Are you confused on what the best baby led weaning (BLW) foundation educational resources are? Unsure of which resource has the most amount of information for your time and money? Maybe you are feeling excited, eagerness, confused, overwhelmed by the amount of information available.
As a first time mom, I understand the pressure (and emotions) of raising a happy, healthy eater. After all, I wanted to start off right from the first bite! Around 4 months, I began scouring the internet on how to begin the journey to solid foods. I wanted a solid baby led weaning foundation.
This blog covers a handful of baby led weaning resources including virtual courses, blogs, podcasts, books and more to add to your knowledge toolkit.
- Favorite Educational Resources for BLW
- Books
- Baby Led Feeding Book
- The Big Book of Organic Baby Food
Favorite Educational Resources for BLW:
This is an overview of a few of the many resources, mobile apps and courses on baby-led weaning. Reviews of the below resources are not sponsored.
- Solid Starts: Solid Starts is run by a powerhouse team of moms, pediatricians, speech language pathologists, allergists, pediatric occupational therapists, lactation consultants and more, this is a well rounded company with the goal of guiding care givers through the first bite of food to toddlerhood and beyond, navigating any hurdle in between.
- Blog Articles: Free to readers, the Solid Starts blog is a great place to start when understanding the principles of BLW as well as providing education on the ‘why’ behind feeding a child solid foods from the beginning. Many common reader questions are addressed including topics like signs of readiness, how to select a high chair and all you need to know about introducing allergenic foods.
- The ‘Solid Starts’ mobile app is a stunning visual free resource available to Android and Apple users. It is a database showing how to prepare foods based on age (including pictures and videos), nutritional content, recipes on how to serve foods, choking risks, approaching allergenic food introduction and other various suggestions. The app also has a paid feature where users can track the foods they have served to their little one. It also helps to track any allergic reactions which occurred during consumption. We use this app every time we want to introduce a new food in order to understand how it should be prepared. Additionally, it shows pictures and descriptions of size, texture and changes based on age.
- Virtual Courses and Guides: There are many options for care givers looking looking to follow a structured approach to starting the solid foods journey. All courses have no end date – meaning you have material for life!
- The course we took, the Starting Solids Virtual Course, covers the following topics:
- Readiness for solids
- Selecting a high chair
- Preparing foods for baby
- Allergy introduction
- Introducing a cup and a straw
- Choking and first aid response (CPR) as supported through physiology and biology
- Expectations of baby and what they will consume
- Meal and Weaning schedules
- While a majority of the information discussed within this course can be found for free on the Solid Starts website via blog articles, we found this was a good baseline on BLW and provided us the confidence to beginning the journey. The videos were also quicker at times to watch then read an entire blog article
- The course we took, the Starting Solids Virtual Course, covers the following topics:
- The Solid Starts Instagram page has posts, videos, reels and daily content featuring babies (and toddlers) of all ages enjoying solid foods. The page commonly has stories featuring children eating different foods, providing resources on their website based on topics relating to stores as well as how to navigate food based hurdles (for example – toddler food refusal) and using the time as a learning opportunity.
- Baby-Led Weaning Podcast and 3. Fortified Fam: Both resources are Run by Katie Ferraro who is a mom to seven children, a college nutrition professor and a Registered Dietician. Katie has a wonderful podcast and blog focusing on a safe start to baby-led weaning. Katie’s podcast and website also features various discounts with popular BLW items like ezpz products (featured in the photo above).
- Podcast: For those who enjoy listening to research based informational podcasts, this is a great place to start! Episodes range from five to thirty minutes and showcase a variety of topics including how to navigate BLW when other people are not supportive, food prep tips, breastfeeding and BLW, recipe ideas and more. Katie also interviews various experts within the pediatric field to help care givers feel confident in BLW by understanding physiology, psychology, development milestones, flavor preferences and more.
- Workshop: Katie’s workshop ‘Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro‘ is a one hour free training held multiple times per week. This class will help care givers understand how and when to start baby led weaning. Additionally it helps parents distinguish the differences between choking and gagging. Finally, it showcases how to prepare foods including peanuts and ground meat. This class is an open forum. Because of this format, it allows care givers to ask questions and discuss topics together.
- Care givers also leave with a free 100 first foods guide on how to introduce a baby to 100 foods before turning one year old.
- Blog: Fortified Fam is Katie’s blog, supplementary to the podcast. The blog discusses all BLW topics imaginable including how to implement iron via foods before supplements in order to boost and maintain adequate levels, the best gear for BLW and navigating grocery stores to stock the pantry with ‘baby friendly’ staples.
Other Courses: While I can not personally vouch for taking these courses, here are other noteworthy favorites from the blog community and friends!
- Happy Health Eaters: Led by two Registered Dietitians (and mama’s too), the ‘Start Solids Confidently’ course highlights (i.e.):
- Introducing textures and flavors
- Navigating chewing, gagging and choking
- Introducing food groups
- Various feeding styles (purees vs. BLW)
- Starting Solids
- Foods to offer
- Note: Upon purchasing the program, the content is only available for twelve months.
- Thriving Foundations: Led by a pharmacist and mama with her own experience with Hashimotos, Dr. Alyssa developed a holistic baby led weaning foundation course focusing on using food as medicine. Because of her history, she emphasizes the importance of using a holistic method to promote longevity, health and prevent future generations with chronic health issues / sickness. The course highlights the following topics (i.e.):
- Introduction to BLW
- Disease reduction
- Choking information and allergen introduction
- Importance of nutrients and how to implement them through wholesome food
- Developing the gut microbiome and establishing metabolism
- Preventing picky eating and promoting self regulation
- Note this class came out after we started the Solid Starts course. Upon purchase the content is available for life.
Books (Educational and Recipes):
- Baby-Led Feeding Book: This book is written by Jenna Helwig, former editor of Parents and Health, and reviewed by a registered dietician. The book instructs readers how to prepare and serve foods following the baby led weaning approach. The book has 100 wholesome, family favorite recipes with a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and meats. The book also discusses allergens and substitutions to fit a child’s needs.
- The Big Book of Organic Baby Food: Written by Stephanie Middleberg, MS, RD, CDN; this book provides recipes from infancy through toddler years. With 150 recipes; readers are provided meal ideas for all ages including purees, smoothies and finger foods (BLW). The book also highlights what foods to have on hand to feed one on the spot, including frozen foods that can be whipped together to create a delicious meal within minutes. For those with toddlers, a second cookbook “The Big Book of Organic Toddler Food” is available featuring 200 meals. Meal examples include tasty options like Slow Cooker Turkey Meatball Marinara and Roasted Green Beans. Another example includes zuchinni noodles and how to cut food for particular toddler preferences.
I hope this blog provided you more knowledge on creating a solid baby led weaning foundation. Additionally exploring the resources available for baby led weaning courses, content, podcasts, books and blogs. The amount of information can be overwhelming at first. Overall remember, knowledge is power.
Looking for more BLW resources? Check out these blogs below and comment with your favorite resource for navigating introducing solid foods with your little one.
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