Comparing Pros and Cons of Baby Led Weaning vs Purees

How to feed your baby is a very hot topic these days. Some parents are leaning toward the traditional pureed method of feeding, while other parents are hopping on the baby led weaning bandwagon. A lot of parents are comparing baby led weaning vs purees and wondering which direction to go. I was personally shocked when I downloaded a baby led weaning app to find that it was suggested to let your baby explore chewing on whole, large pieces of food as young as six months old. This piqued my interest and made me want to learn more about each method of feeding. In this post, we will compare the pros and cons of each method and hopefully (along with your pediatrician’s guidance) you can determine which method may be a good fit for you.

Baby led Weaning

The baby led weaning feeding method takes the approach of typically feeding your baby whatever the rest of the family is eating. This could mean placing a drumstick of chicken in front of your baby to chew on and explore while the rest of the family is enjoying their chicken. It could also mean serving your baby omelet strips while the rest of the family is having their omelets or scrambled eggs for breakfast. Obviously, it seems pretty convenient to be able to feed your baby what the rest of the family is eating so there isn’t a need to specifically meal prep baby food or buy it from the store. This could be a good way for babies to consume foods in their whole form while avoiding harmful additives and preservatives. Part of baby led weaning is allowing baby to feed themselves rather than sitting in front of them with the food and spoon-feeding it to them. This allows baby to explore the consistency of different foods and try the food on their own time. Typically, the baby will grab a piece of food and play with it for a while and then happen to either stick the food in their mouth or put their hand in their mouth after touching the food. This is when they realize the flavors of the food and will either continue to play with it, eat it or reject it all together. Another important point of baby led weaning is letting babies explore different food textures and flavors all while developing their motor skills by focusing to pick up the food and bring it to their mouth. This helps them further develop their grasp on objects and their hand-eye coordination.

Baby led weaning Pros

Convenience of baby eating what everyone else eats
Baby can explore texture and flavors
Baby will potentially be less picky with foods as they get older
Development of motor skills

Baby led weaning Cons

Mess to clean up following a meal
Potential choking hazard with larger pieces of food
Food less portable for on-the-go feeding

Purees

The puree feeding method is a method that has been around for a long time. With this method, parents usually choose different food items to blend into a smooth, lump-free mixture which can then be fed to baby with a spoon. These mixtures can be made of meats, vegetables, fruit and so much more. This method is certainly less controversial than the baby-led weaning method being that purees have been the go-to method for quite some time. With purees, there is generally much less concern of baby choking on the food. Some parents choose to make their own purees while other parents prefer to buy a ready-made puree from the store out of convenience. Also, typically, the parent is sitting down with the baby for the mealtime and feeding the baby with a spoon rather than letting the baby explore the food on their own. This lends the benefit of giving baby the proper attention they need, but takes away from the exploratory aspect of allowing them to touch the food and feed themselves. You can access some of our favorite and nutritional baby puree recipes here.

Puree Pros

Less risk of choking
Potentially easier for baby to eat
Focused bonding time with baby
Food is easily portable for on-the-go feeding

Puree Cons

Feedings can potentially be time consuming
Food must be prepared ahead of time if making your own purees

A New Approach: Combo Method

Many parents feel they need to be on one side or another whether they choose baby-led weaning or purees. As a mother myself, I was thinking through the pros and cons of each method and it hit me. Another approach would be to combine the two feeding methods in order to get the best of both worlds. An example of this would be if the family is having taco night, you could take a couple pieces of avocado and mash them up into a paste while you are preparing the rest of the meal. Then, at mealtime, in between having bites of food, you can feed your baby the mashed-up avocado. This way baby is participating in mealtime and learning how to eat with the rest of the family while also trying different foods. Another positive to this method is not having to specifically prepare purees. This is especially helpful for busy parents. Additionally, if you are feeding your baby, this is facilitating a bonding experience while also avoiding the mess of baby feeding themselves. Of course, on the days when you have more time to spare, it could be beneficial and even fun to let baby explore dipping their fingers into the food and trying it at their own pace. Feeding your baby does not have to be done the exact same way at every meal time.

Conclusion

The most important thing about picking the best feeding method for your baby is determining which method is safest for your baby (using your pediatrician’s guidance) while also determining which method will induce the least stress for everyone at meal times. Parents are surrounded by many different decisions on a daily basis when it comes to their precious baby, and at the end of the day it’s important to do what’s best for both you and baby.