Avo Starting Solids vs BLW Meals: Tracker or Recipe Library?

BLW Meals and Avo Starting Solids are both starting-solids apps, and that is about where the overlap ends. BLW Meals is a recipe and meal-plan library with a checklist attached; Avo is a tracker with a food library attached. The short answer: if your daily question is "what do I cook", BLW Meals; if it is "what has my baby eaten, and what happened", Avo.

This comparison was written by the Avo Parenting team, so read it with that in mind. Every claim about BLW Meals comes from its own App Store listing and website, read on 29 October 2026, and we have held our own app to the same rows. Our wider roundup of starting solids apps looks at the field as a whole.

What is free and what is paid in Avo Starting Solids and BLW Meals, from their own listings on 29 October 2026.

How we compared the two apps

We compared the apps on the jobs a parent repeats between six and twelve months: deciding what to serve, serving it safely, introducing allergens one at a time, noticing reactions and noticing what changes in the nappy. We also compared what is free, what is paid, and who wrote the content. We did not score design, and we have not counted either company's social following.

Avo Starting Solids vs BLW Meals at a glance

Where BLW Meals is stronger

The bigger recipe library. 650 recipes is more than any other starting-solids app we have looked at, and the vegetarian and vegan depth, 450+ and 200+, is unusual. Every recipe filters by age, texture, diet and allergen. Avo's 500+ recipes cover the same ground with fewer vegetarian and vegan options.

Dietitian-built monthly plans. From six months BLW Meals gives you a month at a time, built by board-certified dietitians, with a shopping list. Avo's 30-day plan is a first-tastes sequence tied to the 100 Foods Challenge, not a full menu.

A clinical team. The listing credits pediatricians, pediatric nutritionists and a speech therapist with the content. Avo's guidance is compiled from NHS, AAP, CDC and WHO sources by an editorial team and is not reviewed by clinicians, which we say on our About page.

Photos and videos of foods. The free library shows how to prepare and cut each of its 100+ foods. Avo's food pages are written, with a photo of the food rather than of the cut.

Where Avo Starting Solids is stronger

The log is free. Logging foods, allergens, reactions and dates costs nothing in Avo. In BLW Meals the first-foods checklist is a premium feature.

The nappy log. Avo records nappy form, colour and type on the same timeline as each food, which is the record a doctor asks for when a baby is constipated after a new food. BLW Meals does not track poop. Our guide to baby poop after starting solids covers what is normal.

Reactions against a food, with a date. A checklist tick says an allergen was introduced. Avo's log says which food, on which day, with what reaction, which is what you need when an allergist asks for the history. Our allergen pages list every common-allergen food by group.

A bigger food reference. About 350 foods with age, allergen and choking flags, against BLW Meals' 100+, and the same library is free on this site in 19 languages.

Your recipes, checked. Avo imports recipes you have already saved from Instagram, TikTok and blogs, flags the age and allergens, and files them beside its own 500+. BLW Meals holds only its own library.

An AI that checks the plate. Snap a photo of the meal or scan a product barcode and Avo AI names the foods, flags allergens and choking risks for your baby's age and logs it. BLW Meals answers with guides and quizzes.

Languages and price. 21 in-app languages against English only, and premium at $24.99 a year that only adds nutrition insights and the full recipe features; the tracker is free either way.

Which app should you choose?

Choose BLW Meals if:

• You want the biggest recipe library and a monthly menu with a shopping list.
• You cook vegetarian or vegan and want depth there.
• You want content with a clinical team behind it.

Choose Avo Starting Solids if:

• You want a free record of foods, reactions and nappies.
• You want allergen introductions logged against a food and a date, not ticked off a list.
• You already have recipes saved from Instagram and TikTok and want them checked and filtered by age.
• You want to snap a plate or scan a product and get an answer for your baby's age.
• You use the app in a language other than English.

Does BLW Meals only do baby-led weaning?

No. Despite the name, its library covers finger foods and spoon-feeding, and the recipes run from 6 to 24 months with guides to age 7. Avo is equally neutral: purées, finger foods or both are logged the same way, and the 100 Foods Challenge counts a food however it was served.

The bottom line

BLW Meals is a kitchen app first: the biggest recipe library and a dietitian's menu. Avo is a record first: what your baby ate, how it went and what followed, with enough recipes and a 30-day plan to answer tonight's "what do I cook". If your problem is the cooking, pick BLW Meals. If your problem is keeping track, pick Avo, and use BLW Meals' free library when you need a cutting photo. We have compared Avo with Solid Starts and 101 Before One the same way.

Prices, features and ratings are from the US App Store and each developer's website on 29 October 2026 and will change. Avo Starting Solids is made by Avo Parenting, the publisher of this site.