The Rabbit Hole of Baby-Led Weaning: An Unexpected Success

Do you ever feel like all of your best ideas come from Instagram? Have you ever been duped into clicking on an ad by the intriguing photo or clever caption, knowing it’ll only lead you down a rabbit hole of scrolling and researching the “next best thing”? Well, you’re in good company. I click and scroll, research and snoop until my fingers cramp or my husband tells me to turn out the light. Typically this scrolling leads me to site after site until I get bored or shy away from a price tag. However, this rabbit hole, while many times dark, sometimes leads to a magical land of unicorns and rainbows. One said (yet unexpected) unicorn was Baby-Led Weaning (BLW).

Now, you need to know that I’m a self-proclaimed “Kinda Green, Kinda Clean Mama Machine” (blog in the making), so when it comes to feeding my family, I look for all things organic, farm-raised, cage-free, hormone-free…the list goes on and on. I had every intention, despite my fellow mom friends advising me otherwise, of making all my own baby food. I acquired a baby food maker and bought an organic puree baby food cookbook, ice trays, and pouches. I was poised and ready to tackle the monster of introducing “solids” to my kiddo. Then, like an angel appearing from above, a friend posted about BLW. I was intrigued and didn’t plan to alter my course of action, but curious enough to want to know more.

I began my typical search. I reached out to everyone I thought might know anything about it. Initially, I was very skeptical. I questioned every little aspect of BLW. How could a baby with no teeth eat actual food? Wouldn’t he gag or, even worse, choke?! If he did either, would he be scarred for life and never want to eat normal food? My imagination went wild. Nonetheless, I signed up for email info blasts from Little Gourmet Baby that were particularly helpful in educating both myself and my husband. I read all the articles I could get my hands on and finally decided it might be worth a try, despite my continuous skepticism. I let the final decision lie with the approval of our pediatrician at our six-month check-up.

We were given the OK from our pediatrician, with one slight variant: our doctor encouraged us to introduce one food every couple of days to ensure we could easily identify allergies, something I was happy to do since food allergies had been on the forefront of my mind when first learning about this approach. Essentially, we began Gracie-Led Weaning (BLW with a twist) because I wasn’t quite ready to hand over all control to my six-month-old, but I was quite happy to store away the baby food maker and food pouches to let him explore the world of food without the spoon fed airplanes and tricking him to “open wide.” At times I wanted to pick up a spoon and force him to eat, and sometimes I actually did (do you know how much self-control it requires to take a backseat and actually let your child feed themselves with no help?). The initial process was slow. We chose to start only feeding solids at dinner time and then slowly add in breakfast and lunch. We started with the infamous avocado and then sweet potatoes. This infographic from Little Gourmet gave me a great starting point. I wanted to focus on introducing vegetables and proteins to encourage my son to develop good eating habits and get him used to savory flavors before introducing fruits. We’re five months into this process, and he prefers anything green to carbs, fruit, or meat.

I still have PLENTY of questions and have often relied on mom friends to talk me through things such as introducing nuts and the easiest foods to give kiddos with no teeth. Yes, you read that right! At 11 months he’s still a toothless wonder. One particular mom, Meaghan, a veteran BLW mama of three boys, helped me gain the confidence to try Baby-Led Weaning and is always available via frantic text to answer my questions. I recently reached out to her to pick her brain about this column and here are some of the takeaways:

Q: What is your experience with BLW?
A: Before my first boy was born, I had a baby food puree maker and was so excited to make my own baby food!  We chose to wait until six months to offer solid food, and the closer we got to six months, the more anxiety I had about making my own food for my baby. When would I make it? What recipes would I use? How would I make sure I brought enough out to dinner or on vacations? I started looking around for other options and discovered BLW. It’s so easy and fits into our family seamlessly. I have two BLW sons, ages 3 1/2 years and 19 months, and plan to follow BLW with our new baby boy as well.

Q: What have been the greatest celebrations/struggles you’ve experienced with the process?
A: Celebrations: The freedom and flexibility to enjoy family meals where everyone is enjoying mealtime. I love being able to sit with my kids and eat while they are eating. The ability to feed baby on the go and never be worried about if I brought enough food with me. The fact that both boys love vegetables, and mealtimes are rarely an exercise in negotiation or bribery. The joy of seeing my boys independently feed themselves and use utensils successfully at a young age. The lifelong positive association with food and mealtimes. Structured mealtimes and snacks seated at the table—no more all-day grazing!

Struggles: There have been few struggles for our family as we’ve chosen to go the BLW route. I have doubted myself when preparing new foods for my children: what if they don’t like it and are hungry after dinner? My children continue to surprise me with their willingness to try new foods and enjoy them despite my doubts. I have a very supportive family, and we have not struggled with buy-in from other family members, but I know this is a common issue with many families as new and unfamiliar things can be scary for loving grandparents and other caregivers.

Q: What would you say to a mom considering the BLW route?
A: Just like many things in parenting, BLW may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend that moms consider it. There are so many great resources out there that can provide you with the best information to help you make your decision including literature, websites, and an excellent group on Facebook. The implementation of BLW isn’t a perfect science, but it has been shown to decrease family stress around meal time, teach healthy associations with food, and increase a varied diet and independence during mealtime enabling families to enjoy mealtimes together. If you are a mom on the go, the flexibility BLW offers is invaluable.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: Even as I advocate for others to implement BLW, I continue to educate myself on the best practices of BLW and enjoy learning from other moms who implement BLW with their babies as well. No matter how you choose to feed your baby, a fed baby is a happy baby.

I could sit and talk to Meaghan about Baby-Led Weaning all day, but I’m thankful for the vulnerable insight and words of encouragement as I continue along this journey.

For me, after almost five months of experimenting, trial and error, distinguishing (with racing hearts and wide eyes) between gagging and choking, and more photos of my child in a highchair than I am willing to admit, I’m happy with the choice we made to give Baby-Led Weaning a shot. It comes with its challenges: food in every nook and cranny imaginable, days where my son chooses not to eat what I put in front of him, scary gagging sounds, and more, but it also comes with many positives. He makes lots of funny faces (as seen in the photos above), we can all enjoy mealtimes where we sit and eat as a family as well as the hands-free approach that allows our kiddo to explore and appreciate food at his own pace. So, here’s a shout-out and virtual “thank you” to my Instagram angel, for showing me the rabbit hole that led me right where I needed to be. I hope this post can give you some clarity on whether BLW is a good fit for you and your child(ren). Regardless of the method you chose, hold close to heart what Meaghan said in conclusion: “A fed baby is a happy baby.”

Gracie
Gracie is a wife of six years, mom to an almost three year-old boy, a newborn baby girl (2021) and a proud Wheaten Terrier dog mom. She is a New Mexico native that prefers a green lifestyle, but she still keeps a tub of Clorox wipes below the kitchen sink to rid of the “really bad germs”. She first moved to San Antonio to attend Trinity University where she achieved a Bachelors in Sociology and a Masters in Teaching. Gracie is a former Spanish Immersion teacher turned work-at-home mom currently digging into her clean-crafted wine business. While working from home she still channels her inner teacher into finding the next best thing for her son: ways to stimulate him, help him learn, teach him multiple languages, encourage him to be a healthy eater, etc. She loves reading, running and exploring the vivacious city of San Antonio. Favorite Restaurant: Supper Favorite Landmark: San Antonio Mission Reach Favorite San Antonio Tradition: San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo