Baby-led weaning

What It Means

Baby-led weaningWeaningGradually moving a baby or toddler from breastfeeding to other foods, drinks and kinds of comfort, until nursing stops. See more is a way of starting solid foods in which the baby feeds themselves. Instead of spoon-feeding pureesPureesSmooth, blended foods that many babies eat when they start solids at about 6 months, before moving on to lumpier and chopped textures. See more, a parent offers soft chunks or strips of food, often what the family is eating, and the baby picks them up, decides how much to eat and sets the pace. The word "weaning" here means starting foods other than milk; breast milk or formula carries on alongside.

How Parents Say It

• "We skipped purees and went straight to finger foods."
• "She's doing BLW, so she gets what we're having, cut up."
• "He gagged on a broccoli floret and then carried on."

The Breakdown

By stage

Readiness, per CDC. Your baby sits with or without support, controls their head and neck, opens their mouth for food and swallows it rather than pushing it out.

What research says about choking. A 2016 study in Pediatrics, the AAP's journalJournalingWriting down your thoughts and feelings, in a notebook or an app, to understand them more clearly and to see what's behind your stress. See more, found that 35% of babies choked at least once between 6 and 8 months, and the number of choking events didn't differ significantly between babies fed a baby-led way and babies fed traditionally. That's a reason to prepare foods carefully and learn infant first aid whichever way you feed.

Starting today. Offer one soft, cooked food cut into a strip your baby can hold, with your baby seated upright and you right there. CDC's rule of thumb is to make each food the right shape, size and texture for your baby's stage.

When to talk to the pediatrician. Ask first if your baby was born early, has trouble swallowing, or has severe eczema or an egg allergy.

Good to Know

Cleveland Clinic lists firm round foods, such as whole berries and whole grapes, and hard crunchy foods, such as tortilla chips, popcorn and nuts, as ones to avoid. CDC's choking-hazard list adds spoonfuls of nut butter, cheese cubes, hard raw fruit and vegetable pieces, whole corn kernels and raisins, and says to make food the right shape, size and texture for your child's stage. CDC also says no honey before 12 months and no cow's milk as a drink before 12 months.

Related Terms and Categories

• Purees

  Smooth, blended foods that many babies eat when they start solids at about 6 months, before moving on to lumpier and chopped textures.

• Finger foods

  Small, soft pieces of food a baby picks up and feeds to themselves, usually begun once they sit up and can bring food to their mouth.

• Choking vs gagging

  Gagging is a noisy, normal reflex that keeps food out of a baby's airway; choking is a blocked airway, often silent, that needs 911 and first aid.

• Allergen introduction

  Giving a baby common allergy-causing foods, such as peanut and egg, early in the first year to lower the chance of a food allergy.

• High chair

  A tall, freestanding seat with a tray for feeding a baby or toddler. CPSC's federal standard requires a three-point restraint and a passive crotch restraint.

• Weaning

  Gradually moving a baby or toddler from breastfeeding to other foods, drinks and kinds of comfort, until nursing stops.

Baby and toddler