Baby Led Weaning is weaning baby onto solids by letting them lead the way on what they eat.

This approach moves away from using spoons and feeding baby progressively chunkier purees and instead is based upon using finger foods and letting baby feed themselves. This is often an approach which many parents fall into without knowing that they are actually using the Baby Led Weaning method.

Finger foods are best started at around seven to nine months. Around this time babies will have begun to learn how to swallow without gagging or chocking and will have the necessary dexterous skills to pick up food and feed themselves.

The benefits of Baby Led Weaning are that:

• Baby learns at an early age how to join in at family meal times
• The pressure of having to spoon feed baby is taken off the parents
• It is easier to get baby used to a range of adult foods
• Parents don’t feel it necessary to buy expensive but usually lower quality baby food jars
• It is easier to eat out with baby and baby has the independence to choose to eat different foods instead of being forced to eat them.