BLW: Getting Started + "Must-Have"s

In the last 2 weeks, I've gotten so many questions about baby led weaning that I thought I would start a series. I am in NO way a professional - and to be completely honest, I didn't even really follow all of the "rules" but in hopes to be some help to my sweet mama friends who are just starting out on their BLW journeys - I decided to start a three-part series on babyled weaning. We have almost reached the 1 year mark to when we started babyled weaning and I have learned so much along the way and enjoyed every bit of it (except...maybe, the mess. eek!) I am so happy that we decided this route for our family, but BLW is in no way superior to any other route -- in my humble opinion.

I had written a quick post about our BLW experience sometime last year, but thought I'd do a more informative post to hopefully help answer some of the FAQ's.

This blog series will include three parts:

• Getting started and "must-haves"
• A quick overview of BLW
•  First foods + BLW ideas

I say "must-have"s cautiously because I don't think there is anything that you HAVE to possess before starting. But for the sake of ease, we'll just stick with that.  In all the reading material that I've gone through before starting out - the recommended age to start BLW is no younger than 6 months. They also recommend that the baby be able to sit up unassisted (aka no slouching in a high chair). We started Asher in a bumbo for the first few weeks of babyled weaning and it was fine for us. The recommendation is also that you do not start with purees in any sense as it can cause confusion for the baby and delay their ability to learn how to work out different textures of food. Again, we didn't strictly follow these rules (we started solids at 5 months and we did purees for a few weeks) but these are the recommendations.

educate 

The following books are the main go-to's on babyled weaning:
(affiliated links)


Personally, the only one I read was the BLW Cookbook which has a few chapters in the beginning of the book that pretty much summarize the 1st book in a concise and informative way. I just borrowed it from my local library and it was so helpful!

There are also a ton of blogs that cover babyled weaning but I found it helpful just to peruse through different websites for tips and ideas, general overviews and I watched a lot of youtube videos. It was really encouraging to watch other people's progress videos but it is also important to watch a few videos on choking vs. gagging to educate yourself on how to tell the difference.

must-haves (or..."nice-to-haves")

1. Waterproof Silicone Bibs - we loved this Happy Parent brand because it was so easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and very soft and easy to put on. when self-feeding, the baby will drop A LOT of food (like enough for a second meal) so this was a lifesaver for us!
2. Utensils - we incorporated utensils pretty early on (around 8 months) though he ate primarily with his hands. however, I found that offering him the utensils early and modeling for him how to use it helped him to catch on pretty quickly. toddler-sized ones are good to start with as they are easy to hold and manage for their small hands!
3. Ceramic Scissors - definitely a luxury but we love our ceramic scissors. biggest plus is that it's easy to clean and no rust! but these travel sized ones are nice to keep in your diaper bag to cut up any foods that need cutting when you're on the go!
4. High Chair or Booster - this is an obvious one but it's good to have a good high chair. preferably one that will allow them to join you at the table. we have come to looooove our boosters (especially for when you're out and about but we also bought one to use at home). the ikea high chair has been my fave so far -- super cheap ($20 at IKEA) and really easy to clean (we usually toss in a hot shower for a few mins when it gets really dirty!)
5. Body Bib - if you are really scared of the mess and want to cover up completely, this is helpful to have though not super important. I usually fed asher naked with a diaper and bib and just tossed him in the bath afterwards. the mess is the hardest part of BLW but they get better and better over time!
6. Table Mats (Reusable or Disposable) - helpful to have when you're eating out. silicone ones are easy to pack and wipe down after use but most moms are fans of the disposable ones. I personally just always gave asher food on a plate and tried to teach him to not knock it over. definitely doesnt work for everyone/all babies - but if you'd prefer to just toss food directly onto the table, these will be nice to have!
7. Sippy or Straw Cup - when we started solids, we offered a little bit of water in a straw cup. Asher never took the bottle and had trouble with the sippy cup and learned how to use a straw pretty quickly! these munchkin ones with a weighted straw were our favorite!
8. Silicone Mats - this was nice for us to use at home. the silicone mats are very easy to clean, and for the most part stay on the table. we loved our EZPZ ones, though there are other cheaper options -- or you can always just do a plate or straight on the high chair table. I liked using these because it challenged me to offer him different kinds of things with each meal, instead of just one thing. It pushed me to offer him variety and allowed him to have different tastes and textures to experience. (FYI if you get an ikea high chair, you will need a mini EZPZ as the regular sizes won't fit.)

Hope that we helpful! Will try to get all 3 posts in within the week.
Happy eating!
xoxo