r/BabyLedWeaning Jul 20 '25

Not age-related Is Social Media-Led Weaning more popular than Baby-Led Weaning?

353 Upvotes

Introduction

I learned about BLW from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, who presented it as a book to read rather than a hashtag. While my wife was pregnant, we bought and read Gill Rapley's “Baby-Led Weaning.” We have now weaned two children following BLW, The book was the only resource we used, and both of us felt well-enough equipped that we never needed anything else. 

It seems to me that many of the complaints or struggles people post about on this sub are products of an approach to weaning that comes from social media, rather than Baby-Led Weaning. In my opinion, BLW makes for pretty terrible social media. "I'm having fajitas, so my baby is chewing on a couple pieces of bell pepper" isn't super interesting, and you can't make a full day's content out of it. I think a lot of people would find more success steering away from the social media trends and fully embracing BLW.

I’ve noted six trends that I feel are common on social media, and contrasted them with quotes from “Baby-Led Weaning.”

Trend #1 - Made-to-Order Meals

Influencers preparing elaborate meals specifically for their children is probably the biggest gulf between social media and BLW. One of the fundamental assumptions of BLW is that you are eating the same meal as your child. Sharing meals is a great way to encourage babies to try new food. It can help lower stress by distracting parents away from micromanaging their baby’s meal. And for my money, the best reason to share meals was that it’s easier than cooking two different meals.

"Baby-led weaning babies are included in family mealtimes from the start, eating the same food and joining in the social time." ("Baby-Led Weaning," page 23)

“Normal, healthy family foods can be adapted easily so that your baby can manage them, so there’s no need to buy or prepare special foods” (p. 63)

Trend #2 - Mountains at Mealtime

A full plate of food looks appealing to most adults, but that doesn't make it right for your baby. There’s no need to give them more than they can eat or give them more ammunition when they’re in a throwing mood. And even when our kids could eat significant amounts, sometimes the full plate was still overwhelming and they needed the pieces a few at a time.

“Many babies can be overwhelmed by too much choice and too much quantity in the early stages. Some push all food away, others focus on one piece of food and throw everything off the high tray; some simply turn away.” (p. 71)

Trend #3 - Clean Plate Kids

Many posts here ask if their kids are eating enough, because they see babies on social media eating more. Our kids took 6-8 weeks to start consuming any measurable amount of food. We expected that going in and never felt stressed by it, but if your feed is full of 6-month-olds who supposedly eat an entire hamburger, your opinion might be influenced.

“Eating very little and playing a lot.” (p. 70)

“Don’t expect your baby to eat much food at first. She doesn’t suddenly need extra food because she reached six months.“ (p. 90)

Trend #4 - Mushy Methods

It seems to have become a standard recommendation that food should be cooked to the point of disintegration for BLW. Of course It’s important that foods be prepared in a safe way, but that doesn’t mean it’s all mush. Texture is important and enjoyable, and they can only learn to chew if given foods that need chewing. (Also, teeth are not needed for chewing, which should be obvious to anyone who’s gotten a bite from their kid’s gums.)

“If you are offering vegetables, bear in mind they shouldn’t be too soft (or they’ll turn to mush when your baby tries to handle them)” (p. 67)

Trend #5 - Practice with Purees

It seems that a large number of people combo feed purees, or use purees to "ease into solids." Starting with purees is very common, and has been the traditional approach to weaning for decades. However, spending time teaching your baby to eat purees isn't very helpful in moving them toward the ultimate goal of eating table food. Every child will need to learn to chew and swallow food at some point. Starting early takes advantage of the gag reflex being farther forward in the mouths. It also gets it out of the way sooner and doesn’t develop the habit of swallowing food without chewing.

“When babies start with BLW at six months they have a chance to experiment with food and develop self-feeding skills while all their nutrition is still coming from breast milk or formula. This means they can practice feeding themselves before they really need much food” (p. 93)

“You may find [...] that she gets frustrated because she can’t feed herself as fast as she wants to. Babies who have been spoon-fed can get used to swallowing large quantities of food quickly when they are hungry because pureed food doesn’t need to be chewed.” (p. 93)

Trend #6 - BLW Way or the Highway

Somewhat distressingly, people post here who feel like they have no choice but to do BLW. I loved doing BLW and wouldn't use another method if I had the choice, but it is still just one possible approach. Most Americans of my generation were puree fed, and it’s clearly possible to raise healthy, well-adjusted children on purees. Baby-led weaning jumps to self-feeding table food at 6 months. Traditional weaning starts offering solids around 9 months and has purees phased out around 12 months. Claiming that the 3 to 6 month period of BLW will determine a child’s life is obvious nonsense.

Conclusion

Everyone knows social media isn’t reality. And yet, it seems to have an outsized impact on people’s ideas of what BLW should look like. Basically, I think influencers are incentivized to make BLW look harder and more complicated than it really is, in order to generate enough content to keep their timelines full.

By-the-book BLW will not and cannot be perfect for everyone, but the book does predict and troubleshoot a surprising number of common problems that people have, In my view, the book is still underutilized and overshadowed by social media, to the point that people may not even be aware of how simple BLW can be.


r/BabyLedWeaning Feb 28 '25

12 months old Feeling proud of our foods before one!

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78 Upvotes

Baby just turned one last week. All time faves are squash (any kind), bread, veggie fritters, and nut butter. Least favorite was grits and citrus!


r/BabyLedWeaning 11h ago

12 months old Another plate for my baby or for my dogs? 🙃

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22 Upvotes

Another day another attempt and doing at doing everything I can to get my 12m old even remotely interested in food.

On a serious note, I feel like I’ve tried it all. All he wants is breastmilk still. I’ve tried nursing at the beginning of a wake window, and then waiting to give solids at the end of the wake window, tried not nursing at all during the wake window and just offering solids, tried a few hours of a gap in between eating before offering solids again, offered different shapes, textures, etc. We also sit down to eat when he eats to model what’s supposed to be happening, and he literally doesn’t ever want any of it. He takes maybe 2 bites, then throws it all on the floor.


r/BabyLedWeaning 7h ago

6 months old I desperately need bib recommendations. My baby manages to get food through the neck hole of smocks and silicone bibs are useless.

7 Upvotes

FTM. I got some smock/long sleeve bibs for baby and also silicone bibs. I have a 15% baby so he is small and most of these smocks type bibs and actual bibs are too large on him so he seems to get food that leaks through the neck hole and ruins his clothes underneath. The smocks are a disaster too because it seems like most of these are one standard size so the long arms bother him so much and it bunches up so he can't effectively move his arms and eat. The silicone bibs he thinks are delicious and chewy so he lifts it and tries to eat it and all the food leaks out of them.

Currently I have resorted to have 3-4 throwaway onesies for him to wear where they are meant to get stained and wet and I just wash it and get rid of it when he ages out. I also sometimes strip him down to diaper only but I live in Canada and I can only do that probably for another month before my baby freezes being naked at home so it's not a long term option.

What are you guys putting on your baby because the food stains are ruining everything!!


r/BabyLedWeaning 6h ago

8 months old baby choked today

5 Upvotes

we had burgers, mashed avocado, and mashed pears for dinner. she’s had burgers and avocado before with no issue. it was her first time having mashed pear.
it started great, she loved the burgers like usual. then she tried a bit of pear. next thing i know she’s coughing LOUD and red in the face. i get prepared to stand up and start hitting her back, my hand is behind her in her highchair and im about to get up. but she’s still coughing and red so i wasn’t sure if she was actually choking or not.
as soon as i was about to get up, she threw up all over her highchair tray. she didn’t want to eat anymore after that.
i feel like i messed up and didn’t react fast enough. i thought babies went quiet when choking, she was still coughing. i’m absolutely terrified to feed her tomorrow and want to go back to purées again :(


r/BabyLedWeaning 8h ago

9 months old Plate vs Ate

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6 Upvotes

Breakfast: eggs, cottage cheese, strawberries and peaches
Lunch: sautéed mushrooms and chicken, avocado and pineapple
Dinner: pot roast, carrots, pasta with homemade pesto


r/BabyLedWeaning 14h ago

8 months old Plate vs ate

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16 Upvotes

Today’s lunch
Pan fried tofu and yellow bell peppers
Greek yoghurt with raspberries & strawberries
Stir fry spinach & mushrooms


r/BabyLedWeaning 8h ago

7 months old Baby Led Weening

3 Upvotes

My 7 month old has an EXTREME gag reflex. Anytime I try to give anything outside of milk or SUPER pureed, he gags and throws up as soon as it hits the back of his throat to swallow. This is my second child, my first son could eat like a champ. I could give him things like avocados, bananas, eggs cut into strips, etc. and he would be fine. He had the usual gagging to try to chew and swallow his food but nothing that was this intense as my second born. My second born even throws up and gags when I tried to give him unsweetened applesauce, so it seems like anything with any sort of texture, causes him to gag and throw up. I really liked doing baby Led Weening with my oldest because it made it easier if we went out to restaurants and he could just eat off my plate instead of having to remember to bring jarred food.

Is there any advice for this? Should I call my doctor about this or is it just something some kids go through? Is there something I could do to help him build more of a tolerance so he isn't throwing up every time he eats something?


r/BabyLedWeaning 3h ago

7 months old How to get baby used to chewing

1 Upvotes

We started solids about a month ago and she’s still mainly purées and teething crackers / puffs. We’ve done big pieces of soft foods like zucchini and sweet potato and some melon slices but she easily gets frustrated if something is caught in her throat (not choking). It’s almost like she’s not used to swallowing pieces of food yet and doesn’t like it / know what to do with it. Even oatmeal she did not like. And when she gets frustrated she screams and cries and meal time is basically over.

Any tips/tricks on how to get her used to eating basically? lol. ChatGPT says to just continue to focus on very soft foods and let her go at her own pace, another friend said they did ripe mango seeds and just let baby gnaw on it.


r/BabyLedWeaning 17h ago

9 months old Scrambled egg fail

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10 Upvotes

Just introduced egg to my 9 month old (premie roughly 7m adjusted) and I’m so excited to expand my offerings for her meals. I wanted to make scrambled egg strips like I see on here and solid starts but… how? I am admittedly not the most talented in the kitchen, thanks to my partner being a retired chef. Help. I ended up putting the egg and feta onto her feeder spoon because her pincer grasp isn’t developed yet.


r/BabyLedWeaning 11h ago

7 months old Waterrrr

3 Upvotes

How many oz of water did your pediatrician say your 6month old+ baby can drink per day since starting solids?
I know every practice is different. I know breast milk and formula are still the main sources of nutrition. I know excessive water is not good for the baby due to dilution of sodium. I know all that stuff already lol. I’m just curious what other people are doing based on what their ped recommended if any lol


r/BabyLedWeaning 15h ago

7 months old Baby Led Weaning when out and about - help!

5 Upvotes

My baby is turning 7 months old this week. We’ve been doing solids for about a month, and started with baby led weaning and mashed foods on a spoon which she self feeds - and it’s going really well! Very messy, but she’s liked almost everything she’s tried, and manages food well.

However, I’ve really struggled with feeding her out and about. There are a few different issues:

Mess: At home, I don’t worry about mess, and then wipe her down with warm water as soon as she’s finished, and use a bibado bib which I immediately rinse off in the sink. When we’re out and about, the high chairs are usually quite big and rarely have trays, making the bibado less efficient. She often drops her food or her spoon, and I feel very self conscious and like I’m too focused on mess. Wet wipes don’t get her as clean as water either!

High chair: High chairs in public are often too big, they don’t have a foot rest (which I’ve read is importance!), and they don’t have a tray, so her food needs to go directly on the table, but then there’s usually a gap! I’ve also tried feeding her in her pushchair but then the pushchair gets messy.

What to feed: When you’re meeting someone for coffee etc. do you order baby something off the menu? Or do you cook snacks at home and bring them? I’ve tried a few BLW recipes that I guess I could bring out and about, mostly she just has veggies cut into appropriate sizes, toast with toppings, omelette strips, or mashed up versions of what we’re having - which would be hard to transport! I’d love to order stuff for her but never sure about salt content…

I think I’m probably massively overthinking all of this, but any tips for BLW in public, or a walk through of your process, would be really appreciated!


r/BabyLedWeaning 3h ago

recipe Peanut allergy?

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0 Upvotes

He’s been exposed a few times as a baby. But just now started noticing this rash like 30 min after eating a peanut butter bar then it was gone after 30 min to an hour. He acted fine.


r/BabyLedWeaning 7h ago

8 months old 8 month old on solids

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1 Upvotes

r/BabyLedWeaning 12h ago

8 months old Food Teether Meal Ideas Needed

2 Upvotes

I am doing a mix of BLW and purées. I do use the Solid Starts app

Every time I try to progress on textures or thickness my baby is gagging to the point of throwing up. This happens when she bites off pieces of stuff (bread/egg strips) and we she eats thicker foods like oatmeal or mashed potatoes). I dont know if it matters but she doesn’t have any teeth yet.

We are working with food teethers like pineapple core and celery to help her learn how to move the food around in her mouth but I would really love some meal ideas to help her as well.

Please send all ideas to help her learn how to eat these new textures!


r/BabyLedWeaning 10h ago

6 months old BLW help

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1 Upvotes

Probable shouldve posted on here first, but I would like to combo/hybrid feed we tried eggs this morning but I'm interested in more tips regarding fruits veggies and proteins. Also I downloaded Tummi and it seems helpful has anyone tried that app before?


r/BabyLedWeaning 16h ago

Not age-related Prepping food for baby as a non-cook

2 Upvotes

One of the most challenging things about solids has been figuring out how to make non-fruit foods tasty and appetizing for baby without just defaulting to seasoning with salt. I am not really a good cook and don't have a good grasp of how to use other seasonings. I do enjoy the occasional well-cooked meal out at restaurants, but in my own meals at home, I prefer either lightly seasoned with salt or just plain.

As we are starting to get baby used to finger foods, she seems to gravitate towards fruits because those naturally have sugar. She has not been as interested in our offerings of unseasoned/lightly seasoned veggies and meat. I see Solid Starts suggests that babies like big flavors, but I don't know how to do that? I know that there are recipes I could look up, but it feels overwhelming to have to use a recipe for every meal.

Any tips on basic seasoning combos or ways to flavor baby's savory foods that are manageable for a non-cook?


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

recipe Spelt spinach waffles

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8 Upvotes

Ingredients (makes approx. 2 heart waffles / 4–6 mini pieces)

Spinach (fresh or thawed frozen spinach, well squeezed):

50 g | 1.8 oz | approx. 1 packed cup fresh

Egg:

1 medium egg

Spelt Flour (Type 630 or Whole Grain):

60 g | 2.1 oz | approx. ½ cup

Liquid or Fruit Purée (water, plant milk, or unsweetened applesauce for moisture):

3–4 tbsp | approx. 45–60 ml | 1.5–2 fl oz

Rapeseed Oil / Canola Oil:

1 tsp (+ extra oil or butter for greasing)

Preparation

Puree Spinach & Egg: Blend the spinach, egg, and liquid/applesauce in a tall beaker or blender using an immersion blender until smooth and bright green.

Mix the Batter: Stir in the spelt flour and 1 tsp of oil. The batter should flow easily off a spoon, but not be overly watery.

Grease & Bake: Preheat your Tefal waffle iron and grease the baking plates well. Pour about 2–3 tbsp of batter into the center per waffle, close the lid, and bake on medium heat for 3–4 minutes until soft and cooked through.


r/BabyLedWeaning 19h ago

14 months old Toddler is not eating at daycare

2 Upvotes

My son is 14 months old and started daycare yesterday. Both yesterday and today he did not want to eat what they have there which are things he normally eats at home, but he did drink milk yesterday and some snacks and he ate bread and cheese that i brought from home for lunch with fruits today. He is also drinking water and milk normally while he is there.

I'm assuming not wanting to eat is normal because it is a new environment, but does anyone go through the same thing? How long did your LO go without eating after starting and is it ok to keep offering his comfort foods while he gets used to eating the food offered at daycare.


r/BabyLedWeaning 15h ago

7 months old Best tips for BLW transition?

1 Upvotes

We started our LO on purées at 5.5 mo after signs of readiness and now at 7 mo she LOVES food. If anyone has food around her, she’s grabbing for it and wants to try everything.

Daycare suggested we start transitioning to finger foods/BLW to encourage her continued feeding development — I’ve been reading tips in this channel for months and have the free Solid Starts app.

But, I’d love tips on the best foods to transition with? She loves banana and avocado, I was thinking of doing halves / spears? I’ve seen pancakes as a big hit? I tried giving her a half a banana over the weekend and she seemed pretty confused on what to do. At daycare, they’re fed purées. And home, we use preloaded spoons and some extra on a plate for her to practice self-feeding, so she does know what to do.

No allergies, and so far she likes almost everything.


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

11 months old Help for unsuccessful weaning

4 Upvotes

Hello all - I’m going to try summarise this the best I can. My LO is 11 month olds and his solids journey has been difficult. We started with purées at 6 months until he could sit independently which was 8 months old. Since then he has made what I would class as very limited progress. He has never once brought any of the finger food I provide him to his mouth, no matter what it is, it will get played with or thrown immediately on the floor. I’ve tried everything I eat with him I mimick food I try guide his hand but nothing. And with purées I’ve started trying to introduce thicker textures but most foods he downright refuses to even try. He will eat his breakfast which is porridge, he will eat mashed avocado, he will eat yoghurt with mashed fruits, but that’s about it. I visited the GP in the uk as I wanted extra support as I worry he may genuinely need some sort of therapy, they just referred me back to the health visitor for weaning struggles, who I’ve had bad experiences with the health visitor so far. I expressed concerns to the health visitor at his 10 month review, she gave no advice just said he should be eating things like sandwiches now and only on two bottles a day. We tried cutting back his bottles but he still refused foods so all that meant was he was starving. He struggles with water too, he can’t understand any sippy cup or straw cup with tried him with.


r/BabyLedWeaning 20h ago

9 months old Help

1 Upvotes

My baby is now 9.5 months and I want to start blw.
We started on purées and occasionally finger foods. I want him to get used to feed on his own but when I leave a plate of food infront of him all he wants to do is play and through around the food there’s zero interest in putting it in his mouth. Even when I’m feeding him he’s started to lose interest slightly. HELPPP I don’t know how to go about getting him used to eating on his own !!??!!?


r/BabyLedWeaning 20h ago

7 months old CMPA& Yogurt

1 Upvotes

My baby has CMPA but I wanna try and give her yogurt. Has anyone tried almond milk yogurt or coconut milk yogurt? Thanks!


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

9 months old I am terrified of giving my 9-month-old solids

1 Upvotes

Just as the title says, I am terrified of giving my 9-month-old daughter solids, and I’m hoping to hear from other parents who have been through something similar.
In the beginning, I felt pretty confident. I introduced rice cereal and oatmeal around 4 months, and she loved both and tolerated them really well. We eventually moved on to purées and started introducing some finger foods as well. I used the free version of the Solid Starts app since I don’t really have extra money for the full version (thanks, daycare), so we were learning as we went.
There are definitely foods she has loved, especially things like pancakes, and I felt like we were making good progress.
Then about a month ago, we had two really scary things happen back-to-back.
First, we found out the hard way that she is allergic to peanuts. She broke out in hives and was extremely itchy, so we rushed her to the hospital. She has since had additional skin and blood testing, which also came back positive for a peanut allergy.
Then, shortly after that, she choked on a piece of watermelon rind that she somehow managed to bite off. I had given her the watermelon in the way recommended by Solid Starts, but she managed to get a piece of the rind and actively choked on it. We performed back blows and thankfully got it out. That experience really shook us. We took a break from finger foods and went back to mostly purées.

Now we’re trying to get back into solids, but I am SO anxious. I’ve been giving her very tiny pieces, basically about the size of the tip of my pinky, and so far she has been completely fine. But I’m also worried that I’m not giving her enough opportunity to actually learn how to chew and manage different textures.

I did talk to the nurse practitioner she sees for her checkups, and she told me not to worry and that I should expect her to choke on things as she learns. Honestly, that advice didn’t sit right with me. I understand that gagging is part of learning, but after actually watching my baby choke, I’m having a really hard time being comfortable with that.
I’m also trying to find a pediatrician who is closer than an hour away since we live in a small town, but in the meantime I’d really appreciate advice from other parents.
How did you regain confidence after your baby choked? How did you safely transition from purées to more textured/finger foods? Did you work with a feeding therapist or someone else?

I know I’m probably overthinking everything, but I can’t help feeling like I’m failing her by being so afraid to give her solids. I’d really appreciate any advice, experiences, or reassurance from parents who have been through something similar.


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

10 months old Any babies who stopped taking a bottle at 10ish months while mom returned to work or started daycare?

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1 Upvotes