Baby-led weaning

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a gradual weaning method that lets your baby move from milk to a solid diet without the purée stage. Once he’s ready for solids (at around six months), you offer him a range of appropriate finger foods to try, rather than the normal puréed first foods.

BLW encourages your child to self-feed. At first he may just lick the food, but the important thing is that he decides what he tries. It helps to encourage him to be independent about the feeding process and as long as he has developed the pincer grasp (where he can pick things up with his thumb and forefinger) he should be able to hold onto finger foods.

With BLW, your baby is allowed to decide how much food he eats or doesn’t eat – vital for teaching young children to recognize when they’re full and self-regulate their appetite. You’re still in the picture though – you need to stay close by in case your baby puts too much in his mouth and starts to choke (although fans of BLW say this is unlikely since it’s a method that encourages a baby to learn to chew before moving the food to the back of his mouth, unlike with a purée).

Always keep in mind that BLW is only suitable for babies aged from six months – if you wean your baby any earlier, for example at closer to four months, he won’t be developmentally ready for more textured, chunky food and you’ll need to pass through the purée stage before moving him on to finger foods. Many experts say you should also only use this method of weaning if your baby has been exclusively breastfed for the first six months, as he will have gotten used to setting the pace of his feeding (babies who are bottlefed won’t have developed this knack since they don’t get to control how fast they feed from a bottle).

If you’d like to try BLW, discuss it with your pediatrician.

If you have any unanswered questions, use the feeding and food area of our answers page to get tips and info from other moms or our resident experts.

The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.