Baby Led Weaning & Traditional Weaning: What You’ll Need

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Hey there, fellow mums (and dads)! As a first-time mum, I remember the mix of excitement and nerves I felt when it was time to introduce my little one to solid foods. As you probably know by now, there are mainly two roads you can take here: Baby Led Weaning (BLW) and Traditional Weaning (TW).

In my journey, I decided to blend both methods, which meant I got to experiment with a variety of products suited for each approach. In this article, I’ll be sharing which products are absolutely essential, what are a waste of time, and more!

Understanding Baby Led Weaning (BLW)

So, what is Baby Led Weaning? It’s all about letting your baby take the lead, allowing them to explore and enjoy solid foods at their own pace. This method encourages self-feeding, which can be great for developing motor skills and fostering a love for a variety of foods.

In my case, because I’m a little bit more cautious, I decided only to start on infant led feeding only at 7 months (1 month after I started baby on solids). While I’m not entirely 100% on BLW at the moment, I’m hoping to give baby more opportunities to self-feed as she grows older.

Understanding Traditional Weaning

Traditional Weaning, on the other hand, is a bit more structured. It usually involves starting with smooth purees and gradually moving to more textured foods. It’s a spoon-feeding journey where you get to lovingly introduce your baby to different tastes and consistencies.

Also I’m not entirely following traditional weaning to a tee because I don’t actually feed baby. Instead, I pre-load her spoons and she feeds herself. At 6 months, I started with smooth purees, but quickly moved to more textured foods at 6.5 months and now a mix of larger bites (for BLW) together with textured purees.

Essential Products for Baby Led Weaning & Traditional Weaning

Depending on which approach you choose, you’ll probably be needing slightly different products for your weaning journey. Here’s a comprehensive list of what I’ve personally used (and was recommended by others) for both methods.

Baby Led Weaning & Traditional Weaning

Regardless which method you choose, these are the basics you’ll need when transitioning to solids.

Chairs

It is absolutely essential to provide your baby with proper support to sit upright while they transition to solids either way to avoid choking. Being overly enthusiastic I got her a high chair only to find that it was way too big for her. I ended up using the Ingenuity 2-in-1 Booster Seat which was smaller and a better fit. Best thing about the seat? It is super easy to wipe down and the tray easily stashes away under the chair.

Bibs

Feeding is a messy affair either way. So make sure you get easy to clean bibs that fit your little one well to minimize the amount of clean up you need to do after. I got the Bapron after plenty of mummy recommendations, and am a convert myself now too! It not only comes in beautiful prints, provides good coverage all the way to the thighs), is quick drying and even stain-resistant! What’s there not to love?

Baby-Safe Utensils

When it comes to utensils, I feel like spoons have the most mileage since they don’t really have the coordination to use a fork at such a young age. I opted for two different kinds of spoons. One, the normal spoon (but baby sized) and the other a specially designed baby spoon.

For the first kind of spoon, I got the Modui Silicon Baby Spoon. These are made appropriately small to fit well in baby’s grip, and isn’t too long that they end up gagging. My baby girl took to it super quickly, learning to feed herself with it and holding onto it well.

For the second kind of spoon, I got the Cubble Self Feeding Pre-Spoon Set. These are different from normal spoons such that they are flat and comes with dimples and channels to capture food. Baby girl enjoys licking the grooves of the pre-spoons clean.

I honestly can’t tell which is better, but I use both to feed every meal and have had no issues since.

Sippy Cup or Open Cup

I opted to start with a sippy cup since I felt it’s a natural progression of the sucking motion she does with the bottle. The Richell sippy cup was highly recommended and we went with that. It’s design is extremely intuitive making it super easy for baby to learn how to drink from it. Took my girl 3 tries and she managed to start drinking water from it consistently.

Also, if I eventually want to teach her to drink from an open cup, I can just easily remove the lid from the Richell sippy cup to change it to an open cup! Two in one!

Baby Led Weaning

Tools to Cut Food

I use a special cutter for making wavy finger-sized wedges of fruits and veggies – perfect for those tiny hands to grip better.

Suction Bowls and Plates

A must-have! I use it to serve up the purees and cut pieces of food for baby. So far I’ve only used the bowl and not the Modui Silicon plate as I’m usually only serving one food at a time. I’m hoping the plate will come in handy in the future when I offer multiple food types each meal.

The Modui Silicon bowl has been working great for us with its strong suction so far, so no worries about it toppling over. Also it’s super compact in size, and easy to sterilize with hot water after every use. Can’t beat that level of convenience.

Traditional Weaning

Baby Food Processor / Blender

As I did not want to get an appliance I’ll only be using for a short period of time, I skipped getting a baby food processor and went for a multifunction hand blender instead. This way I can continue using the blender for other cooking purposes in the future.

I opted for the Russell Taylor Multi-Function Blender which comes with a variety of attachments. For pureeing baby’s food, I mostly use only the hand blender attachment. Works like a charm for small, fresh batches. I usually make two – three portions at a go. Usually used up by two days. Anything less than that would be too hard to blend.

Baby Food Storage Container

I would think any airtight container does the trick. I was fortunate to get two free containers in a goodie bag and have just been using them since. Just make sure they are air tight so that your purees remain fresh in the fridge.

Usually I’ll then warm them up again via steaming, before serving baby.

Variety of Purees

For time-deprived mummies, there are many off the shelf options, but I currently make my own purees with the blender. With the exception for rice cereals, which I currently offer Little Blossoms (which do not have added sugars / salts).

Useful Resources For BLW or Traditional Weaning

Products aside, here are some other resources you can refer to for your baby’s transition to solids:

• Solid Starts – A good resource for anyone looking to do baby led weaning. Provides information on how to serve different types of foods safely and age-appropriateness.
• Baby First 99 Foods Tracker Printable (FREE) – I’ve compiled a more Asian skewed list of foods for baby to try out for my own needs, and figured why not share this with everyone else too!

Wishing You & Baby A Smooth Transition To Solids!

I know first-hand that the transition to solids can be a worrying and confusing one. Hopefully with these recommendations, it can help your journey be as enjoyable and stress-free as possible!

For all my recommendations in one spot, head over to my Shopee Recommendations here!

My final piece of advice? Start with the basics and expand as needed. You don’t have to buy everything at once. Trust your instincts and your baby’s cues, and you’ll find the right balance between Baby Led Weaning and Traditional Weaning that works for your family.

Have more useful recommendations for transitioning to solids? Let me know in the comment section below!