Baby-led weaning
Baby-led weaning, abbreviated to BLW, is all the hype these days. BLW is a method of letting your baby feed themselves solid food rather than being spoon-fed pureed foods. If you read my first blog, you will understand how BLW goes along well with Montessori. It teaches your baby independence, and they can develop motor and oral skills. I first learned about BLW when I was 30-something weeks pregnant, and I was 100% sold! The thought of my little baby drinking out of an open cup and feeding himself sounded pretty nice. Well, I’m four months into it, and let me tell you- it’s not all Instagram worthy 👀 Your baby can’t automatically hold a cup or spoon-feed themselves, and you will likely spend more time cleaning than your baby will take to eat lol! Despite all of that, I love BLW and I would choose to do it over and over again! There is nothing better than seeing your baby use their two front teeth to chew on some blueberries or watching them rub avocados in their eyes because you fed them too close to nap time😬
Avocados do make a great face mask 🤷🏽♀️
I’m here to give you aaalllll the tips and tricks to start BLW and how to stay on top of it. There are some weeks that I cook a fancy recipe for all three meals, and then there are other weeks where the only things on Henry's plate are canned veggies and cheerios. Guess what? Henry does not know the difference! The most important thing to remember is what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
What am I doing? Introducing solid foods to my baby. (very simple)
Why am I doing it? To introduce one new food a day to my son (this obviously varies for everyone)
I still nurse Henry 3x a day, so I don’t have to rely on his BLW meals to provide all of his nutrition. My main goal, as mentioned above, is to introduce Henry to as many new foods as possible so he’s not a picky eater. One food a day is super easy to manage! If you pick a goal it will be easier to stick to it. I’ll worry more about that when he gets older 😅 Okay, I think you guys get the gist of it, so let’s get into those tips and tricks I was talking about!
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You don’t need a whole lot! If you search Amazon for “BLW accessories” you will find a lot of stuff. But here are my favorite items and things I use every day!
· High chair- we love this chair so much! It doesn’t take up a lot of space and Henry can sit at the table with us and feel included.
· Drinking cups- these are the open cups I was talking about. They are a perfect size and very durable.
· Plates- One of the Montessori “rules” is to give your baby glass tableware. It makes more of an impact on them if it breaks when they drop it, and they are less likely to do it again. We only have one kid and no pets so sweeping up glass isn’t an issue for us, and that’s why we use these plates. Any plate will work though!
· Bowls- we love Ikea, can you tell?
· Silverware- These are just so stinkin’ cute! The knives are decently sharp so I put those away for now.
· Cooking utensils- cutting board, knives, colander, potato masher, food thermometer, etc. (stuff you already have in your kitchen)
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I feel mostly confident in my knowledge of BLW, but I had to start somewhere! I am very picky with who I listed below because it’s important that you can trust what they’re saying. Although BLW is fun, you have to be extremely cautious with food prep to make sure it is safe for your baby.
· Solid Starts- this is my absolute favorite resource! It’s honestly the only thing would need. They have the most amazing app that instructs you what food is safe to feed your baby at what age and how to prep it. More importantly, they describe the difference between choking vs gagging, which you need to know before you start! There are guides available for purchase that will guide (pun intended) you through every question you could possibly have, plus recipes that are simple and tasty. I paid $99 for the all-access pass and I use their guides every single day. Seriously guys, I am obsessed!
· Brittany Balyn- If you are interested in BLW and have Instagram, I would follow her! She has probably 100+ BLW related stories saved to her highlights and they are all categorized by age. I linked her YouTube page where she shares “What we eat in a day” videos.
· Dailydoseof.rue- this is a more recent find that I am loving! First of all, Rue is adorable 😍 But she also shares every meal, every day (talk about inspiration)! I made the sweet potato tots and Henry absolutely loved them.
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I don’t have many right now, but I promise I will continue to share!
· Frozen/canned veggies- okay, I don’t know why we don’t talk about this more. I try to do one veggie, one fruit, and one carb with every meal. When you are prepping a whole meal three times a day, you’re going to enjoy grabbing canned carrots out of the pantry and dumping them right on the plate. Plus, canned and frozen veggies are usually cheap, and they are easy to stock up on. If you’re still in doubt and making these faces “😬🤢🧐” do me a favor and google frozen versus fresh vegetable nutrition.
· Naked babies are cute and a lot easier to clean. When I say that BLW is messy, I MEAN IT! Even if you don’t think it’s going to make a mess, it’s going to lol! I have learned that taking Henry’s clothes off and putting a bib on him makes for the easiest clean-up.
· Meal planning isn’t just for grown-up meals. Every Sunday I sit down and plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all three of us. It never ends well if I try to “wing it”. I use these templates from Milena Ciciotti, and they make my life so much easier!
· Keep things separated. I have a separate shelf in the fridge and the freezer for Henry’s food, and a drawer full of pantry items that are only for him. This system helps me stick to the meals I plan, and I waste a lot less food.
Whew! That was a lot to digest all in one sitting. I’ll leave it at this for now, but I think you guys should have a good idea as to what BLW is and how to get started. I will be sharing our go-to meals, favorite recipes, and pictures of our setup. Thanks for hanging out today, I’ll be back next week!
-XOXO, MM
