Sharing my experience starting my son on solid foods with the baby-led weaning process!
I can’t believe we’re here, but Axel is 6 months old and officially eating solid foods!
Since birth he has been exclusively breastfed – no bottles, no formula, or any solid foods. About a month before we introduced solids with baby-led weaning, he started showing signs he was ready for solid foods – he has great head control, is able to sit up independently, easily grabs + passes objects between his hands, puts anything and everything in his mouth, and watches us like he’s in a trance whenever we eat.
I had heard about baby-led weaning when I got pregnant and after some research, I knew that was how I wanted Axel to eat whenever he started solids. The vegan baby-led weaning process has been really fun so far, we’re only a couple weeks in and I’m definitely not an expert but and I’m excited to share how it’s going and how it evolves as he tries more even more food!
What is baby-led weaning?
Baby-led weaning is a process for introducing solid foods that allows the baby to feed themselves using their hands or age-appropriate utensils, rather than being spoon fed purees by an adult.
There are tons of benefits to the baby-led weaning process – it supports baby in tuning into their hunger and fullness cues, supports development of motor and oral skills, and is generally easier for parents as baby can typically eat the same foods as the rest of the family, just served in age-appropriate ways.
Like I said, I’m definitely not an expert – I used Plant-based Juniors and Solid Starts as my two main resources to learn about baby-led weaning and definitely recommend checking them out if you’re going this route to start your babe on solids.
First week of meals
Before we got started, I wrote out a plan for his first few weeks solid foods. This was really helpful for starting out, so that I knew which foods we had introduced as well as what to buy at the store and prep beforehand. It’s also important for introducing allergens (more on that in a sec). Aside from allergens, we didn’t introduce just one food by itself and wait several days. From the research I did, it seems that’s an outdated and unnecessary precaution, and as long as the food is low risk (non-allergenic fruits, veggies, etc.), it’s typically fine to introduce a couple at a time.
The first several weeks of baby-led weaning are more about baby getting familiar with the process of sitting in the high chair, picking up foods, and maybe eating a tiny bit. I’m not focused on nutrition much yet, but more getting Axel used to sitting down and feeling a few different textures and maybe getting a bit of different flavors near his mouth (but mostly all over his entire face, haha).
For his first meal we went with avocado – I cut some into spears for him to pick up with his hands, but I knew they’d probably be too slippery to handle easily, so I also mashed some for him to try the spoon. He actually did SO well with the spoon and ate a pretty good amount on his very first day! It was a mess, but the most fun, cutest, best kind of mess. Because chewing isn’t super developed yet, I found the best strategy for the first couple weeks was to offer something larger he could pick up (like sweet potato, banana, or avocado in spears) plus something he could use the spoon to get into his mouth to gum a bit and actually swallow.
Here’s what the first few days looked like for us – there’s no real formula I followed, I just wanted to introduce some nourishing foods in a way he could easily eat them that hopefully he’ll eat a lot of in the future too! A few days in I also introduced peanut butter as the first allergen, which went great – no negative reaction, so I include that multiple times per week now along with other foods.
- Day 1: avocado
- Day 2: oat cereal
- Day 3: oat cereal + peanut butter
- Day 4: sweet potato + peanut butter
- Day 5: oat cereal + blueberries + peanut butter
- Day 6: sweet potato + ground flaxseed + broccoli
- Day 7: oat cereal + banana + peanut butter
Keep in mind, these portions were super small. We aren’t focused on volume whatsoever, but just him practicing picking things up, using the spoon and putting them in his mouth! He really is improving every single day, and we noticed a huge difference from day 1 to day 7. It can be hard, but resist the urge to do too much yourself – other than pre-loading and passing them the spoon, let babe do some trial and error and they’ll figure it out. Watching them improve is a really fun part of the process!
Introducing allergens
Introducing allergens can be nerve-wracking, and while I wasn’t super nervous, I definitely wanted to do it systematically and safely, so that if he did have a reaction, I’d be able to easily identify the food that caused it.
The way I chose to introduce allergens was by adding them to foods Axel had already tried – mixing peanut butter into oat cereal he’d already eaten for several days, or spreading it on sweet potato that he’d already tried a few days before. For peanut butter specifically, I made sure to prepare it in an age-appropriate way – thinned out a lot with water so that it wasn’t a big blob, which would be a choking hazard. I also made sure to only introduce one new allergen each week, and regularly incorporated it into his meals for that whole week, along with other low risk foods like fruits and veggies. Like I mentioned before, from the research I did, it seems there isn’t a need to introduce low risk foods one by one, so I only isolated the allergens when he tried those for the first time.
So far we’ve successfully introduced peanuts and tree nuts, both with no reaction, which is a relief! The only ones we have left to do are soy, sesame (which isn’t technically on the list of the 8 most common allergens, but is likely going to be added soon) and wheat. My family is vegan for health and ethics, so we won’t be introducing the animal food allergens.
Again, I got most of my info on allergens from this book, and definitely recommend it if you’re wanting some guidance or reassurance with how to start this process. And as always, talk to your pediatrician or a dietitian if you want even more personal advice for your baby.
Products we love
None of these are sponsored, but here are a few of our essentials for baby-led weaning:
- Plates + bowls + spoons: I’m obsessed with these, they’re just too cute, and they suction super well to the high chair tray so that they’ll never go flying onto the floor
- Bib: I love that this bib has the silicone pouch to catch a lot of dropped food, but switches to fabric around the neck so it’s more comfortable
- High chair splat floor mat: great for catching the food that inevitably ends up on the floor
- The Plant-based Baby and Toddler: I used this book as my main resource for Axel’s nutrition and especially for starting the baby-led weaning process – it’s definitely worth the buy if you’re serious about feeding your babe plant-based
- Solid Starts First Foods Database: this site is SO helpful for searching literally any food and seeing how to prepare it in a safe, age-appropriate way for baby-led weaning
Favorite foods + future plans
So far, Axel’s favorite food is definitely bananas, and after that is probably oat cereal (mostly because he’s good using the spoon to eat it) and avocado.
As of right now he’s still eating one meal per day, about an hour after breastfeeding, which will still be his main source of nutrition and calories for the next few months. Our goal is to work up to 2 meals in the next month, and hopefully 3 the month after that. I have a feeling he’s going to be a great eater, and I’m so excited for him to keep trying new flavors and textures!
If you’re doing or did baby-led weaning with your little one, let me know how the process is going for you!
Xo,
Sara
