My All Time Favorite Baby Led Weaning Products (After Three Kids!)

After three kids and three different baby led weaning experiences, I think I’ve finally found all the best products available as of 2021!

Baby led weaning can be super fun…but also very messy! There’s a few products I’ve found to be extremely useful in the last six months and I think they will continue to be useful as time goes on. If you are considering doing baby led weaning with your baby, I would definitely recommend all of these!

Let’s start with the big one, the high chair!

The first thing you want to consider when buying a high chair is how easy it is to clean. I would recommend getting something without fabric so you don’t have to worry about washing it. We chose the Baby Bjorn High Chair for a few reasons:

• It’s all plastic and easy to clean There are no crevasses or corners where food can collect. It also has a removable tray to make clean up fast and hassle free.
• It’s collapsible and portable! Since we have a small apartment, I wanted a high chair that could be folded and stored when we weren’t using it. This high chair folds up easily and can lean against a wall when not in use. The legs also detach so you can easily take it with you if you need to travel or store it. To be honest, it sits in our dining area completely set up these days but I like that I will be able to break it down and store it in the closet when Asahi gets too big for it.
• It has a supportive foot rest but your child can’t lean out of it because the tray comes in close to their stomach. It also adjusts as baby grows.
• You can use it up until your child is 95cm or 15kg. For reference, my son is one year old and 79cm and 10kg. I think we will be able to use it at least until he’s two.
• Currently with the twins we have the Baby Bjorn and a Stokke Trip Trap knockoff. I will say that I prefer the Baby Bjorn because it doesn’t require a strap and the baby can’t climb out of it. We recently had an incident where Taishi climbed on to the table from the Trip Trap knockoff high chair and it’s been difficult to find ways to make that one secure where as the Baby Bjorn always is.

A lot of people  the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair since your child can grow with it and that is also a good option if you have the space at your table to keep it. The one downside I see to the Stokke, and why we decided against it, is that it is more expensive and you need to buy extra parts to make it suitable for 6 month olds. Many people also use the Ikea Antilop high chair and it’s super cheap!

Plates

You really don’t need any other plate than this one…the EZPZ Mat! This is the second best BLW purchase (besides our high chair) so far. EZPZ mats are made from silicone and they sit nicely on a table or high chair tray. Because they are silicone, they stick to the surface of the table or tray and make it difficult for baby to remove. I love our mini mat and use it at almost every meal! The slight edges make it easier for Asahi to push food up the side and grab as well as maintain a little separation between foods. It’s also incredibly easy to clean and doesn’t stain! Huge plus! They may seen a little expensive but they’re worth it in my opinion. I currently only have one mini mat and I just wash it in between meals. I’m thinking of investing in this bowl version soon though!

We also have the larger square version and like that as well. However, it doesn’t fit on the Baby Bjorn high chair tray.

Utensils

I don’t think you really need any particular utensils for BLW because baby is almost always using their hands, but a few made specifically for self-feeding are useful! I like this Edison First Use Spoons because they are small enough for baby to grab and also include a guard so baby can’t put it too far in their mouth. The green spoon also has a small hole in it which helps food stay put on it’s way to baby’s mouth! These are great starter spoons so baby can practice self-feeding.

We also like this fork and spoon set from Ritchell.  They are slightly curved which makes self-feeding quite easy despite the longer handle. Now that Asahi is older the fork is becoming more useful. As of now (Asahi is one year) the orange Edison spoon and Ritchell fork are our most used utensils. Update: With the twins I haven’t used utensils as much because they don’t show much interest in using them and tend to fling food from their plate much more. I will keep slowly introducing them over the next year and see how they do. They are also a year old as of this update.

Bibs

This was the hardest to find and I went through a ton of different options before finding what I believe is the perfect bib! The fabric ones would stain quickly and get smelly after a few months. That’s why the Baby Bjorn bib is great! Since it’s plastic, it is easy to clean and never gets smelly. I thought it would be uncomfortable to wear but none of my kids have had a problem with it. With the twins I also found a baby version that is smaller and perfect for 6 months-1 year. Asahi still uses the large version occasionally at 3.5 years old. Unfortunately, I’ve only ever been able to find the baby version in a set with a large one but I think it’s actually a good deal since you will want both eventually anyways!

Baby Bjorn Bib Set

Clean Up

When it comes to clean up, I tend to just keep it simple and non toxic. I really like using my regular multi-purpose spray to clean the high chair at the end of the day. I usually use this one from Mrs. Meyers or this one from Method (both can be bought on iHerb).

A lot of people use a mat under the high chair which I think is an excellent idea, but I don’t have one yet! I usually just wipe up any food and then use this mop with the wood floor cleaner from Method.

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I hope this was useful! I am still looking for the best straw cup that is also easy to clean so if you have recommendations for that I would love to hear it! What are your favorite baby led weaning products?