Baby Solids: Baby Led Weaning vs Purées

This is a follow up to my previous post where I share what we did for solids from 4-6 months.

At 6 months, I really noticed a change in Aurora and a much greater interest in food. Now it was much harder to eat in front of her as she was very interested in what was on my plate. At around 6 months, Aurora also started to crawl, and her being more mobile made it even harder to keep food away from her! I really welcomed her interest in food though, as I know that could only help her become a better eater.

There are two schools of thought: Baby Led Weaning and Purées only. I saw the merits in each and decided to do a modified form that included both styles.

Baby Led Weaning

Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is giving your child whole pieces of food, cut into manageable yet larger pieces/chunks so that they can grasp and feed themselves.

Pros

Baby practices dexterity, pincer grasp and handling food
Baby chooses what they want to eat
Baby practices “chewing” by gnawing on the foods
This approach is more exploratory
Parent doesn’t have to give every spoonful (though watching and helping is necessary)
Parent saves time if making purées
- However, I still spent time preparing the BLW foods

Cons

Choking!
Baby might not get a lot of food successfully from fingers to mouth
Baby might get frustrated that they can’t get food into mouth

Purées

Pros

More success in actually getting nutrition into your baby’s mouth
Parent can direct more of the exposure to tastes
Pouches are useful on the go

Cons

Time consuming to prepare (if making own)
Can be expensive if buying jars/pouches
Can be taxing to figure out good combinations & vary meals
Baby can get bored or not use hands as much

Our Conclusion

I found that a combination of BLW and Purées was the best approach for Aurora.
I wanted to make sure that she had good exposure to tastes and I wanted to get nutrition and calories into her little body, so purées were a staple of every meal.
I enjoy making food for her, so when I had time, I liked to prepare purees with my Béaba, and experiment with new combinations.
Aurora was very into BLW as she loves to feed herself. She got very good at the pincer grasp and at handling food quickly–she realized that there was a reward to learning how to do it well!
I found that combination for each meal worked well as while she was picking something up, I’d get a spoon loaded and waiting. After she swallowed the bite that she fed herself, I’d offer the spoon.
I felt good knowing that I guaranteed that she good nutrition with purees but she had the fun, exploratory aspect of feeding herself with the BLW foods.
I also watched many Youtube videos on Infant CPR and walked through it with my babygroup leader. I do suggest doing an Infant CPR course. I used to be a lifeguard so feel pretty confident but have signed up for one just in case as I feel it is valuable to know.