Baby led weaning vs puree? The debate is over

We’ve often been asked: are our baby meals suitable for baby-led weaning? What's the best way of feeding your baby - BLW or puree? When should I move on to the next texture?

We have your answers here!

For babies ready to wean, we recommend starting with our ultimate weaning kit. Our 5 week programme advocates a combined approach of feeding and guides you through from the very first bite to more complex table food style meals.“Most experts agree that a combination of self-feeding by infants and the delivery of nutrient-dense foods on a spoon, in textures appropriate to each infant, is a sensible way to support infants eating in the second 6 months of life – First Step Nutrition Trust” Once you have introduced most major allergens into your baby’s diet, you are ready to move on to our baby meals! We offer three different textures to suit your little one’s unique needs:

• Smooth puree: Recommended for the youngest ones from 6-7 months
• Lumpy puree introduces more lumps and is suitable for babies from 7-8 months
• Once they (and you!) have built confidence in their feeding skills, we’d love to move them onto our bite-sized texture* from 9-10 months

Moving on swiftly to bigger chunks gives them the best chance to practise those all-important oral motor skills which will be essential for their language development – it also helps to prevent fussy eating down the line!

Remember, your baby doesn't need to have grown teeth to be able to handle texture - they can do it with their gum!

For a baby-led approach from the get-go (which ultimately emphasises independence), you can adapt our meals to allow baby to self-feed/eat as little or much as they like:

• Preload spoons with the puree and hand these to the baby
• Use a suction bowl - baby can use their finger foods to practice dipping by themselves
• You can also dip the finger foods in the puree and hand them to baby or place them on the highchair
• Baby can also scoop the puree out with their hands (mess is good)
• Baby can practice using a spoon themselves (give them 2 soft-tipped spoons)

*All our foods are chopped in sizes suitable for babies from 6 months old although they may not have the pincer skills to grab smaller pieces until around 9 months.

Still not sure about any of these? Just reach out to our amazing team at help@vandme.co.uk!