When starting to introduce solid foods to a baby, one big question almost always comes up:
what to start with, and in what quantity?
For a long time, it was advised to follow a specific order: vegetables, then fruit, then pieces of food.
Today, the recommendations are much simpler and, above all, more supportive:
👉 there is no strict order or imposed pace.
Every baby progresses at their own pace, according to their development, motor skills, and curiosity.
Baby-led weaning ( BLW )
Start with raw foods
At the beginning of weaning, there's no need to overcomplicate things.
Raw foods , offered simply, are an excellent starting point.
For what ?
Baby discovers the real taste of food.
He learns to recognize textures ,
He develops his oral and manual motor skills .
and he learns to handle the pieces safely.
The goal is not to "make the baby eat", but to let the baby explore .
🍠 What should we offer baby to start with?
From 6 months old (if baby is ready), you can offer:
🥕 Tender cooked vegetable sticks:
carrot, courgette, sweet potato, parsnip…
🍐 Ripe fruits
pear, banana, avocado, tender mango…
🥦 Easy-to-grip vegetables:
steamed broccoli florets, squash wedges…
💡 The pieces must be:
long enough to extend beyond the baby's hand,
melt-in-your-mouth enough to be crushed between two fingers.
🍼 And what about the quantities in all of this?
In BLW , we don't talk about weighing or grammages.
The first few weeks are primarily an exploratory phase .
Between 6 and 8 months:
The baby touches a lot
sometimes tastes very little
plays with food (and that's normal),
and milk (breast milk or infant formula) remains its main food.
👉 Even if he eats very little, he learns a lot .
Photo: © Lune et l'autre
🌈 Vary… but without rushing
The same food can be offered in different forms:
sticks, thick puree, patties, balls, finger food…
But in the beginning, simplicity is a real strength.
There's no need to multiply recipes or ingredients.
What matters is:
regularity,
baby observation,
and trust.
Once this step is completed, you can introduce small homemade recipes , always adapted to his age: pancakes, thick purees, savory or sweet muffins, etc.
💛 In summary
Baby-led weaning is much more than just a meal: it's a complete sensory experience .
To get a good start on diversification in BLW :
offers raw foods,
favors secure formats,
Forget about quantities,
and trust the baby's rhythm.
Diversification is not a race.
It is a gradual discovery, to be experienced together, in complete serenity.
