BLW is based on introducing complementary food in the baby’s physiological development during the first year of life.
The recommended time for BLW to begin is after 6 months, but that will largely depend on developmental milestones being acquired rather than chronological age.
To start BLW, your baby must
- Be 6 months old.
- Sit up alone and unaided.
- Have developed coordinated use of hands to explore and handle objects.
- Show an interest in food.
- Be able to express a feeling of hunger and satiety with gestures.
- Have acquired oral motor functions to make chewing movements, i.e. the extrusion or tongue-thrust reflex must have disappeared. This reflex allows babies to thrust any non-liquid food out of their mouth and is the characteristic baby gesture of extending their tongue when touched around their mouth. The extrusion reflexusually disappears between 4 and 6 months with the use of a spoon.
