Baby-led weaning

Baby-led weaning (often also referred to as BLW) is a method of adding complementary foods to a baby's diet of breastmilk or formula. A method of food progression, BLW facilitates the development of age appropriate oral motor control while maintaining eating as a positive, interactive experience. Baby-led weaning allows babies to control their solid food consumption by "self-feeding" from the very beginning of their experiences with food. The term weaning should not be taken to imply giving up formula or breastmilk, but simply the introduction of foods other than formula or breastmilk.

From infancy, the only oral motor pattern appreciated is suck-swallow-breathe. This reflexive way of eating allows infants to feed from birth (from a breast or bottle) while protecting their airway and meeting their nutritional needs (Case-Smith & Humphry, in Case-Smith, 2005). The oral motor patterns required for eating and swallowing solids include tongue lateralization, tongue elevation, and munching/chewing, and unlike the suck-swallow-breathe sequence, coordination of these oral motor patterns is learned, not reflexive (Morris & Dunn Klein, 2000). When an infant is offered a spoon of puree, the practiced or familiar oral motor pattern is sucking. As purees are thicker than formula or breastmilk, puree is sucked off of a presented spoon and moved in the mouth in a similar fashion as liquid. This is generally looked at as a part of the process of introducing solid foods and parents are often encouraged to push past this. Conversely, current research supports that early negative experiences with eating leads to poor food acceptance in later years (Courtland, Harris, & Emmett,2009). Through playful exploration, BLW provides an opportunity for infants to practice new oral motor patterns. Through this method, infants gradually develop the oral motor patterns required for mature bolus manipulation, chewing, and swallowing, as well as allow the infant to be in charge of what goes in their mouth, how it goes in, and when. (Case-Smith, 2005, Rapley & Murkett, 2008).

Infants are offered a range of foods to provide a balanced diet from around 6 months. They often begin by picking up and licking or sucking on the piece food, before progressing to eating. Babies are typically able to begin self-feeding at around 6 months old, although some are ready and will reach for food as early as 5 months and some will wait until 7 or 8 months. The intention of this process is that it is tailored to suit the individual baby and their personal development. The 6-month-old guideline provided by the World Health Organization is based on research indicating that the internal digestive system matures when the infant is 4–6 months old.

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