During their first few years of life, babies reach many important milestones: first smile, first laugh, first crawl, first steps. In between all these, babies also learn an abundance of important life skills, such as how to feed themselves. In the process, what they eat evolves.
When babies are learning how to feed themselves, they’ll commonly start eating exclusively pureed foods and then progress through different and more complex stages of pre-made baby foods before graduating to solids.
The basic idea behind baby-led weaning is that parents and caregivers can follow a baby’s lead. This means watching for signs of developmental readiness and, when a baby is ready, allowing them to self-feed.

When to Start

A baby is ready for baby-led weaning when they display certain signs of developmental readiness - the ability to sit up right, reaching for an object — and then picking it up and bringing it to their mouth — and a diminishing tongue-thrust reflex. The majority of babies reach the above developmental milestones around 6 months. Babies who were born early or premature especially might start doing these things at a later age.

Benefits of Baby-led Weaning

Baby-led weaning offers multiple advantages for families and babies alike.
i) Babies experience valuable social interactions. Baby-led weaning introduces babies to the idea of family mealtime, which offers positive social and developmental reinforcement. When family eats together, babies can see a role model for how to chew, how to swallow. They learn a lot by watching others eat.
ii) They are exposed to diverse foods. Both pureed and pre-packaged baby food have soft textures. With baby-led weaning, babies are exposed to a greater variety of foods — and, by extension, a much broader array of tastes and textures.
iii) It helps hone important developmental skills. Babies have a chance to try out tasks requiring the use of fine motor skills. They’ll ​practice picking up a piece of food, bringing it to their mouth, manipulating it to get it into the mouth, chewing and swallowing. All of those ​actions require fine motor skills and oral motor skills.

The Risk of Choking

Most babies are surprisingly adept at managing finger foods, and research shows that babies who are fed following a baby-led weaning approach aren't more likely to choke than babies who are spoon-fed. Few safety tips should be kept in mind while the baby is self feeding . These include keeping your child seated upright in a high chair, serving them well-cooked food that are not too hard, and lastly, serving them food in appropriate sizes.

About Baby-led Weaning foods

Substantially-sized pieces of food—cut in long thin strips or coins are often most manageable for your baby. That's because very few 6- to 8-month-olds have mastered the pincer grasp (thumb and index finger), so they'll pick up foods with their whole palm. Once your baby develops this pincer grasp (usually around 8 to 9 months), serve food cut into small pieces, like ripe mango chunks or cooked vegetables. Also, remember that texture is key. The food you give your novice eater should be soft and easy to smash with gentle pressure between your thumb and forefinger. Once your baby has tried and tolerated several single-ingredient foods, you can begin offering mixed dishes. Make sure there are high-calorie foods and those with iron, zinc, protein, and healthy fats.

When to Introduce Allergens

For most infants, potentially allergenic foods are also important to incorporate early on and often. Peanut butter and yogurt can also be allergens. Talk to your child’s pediatrician to learn more about introducing allergenic foods and for further advice on the best early foods to feed your baby.

How to Start Baby-led Weaning

​Talking to your pediatrician is going to be a great first step to go over what to look out for and resources that might be helpful. Around 4 months of age, start those discussions about how you hope to feed your baby, and what steps you can take for your individual child at that age. Looping a pediatrician or even a speech pathologist into your feeding plans is especially helpful if your baby has unique healthcare considerations such as prematurity; a disorder such as dysphagia, which affects swallowing and feeding; or drinks specialized or thickened formulas.
Parents and babies can also ease into baby-led weaning together. For example, you might help a baby hold a spoonful of puree, but then allow them to move the spoon to their mouth on their own. However, don’t be afraid to let your baby eat with their hands. You also shouldn’t worry if your baby doesn’t actually consume much food when first starting solids. Self-feeding is a great sensory experience for babies.

Great First Foods

Cut soft foods into “finger-sized” slices that are made for grasping. Make sure the food is firm enough that they can pick it up and hold it, long enough that they can have a little portion sticking out of their hand that they can see, ​and soft enough to gum and chew.
Great finger foods include:
i) Cut soft ripe fruits such as banana, mango, kiwi
ii) Chopped steamed or baked vegetables such as sweet potato and carrot
iii) Shredded strips of well cooked meat and egg

How Safe is Baby-led Weaning

In general, when babies are learning how to feed themselves, they should always be seated upright and well-supported, and they should always be supervised. Parents and caregivers should also limit distractions. For babies who are learning a new skill, we want to make sure that it’s as safe as it possibly can be. As with any new skill or milestone, parents may have concerns about safety. Studies have shown baby-led weaning, when done properly, isn’t a higher risk for choking. nd while a baby gagging can be quite frightening, this is actually perfectly normal. It’s part of a baby actually using muscles properly and protecting their airway.
However, if babies can’t sit upright with minimal or no support, or if they’re not quite yet reaching for objects and bringing them to the mouth, those are signs they aren’t ready for baby-led weaning.
Babies who still have a prominent tongue-thrust reflex, which is commonly seen in infants up until about 6 months of age, also likely aren’t quite there yet.

Foods to Avoid

Because baby-led weaning exposes babies to foods with different textures, you should avoid serving up foods that are choking hazards. These include:
i) Firm, round foods, such as whole berries and whole grapes.
ii) Hard, crunchy foods like chips, popcorn, nuts.
iii) Raw, hard-textured vegetables like carrots.
iv) Peanut butter ​offered alone, which can be too sticky for babies to safely manage.
Babies under the age of 1 also should never ingest certain foods, including:
i) Honey, because of the risk of botulism.
ii) Whole cow’s milk to drink, because of the risk of digestive tract bleeding and not having the right mix of nutrients.

Tips for Baby-Led Weaning Success

If you're considering baby-led weaning, there are some things you can do to make the experience work for you and your baby.
i) Consider a mixed approach. If spoon-feeding is most comfortable for you and your baby, there's no need to abandon it altogether before introducing finger foods. For the first month or two of self-feeding, your baby will do a lot of licking, tasting, and exploring—but not much actual eating. So purées can help make meals more filling and nutritious.The mixed approach of finger food and pureed food helps expose babies to finger foods and also minimizes the risk of nutritional gaps in the diet
ii) Prepare for the mess. Baby-led weaning aims to let your little one explore food at their own pace, so that means smashing it, smearing it, dropping it, and probably making a big old mess at nearly every meal. Getting messy is part of the feeding process. It's an essential milestone in learning to love a variety of nourishing foods.
iii) Dine Together. Allow the infant to eat at the table during family meals. Take advantage of the fact that elements of most adult meals can be made baby-friendly and make it a habit of eating with your baby for some meals. Even better: Give your baby some of the same ingredients that make up your dish.
iii) Ensure they are getting enough nutrients. When your baby is first starting solids, they will still be getting most of their nutrition from breast milk or formula, so don't worry if they don't actually swallow a lot of the food you offer them. If they seem frustrated or unsatisfied with their meals, consider supplementing finger foods with purées until they get the hang of self-feeding.
iv) Don't get overly heated or emotional. Eating should be treated as a natural and expected part of the day. Don't praise, pressure, or scold about eating. Remember, whether offering finger foods or purées, pressure from caregivers can negatively impact a baby's willingness to try and accept new foods.