Weaning your baby onto solid food can be an exciting time.

It can also be very messy.

Your baby will enjoy smooshing food and throwing it as much as they enjoy eating it (my daughter definitely gets more on herself than in her mouth).

While it’s a great sensory experience, weaning can lead to a lot of food waste which is bad for the environment (and a waste of money).

Keep reading for some useful tips for preventing food waste when weaning your baby onto solids.

COMING UP

1. Five statistics about food waste

2. Respectful weaning

3. BLW or traditional weaning?

4. My top tips for reducing food waste when weaning your baby onto solids.

5 statistics about food waste

Here are some important statistics about food waste taken from The World Counts. I’m not sharing them to make you feel bad, just to raise awareness of an important issue that has a simpler solution than many other environmental justice issues.

🍏 Globally, a third of all food produced for humans to eat is wasted, whilst around 1 billion people in the world are hungry and most are dying from hunger.

🍏 40 million tonnes of food is wasted in the USA each year - enough to feed 1 billion people

🍏 The food currently wasted in Europe could feed 200 million people.

🍏 25% of the world’s freshwater supply is used to grow food that is never eaten - enough water for 9 billion people to use 200 litres a day (meat and dairy require the most water).

🍏 By 2050 the world population will reach 9 billion. By then, food production must be increased by 70% to meet the demand.

respectful weaning

Becoming a parent doesn’t have to mean lots of extra waste or a high carbon footprint, but food waste can be a tricky area for even the best eco-warriors.

While I’m an advocate for not wasting food, I still feel strongly that weaning needs to be respectful. By that I mean, following the child, going at their pace and not forcing or pressuring them to eat or “just have one bite.” A positive mindset around food will lead to better habits and less waste in future.

Baby-led weaning (blw) or traditional weaning?

There’s a lot of pressure to label how you feed your baby and conform to specific rules. I don’t like that because it just isn’t inclusive enough.

I love the idea of baby-led weaning, but it doesn’t work for every baby (for example, my first had a development delay).

I much prefer following my instincts when it comes to introducing solid food and doing what works for you and your child.

After the stress that comes with breastfeeding (especially when you’ve experienced weight issues or allergies), why put more pressure on yourself to have the perfect BLW baby?

Tap to pin this to your zero waste parenting board on Pinterest:

Here are 15 tips for zero low waste weaning

🥦Offer foods that are part of your own meals (most things can be mashed and pureed if you want to go down that route).

🥦 Give small portions, especially when there is a risk your baby won't like it. For example, if you’re having broccoli, just give them a couple of small florets off your plate (as they are, or mashed - whatever your preference). They can always have more if they demolish it.

🥦 If you have a garden, you try home composting. I’m not green fingered in the slightest but we’ve had one for almost two years and it’s great for throwing in the unsalvageable food.

🥦 Pop a big tablecloth under the highchair so you can pick up the bits your baby throws (again and again and again).

🥦 Freeze leftovers - their food and yours. It’s ideal for days you can’t be bothered to cook.

🥦 Use your common sense with "best before" dates. If it looks ok, smells ok, tastes ok... it's probably ok (use your instincts). You should take “use by” dates seriously though.

🥦Use bibs that catch the food. This makes it so much easier to save dropped food and it will also save you from the endless laundry. I’ve linked the weaning products I use under the photos (all bought by me). Alternatively, if it’s warm you could just feed them in a nappy.

🥦 Buy seasonal, local food because it will last longer than food that’s been shipped across the world. We get a seasonal, organic fruit and veg box delivered each week. Currently, Abel & Cole have a deal on where you can get your first and fourth box 50% off (new customers only). Use my affiliate code: VEGBOX50

🥦 Put their finger food straight onto the tray. There isn’t much point bothering with a plate while they are young because they think it’s fascinating and it’ll end up on the floor. I’ve tried the bamboo plates with the suction that everyone on Instagram has and my kids can pull it off pretty quick so it still ends up on the floor. I find the placemat style plates the best while they are young (if you’re like me and prefer to keep food off of plastic).

🥦 Use a refill store if there is one accessible to you. You can either pop down with any old containers or you can check if they deliver (it can be hard to get out and about with a baby so be kind to yourself if it is too hard at the moment).

🥦 Batch cooking is the key to nailing homemade baby food. If you make double the amount every time you cook, you will always have something to freeze. You can use ice cube trays for sauces or purees and pop them into a stasher bag once frozen. We still use our silicone muffin trays to freeze hidden veg pasta sauce for my toddler.

🥦 If your baby doesn’t like something you give them, freeze it and offer it again another time. Some foods need several exposures before your baby will like them.

🥦 If you work, have lots of kids or just generally struggle with cooking, get yourself a slow cooker. You can search for “dump dinners” and just throw all the ingredients in the pot in the morning, switch it on and 8 hours later you’ve got yourself a tasty meal.

🥦 If you need or prefer to use pouches, they can be recycled using Terracycle. Their website takes you to a map where you can find your nearest drop off location.

🥦 Like I said earlier, there isn’t a rule book for how you must feed your child. Do whatever works for you.

If you have more than one child or have to work, it can be significantly harder, especially if everyone wants something different. I tend to do a hot meal at dinner (plus a toddler-friendly side so I know he’ll always eat something) and an easy snack plate type lunch for my children so it’s simple enough to give the baby whatever her big brother is having. I prefer a hot lunch, like soup, so some days she’ll have some of mine too.

I hope you found this post useful. If you did, please give it a share on social media and check out the rest of my posts on sustainable parenting.

You can also buy me a coffee if you’d like to support my content and research.

Let me know how your weaning journey is going in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

Sophie xx