My son is exclusively breastfed. I originally planned to start solids at 6 months. I really like the concept of baby led weaning but have considered purrees too. My question is about timing. My son can sit unassisted for about 15 seconds. He is interested in food and will grab stuff from our plates and put it in his mouth. He shows the signs that are recommended to start baby led weaning but... He's only 4.5 months old. I'm not sure what to do. Developmentally hes ahead and already rolls back to front and front to back. He seems to be ready to start solids. Has any one done baby led weaning before 6 months? Any thoughts or recommendations?
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I am interested in this as well! My LO just started purees (she is almost 5 months) and I wanted to do some BLW too, but I'm just so nervous because she is so young.
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I started LO on purees around the 5.5 month mark. I tried to incorporate some BLW around the 6-7 month mark, but i just don't think she was ready. There was a lot more choking and gagging than i was comfortable with, and i think it was just too early for her. Every baby is different. In the beginning, i really just gave her food to play with, like giving her an apple to gnaw on, or asparagus spear to suck on.
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We just waited for 6 months, even though DD was showing interest in food at 4.5 months. It's so tempting to give them food earlier, and you might decide to do it, but there is no reason that you need to give them solid food before 6 months. Looking back on it now, even though I was dying to start my daughter on solids at 4.5 months, I think we made the right decision waiting. Even at 6 months she didn't do great with BLW, and we ended up starting with purees for a couple of months before starting to phase in table foods.
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We started solids at 5.5 months. I think we could have started a little earlier...she was definitely ready. However, we didn't start moving towards BLW until 8 months. I felt much more comfortable with purees until then.
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I read somewhere that the ability to use a pincer grip is a good indication as to whether or not LO is ready to start BLW.
I'd probably check with your Dr before starting solids this early
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You can always start with some purees until your LO learns to chew and swallow and then move onto BLW.
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My ped recommends starting solids at 6 months. So even though M was showing interest at about 4.5 we waited it out. We started with purées then moved onto chunkier purées. After about 2 weeks of purées we started with tiny pieces of food. After abou a week or two she is 90% BLW.
Every baby is different so I would follow your baby's cue along with doctor recommendations. -
We waited until 6 months. Kellymom makes. Good case for it when you are EBFing.
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I thought blw said to wait until 6 months... I think that's what the books say...
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I don't think your LO sounds ready for blw. He should be able to sit unassisted for the entire meal, not just 15sec at a time. He's halfway ready (showing interest in food) but not all the way there yet. 4.5mo is very young. Have you spoken to your ped? Ours recommended 6mo if we wanted, could wait if we wanted to. Our niece got started on rice cereal at 4mo at the advice of her ped bc she was such an insatiable eater, but she's the only baby I know who got solids before 6mo.
Do you know about the blw Facebook group? It was a great resource when I was doing it. -
The book recommends waiting until 6 months, because a baby doesn't have the ability to chew and swallow food until that age. You can certaintly give him food to "play" with and explore before that.
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Our pediatrician was actually really pushing solids at his last appointment at 4months. He recommends cereal and purees I'm not in total agreement on.
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@mrsmate: how do u find the fb group?
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@travelingbrit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2855840155/?fref=ts
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My baby grabbed an orange off my plate and stated gumming it around that age - so we went with it. Besides noticing that she was a little more sensitive to diaper rash the younger she was, I can't think of any negative outcomes from starting so early. I've read up on the gut flora issue and I think that it is important, but not enough to make me totally opposed to following their cues. My baby is a great eater now as a toddler. She's still swiping food off our plates frequently.
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I think it's important to remember that there's not some magic switch that flips the day your baby turns 6 months that says your baby is automatically ready for solids. We're doing BLW and I've been giving my daughter pieces of food for about 3 weeks now off and on and she'll be 6 months tomorrow (so we started at just over 5 mo). I haven't forced myself to be very consistent with it, just some food here and there but I try to always put her in her highchair at dinner time and give her a sippy cup and a spoon to play with that way she gets used to the idea. So far she's had avocado, pear, green beans, chicken, broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes, mini corn cobs, and rice rusks. She's done fantastic with everything.
You know your baby...if you want to give her something to experiment, do it.
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16 comments