photo from Freepik

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Baby-led weaning is a feeding approach in which babies feed themselves instead of having parents or caregivers spoon feed. Picture a baby sitting in a high chair feeding themselves graspable pieces of the same or similar food as their family is eating. Just as with other feeding approaches, baby-led weaning starts at around age 6 months, the age when babies typically are ready to develop the skills needed to start eating solid foods.

Interested? First talk to your baby’s pediatrician. Every baby is different and not all babies are ready to self-feed. Some babies may benefit from a combination of self-feeding and being fed by a parent or caregiver. If the baby’s pediatrician approves and you want to try baby-led weaning, here’s what it involves:

• Offering the baby small amounts of foods the family is eating at that meal. Foods are in pieces that are a size the baby can grasp but not so big that they are a choking hazard.
• Making sure that the foods that are offered are soft enough that the baby will be able to gum them or chew them. They should be soft enough that you can smush them with your fingers. Foods should not be hot—hot foods could burn the baby’s mouth or fingers.
• Having the baby eat with the family so that the baby sees others eating.
• Serving a variety of healthy foods. There’s no need to add salt or sugar or other sweeteners.
• Letting the baby self-feed at their own pace. Many foods are eaten with fingers; a baby-safe spoon is offered for soft foods.
• Not requiring the baby to finish all of their food.
• Recognizing that it’s fine to use a combo approach, letting the baby self-feed and also doing some spoon feeding.
• Continuing to give the baby breast milk or commercial infant formula; babies get much of their nutrition from breast milk or formula throughout their first year .

Proponents of baby-led weaning point out that this approach gives a baby greater control over when to stop eating which may help to reduce the risk of obesity later in life. Other benefits include exposing the baby to a wide variety of foods, including more whole foods, and promoting skill development such as grasping foods and handling a spoon.

Some commonly expressed concerns with this feeding method are the risk of choking and the possibility of a nutritionally inadequate diet. Foods a self-feeding infant may prefer are fruits and vegetables which can result in too few calories and not enough iron and other essential nutrients.

Avoiding potential choking hazards and following safe feedings techniques can reduce the risk of choking. Choking risks such as chunks of raw hard fruits and vegetables, whole nuts, dried fruits, salad greens, and round foods (such as grapes and cherry tomatoes) should be avoided or modified. Foods the family is eating can be modified so that their size and texture are appropriate for the baby’s developmental stage. Meal times should be carefully supervised, the infant should be sitting upright in a high chair, and distractions (music, television, etc.) should be minimized. Caregivers should be aware of what to do if choking occurs. The American Academy of Pediatrics has more detailed advice about avoiding choking hazards and has a link to a site about what to do if a baby is choking.

Each meal should include a higher calorie food such as avocado, bananas, tofu, potatoes, or sweet potatoes. Higher iron foods including iron-fortified infant cereals used in baked goods or spread on toast pieces, cooked beans, tofu, and hummus should be offered at each meal. These foods are often also sources of zinc.

Some ideas for vegan-friendly foods for babies:

• Fruits such as sliced bananas, smushed blueberries, steamed and peeled apple slices or thick unsweetened applesauce, very ripe peeled pears, sliced avocados.
• Vegetables such as steamed sweet potato or winter squash strips, steamed beet strips, steamed zucchini strips, steamed green beans, steamed carrot strips, steamed broccoli.
• Well-cooked dried or canned beans, smooshed into a thick mass.
• Bean patties, cut into strips or other graspable shapes.
• Lightly steamed or baked tofu strips.
• Whole grain toast strips.
• Whole wheat pasta shapes, cooked until quite tender.
• Baby cereal made thick enough to cut into strips when it cools.
• Oatmeal or polenta cooked, cooled, and cut into strips.

To read more about vegan babies see:

Feeding Vegan Kids

Vegan Nutrition in Pregnancy and Childhood

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.