November 13th, 2025
Parents working full-time jobs often struggle with baby-led weaning (BLW). They need to find time to spend with their children and complete all the chores that come with having children in a limited number of hours at home. Meanwhile, social media is full of parents making incredible BLW meals for their infant. How do they have the time for that? Seriously, is that even possible?
A few minutes looking at social media could definitely leave you thinking that you are doing BLW wrong or that you aren't doing enough for your baby if you aren't matching that. Is that level of effort really the expectation when doing BLW?
The good news is that you are not doing BLW wrong if you aren't making five-star gourmet meals for your 7 month old. You don't have to do that. You don't have to feel guilty for choosing not to do it.
Here are 5 tips that can make BLW easier to manage for working parents.
You aren't a superhero. Your baby doesn't expect you to be a superhero. Your baby just wants you to be you, which means being mom or dad.
Just because some people are making fancy food for their infant doesn't mean you have to. Just because some people are targetting 100 (or more) foods before age 1 doesn't mean you have to. Just because some people are only serving organic doesn't mean you have to.
You should do what you want to do, even if that means not doing some things that you could do if you really pushed yourself to the limit. I'm pretty confident your baby would be happy spending time playing with a well better rested parent, even if it means not getting that perfect BLW dish you really didn't have time to make.
To me, one of the biggest benefits of doing BLW is that your baby can eat the same foods as you (properly modified, of course). It's a lot less work to cut a few bite-sized pieces of chicken from the family meal for your 9 month old than it is to cook them their own meal. Plus, it's really fun to share the family meal with the youngest member of the family. Let them discover the food you love. Seeing you love it will probably help them learn to love it too.
What exactly does "in advance" mean here? 5 minutes before the meal? An hour before the meal? How far in advance you want to cook is up to you of course, but doing it far in advance is often the best strategy. For example, each weekend my family would cook food for the entire week. Some of that food would go in the fridge to be eaten early in the week, the rest would get frozen and then defrosted toward the end of the week as we need it.
A lot of people do this, but I didn't really get it until I was doing BLW with my son. Then when my family started cooking in advance, it felt like an absolutely life-changing discovery. Does it feel impossible to leave work at a reasonable time, then pick up the little one from day care, and then somehow manage to get a decent family meal on the table? Try this. Here are some of the benefits.
Cooking in advance makes the cooking itself less stressful. When there is no hard deadline for the food and no hungry infant tugging at your leg, you might even remember that cooking can be fun.
When my family started cooking in advance, we started ordering a lot less take-out. So much less. It turns out that having a home cooked meal waiting in the fridge makes ordering delivery from that mediocre restaurant that delivers fast seem a lot less tempting. Home cooked food tends to be healthier than food from restaurants (for example, you can reduce the salt level which is important for infants), so you save money and feel better.
It's hard to focus on playing with your baby when you're making a meal. But if you're a full-time working parent, that is going to seriously cut into the total amount of time you can spend with your little one after work.
When you cook in advance, you can choose to cook at the time that is convenient for you. My family liked to cook when the baby was sleeping or napping, so we could be with my son when he was awake.
If you know how to do BLW with no mess, please let all the other parents know how! Realistically, BLW is messy and you can't totally eliminate the mess. No one wants to spend time cleaning, so here are some ideas to clean less:
Each of these ideas will save a few minutes a day, but they will add up to a big reduction in stress.
BLW has a lot of mental overhead compared to purees. You have to know how to safely serve a variety of foods, and the way to serve things safely keeps changing as your baby grows. This is an even bigger factor when you are serving the family meal, which probably has quite a few things in it, to the baby. MealAppeal can be a tremendous help when trying to get food on the plate for your little one. MealAppeal saves time at every meal and removes the need to remember every last detail. Instead, it gives you exactly the information you need to safely serve the meal in seconds.
Parents working full-time can succeed with baby-led weaning without getting overwhelmed by pressure. Adopting a realistic attitude is the first step. Taking every opportunity to simplify and save time is the key.