The beauty of baby led weaning is the ease for parents and the self exploration and discovery for your baby. You don’t have to cook and puree foods, or spend a lot of extra money on store-bought baby foods – you simply give your baby what you are eating.
I never used a baby led cookbook, because all of the recipes I found were simply food that I would cook for myself (or should be cooking for myself!). Cook healthy, get rid of the sodium and sugar and feed your baby good, real food.
I’ve listed out the best resources to get started with baby led weaning, once you and your baby are ready, I’ve put together a list of 5 things that made my life easier when I was feeding my baby girl.
5 Items for Baby Led Weaning (to make your life easier!)
*I’ve highlighted a few examples and explained why these styles work for me – in no way are these the only brand/styles that will work for baby led weaning, find what works for you and your babe and have fun exploring new foods!
1. Easy to clean highchair
Baby led weaning is messy and messy can be fun, but the aftermath can be a headache to clean. Your baby is crying because they want to take a nap and you are scrubbing raspberry stains out of your highchair (or is it just me?). I started out with a really good quality highchair that was not made for a baby who was feeding himself and smooshing avocado into it on a daily basis. There is no good way to clean it! And the only way to clean it is time-consuming, so I half clean it every day. It adds more stress and makes me not want to give Lottie certain foods that I knew will make my life miserable to clean.
I have been on the search for our next highchair for awhile. None of the fluffy cushions, I need a highchair that is the bare minimum! Everyone recommended the IKEA highchair for baby led weaning, I never made it out to IKEA, but I found a lot of other options on Amazon, the boon highchair in particular is super cute and looks like it will be an easy clean up. Has anyone had any experience with it? Leave a comment with what highchair you have and if you would recommend it or not!
2. Bib with a spill pocket
Make sure your bibs have a pocket on the bottom to catch the food. The majority of your babies food will end up in this pocket for the first few months. With the pocket, I can easily pick it up and put it back on her tray without it falling on the floor. She also quickly learned how to reach down and grab food from the pocket herself when she ran out on her tray.
Again, I opted for the plastic, easy to clean and wipe down bibs vs the cloth bibs. Trust me these are a lifesaver for any mom who is baby led weaning!
Splash mat or cheap shower curtain to catch the food
Take your pick of cute splash mats in the store, or simply go to the dollar store and pick up a cheap clear shower curtain to keep under the highchair to catch the mess. When your baby throws drops food on the floor (and they will), you can easily wipe it up without losing your mind.
Cup with a straw
Everyone has a different cup they started their babies with. I chose not to introduce a sippy cup, so I didn’t have to phase out one more thing. I went straight to a cup with a straw at 6 months. Some parents skip the straw cup and teach them to drink straight from a regular cup from day 1. At age 29, I still use a straw in most of my drinks, so I’m not worried about her perfecting and keeping this skill for a while.
She has a couple different straw cups, but the cups with the handles on the side are easiest for her to hold and drink from.
Camera
O, the wonderful photos that will come as you let your baby feed herself. Watching Lottie discover food on her own, play with the texture and experience her first tastes is hilarious and endearing. She is so proud when she successfully feeds herself and I love being a bystander. Have a camera nearby, even if it’s just your camera phone and be ready to capture the great faces that come with baby led weaning!
I’m using my Sony Nex-6 Camera, which I’m obsessed with, and the Sony SEL35F18 35mm f/1.8 Prime Fixed Lens
Leave a comment below with products that have worked best for you, I’m always looking out for new products to include and try out!
*This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small percentage if you purchase these items from my post, Thank you for your support and blog love!
What a great list. Really useful. And I completely agree about the high chair in particular – it’s a nightmare to have a high chair that’s hard to clean!
I agree too! My experience with breastfeeding is 1 year and 7 months! And while I was breastfeeding, my son almost didn’t want to eat anything. I have seen from my own experience what a bad high chair is. But when I bought Graco Blossom https://inadangeroustime.com/ I realized what a comfortable chair and a nice feeding.