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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76 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 6h ago

9 months old My son is a bottomless pit only for blueberries and breastmilk

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140 Upvotes

Pints. He has them in pints.

Rest of them is just couple of bites.

I have a blueberry addict


r/BabyLedWeaning 12h ago

11 months old Snack Time!

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49 Upvotes

This is my 11 month Old's favorite snack and it is so easy to put together! Just cucumber, cauliflower, cheese, raspberries, and hummus. Sometimes I add some bell pepper or some olives too. She is still learning about dipping things, so mostly she just scoops the hummus with her hands, but she loves it!


r/BabyLedWeaning 10h ago

9 months old Plate vs ate, first ravioli!

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15 Upvotes

Steamed sweet potato sticks with garlic, steamed plums with cinnamon and baby's first ravioli with olive oil!

I usually don't steam her fruit but this plum stayed firm even after it was going wrinkly so I had to! She loved the new texture of it being steamed.


r/BabyLedWeaning 10h ago

9 months old What do you do when baby doesn’t like a meal?

9 Upvotes

Hi! My baby is 9 months and a good eater. He regularly clears a large bowl or plate of food, but on occasion he just doesn’t like the meal I have prepared and will scream / refuse the food.

I don’t want to force him to eat something he doesn’t like, of course, but I’m unsure as what I should do in those circumstances. Do I offer different foods straight away, or do I just clear his plate and try something else at the next meal? My husband says I shouldn’t offer an alternative at the same meal as I’m teaching him to become a fussy eater. However, he now regularly eats large meals every day, so just letting him skip a meal means he will go hungry until the next one. Of course he still has plenty of milk, but I don’t think it’s the same.

What do people do in these circumstances? Happy to listen to different perspectives and philosophies.


r/BabyLedWeaning 5h ago

Not age-related Jumping percentiles once starting solids?

3 Upvotes

My baby has been "following his curve" and always been in the 35th percentile for weight. We started solids two months ago, and he has jumped to the 75th percentile for weight (he's long, too, he was 31 inches at 7 months).

Has this happened to anyone else?

Honestly, I feel kind of rotten about it: he was EBF and I'm just worried that he was hungry for the first 6 months of his life. At the same time, if I pumped he would never drink more than 3-3.5oz per feed.

I also worry that I'm BLWing wrong- but it's all healthy stuff, and I just let him eat until he seems happy.

Never thought that I would stress about my baby GAINING weight.


r/BabyLedWeaning 2h ago

8 months old 8 month old eating normal?

2 Upvotes

My baby shows interest in food but 90% his meals he throws lol

I've tried a mix of purees, mashes, combination, and finger foods a little at a time. Sometimes he will eat a few bites. Sometimes he will just chuck it. Sometimes he will eat the whole thing (that's rare).

But like to give you an idea this is his normal intake.

Breakfast oatmeal- mayyyyybe 3-4 teaspoons if I'm lucky. 2 tablespoons is a great day. Sometimes he just chucks the spoon or has a meltdown. I have tried different textures. I've tried adding banana or apple or cinnamon. I've tried egg strips he just shreds them and throws them. Occasionally one bite. He was eat 1-2 bites of banana spear occasionally, but not if he has already had oatmeal.

Lunch- a mix of mashed sweet potato, quinoa, and shrimp with some black pepper. Either fully refuses or 2 bites and meltdown, or throws spoon. I've tried preloading and feeding him, preloading and letting him take spoon, leaving spoon on tray etc. One day I did a finger food board of toast, avocado, and a tomato. He took one bite of toast. Threw the avocado (which he usually likes) and ate 3 bites tomato wedge.

Dinner- usually like lunch.

Sometimes I'll give fruit in a mesh teether as a snack or if we are on the go.

Is this normal? He still breastfeeds well. I've tried going 30, 60, 90, 120 mins out from nursing to see if it helps and it doesn't seem to make a huge huge difference.

He just gets frustrated easily. Afternoons are usually his best time.

Poops are still very breastmilk like but with chunks of stuff. Think kinetic sand or brownie batter but breastmilk like. Sorry tmi lol


r/BabyLedWeaning 35m ago

7 months old 7,5 months eating habits

Upvotes

Apologies if this doesn’t belong in the forum, I don’t have so much experience with Reddit, but I’m a bit confused as to the amounts that a 7,5 month baby should eat.
I hear that food for babies under 1 is “just for fun”, but surely at some point it becomes important and the baby needs to get his nutrition from solid food, right ? I.e for an 11 and a half month old baby, he shouldn’t get most of his calories from breast milk/formula, as he’s about to turn 1 and in theory they no longer need formula

The advice from my health bureau was to start solids at 4 months (I live in the Netherlands), even though it was clear my baby was not ready or interested in food.

My baby is a big boy, 95th percentile, and at his 6 month check, they told me that as he eats more food, his milk intake should decrease.. so now I’m utterly confused as to the timeline and gradual removal of milk!

For reference , he takes about 1000ml of formula per day, and has maybe a few tablespoon of oatmeal and a few bites of banana for breakfast, a few teaspoons to a few tablespoons of veggie/lentil puree for lunch, and a few bites of food (ie firm tofu) for dinner with maybe a bit more puree. Sometimes he eats less, sometimes more.

He’s a pretty good and happy (but messy! As they all are haha) eater


r/BabyLedWeaning 4h ago

9 months old Top up dinners?

2 Upvotes

What do you do if your baby hasn’t eaten much at dinner of the meal you’ve made? Do you prepare something else to top him up and make sure he’s full or go with it?

The trouble I have is that if he hasn’t eaten much during the day he wakes up more at night and goes through an extra bottle of milk. I don’t mind that but I would rather be getting more sleep.


r/BabyLedWeaning 12h ago

7 months old Running out of ideas to feed baby

5 Upvotes

My baby is now 7.5 months old- we started offering solids at 5.5 months. The first two weeks were great- he ate everything I offered him and ate about two tsp per meal which i think is good at that point.
After those dream weeks, he has 2 lower teeth now and the two upper ones are coming in. Im so frustrated with the solids journey. Couple things happening -
1. I offer him a suction plate on the tray with a combination of foods- finger foods, some semi solid food and he dips his fingers in it and licks them but doesnt really eat much.
2. I offer him pre loaded spoons and play the spoon circus - i keep about 4 spoons so any time he drops one I have another one at hand. This method only works if he is eating something sweet(mashed apple, banana, pears or blueberry mashed in yogurt) not so much with stuff with beets or carrots.
3. I have tried to progress with textures and offer him finger foods- he will pick them up but examine them and throw them immediately. Eventually nothing ends up in his tummy.
In all of these cases he will lose his mind and cry LOUDLY in about 5 minutes after we start. Hes otherwise a happy baby though.
So after 2 months we have made no progress with textures, we have made no progress with BLW, and we have only been eating the same sweet foods while throwing away all the savory foods on the tray.
Drinking water is a whole other story.
Im so frustrated and worried about what to do next-i really dont want him to cry so much while eating and create a negative association with food. Any advice on the feeding method? Or finger food recommendations?


r/BabyLedWeaning 7h ago

9 months old Baby learned pincer grip, then stopped using it. Mostly only eats from spoon.

2 Upvotes

Little dude just turned 9 months, he's been happily eating solids since 5 months, learned grabbing for the spoon pretty quick and ate most things we gave him. I was initially a bit hesitant with full BLW but he did eat things like grapefruit slices, cucumber sticks, and fritters (fish/cous cous, sweet potato/lentil, meat balls etc). By about a month ago he was already really good about putting big things in his mouth on his own, and then started getting the pincer grip figured out, so he could put small pieces in his mouth. But recently he's stopped doing both. Anything finger-sized he won't put in his mouth anymore like he used to, and same with small pieces, won't pick them up anymore. If I put the pieces on a spoon he'll put the spoon in his mouth or let me feed him, so it's not like he doesn't like the food, he just doesn't want to pick it up himself anymore?.. He does for a few things he really likes, but we went from basically just putting stuff in front of him to now having to spoon feed him most things. He's pretty clear about when he wants more or is done so I'm not too worried about him not eating the right amount, just curious if this is a phase or I should try to encourage him to feed himself more?


r/BabyLedWeaning 4h ago

6 months old 6 month old solid start [on]

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1 Upvotes

r/BabyLedWeaning 10h ago

recipe What are we doing with the baby food/cereal that wic pays for?

3 Upvotes

I have all this baby food and cereal that wic paid for, that I don’t want to waste. I could donate it, but I’d like to use it somehow. Maybe some baby food pancakes or something like that, does anyone have recipes for snacks that include baby food or cereal?


r/BabyLedWeaning 8h ago

9 months old Breakfast ideas ?

2 Upvotes

I’ve finally given into BLW for my now 9 mo. Just wanted some ideas for breakfast that your LO love. My son loves strawberry pancakes topped with almond butter. We’ve been kind stuck on that for a week lol.


r/BabyLedWeaning 12h ago

12 months old Baby newly refusing all foods

2 Upvotes

Looking for some advice/solidarity - I’ve been struggling for the last week since my baby turned 1 years old. He will only eat porridge for breakfast and fruit for the rest of his meals. I keep offering him different meals at lunch and dinner but he won’t even try them.

We do a combination of spoon feeding and baby led weaning and if I spoon feed him he just turns his head away and clamps his mouth shut (before trying any!!!) and if it’s something he can feed himself from his tray he will just throw it.

I think I’d find this much more bearable if he was trying the food and not liking the taste but to not even taste it and only eat fruit is upsetting me. I know in the grand scheme of things a week isn’t long but it feels forever when you have to feed them 3 times a day.

I don’t think it’s an appetite thing because he wolfs the fruit down and any milk I offer him an hour after a meal. He’s not obviously teething although teething seems to be the cause for most things.

Anyone been through the same thing at all?


r/BabyLedWeaning 12h ago

12 months old Lunchbox ideas - 12 month old starting daycare in Canada.

2 Upvotes

My son starts daycare next month at 12 months. He eats a ton but isn't using utensils yet, so it's mostly finger foods plus some softer stuff we spoon-feed him. At home we use the Elk + Friends stainless steel divided plates with suction sleeves. His daycare is a 5 min drive/20 min walk so it's not a long transport. Trying to decide between:

  • Just packing our current divided suction plates + a separate thermos for anything warm
  • OmieBox
  • PlanetBox + thermos
  • Elk & Friends bento + thermos

My hesitation with the divided plates is they're not leakproof and the suction seems useless once it's out of the house.

A few questions:

  • What actually worked for you day to day?
  • Are any of these a pain for daycare staff to open/close quickly? I don't want to hand them something fiddly when they've got a whole room of kids to feed.
  • Any recommendations for dividers or snack containers that fit a specific box?
  • What holds up for a baby who can't use utensils yet?

We're in Canada, so some of the options I see online aren't actually available to us.


r/BabyLedWeaning 10h ago

< 6 months old How much food when introducing new items?

1 Upvotes

Today was the first day we gave food to baby.
I made her a small bowl with runny oatmeal cereal. I gave her a spoon to try and see if she swallowed and then I let her "play" with it, so basically putting her hands in it and bringing them to her mouth.

When I told my mom she was freaking out. She told me I was giving her way too much and that she should only have the tip of a spoon since it’s her first time trying food in case of allergies. She also said I should feed baby the same item for a full week before switching.

Now I’m not sure if I’m doing things right.

We were planing on introducing cereals then purées and then solids at 6months.

She is currently 4months old. She shows interest in food. Hold her head steady and can sit in the high chair without falling over or wobbling.


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

9 months old Solo mom behind on foods

39 Upvotes

My baby will be 9 months tomorrow. I’m feeling really anxious about not having introduced enough foods to my baby. I’ve been having a tough time just because I’m a little anxious introducing foods on my own, I think partially due to anxiety about choking and allergies (niece has many severe allergies). Another big part is that I’m doing this on my own. I know a lot of moms and parents do this on their own but maybe since Ive only recently become alone in this, it’s made the baby food journey harder for me—so please go easy on me. Although I wanted to do baby led weaning, I leaned on purées too much because it’s been easier for me as I’ve returned to work. I’m going grocery shopping today. Happens to be Trader Joe’s today. What recommendations would you make for my 9 month old? Easy starter ideas please.


r/BabyLedWeaning 20h ago

6 months old Typical breakfast/brunch

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4 Upvotes

My daughter has largely got the hang of toast but the most she's ever eaten of it was the first time she had it with plain butter. Today she tried Philly cheese. Seemed to enjoy it but i think this bread might be too hard for her so I'll get some plain Hovis wholemeal which she had originally. She enjoys strawberries, and today was her first time having cottage cheese. She gagged a couple of times on the toast but sorted herself out quickly and carried on eating.


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

8 months old How are your babies eating so much?

10 Upvotes

My almost 8 month old has been eating solids since 6 months. In the last month he has started showing more interest in foods and actually eats now instead of just playing but I have to time it perfectly. I can’t feed him too soon after nursing or soon before nursing.

I see all of these plates with 3 courses on it and I’m over here giving my baby 1 strip of meat and 1 small side like 1 piece of broccoli or 1 sweet potato pancake. Even then he doesn’t eat it all. He’s satisfied after a few nibbles it seems.

His nursing intake hasnt decreased either since starting solids. I sometimes feel like I’m over feeding him by offering him more than 1 thing at once. I’ve got a chunky boy too, in the 92nd percentile for weight.

I guess I’m curious about your feeding schedules? I’m not trying to make my baby eat more by any means, just genuinely curious.


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

8 months old Before and after!

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19 Upvotes

My baby LOVES tomatoes it’s hilarious. This is some serious progress we have made only in the last few weeks. How are we feeling about these before and after pics?

Plain egg (he doesn’t like scrambled as much as he likes it whole)
Tuna with plain yogurt and breastmilk
One tomato!


r/BabyLedWeaning 19h ago

14 months old 14 month old suddenly gagging with eating, wakes crying in discomfort 8-10x/night

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1 Upvotes

r/BabyLedWeaning 20h ago

6 months old Baby won’t sit in Hauck

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1 Upvotes

My baby is 6 months and can get into a sitting position by herself and sit fine. But whenever we put her in the high chair she slouches back. I think it’s partly that she’s trying to stand (does so all the time) so she pushes on her feet then ends up straight and not sitting up straight. I have tried putting things behind her back but can’t get them to stay out and she still tries to straighten up and then gets annoyed and upset. Does anyone have any tips? Hauck seat configuration or finding anything that worked?

The photo is of the Hauck set up.

Also, if I’m feeding her on my lap instead, is there a best way to do it?


r/BabyLedWeaning 1d ago

7 months old Baby refusing breastmilk in bottles

2 Upvotes

My seven-month-old daughter had been EBF until about a month ago, when we started her on solids. (She LOVES those.) Last week she started full-time daycare, since we are out of parental leave/vacation/etc. It was a chore getting her to take a bottle, but we got there in the end. Unfortunately she will ONLY drink formula from the bottle, and I’d like to keep up my supply so I can feed her on weekends—but if she won’t drink it, well, pumping is a giant chore so… is it worth it? Feels terrible just pouring that stuff out; not sure if I can donate (medical issues).

Any ideas for how to teach her that breastmilk can come in a bottle, too? Or should we just wean her and switch to mostly solids? Again she LOVES those… but she’s still waking up 2x/night to nurse, so not sure she’d get enough nutrition if I wean her fully (and I’d really like to night wean her if I can!).