BLW First Foods

You’ve mentally committed to baby-led weaning (BLW), you’ve got the BLW gear, and your baby has hit the necessary milestones to begin. What’s next?

Getting started with some simple and familiar foods is a good way to wean in (for your own mental health). Here I provide BLW first food suggestions. It’s important to use these as a jumping-off point and not as a crutch to continue to rely on without expanding your baby’s pallet.

BLW First Foods

Any whole food (i.e. not processed) that exists can safely be given to your baby in some form or another with the exception of the short life of foods below.  With all of these options, it’s important to take advantage of one of the most important parts of BLW: variety.  Since the BLW window is so small it’s important to keep pushing your comfort boundaries instead of getting into a rut of always giving baby avocados and bananas.

This should go without saying but never impose food restrictions on your child.  Diets and restrictions like high carb, keto, Mediterranean, etc. should not enter the world of your child.  Provide a variety of foods with a variety of colors in a variety of ways.  For example: 

• Types of food: starches, veggies, fruits, meat

• Cooking methods: boil, bake, steam, grill, etc. (depends on the type of food–see below)

• Additions: spices, herbs, oils (avoid salt and seed oils)

Katie Ferraro, a registered dietician, and mom of 7, hosts a great podcast called Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy.  She suggests offering foods at this routine and frequency:

• The schedule

  • Monday: Fruit

  • Tuesday: Vegetable

  • Wednesday: Starchy food

  • Thursday: Protein

  • Friday: Allergenic food 

• The frequency

• 6-7 months old: offer foods 1-2 times a day

• 8-9 months old: offer foods 2-3 times a day

• 10-12 months old: offer foods 3 times a day

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Foods To Give (Examples)

The starter kit (to get you comfortable)

• Avocado strips

• Banana strip

• Strip of cheese

Veggies

• Types: Bell pepper, sweet potato, carrot

• How to prep: cook until they’re soft

Fruit

• Types: blueberries, strawberries, cooked apples

• How to prep: raw if they’re soft, cook if they’re harder.  For berries, squish them or halvE them and either provide plain or with oatmeal or Greek yogurt on a loaded spoon

Protein

• Types: tuna salad, chicken, hard boiled eggs

Others

• Bean

• Lentils

• Grains (e.g. toast with PB)

• Rice (e.g. rice with hummus)

• Daily (cottage cheese)

• Pasta (spiral)  

Foods To Avoid

What to avoid because of health reasons

• Undercooked or raw foods

• Processed foods (desserts, high sugar, artificial dyes, etc.)

• Foods that have been modified (low-fat, fat-free, sugar-free, diet foods)

• Products containing carrageenan

• Foods containing carrageenan (a common food additive found in things like whipped cream, deli meats, cottage cheese, canned soups, dairy alternatives, and microwave dinners)

What to avoid because of choking hazards

• Popcorn

• Candy, gum

• Marshmallows

• Chips and pretzels

• Hot dogs

• Whole, large seeds and nuts

• Uncooked apples

• Uncooked carrots

• Large globs of peanut butter or nut butters

• Grapes

• Cherries or cherry tomatoes

• Olives

• Cubes of hard meat

• Fish with hard bones

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Allergens

Allergenic Foods

The Big 9 allergenic foods are peanut, egg, milk, wheat, fish, shellfish, sesame, soy, and tree nut.  We now know that 90% of food allergies are caused by these 8 foods (sesame is part of the Big 9 but less commonly an allergen so it doesn’t fall into this 90% statistic).  For that reason, you don’t need to introduce all foods to a baby with days between, instead, do this for the Big 9 foods instead and feed foods that fall outside of these on a daily basis.

Not only is it okay to introduce allergenic foods early but it’s important to introduce them early to prevent allergies.  If you want too long then you actually increase the risk of allergenic foods.  

Some good rules of thumb for allergenic food are to introduce them early, introduce them at least twice in the first few months, never introduce two allergenic foods together at the same time, and offer them when your baby can be awake for a few hours afterward so you can monitor for any reactions like hives. 

Common signs of an allergic reaction are hives, swelling of the tongue or skin, wheezing, sneezing, tightness of the throat, difficulty swallowing, GI discomfort, and diarrhea.  

If your baby has conditions like intolerances, eczema, family members with allergies, or is allergic to anything then go slower with the introduction of these foods since they might be at a higher risk of having a reaction.  Talk to your pediatrician about this.

Allergen Insurance

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

-Ben Franklin

I had big goals of rotating through each of these allergens every 3 days for my kids.  Life happened and I wasn’t as good as I planned.  I knew how important it was to get their immune systems exposed to these foods so I used an “insurance plan” to make sure they got the exposure then I didn’t have the time or planning to do it.  

• SpoonfulOne.  This company combines 16 food allergens into one product depending on the baby's age. 

  • Mix-ins (4+ months)  It’s recommended to expose kids as young as 4 months old to allergens but they’re not ready for BLW at this age. So, we put the mix-ins directly into our baby’s bottles.  This is the only one of the products that has a slight fishy smell so be aware.  Also, use small doses at first so they get used to the change.

  • Puffs (6+ months)

  • Crunchy puffs (9+ months)

  • Oat crackers (12+ months)

• Pufworks Organic Peanut Butter Puffs.  Since peanut butter is the most common allergen, more exposure to it is important.  We used melt-in-your-mouth puffs for this on a routine basis.  

Hope this BLW first foods guide helps. I recommend reading the complete guide to BLW before jumping in with these foods. Additionally, a great resource for beginning your BLW journey is the Solid Starts app and the First Foods® Database which goes deep on food safety and how to prepare specific foods for specific ages. If you have any questions or concerns always reach out to your pediatrician.

Enjoy the process, continue to safely explore the world of BLW, and leave suggestions for the best first foods you used with your baby in the comment section.

Related:

• BLW: What It Is & How To Do It. Where to begin and a list of the necessary milestones needed before your baby begins BLW.

• BLW Supplies. A list of safe and durable products I recommend as you begin BLW.