By Sari Davidson, Owner, Founder, and CEO of BooginHead (Estimated reading time: 4 minutes)
Baby. Led. Weaning.
What is it? Who coined it? How long has it been around? What are its core principles? All questions we, the moms and dads who make up BooginHead, asked ourselves when we started seeing #blw on social media over the past few years. While we spend every waking moment designing and creating baby products that lend a helping hand when you need it most, baby-led weaning as a practice came up long after most of our own kids were already eating and drinking independently. For my part, my oldest son Jake was born in 2005 — ironically, the year Baby-Led Weaning as a phrase and a movement was coined by its founding philosopher Gill Rapley in her published work, “Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide.”
But we love to learn, and so learn we did — we threw ourselves into the study of baby-led weaning and were fascinated by how massively complex the process can be. Daunting, even. It can be a lot to absorb, much less implement, for new parents.
Michael Pollan, an author and journalist best known for his books exploring the social-cultural impacts of food, manages to condense a massively complex philosophy of ethical eating down to seven words. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Is there a similar statement that can apply to baby-led weaning, like a little anchor to hold onto through the books, podcasts, long-form journalism, blog posts, and cookbooks dedicated to this crucial milestone? We’d like to submit:
“Cook your dinner. Use less salt. Cut it smaller. Make it soft.”
Because, from what we’ve learned researching, developing, prototyping, and sampling our new Baby-Led Weaning 5-Piece Essentials Kit to support you and your baby’s journey to independent eating, baby-led weaning is a feeding philosophy that allows your baby to self-feed from the foods your family is already eating. Baby-led weaning allows your baby to gauge their own appetite and learn their own sense of hunger and fullness while exposing them to diverse foods, tastes, textures, aromas, and colors.
Now, that doesn’t mean you hand your 6-month-old a tortilla chip — but they may love a little shredded chicken. Check with your pediatrician, and as soon as your baby shows developmental readiness, the baby-led weaning philosophy posits you don’t need to go out and buy a bunch of expensive purees or disposable pouches. Just cook your dinner and use less salt. Cut it smaller. Make it soft.
What you probably will need, though, is some safe, durable, and unbreakable baby tableware to contain all the new, delicious things your baby is about to taste. Your baby tableware needs to be safe for developing teeth and gums. BooginHead’s new Baby-Led Weaning 5-Piece Essentials Kit has all the tools you need to support your baby’s journey to independent eating. CPSC-compliant and made of 100% premium food-grade silicone, this tableware set is free from BPA, BPS, PVC, lead, cadmium, phthalates, and fillers. It is microwave, dishwasher, freezer, boil, and oven safe. Odor and stain-resistant, durable, portable, and lightweight, this kit is gentle on your baby’s mouth, keeps food contained, and helps your baby model your family’s eating habits.
The kit contains two dipping and scooping silicone utensils, one soft silicone bucket bib to catch drips and dribbles, one silicone bowl with super-strong suction foot that works with almost every kind of kitchen and high chair surface, and one 2 oz. weighted-bottom training cup. BooginHead’s silicone training cup is perfectly sized for baby hands, teaching your little eater how to grip, lift, balance, and sip. Baby led weaning encourages fine motor skills like pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination, and finger dexterity.
Scoop! Balance! Grasp! Hold! Maneuver! Aim! Chew! Swallow! Feeding yourself when you’re little is a lot to manage. And feeding your baby real food can be a stressful undertaking! There are so many amazing resources out there to help grow your knowledge and understanding of the How and the Why of baby-led weaning. But if we can, BooginHead hopes to help you worry about one less thing — safely introduce solid foods to your baby with unbreakable tableware that protects developing teeth and gums.
The Baby-Led Weaning 5-Piece Essentials Kit is now available in Walmart baby aisles across the country, just in time for holiday meals and gifting! It may seem stressful, but baby-led weaning can be fun. There is nothing like watching a baby experience a delicious flavor for the first time. Good luck!
Love, Sari Davidson
Owner, Founder, and CEO of BooginHead
