Suprirsing Benefits of Baby-Led Weaning

Baby-led weaning has so many benefits that I never anticipated before we went through it with our first baby.

Initial Overwhelm

Before we had children I had never even heard of baby-led weaning, much less thought about if it would benefit our family. With our first baby, for some reason I never really thought much about what feeding her solid food would like. We struggled with nursing and bottle feeding so much that thinking about feeding her solids really snuck up on me. For whatever reason, in my mind, we would just always be stuck in that cycle of nursing and bottle feeding.

And then all of a sudden she was six months old. When our pediatrician told us that she was ready to start solid food, I didn’t even know where to begin.

I had always just assumed that I would use baby food, but I was hesitant to give her a lot of processed food- not to mention how expensive baby food is! Initially I tried to make my own purees, but it just never seemed to work. I could never get the consistency quite right and the process was tedious and time consuming. It just wasn’t working for our family.

So I turned to the internet, thinking that there has to be an easier way, and I found baby-led weaning.  I read a lot of reputable sources and decided this was the approach I wanted to take. It seemed in line with our family values- teaching (or preserving) kids’ ability to self-regulate, encouraging healthy habits from the start, and making family mealtimes a lot less stressful.

It terrified me at first to just hand my child food and let them feed themselves. However, after successfully doing baby led weaning with both of my daughters, I am so glad that I made that decision so many years ago. 

It set my family on a path that I am grateful for.  So while I am not a pediatrician, dietician, or anything registered (always a disclaimer!), here are some reasons that baby led weaning really works for our family:

(And as always- make sure you do your own research before diving in!)

Baby-Led Weaning Encourages Family Meal Time

This is my biggest reason.  Needing to prepare food for all three meals for my baby really forced me to get better at meal planning.  Before we had children, my husband and I were notorious for not even thinking about dinner until after we were home from work.

Being too tired from the day, we would eventually just settle on something that was quick and easy.  We would eat our dinner on the couch while re-watching sitcoms. And while I certainly do miss this sometimes, I am so grateful now that almost every night we sit around a table as a family and talk to each other.  

Baby-led weaning forced us into finally planning dinner ahead of time, prepping for it, and making sure it was on the table before the baby began trying to gnaw on her own arm.  Family meal time is now one of our favorite times of day and something we highly prioritize.

Baby-Led Weaning Encourages Cooking Methods that Young Toddlers Can Help with

Cooking so many meals at home creates a lot of opportunities to get young children involved in the kitchen. 

From about the time of 15 months, my daughter really loved standing in her kitchen tower to help me prep our meals.  She started with transferring vegetables I was chopping into a storage container or onto a roasting pan. As she’s grown, she’s gradually moved into helping more and more.

She helps me season food and gives her opinion on what else needs to be added. We genuinely enjoy spending time together in the kitchen while we cook.  She often asks if she can “munch” on the veggies I’m preparing. While she does, she’ll hang out with me and we talk.  

When we started baby led weaning with her sister, she was eager to help use the crinkle cutter, toss foods into the steamer basket, etc.

Baby-Led Weaning Encourages Kids to Try a lot of Different Flavors and Textures

Babies are more amenable to new experiences than toddlers.  They just are.  Toddlers are notorious for being stubborn and can be resistant to trying new foods.  We made a conscious decision give our daughters a chance to try as many new foods as possible while they were still babies.

This really paid off when we entered the more stubborn phase of toddlerhood. When she inevitably started being a little hesitant to try knew foods, we had a vast array of meals that she KNEW she loved, and we’ve never had to rely on chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese.

It Encourages Healthier Eating for All of Us

Cooking almost all of our babies’ meals from scratch forced us to also make our meals much more nutritious.  I started making small changes that have really added up. 

I began cooking with less salt, I became more mindful of added sugar, and I opted for whole grains.  Overtime, we went from having a few nutritious dinners a week to six or seven balanced dinners a week. 

I also began batch cooking our breakfasts and relying less on processed cereals.  Now three years later, planning and cooking healthier meals has become much more second nature to me.

It’s Budget Friendly

Baby led weaning is so much more affordable and sustainable than using a ton of baby food jars.  Instead of spending close to a dollar on one serving of sweet potatoes, I can spend that money on a whole sweet potato that makes multiple meals.   And while we definitely still use jarred food when needed, I feel good that most of my babies’ meals are fresh and budget friendly.

Additionally, it’s encouraged us to cook with whole ingredients for all of us. This has brought down our grocery bill- despite having more mouths to feed.

Closing Thoughts

Baby led weaning has offered so many benefits to our family. When we made this decision three years ago, I had no idea the lasting impact it would have, but it has changed our family culture. I’m so grateful for baby-led weaning. If you’re considering baby-led weaning for your little one, check out my post with tips on how to get started here.

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