DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. This is just what worked for my family. I am in no way telling you to try this with your own baby, and I am here if you have any questions regarding things I tried with my own baby.  

I knew when I got pregnant that raising a baby would be the hardest thing I’d ever do. I worried about everything, especially what to feed her and how much to feed her. I also knew that I’d have to research and find something that would work for our busy family because both my husband and I work full time and do not have the time to be pureeing a ton of baby food.

One day I was looking at YouTube to get ideas on what to feed her when she first started eating solids and I found this awesome video. I knew that baby led weaning was the answer to my prayers. We tried it that night. It was pretty stressful because she gagged a ton and it was so scary at first that I was worried she wasn’t really eating much. But then she started taking more food down and found things she liked. 

Her motor skills were pretty advanced because she was feeding herself with her hands. Isla was hitting every milestone a little bit early.  She was able to express when she wanted something in particular to eat from the fridge (I would point to different items and she would lift her arms when she saw something she wanted to eat), and would get excited when she got to try something new and play with textures. She had mastered the pincer grasp by 7 months and was using a spoon correctly by 11 months. Don’t be weirded-out and think your baby can’t chew without teeth. I promise as long as it’s soft, your baby can probably chew it. 

Warning: BLW is super messy and we try to only feed her foods with sauces at night before bath time.