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Learn about Baby-Led Weaning
Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a feeding approach where babies are introduced to solid foods by eating the same foods as the rest of the family. You can help prepare for starting solids with our expert tips on baby-led weaning (BLW), pre-feeding skills, and oral care.
Our favorite BLW products
Designed for baby-led weaning by our Pediatric Feeding Specialist.
Baby-Led™ Toothbrush + Tongue Depressor
3+ Months
Sale priceFrom $9.99Regular price
$11.99
Getting started with BLW
The below steps take you through preparing for starting solids, the signs of readiness, and the importance of midline positioning + developmental tools. Once baby is ready to start solids, babies can feed themselves with a baby-led™ feeder, baby-led™ spoon, or by picking up soft strips of food with their hands.
Get Prepared
Starting solids takes strength, skills, and stamina!
ezpz’s Kit 1: Prepare for Starting Solids includes 6 expertly designed tools (plus guidance!) to help babies build the essential feeding skills they need for their first baby-led bite and beyond.
Signs of Readiness
At six months of age (or 6 months adjusted for preemies), look for these signs:
- Does baby show interest in objects and food?
- Is baby reaching and grasping for objects?
- Does baby have head control when chewing objects?
- Can baby sit up on their own while chewing an object?
If your baby is showing the signs of readiness ezpz’s Kit 2: Learn to Eat and Drink is a great next step. The kit includes expertly designed tools (plus guidance) to help babies practice first bites and sips.
Proper Midline Positioning
While feeding, a baby’s head should be at midline (the center of the body) to improve the ease of swallowing.
Our silicone placemats, plates and bowls suction to the table, helping babies to remain at midline while learning to self-feed.
In order to position baby in a safe, proper posture for eating, the highchair should have a straight back, adjustable footrest, and stable base. Baby should sit with their hips, knees, and ankles bent at 90 degrees.
Tools & Techniques
Utilize the below tools + guidance:
- Place soft and moist strips of food into the silicone pouch of the Baby-Led™ Gumline Feeder to help baby practice their feeding, munching, and chewing skills safely.
- Use the Baby-Led Weaning Food Cutters to help safely prep and cut foods that are soft, ripe, and can be made into long strips for easy pickup and holding.
- Only offer a few strips of food at a time, and give baby time to swallow all of the food in their mouth before offering more.
- Serve with the Baby-Led™ Tiny Spoon, Tiny Cup, and Tiny Bowl. Utilize the BLW Travel Box to support self-feeding routines on-the-go.
BLW foods to try
Ready to start baby-led weaning? Here are some great first foods.
Banana
Honeydew
Cantaloupe
Mango
Egg
Cucumber
Avocado
Dragonfruit
Tofu
What does baby-led mean?
Baby-led means that baby is in control of their experiences and the adult follows their lead.
Baby-led oral care (BLOC) and baby-led weaning (BLW) foster the developmentally appropriate skills your baby needs for brushing and eating.
In these approaches, the adult observes, ensures safety, and offers support during oral care and feeding activities.
At ezpz, our products are thoughtfully designed with these baby-led principles in mind.
What are the benefits of the baby-led approach?
When babies explore and feed themselves, they practice strength-building movements which helps them to develop and meet different feeding milestones. The baby-led approach encourages the development of fine motor, feeding, and speech skills.
Before First Bites
Baby-Led Oral Care
Before diving into solids, it’s essential that your baby’s oral development is on track.
Baby-led oral care (BLOC) is an approach that builds on the principles of baby-led weaning, offering an intuitive way to prepare your baby’s mouth for solid foods.
By focusing on oral care early on, you can help your baby become familiar with different sensations in their mouth and encourage healthy oral habits.
3-6 Months
Pre-Feeding + Motor Planning
Learning to self-feed is an important developmental milestone, and before diving into solids your baby can start practicing their feeding skills. Our Pre-Feeding Collection is designed to target and support pre-feeding milestones.
Motor planning is a vital skill that helps babies learn to remember and perform specific movements, such as bringing a spoon to their mouth. The ezpz baby-led handle plays a key role in this developmental process, as it is consistent across each stage. This makes it easier for babies to transition from oral exploration to self-feeding.
6-12 Months
First Bites and Sips
At around 6 months of age, babies should start practicing bringing their hands to their mouth (while holding an object or baby-led spoon), drinking from an open cup (held by an adult), and finger-feeding soft strips of food.
Babies are more engaged and independent at mealtime when provided with the right feeding tools to help them succeed.
Our Tiny Collection is designed to help baby obtain important feeding milestones.
Expert Tips
Learn more from our in-house Pediatric Feeding Specialist, Dawn Winkelmann (M.S, CCC-SLP).
Frequently Asked Questions
We love to talk about baby-led weaning. Here is some more information!
How do I prepare for Baby-Led Weaning?
Check out ezpz's Kit 1—It's the perfect place to start!
How do I know when my baby is ready to start solids?
Sometimes families are so excited to start baby on solids that they begin too early (without knowing some of the risks). Here are some signs of readiness to look for:
- Is baby six months of age?
- Can baby sit up on their own without losing their balance?
- Does baby reach for and grasp objects?
- Does baby bring their hand, objects or food to their mouth?
- Does baby have the head control to look up, down and to both sides without falling forward?
- Does baby have an interest in food?
To learn more about the ages and stages for starting solids, check out our blog: Are you Feeding Baby Too Early.
Why are baby-led handles important when starting solids?
Our baby-led handles are perfectly designed for baby’s tiny hands and the development of the palmar grasp (stabilizing an object against their palm while curling their fingers around it).
This is baby’s first feeding grasp, and offering tools designed for this stage encourages them to explore, practice, and strengthen their fine motor skills. Watch for this grasp when you introduce your baby to the following baby-led products:
- Oral Development Tools are designed to
help babies and toddlers practice their feeding, munching, biting, and chewing
skills. Here are additional tips for using these tools. - Tiny Pops are a ½ oz popsicle mold made for infants and toddlers. The Tiny Pops help with teething pain and provide nourishment, too! Here are a few recipes and tips for offering popsicles to your little one.
- Developmentally, babies can bring the Baby-Led Toothbrush to their mouth to explore. This oral exploration might start with munching the toothbrush, but with practice, your baby will learn to brush their own gums and teeth after each meal!
- Tiny Spoons are designed to help baby learn how to dip and scoop and feed themselves independently. Here are expert tips for why you want to use two spoons when starting solids.
What feeding and swallowing milestones should I know about?
Open cup drinking, spoon-feeding, and self-feeding milestones all start at 6 months of age. Parents need a safe open cup, spoon, and baby-led strips of food to help their baby become an independent drinker and eater!
- Self Feeding: Babies learn to self feed by using their palmer and pincer grasps. This is why our Baby-Led Weaning Food Cutters are designed to cut food into finger-length strips to support the palmar grasp (6m+) and serrated cubes to promote the pincer grasp (9m+). ezpz food cutters ensure that baby’s meals are prepared for their age and developmental stage.
- Cup Drinking: Developmentally, at 6 months of age baby should be introduced to sips of breastmilk, formula, or smoothies from an open cup held by an adult (NOT a sippy cup!). The ezpz Tiny Cup is a safe choice for teaching open cup drinking.
- Spoon Feeding: Choose a baby-led spoon that your little one can easily grasp. The ezpz Tiny Spoon was designed to help baby learn how to use a utensil independently and be successful with the fine motor milestones of dipping and scooping!
To learn more about infant cup drinking and spoon feeding milestones check out our blogs: Feeding Milestones for Baby: Cup Drinking and Baby-Led Spoon Feeding at 6 Months.
How do I decrease gagging and choking?
- Cut food with the BLW Food Cutters to ensure it's the right size and shape for baby's age + developmental stage.
- Only place a few strips of food in a bowl or mat at a time to decrease overstuffing and choking risk.
- Give baby time to swallow all the food in their mouth before offering more food in the bowl.
Always supervise baby while they are eating. For more tips on how to decrease choking and pocketing check out our blogs.
How do I choose the right foods for BLW?
- Pick foods that are soft and ripe.
- Choose foods that can be cut in long strips to make it easy for baby to pick-up and hold easily.
- Cut food with the BLW Food Cutters.
What products do I need to make starting solids easier and safer?
Most babies start solids around 6 months of age and showing consistent signs of readiness. Use these products to help make starting solids easier and safer for both you and baby.
Baby-Led Weaning Food Cutters: Designed to cut food into finger-length strips to support the palmar grasp (6m+) and serrated cubes to promote the pincer grasp (9m+). ezpz's Baby-Led Weaning Food Cutters ensure that baby’s meals are prepared for their age and developmental stage.
Tiny Bowl: The Tiny Bowl is designed to fit on the tiniest of highchair trays. It suctions to the surface to decrease the mess and help baby successfully feed themselves with their hands and spoons.
Tiny Cup: When starting solids, it is important to slowly transition from bottle to open cup. Start with the baby-led Tiny Cup, which is portion-sized at 2oz and sized for baby’s hands. (The First Foods Set includes baby’s first cup, spoons and bowl all in one beautiful kit).
Bib: Pick a bib that doesn’t tie around baby’s neck, as this can cause irritation, pressure, chafing and increased choking risk. We love how BapronBaby Bibs tie around baby’s back! Check out the BapronBaby Splash Mats for easy mealtime cleanup, too.
Highchair: Select a highchair that has a stable and moveable footrest to help with posture. By keeping baby you will decrease choking risk. Our community loves these highchair + ezpz pairings.
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