What is Baby-Led Weaning? Should I Try It With My Child?

When you have a baby, one of the first big decisions is breast milk or formula?  When it comes to feeding babies, breast is best.  Why?  Because it rhymes.  If it rhymes, it’s usually true.  

But contrary to popular opinion, there is also evidence of several healthy, well-adjusted individuals who did not breast feed, but who drank formula instead.  So that’s literally food for thought.    

Your next big feeding decision comes when your child reaches about four months old.  It’s time to get started on solid food.  (For your baby, not for you.  Hopefully, you’ve already been eating solid food for a while.)  

The question is, should you spoon feed?  Or should you let your baby feed him or herself?  The answer you choose will determine your child’s entire future. 

Consider: do you want your child to grow up to be overweight and eat indiscriminately, whether they’re hungry or not?  That’s what will happen if you spoon feed your child.  

Or, do you want your child to grow up to be svelte, dainty, athletically gifted, self-controlled, and only nibble lightly on food before dumping most of it down the garbage disposal?  That’s what will happen if your baby feeds him or herself from the start.

Babies feeding themselves is called “Baby-Led Weaning.”  Baby-Led Weaning is all the rage right now.  Just give your child solid food and let them go at it.  

After all, who doesn’t want to see a little baby making hugely important decisions for themselves, such as what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat, at the earliest possible age?  

Who doesn’t want to see a baby smear a $4 organic mango all over the table, floor, chair, in their hair, and all down their shirt, pants, socks, and shoes?  

Who doesn’t want their child to get peanut butter in their hair and ears?  

Who doesn’t want to do a deep cleaning of their dining room and bathe their child three times a day after every meal?  

Who doesn’t want to tick off entire restaurant staffs by leaving enough food to feed an army underneath the table?  

Who doesn’t want to hear their child announce, “I’m hungry,” a mere thirty minutes after dinner is cleaned up?

Any parent will tell you that spoon feeding will make your child overweight.  Baby-Led Weaning is the attractive alternative.  

In case you still have reservations about trying Baby-Led Weaning, here are some frequently asked questions about the practice:

Q:  How do I start the process of Baby-Led Weaning?

A:  Just give your kid a bunch of food.  They’ll figure out what to do.

Q:  Should I cut up the food for them?

A:  No.  Your child’s natural instincts will show them the best way to consume the food.  If the food is too big to swallow, for example, your child might just suck the nutrients out of the food. Children who are really ingenious will teach themselves how to karate chop the food into bite size pieces with their bare hands.

Q:  Baby Led Weaning can be much messier than spoon feeding.  Why is Baby Led Weaning considered better than spoon feeding?

A:  With Baby Led Weaning, your child decides how much to eat.  Your child is in control.  They can listen to their own bodies and decide when they’ve had enough.  This will teach them self-control for when they’re older.  It will teach them not to over-eat, which in the long run will prevent obesity.

Q:  Let’s say I’m spoon feeding my baby, though.  Can’t she decide when she’s finished, as well?  Can’t she just close her mouth and turn her head away from the food, thus deciding when to be done?

A:  Yes, that is possible.  But Baby-Led Weaning is much messier.

Q:  Why?

A:  Babies don’t have a lot of fine motor coordination at first.  In trying to put food in their mouths, they will sometimes inadvertently get food all over their faces, clothes, and the floor.  And sometimes they’ll just choose to play with the food and make a big mess.

Q:  Why is this better?

A:  It teaches the parent humility.  It teaches the parent that their job is going to be sticky, messy, time-consuming, and expensive.  It shows the parent who is boss.

Q:  If children are supposed to learn that they can feed themselves at a young age, can’t they also learn at a young age how to take a wet rag and clean up a big, sticky mess?

A:  No.  Cleanup is the parents’ job.  Babies are much too young to learn how to clean up a big, sticky mess.  But they aren’t too young to figure out their own daily caloric intake requirements.  They are quite astute at that.

Q:  Are you sure my child will avoid obesity as an adult if they do Baby-Led Weaning as a child?

A:  No.  There is no evidence behind this claim.  It hasn’t been studied or proven.  But it seems like it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Q:  Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking on the part of parents who are scared to death of their child being overweight?

A:  Never underestimate the gullibility of parents who are desperate to have perfect children.  They’ll put their faith in all kinds of theories.  Ever heard of the “Baby Einstein” videos or the “Mozart Effect?”  In these cases, “experts” claimed that watching educational videos or listening to Mozart would make children have a higher IQ.  Further research proved otherwise.

Q:  Can my child do Baby-Led Weaning at a restaurant?

A:  Yes, if you want to be universally despised by your town’s restaurant workers.  Or, just make sure to always tip the servers a king’s ransom as you leave behind a landfill of waste under the table.  Either way, it’s a recipe for a fun night out as a family!

Q:  I’m an adult.  Can I try Baby-Led Weaning too?

A:  Yes you can.  But for adults it’s just called “eating.”

Q:  Then why don’t we just call it “eating” for babies?  Why the term Baby-Led Weaning?

A:  Because people are more likely to try something if there’s an official, fancy term for it.  For parents, doing something official that has a fancy name is a sign of accomplishment and sophistication.  You are “in the know,” and on the cutting edge.  You’re giving your kid every advantage possible.  You are raising a superior being who is going to one day win the Nobel Prize all because, way back when, she learned to stuff a chunk of banana into her mouth earlier than most other kids did.  

Q:  I’m worried about where the food ends up.  What if my child makes a huge mess and doesn’t ingest any of it?  Is it possible that some of the nutrients from the food could enter his body through his skin?

A:  That is unknown, but we can certainly hope so.  Now, please excuse me.  I’ve got a one year old, a high chair, a bowl of strawberries, a bucket of warm, soapy water, and a rag calling my name.