A Guide to Best First Foods for Baby-Led Weaning

Baby-led weaning or BLW has gained vast popularity as a feeding practice for babies in recent years. It is in part due to its practicality, as babies self-feed solid foods at their speed. Your baby also gets to decide how much they want to eat. You can also make a list of quick and easy weaning recipes to pick what’s the best for your baby.

 

The best thing about BLW is that, before taking the food to their mouth and ultimately chewing, babies first learn to pick up the food and explore the textures. This helps in sensory development as well as fine motor skills. 

 

When babies first explore food, they touch, squish, and yes – make wonderful messes! This playful discovery is vital as they build comfort with new foods. Through hands-on exploration, they develop a natural, healthy attitude toward eating. The right Indian weaning foods blend nutrition with engaging textures and tastes.

What is Baby Led Weaning?

Baby-led weaning is a method of weaning in which you offer your baby soft, finger-sized foods and let them pick the food themselves to self-feed. As opposed to spoon-feeding purees and mashed foods, BLW focuses on helping babies discover eating on their own. They grab, squish, play, taste, and learn about food—all on their own and at their own pace.

 

This approach leads babies to touch and feel their food, figuring out different textures and flavours as they go along. Some days they might eat a lot, other days just play with their food – and that’s perfectly fine. It’s all part of learning. Remember that up to 12 months of age, a baby’s major source of nutrition is breastmilk.

 

Just like traditional weaning, you’ll still keep up with breast milk while your baby learns about solid foods. The main difference is that your baby leads the way, deciding how much to eat and what interests them most. They’re building independence and confidence with every bite they take on their own.

What is the Right Age to Start First Foods for BLW?

The first thing to remember is that, BLW or any kind of weaning is just to support your baby’s growth and development. Your baby needs extra nutrition apart from breastmilk. However, this nutrition can not and should not replace breastmilk. Weaning foods help babies to adjust with solid foods, new flavours and textures other than breastmilk and allows them to expand their palate. 

 

For the first 6 months, a baby should be exclusively breastfed. After this age, you can start giving them first weaning foods anytime if your baby shows signs of solid readiness. Look for the following signs in your babies to know whether they are ready for solids –

 

Your baby has doubled their birth weight.

  • They show interest in foods when you eat in front of them.
  • They can sit for short periods of time without support.
  • They have gained good neck and head control. 
  • They reach for food when you eat.

Most importantly, they do not have a tongue-thrust reflex anymore. Check this by feeding them a small bite of food. If they move to chew it instead of spitting it right out, they’re ready for the led weaning foods!

How Should I Start Baby-Led Weaning?

Starting first weaning foods may seem like a daunting task to you. When you know your baby is ready for solids, take one day at a time to let your baby and yourself adjust to this new beginning. Balancing breastfeeding and solids is crucial to maintaining the tempo for BLW. Start with one meal a day for the first 15 days, then add one more meal to your baby’s diet.

 

Start by offering soft finger foods or mashed foods to your baby (more below) for breakfast. Offer single-ingredient meals first and then move to two-ingredient meals. Make sure that your baby has already been introduced to both ingredients separately.

Top Tips to Start Baby-Led Weaning

  • Start with one meal or one led weaning food a day – preferably breakfast.
  • Do not offer breastmilk for 1.5 – 2 hours prior to offering solids. 
  • Let the baby digest their stomach contents and feel a bit hungry – this way they tend to eat to their fill. 
  • Plan your baby’s meals ahead and prepare accordingly. 
  • Buy a highchair with straps and baby-friendly spoons, plates, bowls and cups.
  • Expect a lot of mess, it’s the only way your baby will learn to eat!
  • Bibs with a collector come in real handy to reduce the mess.
  • Do not offer foods with spices or any hard chunks as the baby will play with it.
  • Offer water in a straw cup or open cup. 
  • Be patient. Your baby will first feel the texture of the food, then play with it and finally eat. This may take days to weeks. 
  • Sit down with your baby to eat, and let them see how you eat – they love to mimic you.

 

A Guide to Best First Foods for Baby-Led Weaning

Best First Weaning Foods

1. Banana

  • 6-9 months: offer ripe banana in mashed form or cut it into long strips resembling an adult human finger.
  • 9-12 months: offer bananas cut into 1-inch cubes that your baby can easily pick up and eat.

2. Apple

  • 6-9 months: steam a peeled and deseeded apple in a steamer. Offer it mashed or cut into long strips resembling an adult human finger.
  • 9-12 months: offer steamed apples cut into 1-inch cubes that your baby can easily pick up.

3. Carrots 

  • 6-9 months: steam a peeled carrot in a steamer. Offer it mashed or cut into long strips resembling an adult human finger.
  • 9-12 months: offer steamed apples cut into 1-inch cubes that your baby can easily pick up.

4. Yogurt 

  • 6-9 months: offer yogurt mixed with smooth strawberry, mango or chikoo puree.
  • 9-12 months: offer yogurt mixed with soft small chunks of ripe fruits such as mango, banana, chikoo or strawberry. Hand mash the fruit chunks before adding them to the yogurt.

5. Paneer 

  • 6-9 months: offer grilled paneer pieces cut into long strips resembling an adult human finger. Use ghee or butter to grill the paneer. 
  • 9-12 months: offer grilled paneer cut into 1-inch cubes that your baby can easily pick up. Or make paneer sabzi and nicely hand mash it and apply over small roti pieces and offer. 

6. Eggs

  • 6-9 months: offer well cooked omelette cut into long strips resembling adult human fingers. Hand mash nicely before offering.
  • 9-12 months: offer well cooked omelette with pre cooked veggies cut into small pieces for easy grabbing. Ensure the veggies are soft enough to chew with gums.

7. Sweet potato

  • 6-9 months: offer nicely hand mashed boiled sweet potato. You can mix it with any other fruit puree for a flavour boost.
  • 9-12 months: offer boiled sweet potato as a sabzi. Nicely hand mash the sweet potato sabzi and apply it over small roti pieces and offer.

8. Beetroot

  • 6-9 months: offer beetroot puree in a baby-friendly bowl with a spoon and let your baby eat on their own.
  • 9-12 months: offer beetroot as a sabzi or cook it with dals/legumes. Nicely hand mash the dal/sabzi and either mix with rice and offer as balls or apply it over roti pieces and offer.

9. Oats

  • 6-9 months: cook oats with a dash of cinnamon and any fruit puree of choice. Offer it in a baby-friendly bowl and let your baby eat it on their own.
  • 9-12 months: Add veggies to oatmeal and cook completely. Offer hand mashed oatmeal in a baby-friendly bowl with a baby-friendly spoon.

10. Ghee Rice 

  • 6-9 months: Steam cook rice. Mix some ghee with the steamed rice and nicely hand mash them. Make small balls out of it and offer it as finger food. 
  • 9-12 months: Steam cook rice and mix ghee with it. Add some dal to the rice and nicely hand mash it. You may add sabzi to it and nicely mash it with your hands. Make small balls out of it and offer it as finger food.

First Foods for Baby-Led Weaning to Avoid

Most led weaning foods that you consume are safe for your baby. However, there are some first foods for baby led weaning that you should avoid.

1. Animal Milk

Animal milk contains complex proteins which may cause digestive problems in babies under the age of one year. Hence, stick to breast milk until 12 months. 

2. Honey

Never give honey to babies under 12 months as it can cause serious illness called botulism. Instead, naturally sweeten foods with mashed dates, date syrup, or fresh fruit purees for a safe, healthy option.

3. Raw Foods

Raw carrots and apples are too hard for babies without teeth. Always cook these foods until soft to prevent choking. Steaming keeps the nutrients while making them safe for your little one to eat.

4. Salt

Salt is high in sodium and babies practically do not require salt in their diets before 2 years of age. Avoid giving salt to your baby strictly before 12 months of age. After that, you may add just a small pinch in your baby’s food.

5. Sugar

Sugar offers no nutrition for babies and can harm their developing teeth and eating habits. Skip sugary foods during the first year as this helps build healthier taste preferences. Use date powder, jaggery or fruit puree instead.

6. Hard Foods

Hard foods such as nuts, popcorn, laddoos including sticky foods may lead to choking hazard for your baby. Offer nuts in a fine powder form. Avoid popcorn until 18 months and offer laddoos after 12 months with finely powdered ingredients.

7. Partially Cooked Foods

Always fully cook eggs, fish, meat, and poultry for your baby to avoid both choking and food-borne illness. Undercooked foods can make your little one sick, so ensure everything is thoroughly cooked through. Hence, to avoid any discomfort to babies, cook all these led weaning foods thoroughly before offering them.

 

For exciting recipes and yummy dishes, download the Happy Eaters App today. Get a daily balanced meal plan for your baby as per their age. What’s more? You can track your baby’s food journey in a couple of easy steps, swap the meals as you want and get valuable nutritional info – all at the same place. With our help, you can offer more first weaning foods to your baby for their food journey.

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