Based on NHS guidance · About 8 minutes to read

Baby-Led Weaning

A calm, practical guide to starting solid foods with finger foods: what baby-led weaning is, how to tell your baby is ready, what to offer first and how to keep every meal safe.

In this guide

What is baby-led weaning?

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a way of introducing solid foods where, instead of being fed purées from a spoon, babies are offered appropriately prepared finger foods and encouraged to feed themselves.

It's about giving your little one the chance to touch, hold, explore, taste and learn about food at their own pace. There may be a lot of grabbing, a little squishing, quite a bit of dropping, and definitely some mess. That's all part of learning.

More than eating

As babies learn to feed themselves, mealtimes become a chance to explore different tastes, textures, shapes and colours, while practising skills like reaching, grasping and bringing food to their mouth.

  • Hand skillsReaching, grasping and bringing food to their mouth: every meal is practice.
  • Exploring foodTouching and playing with food helps babies learn to eat and enjoy different foods, flavours and textures.
  • Their own paceFeeding themselves lets babies show you how much they want to eat.
  • Family mealsBabies copy the people around them, so eating together helps them learn.

And perhaps most importantly, they begin to discover: “I can do this myself.”

Is your baby ready?

Solid foods are usually introduced when your baby is around 6 months old. Look for all three of these signs together:

  • Sits and holds their head steadyThey can stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady.
  • Looks, picks up and feeds themselvesThey can co-ordinate their eyes, hands and mouth to look at food, pick it up and put it in their mouth by themselves.
  • Swallows the foodThey swallow food rather than spitting it back out.

How to start

  1. Sit them upright, and stay closeYour baby should sit upright, for example in a high chair, so they can swallow properly. Always stay with your baby while they are eating.
  2. Start small, before their usual milkAt first your baby only needs a little food before their usual milk feed. Don't worry about how much they eat: getting used to eating is what matters.
  3. Make it easy to holdCut food into pieces big enough to hold in their fist with a bit sticking out, and cook it until soft.
  4. Let your baby leadLet them touch, hold and feed themselves. Babies know when they are full, so follow their cues and never force them to eat.
  5. Keep offeringIt may take 10 or more tries before your baby accepts a new food. That's normal.
  6. Add sips of waterFrom around 6 months, offer sips of water with meals from an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve. Breast milk or formula stays their main drink for the first year.

First foods to try

Start with soft foods your baby can hold and squash. These are the NHS's suggestions for the first weeks:

Vegetables
Soft cooked sticks of carrot, sweet potato, potato, parsnip or yam, and broccoli florets.
Fruit
Soft cooked sticks of apple or pear.
Cheese and eggs
Pasteurised full-fat cheese, and eggs cooked until the white and yolk are solid.
Foods that can cause allergies
Introduce these one at a time from around 6 months (see below).

Foods that can cause allergies

From around 6 months, introduce foods that can cause allergic reactions one at a time, so you can spot any reaction. These include eggs, peanuts and other nuts (crushed or ground), cow's milk, foods with gluten, fish, shellfish, seeds, soya, beans, lentils and peas.

Evidence shows that delaying peanuts and hen's eggs beyond 6 to 12 months may increase the risk of an allergy to them. If your baby has eczema or a known allergy, talk to their doctor first.

Signs of a reactionUsually within minutes to 2 hours
  • Swollen lips or face
  • Red, itchy, watery eyes
  • A red, itchy rash
  • Wheezing and coughing
  • Being sick, tummy pain or diarrhoea
  • Eczema getting worse

Gagging and choking

Gagging is normal when babies start solid foods. They're learning how to deal with solid food and how much they can chew and swallow. It can look worrying, but it's part of learning. Choking is different.

GaggingChoking
What you seeEyes water, tongue pushes forward or out, retching to bring the food forward. They may be sick.The cough is silent, or they can't breathe in properly.
What it meansA normal reflex while they learn how much they can chew and swallow.Something is blocking the airway. It's an emergency.
What to doStay calm and stay close while they work the food forward.Get help at once: call 112. Knowing baby first aid helps.

The NHS says there's no more risk of choking when a baby feeds themselves than when they're fed with a spoon. Always stay with your baby while they eat, and consider learning baby first aid before you start.

And yes, it's going to get messy ♡

That's where Rumpumbumm comes in. We create mealtime essentials for little hands learning to feed themselves, because when babies are allowed to explore, meals become about much more than simply getting food from plate to tummy.

They're learning. They're discovering. They're growing. One messy meal at a time.

See our mealtime essentials

Sources

This guide shares general information from NHS guidance. It isn't medical advice. Every baby is different, so talk to your baby's doctor about starting solids, allergies, or if your baby was born early.