A Little of What You Fancy

Babies feeding themselves from the very start of solids? It's a revolutionary idea, now that baby food has come to mean a collection of homemade purees or a cupboard full of lump-free commercial 'dinners'.

Baby-led weaning, as it's sometimes called, means babies exploring food for themselves. Provided with a selection of bright, fresh food, babies use their hands, fingers and tongues to choose what they want to eat, often enjoying the same food as the rest of the family.

Weaning is generally understood as the period when a baby moves from a milk-only diet to one including non-milk foods, known as 'solids'. Baby-led weaning allows babies to eat at their own pace, starting at the age they seem to need it, which is usually around six months.

And the parent's role? Simply to make suitable foods available in ways they can be handled by the baby. Small, bitesize chunks are not easy for babies to manage at first. Your baby needs food he can hold in his fist and bring up to his mouth. Breadsticks, batons of fruit or vegetables, and strips of meat are good starting foods.

Although it may seem daunting to trust your child to feed himself properly, this process is similar to breastfeeding, where the baby establishes his own intake.

How it works in practice: parents' experiences

Baby-led weaning means having confidence in your baby’s ability to know what he needs. It often turns out easier than doing it any other way.
"The saving in time and energy was massive. With my second baby, I didn't even have to get the blender or the fork out. I just dropped a selection of bits on the table in front of her and let her get on with it. Bliss!" Katherine

"First time round, I did the whole puree 'thing' and had a freezer full of ice cubes of every colour. I worked myself up into a tizzy about spooning required amounts into her. My second baby is now seven and a half months; at first she just 'explored' the food, and very little went in. Then she just took off. She tackles anything now, right up to corn-on-the-cob!" Kirsty

"The baby-led approach means the baby isn't forced to try anything he doesn't fancy, and the parents are 'forced' to have a more relaxed attitude to baby feeding. In my experience, it encourages the baby to try more tastes, leading to a more varied diet. At six months, Jamie was happy to sit for half an hour 'eating' his meal, while the rest of the family ate theirs." Megan

What do other people say?

Not everyone is comfortable with allowing a baby to self-feed. They worry about choking, but a bit of gagging is part of the learning process, and babies soon discover what goes down easily and what doesn't. Most importantly, as they don't use a sucking motion to get the food into their mouths, the food doesn't go straight to the back of their throat.

"In the beginning she sometimes took too much into her mouth and spluttered, and a couple of times I had to take something out of her mouth but she just seemed to get the hang of it." Jeannie

In any case, you do need to be with your baby as he eats, whether you spoonfeed or not.

There is also absolutely no evidence that a baby who self-feeds will be slow to talk or chew. Indeed, Gill's work suggests the opposite.

"The health visitor said if I didn't have her on three (pureed) meals a day pronto her jaw muscles wouldn't develop properly and she may have problems learning to speak. I left that clinic speechless myself, did my own research, and emailed it to her!" Fiona

Don't be ruled by the calendar!

Some babies show they're ready for solids a little before six months, and for some it's rather later. The exact date on the calendar is simply not important.

"I was determined to get to six months but was humbled when he took a banana at 23 weeks! He shouted, swiped the fruit, pulled into his mouth, chewed, swallowed and was delighted!" Hazel

Study into baby-led weaning by Gill Rapley

Researcher and infant feeding expert Gill observed that babies offered pieces of solid food at around four months did not seem interested. This changed at around six months. Most managed to get some food into their mouths and before long they were eating 'purposefully'. They also appeared to relish the 'exploration' of it.

By nine months, the babies were skilled self-feeders, enjoyed mealtimes, and were even experimenting with spoon-feeding themselves.

Gill combined her observations with reference to existing research showing how baby digestion matures, along with oral-motor development (how the baby gets things to his mouth and what he does when they're there), and how the immune system changes.

Further information on her work and detailed guidelines on how to use baby-led weaning can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mh8tx.

Further information

NCT breastfeeding counsellors offer information and support on all aspects of feeding and weaning your baby on 0870 444 8708.