Hi! My baby is now 3mths old..I'm beginning to read up on the options when it comes to introducing solids..what are the pros and cons in giving purees? Or should I opt for baby led weaning? How do I get started with either one? Thanks!

Some of my friends tried baby-led weaning and found that it is not very tedious in terms of food preparation. Food preparation is fast and easy since it usually only involved cutting and steaming fruits or vegetables. While it can get messy, their babies appeared to be more interested in eating and having fun while at it. What they did was to cut fruits or vegetables into pieces that are big enough for their babies to hold onto. They started off with steamed carrots, banana, soft mangos, toast finger, broccoli and peeled cucumber. And to introduce the idea, they started the first session as “snack” in between feeds. Once their babies got the idea, they started eating together with them and as a family whenever possible. One thing is note is that do be prepared that baby-led weaning would definitely be a messy process (but mess can always be cleaned up!). One of my friends chose to do a mix of baby-led weaning and also spoon feeding. Her family eats out rather frequently and she wanted to be able to feed her baby while they are out. It worked quite well for her an her baby had no issue adapting to a mix of both methods. An added advantage (she feels) of using both is that she could also feed purees, cereal and porridge easily to her baby. When her baby was older, she would spoon these and encourage her baby to feed himself.