Baby-Led Weaning :: A Lesson in ‘Good Enough’

 

Baby-led weaning, an approach to solid food introduction, has grown in popularity — especially among millennial moms. It has caught side-eye from other generations, there are limited data to support the benefits, and yet it is incredibly enticing, especially when you see adorable videos of kids trying to eat a piece of kale the size of their head!

I followed the popular Instagram accounts, watched videos of kids trying interesting foods from around the world, and carefully read up on the safety precautions. When our daughter turned 6 months, I got a noncommittal shrug from a pediatrician in our practice and was off to the races — slicing roasted sweet potatoes into spears, mashing cannellini beans, and, yes, even handing my daughter a giant kale leaf just for the hilarious photo opportunity (she promptly threw it on the floor).

 

I was proud of myself for feeling confident and competent in this food introduction journey. Until our daughter’s 9-month appointment, when her growth curve fell further than expected. While our pediatrician didn’t naysay baby-led weaning, she gently encouraged us to stick to more purees and spoon-feeding for calorie purposes.

With my daughter’s growth now at the top of the priority list, I had to shift my mindset to find “good enough” in a space that sometimes feels absolute.

 

Below are a few ways I’ve trial and errored my way to a happy middle ground that I am proud of:

Baby-led weaning essentially skips the puree stage of solid food introduction and goes straight for the real deal. The problem with giving a 6-month-old baby finger food is most of it ends up on the floor, their lap, or in the crevices of the high chair. Given the input from our pediatrician, a typical plate for my daughter is a combination of puree or yogurt-based food and a few eat-it-yourself baby-led-weaning recipes. The purees get the “baby and mom spoon tag team” and the rest I leave my daughter to play with, eat, or feed to the dog.

Baby-led weaning prioritizes homemade whole foods. The seeming advantage is you can make one meal for the whole family and just present the food options in a safe way for baby to try. For me, that was great in principle but a failure in practice. As a full-time working mom who hates to waste food, whipping up a batch of mashed eggs mixed with Greek yogurt that only lasts three days in the fridge is both time-consuming and not the most appealing for a dinner entree. To help myself out, I keep a stash of puree pouches on hand for the days when I don’t have any food pre-made and don’t have time to cook, roast, or steam anything before we hit the nuclear pre-bedtime meltdown.

The baby-led weaning approach places baby at the center of the eating experience as they pick up, play with, and eat what they want on the plate. Baby can have a spoon pre-loaded, but I can confirm it usually ends up on their face, the floor, and sometimes your walls (noticing a trend?). Spoons are great for learning, less so for caloric intake. Borrowed from a fellow mom’s toddler teeth brushing routine, my daughter now gets a spoon and I get a spoon. I let my daughter take the first crack at eating with her spoon, and then I offer some on my spoon. We alternate, give or take, until her more pureed option on the plate is mostly gone or she indicates she’s done.

Exposing a child to common food allergens is part of the baby-led weaning process and is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but it is admittedly terrifying. The general recommendation is to start with peanut powder, but my daughter refused to eat it (I tried it — I don’t blame her). I wanted to make sure she truly was exposed to the allergen. A friend turned me on to these amazing peanut butter puffs, a popular Israeli snack. They are perfectly sized for baby hands, make an adorable “crunch” sound when eaten, and have a small ingredient list. I give a few of these to my daughter while I prep the rest of her dinner. If nothing else, I know she’s eaten something that day to keep up the food introduction habit. Of course, there are other versions of this type of product on the market, but these are the go-to snack my daughter loves. 

 

At the end of the day, no matter which method or approach you choose to introduce solids into your baby’s diet, finding your own “good enough” approach will keep baby happy and mom sane!