Baby-led weaning is becoming a common approach to transitioning babies into eating solids. To help you learn how you can use BLW with your twins, here’s a rundown of the best baby led weaning books and resources you’ll want to check out! Plus, a helpful refresher on the advantages of BLW vs. purees.
So you’ve heard of this thing called baby-led weaning (BLW), and it’s interesting but sounds a bit overwhelming! Are parents really giving their infants whole foods? The answer is: Yes! Very intentionally, but yes.
Wherever you may fall on the BLW vs puree spectrum, lots of parents are beginning to feel that the pros of BLW outweigh the pros of the puree approach. So if you’ve come to learn more about BLW or see how you can begin BLW with your twins, keep reading! Below is an overview of the most helpful BLW books and resources you’ll find as well as need-to-knows for BLW with twins.
Quick refresher: what does baby-led weaning mean?
BLW is an experiential introduction of solid foods for your baby. It allows your baby to explore and learn about food at their own pace. Sporadic parents have anonymously done baby-led weaning techniques for decades.
But in 2008, Gill Rapley published Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods, which led to a rapid awareness of the idea that there may be other ways than purees to introduce you child to solid foods.
After Rapley’s book, BLW was no longer an obscure practice of flippant parents, but a specific technique with logical benefits.
I myself was introduced to baby-led weaning by a friend who had done it with both her sons. She told me her in-laws were skeptical (and critical), but now her boys are the least-picky children in the family and her in-laws rave about her and BLW to anyone who will listen.
Armed with that information, I got Rapley’s book and went in search of the benefits of BLW for myself and fell in love with the approach too. And I can’t wait for you to see how it can work for you and your twinnies!
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Top baby-led weaning books and resources
What follows in this article is meant as an introduction to the concept of baby-led weaning. I highly recommend you do more research before beginning BLW with your children.
Here are my top two suggestions for baby led weaning books:
As mentioned, Gill Rapley’s book is the O.G. resource on BLW and still arguably the most complete resource.
But if you are a busy mom like I was, you may not make it through the whole thing. Even, so I would recommend accessing the book and at least reading portions of it or trying the audiobook.
Another (shorter) book about BLW that has good reviews is BLW: Your Essential Guide to Smart Baby-Led Weaning by Amelia Benet.
If these BLW books are not what you’re looking for, below are some more great options.
Other great baby led weaning resources:
1. Solid Starts is a database of information about BLW. They also have an app!
2. Baby Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro has lots of great articles and a podcast.
3. What Mummy Makes is a cookbook with great recipes that focus on cooking just one meal for you and baby.
4. Reddit has a BLW community where you can post all your questions and challenges.
Twin-specific tips for baby-led weaning
Baby-led weaning is extremely accessible for twin parents. Since your babies will be feeding themselves, I imagine it is actually easier than spoon-feeding two infants.
But besides preparing twice the food, what other considerations are there when feeding two babies?
1. Table arrangement
You want to be keeping an eye on who is eating what and how much. If you are doing high chairs, make sure to position both babies so you can see them easily. In my family, we ended up getting a feeding table (the type you might see in a daycare).
Sitting the babies in the table, we just pulled up our plates to their table and everyone ate there instead of the main table. This kept them contained and made it easy to keep an eye on them. This worked for us, but these tables can be expensive.
If you can’t make a feeding table work, just be really mindful of where everyone is seated, and make it work for you.
2. Food sharing
One downside of using the feeding table (for us at least) was that there was a lot of food sharing and stealing. This might also happen if your twins’ high chairs are side by side. This can make monitoring likes and dislikes of your twins a bit harder.
I honestly found taking pictures to be helpful with this. I ended up with visual documentation of favorites (i.e. when my son ended up with all the meatballs at the table) and had the added bonus of fun memories to look back on.
3. Added experimentation
A potential added benefit of BLW for twins is the act of mirroring to encourage more experimentation. I really feel there were times where one of my babies didn’t look like they wanted to try a food, and then they’d see their sibling getting ready to try and they’d simply mirror their actions. I truly believe this is how my son came to love meatballs!
In case you’re still wanting to explore a bit more about baby-led weaning before buying a book or downloading an app, below are some more considerations when it comes to BLW.
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What are the benefits of baby-led weaning?
1. Self-regulation
Babies learn from an early age to regulate their own intake when it comes to eating and drinking. It is easy for parents who spoonfeed to over feed their child. With BLW, the baby stops eating when they are full which hopefully leads to healthy eating habits as they grow.
2. Reduced pickiness
This is the benefit that drew me in. Full disclosure, early studies on this do not support that BLW reduces pickiness. But other schools of thought are that there are likely several things that influence pickiness and lack of variety of food during infancy is one of them.
My own child has chronic, silent reflux. This has caused a lot of food aversion and BLW didn’t help with that. But my other child will eat just about anything. So, barring other obstacles in feeding, BLW might increase your child’s willingness to try and enjoy new foods throughout their life.
3. Motor practice
Since your baby will be picking up and handling their own food they will be working on their hand-eye coordination, grip, and visual-motor skills. They get none of this practice from being spoon-fed. In addition, by eating foods of various textures, they have to practice a variety of oral-motor techniques, many of which are not employed when using purees.
4. Family meals
When your baby is feeding themself, you can sit down as a family and have a meal in a more “business-as-usual” way. Of course you’ll keep a close eye on them, but you can have conversations with each other too. You can also eat while your baby is eating which will save some time. As such, your baby will experience what enjoying a family meal looks like from an early age.
5. Convenience
Many parents that are interested in more natural diets find that preparing whole foods for your baby is easier than making your own purees. Or if you go to dinner at a friend’s house or at a restaurant, it is also easier to feed your baby than it would be if you had to bring purees and a tiny spoon with you.
Having read these benefits, perhaps you are now convinced that BLW is the method for you. But you may still be a bit intimidated. When and how can you actually start your twins with baby-led weaning?
Starting baby-led weaning with your twins
How to know when your twins are ready for solids?
The good news is there are some easy milestones to look for to tell you your baby is ready to start baby-led weaning.
First, your baby needs to be able to sit up (without support). This looks like being able to hold their head upright for extended periods of time. They will also have started putting toys in their mouth and will have shown interest in food when you eat it. Typically, this will happen around 6 months, but every baby is different. And don’t forget, with twins who are born early, adjusted age matters too!
Need a refresher on figuring out your baby’s adjusted age? Calculate it here!
Ultimately, if you are uncertain, ask your pediatrician about when it’s safe to start solid foods. If they are ready to start purees, then they are ready to start BLW.
How to do baby-led weaning?
BLW is a process. It’s not like you’ll be plopping an eight ounce steak in front of your baby and expecting them to eat it. The important thing to remember is that in the beginning, your baby will still be getting almost all their nutrients from breastmilk or formula.
Any calories or nutrients from food at this stage is just a bonus! In the early weeks of BLW, just trying for one meal a day is plenty. Honestly, whatever feels most manageable for you as a twin parent is a great starting point because then you’ll be able to stay consistent with it.
You’ll also want to introduce new foods slowly so you can take note of adverse effects or allergic reactions.
In the early weeks, you will also introduce food in large slices so it is easier to grip and so your baby is not able to choke on it. As they get older and more coordinated, you can get a bit more creative with foods. Introducing foods with greater frequency (multiple meals a day), in larger quantities (greater nutrients coming from food instead of formula), and in bite size pieces (practicing different motor skills).
Baby led weaning meal ideas
At this point, you realize this might be something you are actually able to do, but you are still wondering what foods you might start with. Popular early foods often include fruits and root vegetables.
Giving your child a slice of avocado or cooked sweet potato are easy and yummy, but there are so many more things that you can feed your child!
Fruits:
- Banana – cut in half and then cut lengthwise and serve.
- Apple – Cut a large apple into eights. Peel the skin of one slice and steam or cook until soft. Let cool and serve.
- Strawberry – Choose a large strawberry that is soft and ripe. Remove the stem and serve.
Vegetables:
- Green Beans – Trim beans and boil or steam until soft. Let cool then serve.
- Broccoli – Choose a large piece of broccoli with stalk on. Boil or steam until soft. Let cool and serve.
- Beets (or other root vegetable) – Peel and cut into slices that are about an inch thick and three inches long. Boil until soft. Let cool and serve.
Proteins:
- Meatballs – Cook large meatballs until cooked through the center. Make sure not to overcook so they don’t get hard. Let cool and serve.
- Salmon- Bake until it flakes easily. Let cool. Cut into large pieces and serve.
- Eggs – Hardboil an egg. It should be fully set but not hard. Cut into quarters and serve.
There are so many more options than this, but the above list will get you started. Some of the key themes here are to avoid small foods.
Serving large foods helps to avoid choking risks and allows for easy handling of the food. Another thing to keep in mind is they are just beginning their development of their oral motor-skills, so you’ll note all food suggestions are soft.
Finally, you’ll want to remember that your twins are still developing their kidneys. Some spice is fine, but limiting salt, spice, and added sugars is a good idea.
Final thoughts on baby-led weaning books and resources
You came here curious about baby-led weaning books and to find out what is really feasible for twin parents when it comes to BLW. Hopefully you now are armed with the information to say, “Yes! BLW is right for our family” and you know where you are headed next to learn more about it.
Parenting twins is hard, but baby-led weaning doesn’t have to be. Take advantage of all the BLW books, resources, and communities out there and remember to enjoy this time in your twinnies’ lives.
Want more inspiration for transitioning to solids with your twins? Check these out too!
- Table for Two: Homemade Baby Food for Twins
- Baby Brezza One Step Baby Food Maker Deluxe: Honest Thoughts
- How to Start Baby Led Weaning for Twins
Maya Mason lives in the Twin Cities, MN and works in juvenile corrections. Maya is the mom of boy/girl twins named Theo and Teia who were born at 24 weeks. For personal and professional reasons, Maya is very passionate about dimensional wellness. She trains and writes on several topics related to wellness and also trains on topics around body image, diversity and connecting with youth. Maya loves to spend time with her family, play volleyball and travel. She also is an avid writer, writes for several organizations and is in the process of writing a teen fiction series. You can follow Maya as an author on Facebook.
