We believe Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is a method of feeding that is commonly compared to traditional spoon feeding. Purees, on the other hand, is simply mashed food. Can you feed purees the BLW way? Yes, you can!
The battle of BLW vs purees tends to be confused with BLW vs traditional weaning.
From its name, the term ‘Baby Led Weaning’ is a method of feeding that puts the baby in charge of mealtimes, and the adults follow the baby’s lead. Purees are a smooth consistency of mashed or blended foods. Purees tend to be compared to BLW because they are commonly associated with traditional spoon feeding, where parents are in control of feeding the baby.
Hence, in this article, we will be specifically talking about the differences between BLW and traditional weaning because we believe they are different methods. Purees are mashed foods that you could also do BLW with. We also delve deeper into the pros and cons of these 2 different feeding methods.
Why Should You Trust Me
Hi! I’m Serene, a mom of one 31-month-old (as of May 2023) daughter, who successfully went through BLW and am now reaping its benefits. As I was doing my research on how to introduce solids and what solids to introduce, I was sure that BLW is not a one-size-fits-all method and that not all families are able to cope with its aftermath.
I would choose to compare finger foods to purees, and BLW to traditional weaning – spoon feeding. Personally, I preferred feeding finger foods for various reasons:
- Ease of preparation (you can cook a large family pot and just portion out for your baby before adding seasoning)
- Exposing tastes and textures as different foods brings about different experiences (e.g. avocado’s smooth texture vs broccoli’s crunchy/rough texture)
- Developing gross motor skills (comes naturally when baby is more involved with eating through their hands)
What is Baby Led Weaning (BLW)
Benefits of BLW
There are several benefits to choosing Baby Led Weaning:
- Fosters independence: babies take charge of eating and they can choose as much or as little as they want
- Exposes one to a huge variety of foods: babies are exposed to the raw forms of food alongside its taste and texture
- Experiences valuable social interactions: as you are eating alongside your child, the attention is not solely on them and they can pick up valuable social skills during mealtimes
- Develops fine motor skills: fine motor skills include mouth and oral skills while chewing and swallowing, pincer grasp and hand-eye coordination when bringing the food to their mouths
- Saves time and money: as you are preparing the same food for the family and baby, you only need to cook once and there is less food wastage.
Challenges of BLW
By allowing your baby to take the lead, these are some of the possible aftermaths:
- Choking woes: with finger foods, there is a potential for babies to bite off chunks of food that may pose a choking hazard. However, research has shown that it may result in more gagging, but no increased likelihood of choking.
- Lack of time to clean up: BLW can get messier than spoon-feeding since the baby is exploring and manipulating the food independently.
- Unsure about babies’ nutritional needs: in the beginning, foods are usually served individually and parents may be concerned about meeting the nutritional needs of the babies. It’s worth noting that in the first year, milk is still the main source of nutrients and we can focus more on food exploration.
Signs of readiness
When feeding finger foods, it is crucial for a baby to be able to sit upright independently before he/she can start feeding himself/herself. Ignoring societal expectations of feeding solids at 4 months old, I chose to wait for my daughter to be ready before introducing solids.
Babies can typically sit in a high chair between 4 to 6 months of age.
According to Solidstarts, here are the various developmental milestones your baby needs to achieve before offering finger foods:
BLW first foods
I managed to introduce her first 100 foods before my daughter hit 1! It was not an easy task because at some point, I felt like I could not find any more new foods!
With my perseverance and dogged determination, I did it!
Here are just the first 10 foods I introduced.
- Chicken
- Banana
- Avocado
- Apple
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Eggs
- Salmon
- Blueberry
- Si shen powder (which I don’t recommend anymore because it was recalled in Singapore)
- Sweet potato
What Are Purees?
Benefits of Purees
Here are the benefits of introducing purees to your baby:
- Ensure proper nutrition: parents are in control over the ingredients and portion sizes.
- Gradual introduction of flavors and textures: the smooth consistency of purees helps babies transition from liquid milk to solids.
- Convenience: purees can be prepared in advance and stored in individual portions. They are also convenient to bring on the go.
Challenges of Purees
Here are some cons of feeding purely purees:
- Aversion to textured foods: a baby may have a preference for smooth textures, making it tough to transition to lumpier or solid foods later on. This could potentially lead to picky eating or a limited diet in future.
- Delayed development of mouth and oral skills: babies may miss out on the opportunity to chew foods
- Delayed development of gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination if spoonfed: babies who are exclusively spoonfed with purees lack the opportunities to grasp spoons, or foods themselves and manipulate the foods towards their mouths.
Comparing BLW vs Purees
These two methods have their pros and cons and they are not mutually exclusive.
While this table outlines the general differences between baby led weaning and spoon-feeding purees, it is important to find a method, or a combination of methods that better suits your lifestyle and your child’s needs and level of readiness.
Chewing and self-feeding skills: develop a lot faster as the child learns from day 1 of solids
Chewing and self-feeding skills: child focuses on learning to swallow first
Combining BLW and Purees
Great news – you can do purees, the BLW way! Simply put, you can also feed purees and let the baby take charge of mealtimes too.
In fact, you do not need to skip purees altogether and you can get the best of both worlds!
How to incorporate purees the BLW way
Encourage self-feeding
Regardless of whether you are offering finger foods or purees, let the baby explore the foods and practise self-feeding, using a spoon. This allows the baby to better regulate hunger and satiety, allowing the adults to follow the baby’s cues.
Some combinations that you could consider, blending the two methods:
- Squashed blueberries (finger food) with Greek yogurt (purees)
- Rice balls (finger food) with applesauce (purees)
- Chicken drumstick (finger food) with mashed potatoes (purees)
Preloaded spoons to offer purees
When introducing purees, parents are quick to feed (traditional weaning). However, when doing the BLW way, you could always encourage your child to self-feed by introducing a spoon meant for BLW.
Spoons that are meant for BLW tend to be:
- Short and chunky: so their small hands can grab
- Shallow: help beginning eaters scoop a reasonable amount of food to eat (some even have holes in them to purposefully allow food to be stuck)
Here are some spoons that we could recommend:
Numnum Pre-spoon Gootensils
EZPZ Tiny Baby Spoon
Mix textures
Instead of offering 2 different foods at the table, you could offer the same food, but prepared differently so your child gets to experience different textures. For example, you could offer a small broccoli floret as a finger food and a shallow bowl of mashed broccoli for your baby to spoon.
Doing a combination in an Asian context
Living in Singapore, we grew up eating porridge when we were younger. Needless to say, our kids were also expected to eat porridge when they turned about 4 months old.
Is it possible to feed porridge and do BLW at the same time?
Yes! Porridge has the same smooth consistency as purees. You could treat porridge like how you would treat any purees. Porridge can be cooked with less water so that the consistency is thicker and less watery. This consistency makes it easier for the baby to scoop and self-feed.
Cooking porridge is also a good way to ensure proper nutrition as you can cook it with chicken stock, mashed fish or other proteins and vegetables in them.
To combine porridge and finger foods, you could offer porridge with a side of carrot stick, broccoli floret, steamed apples, omelet strips and many more.
Every Baby Is Different
Regardless of the method you choose, there are pros and cons to both methods of feeding.
Pros & Cons of BLW
Pros & Cons of Purees
Every baby is different and it is important to be flexible. Instead of obsessing over the best way to feed, it would probably be better to focus on what works for the family and respond to your baby’s cues and readiness.
FAQs About BLW vs Purees
Can you transit from purees from BLW finger foods?
Yes – slowly but surely! Prepare developmentally-appropriate finger foods and encourage your child to explore with the food and self-feed.
My daughter has been spoonfed since 6 months old. Can we switch to BLW?
Definitely! Introduce finger foods gradually and encourage your child to hold and explore the food on their own. If they are older, you could consider letting them use their own cutlery and feed themselves.
When do I increase the food intake?
Typically, you can increase the food intake to 2 meals at 8 – 9 months old, and increase to 3 meals from 10-month-old onwards. You should also follow your baby’s cues and adjust the amount and frequency accordingly. There is no hard and fast rule to increasing the food intake.
How do I complement milk feedings with solid foods?
- Introduce solids gradually – start with 1 ingredient a day
- Milk should be the main source of nutrition in the first year
- Offer solids after milk feedings: find a suitable window of about 30 minutes after milk feed so that your baby is not too hungry or too full to explore with the solids.
- If you’re breastfeeding, continue to breastfeed on demand.
Disclaimer: Nuevamae is not sponsored by any of the mentioned brands or platforms. This article expresses our honest opinion based on our experience and research. Read more about our mission. This article includes affiliate links so we may earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase via the link.
