Weaning Meal ideas. Your baby is eating broccoli! Toasting bread is important, to prevent it from sticking it on to their tongue and choking especially for beginners. Getting started on baby-led weaning. Is this normal? Here are 15 of my favorite toast toppings for babies. Think about the length and width of your pinky finger, and check out the photo above from Baby-Led Feeding for some ideas. Commercial bread can be difficult to pick up and can turn into a ball of mush in a baby’s mouth. What information I could find on the subject (for example) seems to indicate "easy to grip" is a good criteria for baby led weaning, and that gagging is "their way of moving food around in the mouth and don’t panic". (Ok not me personally...but my DS). But it isn’t anything goes. In the case of the raw carrot and apples, nope. He spat it out, but when he went to put the next piece in, i guess his gag reflex wasnt done because he suddenly started vomiting like crazy, it was coming out of his nose and everything. Toast - what size pieces? Baby-led weaning, or baby-led feeding as I prefer to call it, means that babies feed themselves finger foods as soon as they start solids.