Family Recipes for Baby Led Weaning (2024)

FAQs

What are the best family meals for baby? ›

“The basic idea behind baby-led weaning is that parents and caregivers can follow a baby's lead,” says Dr. Churbock. “This means watching for signs of developmental readiness and, when a baby is ready, allowing them to self-feed.” Babies are also skipping many traditional baby foods such as purees, Dr. Churbock says.

– Choose meals that can be easily reheated later. Casseroles are an obvious choice, but I also like to do soups, chicken dishes, and curries. This is why I tend to stay away from fish unless I know they're going to eat the meal that night.

At 1 year old, your child is learning to eat on their own. They can chew food as well as you can, so they can eat the same foods as the rest of the family.

Easy to digest first foods are ideal first foods because they have been mindfully introduced and do not provoke a reaction. Some examples of common easy to digest first foods may include avocado, sweet potato, apple, carrot, banana, and goat's milk*. Of course, every child is unique so easy to digest foods may differ.

You may start baby-led weaning at around 6 months of age, which is also the age you would traditionally introduce complementary foods via spoon-feeding. At this age, your baby will most likely be able to sit unsupported, bring food to their mouth, and chew and swallow—all things that are important for self-feeding.

Overall, it's up to parents to choose whichever method you are most comfortable with, purées and spoon-feeding, baby-led weaning or a combination are all safe and healthy ways to introduce solids.

How do you make dinner when you have a baby? ›

Food is always a good gift idea for a new mom. It can be a gift certificate for their favorite restaurant, a homemade meal or a basket of treats like fresh fruit and sweets. As a new mom you are healing from birth, suffering from a lack of sleep and you still need to eat and feed the rest of your family.

By age 1, babies should be eating the same foods as the rest of the family. It's good to start feeding your tot modified versions of family meals beginning around 6 months of age. For example, if you're having roasted carrots at dinner, shred them for your young toddler and puree them for your baby.

Thus, it is essential to follow the three-day rule to start baby food. Introduce only one food at a time and check for three days, if your baby is comfortable, then you are good to introduce the next one. 6 months baby food chart should include vegetables, fruits, cereals, grains, protein, and dairy.

Stage 3 (typically 10-12 months old, but may occur sooner): At this stage, you can slowly replace purees with soft, chewable chunks of food, and offer your baby more finger foods that they can pick up and feed themselves.

Good finger foods for babies include soft, easy-to-swallow foods like steamed veggies; soft fruits; whole-grain bread, pasta, or cereal; crackers; chicken; cheese; and scrambled eggs.

Babies and toddlers need foods from all 5 healthy food groups. The 5 healthy food groups are vegetables and legumes, fruit, cereals and grain foods, dairy and dairy alternatives, and meat and meat alternatives. Healthy foods have nutrients that are important for growth, development and learning.

Start Simple. Start with one food at a time and select foods that are nutritious and easy to mash such as bananas, avocados, peaches, mangoes, plums, grapes, potatoes and butternut squash. If your baby responds well to these, advance to other nutritious foods such as asparagus, kale, ground chicken, or quinoa.

Try these tasty ideas

Try these different flavours with your baby and watch their faces for their reaction: sour: orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, plums, raspberries. bitter: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, spinach. sweet: carrots, apple, peaches, banana, dried fruit.