Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

by Gill Rapley

Parents used to be told (and still are, sometimes) that it’s important to start with one new taste and stick with it for a few days, to make sure that their baby doesn’t react badly to it, before adding another new food. Unless you have food allergies in your family (see page 102), there is no need to follow this advice if you are doing BLW. There are two reasons for this: first, the digestive system of a six-month-old baby is a lot more mature than that of a baby of four months (when solids used to be introduced), so digestive problems are unlikely, and second, a baby who is allowed to feed himself with solid foods will naturally eat only very small amounts at first, and may well try just one or two new foods at a time anyway.