What is blw

However, at a global level, most women still cease exclusive breastfeeding well before six months. In many countries, there has been a time lag between changes to the WHO recommendations and adoption of these changes at national policy level.

Although promotion initiatives appear to have increased the proportion of women managing to exclusively breastfeed to six months [ 71 , 72 ], it is likely that even with intensive promotion a substantial number of women will not achieve exclusive breastfeeding to six months, presumably reflecting difficulties mothers face in achieving exclusive breastfeeding for this prolonged period.

It is not clear what the rates of exclusive breastfeeding are in mothers who follow BLW because BLW is a relatively recently defined method of infant feeding and no studies have directly compared breastfeeding rates in women following BLW with rates in those using more conventional complementary feeding.

However, a few observational studies [ 17 , 18 , 19 ] have detailed the breastfeeding practices of women who have followed BLW. Compared with national exclusive breastfeeding rates, mothers following BLW appear to exclusively breastfeed for longer, with exclusive breastfeeding durations ranging from 18 to 32 weeks [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].

However, many of the women following BLW still do not reach the recommended six months 26 weeks of exclusive breastfeeding. There are also some limitations to these studies, in that they are all retrospective and the participants were not typical members of the general population—the majority being educated women, aged 25 years or older.

It is therefore hard to determine whether intending to follow BLW is associated with a longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding, or whether both longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding and following BLW are more likely in older more highly educated women.

It also seems feasible that mothers who breastfeed for longer are attracted to BLW. They are used to following a Baby-Led feeding pattern already and may conceivably have lower anxiety about monitoring and controlling infant food intake. Mothers who cannot breastfeed, or who choose to cease before six months, may choose to formula feed their infant. Although BLW does not preclude the use of formula [ 7 ], it is possible that the introduction of formula may hinder the transition to BLW.

Formula feeding does not offer the same flavour variation as breast milk. It is the sensory properties of breast milk that are thought to facilitate the transition to the modified adult diet because many flavours from the maternal diet appear in breast milk, promoting the acceptance of a variety of flavours [ 73 ], as long as the mother regularly eats the food herself [ 74 , 75 ].

In contrast, formula provides the infant with the same consistent flavour experience. Formula feeding may also override the self-regulation of food intake that BLW attempts to maintain [ 14 , 15 ]. Self-regulation of breastmilk intake appears to be innate in infancy with infants eating fairly accurately in response to their internal hunger and satiety cues [ 76 ]. Poor energy self-regulation in older age groups has been associated with the development of overweight and obesity [ 77 ].

When infants are bottle-fed they can obtain milk with less effort than from the breast, so the formula-fed infant is more passive in the feeding process making it easy to over-feed [ 15 ]. In contrast, the breastfed infant must take an active role in order to transfer milk from the breast. The extent to which the type of milk fed in the first six months impacts on the success of BLW has not, however, been investigated.

Families who cannot wait until six months before introducing food do not have the option to begin BLW early. This then raises the dilemma—what do parents do if they want to follow a Baby-Led approach, but for whatever reason, cannot wait until the infant is six months of age.

However, this does not appear to be the optimal practice advocated by BLW proponents and we are unable to tell if this would have the same potential benefits as BLW alone, in the absence of studies looking at this issue. Assuming the infant arrives exclusively milk fed to six months, there are a number of questions that need to be answered for BLW to be safe. Does a six month old infant have the necessary motor skills to pick up food? Do they have sufficient physical stamina to feed themselves enough food to keep pace with their rapid growth?

Is their oral motor function sufficiently developed or will they be at increased risk of choking? Will energy and nutrient intake be adequate? And are family foods always appropriate foods for infants?

The acquisition of feeding skills has been discussed in the literature with the consensus being that normal healthy infants will develop the skills for self-feeding around six months of age [ 78 , 79 ]. The motor skills required for self-feeding are postural stability to sit with little or no help, and to reach for and grasp objects [ 78 , 84 ]. Early work [ 85 , 86 ] found that the emergence of self-sitting is one of the first major milestones of motor development and occurs around five months of age.

Self-sitting is necessary for successful self-feeding because once the infant has mastered the ability to sit with little or no support their arms are free to reach for food, instead of being used for balance [ 85 , 86 ]. Interestingly, at the time self-sitting abilities emerge around 5 months , infants also start to develop coordinated use of their hands in object manipulation and exploration [ 88 ]. They also begin to discern between object size and physical properties and will adjust their reach to suit [ 89 ].

Two studies have used representative samples to assess the ability of infants to reach out for food as reported by parents [ 84 , 90 ]. It is interesting to note that these data were collected before BLW became popular and before the WHO recommendations for introducing complementary food changed to around six months of age.

However, Wright and colleagues [ 90 ] point out that the number of opportunities to reach out for food were significantly greater for infants who reached out for food earlier than for those who reached out later. The motor skills that emerge around six months of age seem to allow the majority of infants to reach out and grasp food, and, based on the observational studies, it seems reasonable to expect that the majority of although not all infants could cope with self-feeding at six months.

If they do not, they may be at risk of inadequate energy and nutrient intake, and consequently failure to thrive growth faltering. The literature suggests there is an array of reasons organic and inorganic for failure to thrive, but problems related to oral and motor function have been identified as a common contributing factor [ 93 , 94 ].

Currently no large well-designed study has investigated the risk of failure to thrive in infants following BLW, although one small study suggests that it may be an issue for some infants [ 19 ]. At greatest risk of failure to thrive would be infants whose self-feeding skills are less than optimal and who are left to their own devices, receiving no assistance from their parents.

Although assistance from parents is not encouraged in BLW, some flexibility may be required for infants with poorer self-feeding skills. Wright and colleagues [ 90 ] showed that children with failure to thrive growth faltering were later to start finger foods 7. However the case-control nature of this study does not allow us to determine causality.

Failure to thrive may have resulted from the late transition to finger foods, or preceding under-nutrition could have resulted in developmental delay and lack of energy to self-feed finger foods. Furthermore, children who were later to reach out for food, were also later to achieve other developmental milestones [ 95 ]. The findings from Carruth and colleagues [ 84 ] that successful self-feeders had higher nutrient intakes at 9—11 months of age than those who were not self-feeding, suggests that children following this style of feeding are likely to be consuming sufficient energy.

However, whether this applies earlier in the complementary feeding period is unknown given that no studies have directly measured energy and nutrient intakes of children following a Baby-Led approach. The period from birth to two years of age is the peak age not only for growth faltering, but also for common childhood illnesses [ 3 ].

Others [ 97 ] have also shown high rates of diarrhea and colds in young children. During a period of illness infants may experience decreased appetite as well as decreased stamina for self-feeding. The WHO emphasises that applying the principles of responsive feeding is equally as important as the types of food offered [ 1 ]. For parents following BLW it may be particularly important to follow the WHO principles of responsive feeding at times of illness in order to maintain nutrient intake.

It is likely that BLW may require some modification during times of illness and slightly more intervention from the parent at least until the infant is completely well again. For example, it is possible that some spoon-feeding might be required if a parent felt that the child was not receiving sufficient energy during times of illness. Once an infant masters the ability to pick up food and take it to their mouth, the next requirement for successful BLW is having suitable oral motor function to eat pieces of whole food.

The ability to chew a variety of foods with varying firmness and texture occurs alongside the eruption of teeth seven months onwards [ 98 ]. Furthermore they have developed lateral mobility in their tongue to move food around in the mouth and take food to the back of their mouth for swallowing [ 78 ].

Therefore it seems that most infants at six months possess the oral function to break up soft food in their mouth and move it around in order to swallow it. In fact it may be important that an infant is allowed the opportunity to use their oral skills as soon as they develop. Two studies [ , ] have demonstrated that infants exposed to textures after nine months of age were more likely to have feeding difficulties and be seen by their parents as fussy eaters compared with children who had been introduced to lumpier textures earlier.

Although it is possible that some infants may have developed the oral motor function required to effectively, and safely, eat whole foods before six months of age, it would be unwise—and unnecessary—to attempt whole foods before six months because of the increased risks of inefficient feeding, and choking.

Anecdotally, the most commonly raised concern with BLW, and one that is shared by healthcare professionals and parents, is the risk of choking [ 8 , 17 , 22 , ]. Choking is always a concern with young children and many of the choking episodes at this age are caused by food [ ]. Choking is more likely when hard foods such as raw apple or round coin-shaped foods, including slices of sausage, are offered to children, or when the child is distracted while eating [ ].

When complementary foods are being introduced, the infant is putting pieces of food into their mouth for the first time. This is a new experience requiring the coordination of chewing, swallowing and breathing.

Whether children following BLW choke more than conventionally-fed children is unknown. However, all parents who reported choking also reported that the infant independently dealt with the choking by expelling the food from their mouth through coughing, and that parents did not have to intervene with first aid.

Brown et al. Gagging is very common among all infants and it can persist throughout infancy [ ]. It has been argued that this is one of the advantages of BLW in that the BLW infant learns to eat finger foods at a time when the gag reflex very effectively keeps large pieces of food well to the front of the mouth, only allowing well masticated food to reach the back of the mouth for swallowing [ 7 , 8 ].

Obviously, not all handheld foods will be appropriate for self-feeding. In particular, parents must be advised to offer soft whole foods, and to avoid hard foods such as raw apple and nuts until later in childhood.

The most commonly offered first foods offered at six months of age reported in our earlier work were vegetables steamed or boiled pumpkin, potato, kumara New Zealand sweet potato , broccoli, carrot all of which can be cooked appropriately, i.

It is also essential that children are sitting upright, and always have an adult present when they are eating. If the physical abilities are present to self-feed safely then the next question is whether a BLW diet provides adequate nutrients. A nutritionally adequate diet is essential for achieving optimal growth and development in the first year of life [ 4 ]. While breast milk provides sufficient nutrients for almost all healthy term infants to six months of age [ ], it becomes increasingly difficult for an infant to get sufficient nutrients from breast milk alone after this time [ ].

Therefore, once an infant reaches six months of age, complementary foods need to be introduced to meet the expanding nutrient requirements. This is the time when all infants should receive iron-rich complementary foods such as meat, meat alternatives or iron-fortified foods [ 3 , 4 , , , ].

However, infants following BLW are unlikely to eat infant cereals, given the semi-liquid form in which they are typically offered. Without this source of iron infants could be at increased risk of suboptimal iron status, which is already a concern for many infants [ ]. Alternatively, because the infant following BLW is eating family foods there may be greater potential for a wider variety of iron-rich foods such as pieces of cooked beef, or liver, to be consumed.

However parents following BLW may require clearer guidelines around the types and amounts of high iron foods to offer their infant in place of iron fortified infant cereal, both to ensure adequate intake, and to avoid choking. To date, no research has examined the food and nutrient intake of children following BLW to determine whether they are at increased risk of iron deficiency. The high iron requirements in this age group mean that BLW is not likely to be appropriate for children with delayed motor skills or oral motor function who would need to wait before they could self-feed effectively.

Because it is essential that high iron foods are introduced from six months, it is not advisable to delay the introduction of complementary food beyond days [ 3 ]. Similarly, the lack of dietary intake or growth information means it is not known whether BLW infants are meeting their energy requirements.

It is feasible that lack of awareness of suitable BLW foods means some infants will be offered predominantly fruit and vegetables as the basis of their BLW diet which may provide insufficient energy for their needs.

However, the opposite may also occur; where high energy, nutrient poor foods such as hot chips or chocolate biscuits that come in manageable sized pieces for infants to hold are viewed as suitable BLW foods by parents, although this is not recommended [ 7 ].

Examination of the dietary patterns of children following a BLW approach is urgently required. As young children have sensitive appetite regulation skills [ ], the energy intake of BLW infants should match their needs for growth provided they have the motor skills to feed themselves and are offered appropriate foods.

In fact, allowing the infant to control their own food intake may lead to better self-regulation of energy intake and thus lower risk of overweight [ 17 ].

Although no reliable data exist on the energy needed by infants for adequate growth and physical activity, it is generally accepted that an infant who is growing within the accepted standards is in energy balance [ ]. Only one study has evaluated the growth of infants following BLW compared with a spoon-fed control group [ 19 ]. Globally, many people eat a diet high in salt and sugar that should be avoided in young children. Practically speaking, there will be family foods that are suitable for the infant and many that require modification to reduce salt and sugar levels for example casseroles flavoured with salt, stock, gravy or canned tomatoes.

Family meals are also not necessarily appropriate for infants for whom there are allergy concerns. There is significant variation in national guidelines around what and how foods should be introduced to the infant at six months because of the risks of food allergy. However, more stringent recommendations also exist in some countries, which even advise on the order in which to introduce specific foods [ ].

In BLW, infants are allowed a range of family foods apart from those carrying a choking risk once they reach six months [ 7 ]. Although BLW encourages introducing a variety of foods, it does also emphasize that if there is a family history of allergy or a known or suspected digestive disorder then BLW should be discussed with the health advisor [ 7 ].

Given the current controversy surrounding allergies and the limited research on BLW we have no indication of whether BLW i. However it is reasonable to suppose that if the infant is exposed to family foods, especially mixed dishes, and an allergic reaction results, it may reduce the likelihood of identifying the specific food allergen that causes a reaction.

In summary, although most infants probably have the skills to self-feed safely at six months, more research is needed to determine the nutrient intakes of infants following BLW and to ascertain whether parents need more guidance about appropriate foods to offer, both in terms of choking and nutrient adequacy. Baby-Led Weaning requires teamwork from the parent to offer healthy and appropriate foods and from the infant to self-feed. This means it is also important that parents understand that a different approach may need to be taken for preterm infants or those with developmental delay, at least until they are able to effectively convey food to their mouth, and safely chew and swallow it, and also for those at increased risk of allergy; and perhaps during and following illness.

Several studies have reported benefits of eating family meals together including healthier eating patterns and improved psychological well-being [ , ]. In BLW the expectation is that the infant shares all their meals with a family member. This is important primarily from a safety point of view, as infants must be watched when eating in case they choke, but is also likely to facilitate the child sharing the same food as the rest of the family, and may make prolonged self-feeding attempts while the infant learns these skills more manageable for parents.

However, the family meal research, to date, has focused on children and adolescents and without research on the infant at the family meal we do not know either whether it is essential to include infants at all family meals, or the prevalence of infants being included at the family meal. Instead, studies that have observed infant mealtimes tend to only involve one parent predominantly the mother and use mealtimes as an opportunity to assess specific elements of parenting e.

Proposed reasons for a decline in the frequency of family meals have included changes in employment [ , , ] and family structure [ , ]. For example, there has been an increase in the number of mothers employed full-time outside the home [ , ]. Although some research has shown a decline in family meals, others [ ] have shown an increase in the number of families eating at home. The inconsistencies in the family meal literature are likely due to differences in study design e.

Family structure may affect the synchronization of family meals, with younger 12 years old children reported to share more family meals than older 17 years old children [ ]. This may be due to older children being involved in more activities outside the home e. This is likely to vary from family to family, and some infants may be at home for meals whereas others may be in childcare.

Furthermore, the coordination of meals with the infant, particularly in the first few months of eating 6—8 months of age , may be difficult due to their pattern of eating frequent small meals [ ]. Infants because of their small stomachs tend to follow a pattern of multiple daily feedings, rather than following a traditional pattern of three structured meals and snacks, which may mean that the infant is not necessarily hungry at the time of the family meal.

We have found [ 22 ] that parents following BLW had little difficulty achieving family meals together. Sharing family meals potentially offers benefits for children of all ages, however without research specifically addressing family mealtimes during infancy we do not know if families are likely to achieve meals together, and indeed how important it is for the infant to be sharing family meals with the entire family if they are following BLW.

Managing to coordinate family meals together with the infant may be difficult for some families to achieve and may require a substantial change in family practices, so it will not be achievable for all meals for all families. Continued milk feeding preferably breastfeeding on demand may also be particularly challenging for mothers who return to work. Although the WHO recommends that infants continue to be breastfed alongside complementary food until 2 years of age the research suggests that achieving the recommendation is uncommon in developed countries, with approximately one-quarter still breastfeeding at 12 months [ 80 , 81 ].

It is also uncertain whether this feeding is on demand from the infant, one of the tenets of BLW. However, if the demands upon families mean they do not comply with the expectations of having family meals together and continuing breastfeeding on demand then all is not lost. These expectations are likely to be less important for achieving the potential benefits associated with BLW than the other fundamental components of BLW such as the delayed introduction of complementary food to six months.

Although the prerequisites for BLW, including milk feeding preferably exclusive breastfeeding to six months and not starting complementary foods until six months, may be hard for some families to achieve because of certain social and psychosocial factors, they are not impossible. Very few mothers cannot physically breastfeed their children [ ] and research has confirmed that most healthy full term infants do not need complementary foods until six months of age.

Developmentally the majority of infants appear to be equipped for BLW at six months. It appears that most normal healthy infants will possess the gross motor skills and oral functioning needed to self-feed whole foods successfully and safely, provided that appropriate foods are offered by their parents. However, research is required on whether infants following BLW have adequate energy and iron intakes in particular.

It is possible that such studies will identify a need for specific guidelines to address the energy content of the foods offered, and how often they should be offered to avoid failure to thrive, or indeed obesity as well as how BLW infants can meet their iron requirements as iron fortified infant cereals are usually spoon-fed.

This will need to be done whilst encouraging parents to offer culturally appropriate family foods. Guidelines are needed for feeding infants when they are unwell or recuperating. These guidelines will assist parents and early childhood centers who care for infants following BLW. It is not possible to comment on the appropriateness of BLW for infants in terms of food allergy in the absence of a consensus on the role of any type of complementary feeding in the development and identification of food allergy.

The expectation that family meals will be eaten together may be somewhat difficult for families to achieve because it may require a substantial change in family practices. Continued milk feeding preferably breast milk on demand may also be particularly challenging for mothers who return to work. However, for families who want to follow BLW then these issues will not be insurmountable. Ultimately, the fundamentals of BLW i.

The primary focus of infant feeding needs to continue to be responsive feeding, in particular, responding to infant hunger and satiety cues; being patient and encouraging the child to eat, but never forcing them; and experimenting with different food combinations, tastes, textures. In many ways, BLW provides a framework for infant feeding that encourages responsive feeding. Although BLW is probably achievable for most infants and their families, it may not be the best option for all infants at all times.

Infants with developmental delay or other oral or motor problems would probably not do well following BLW. Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether infants following BLW are able to self-feed sufficiently while they are unwell or recuperating to be able to meet their energy and nutrient requirements without needing some assistance with eating. Ultimately, the feasibility, benefits and risks of BLW as an approach to infant feeding can only be determined in a study in which infants and their families are randomized to following BLW, and their outcomes are compared to those of a control group following standard feeding practices.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Nutrients v. Published online Nov 2. Sonya L. Cameron , 1 Anne-Louise M. Heath , 1 and Rachael W. Find articles by Sonya L.

Anne-Louise M. Find articles by Anne-Louise M. Rachael W. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Baby-Led Weaning BLW is an alternative method for introducing complementary foods to infants in which the infant feeds themselves hand-held foods instead of being spoon-fed by an adult.

Keywords: infant, Baby-Led Weaning, breastfeeding, complementary feeding. This review evaluates the literature regarding how feasible BLW might be for parents in the general population by answering four questions: What is Baby-Led Weaning and when should it begin?

Can parents wait until six months to introduce solid food to their infant? Can parents meet expectations around family meals and continued breastfeeding? Studies were only included if they met the following criteria: Table 1 Search strategies and terms used to identify studies for this review.

Search terms used to identify Baby-Led Weaning studies baby-led. Open in a separate window. Table 2 Examples of foods that can be spoon-fed and the equivalent Baby-Led Weaning option. Steamed to a soft consistency. What Do We Know to Date? Table 3 Studies examining Baby-Led Weaning. UK mothers with infant aged months Online questionnaire Recruited online and from community groups Infants following BLW were more likely to have meals with family and eat the same food as family.

UK mothers with infant aged months Online questionnaire Recruited online and from community groups No association between weaning style SW or BLW and infant weight. Recruited online at BLW websites 2 Infants participated in family meals and generally ate what the family ate.

UK parent of infant aged months Questionnaire There appeared to be an increased incidence of underweight in the BLW and obesity in the SW group significance not tested. However they also had concerns about potential choking, iron intake and growth. Table 4 Two approaches to responsive feeding. Responsive Feeding as Defined by Black [ 24 ] in the Context of Obesity Prevention Responsive Feeding Defined by WHO [ 1 ] in the Context of Health and Illness Ensure that the feeding context is pleasant with few distractions; that the child is seated comfortably, ideally facing others; that expectations are communicated clearly; and that the food is healthy, tasty, developmentally appropriate, and offered on a predictable schedule so the child is likely to be hungry.

Minimize distractions during meals if the child loses interest easily. Risk Factors for Introducing Complementary Foods before Six Months It is obvious that the majority of parents do not achieve the WHO recommendation to wait until six months to begin complementary foods.

Table 5 Factors associated with the introduction of complementary foods. Implications of Waiting until Six Months to Introduce Complementary Foods Ideally infants would be exclusively breastfed until they reached six months of age and were developmentally ready to begin BLW.

However, many unanswered questions remain, including: 1 Do parents who follow a BLW approach generally wait until the infant is six months of age before starting complementary foods?

Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. References 1. World Health Organization. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: Ministry of Health. Ministry of Health; Wellington, New Zealand: Infant Feeding Recommendation.

Cattaneo A. Protection, promotion and support of breast-feeding in europe: Progress from to Public Health Nutr. Rapley G. Vermilion; London, UK: Community Pract. Unpublished work, Do infants fed from bottles lack self-regulation of milk intake compared with directly breastfed infants? Disantis K. Do infants fed directly from the breast have improved appetite regulation and slower growth during early childhood compared with infants fed from a bottle? Brown A. Maternal control of child feeding during the weaning period: Differences between mothers following a baby-led or standard weaning approach.

Child Nutr. An exploration of experiences of mothers following a baby-led weaning style: Developmental readiness for complementary foods. A descriptive study investigating the use and nature of baby-led weaning in a UK sample of mothers. Townsend E. Baby knows best? The impact of weaning style on food preferences and body mass index in early childhood in a case-controlled sample. BMJ Open. Rowan H. Baby-led weaning and the family diet. A pilot study. Moore A. An online survey of knowledge of the weaning guidelines, advice from health visitors and other factors that influence weaning timing in UK mothers.

Cameron S. Breastfeeding during the first year promotes satiety responsiveness in children aged 18—24 months. Black M. Responsive feeding is embedded in a theoretical framework of responsive parenting. Stay nearby and watch your child eat. Food for 6-month-olds doesn't need to be pureed, but it should be the texture, consistency, and size that the child can handle.

For example, don't give a baby sticky foods like peanut butter or hard foods like raw carrot. A very soft cooked carrot would be fine. Soft finger foods are good. Even if a baby doesn't have many teeth, she can still gum foods. Also, it's still a good idea to introduce only one new food at a time for five to seven days to make sure child isn't allergic.

And offer a food multiple times before determining that the baby doesn't like that food. She is a fantastic eater and eats a great variety of food. I also believe it made her a great restaurant eater.

We always got compliments on how well-behaved she was, and people were always shocked to see a 7-month-old feeding herself in a restaurant. I have never felt that because of BLW my son wasn't eating healthy foods. In fact, I thought the opposite because he wasn't getting anything processed. As far as controlled amounts, my son definitely got less food by feeding himself than if I were feeding him, and he didn't know how to say 'no more.

We were really nervous at first about him choking, but in the four months we've been doing this, he hasn't choked once! I'm a huge advocate for BLW. My son will eat anything that I put in front of him and is so excited to try new foods. I like it because it has freed up a lot of time for me. I don't have to sit and spoon-feed at every meal. And it allowed my son to be independent in choosing and eating food. It worked for us because my son was developmentally normal, at a normal weight, and had good manual dexterity, and also because I was able to nurse him quite a lot well past one year.

He also doesn't register being hungry, so if I waited for him to feed himself something he would wither away. If we had chosen to do baby-led weaning, she wouldn't have eaten anything solid until she was almost 3. Check out our Community group on baby-led weaning to see what other questions and experiences parents have had with this technique. BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world.

When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies. Starting solid foods. American Academy of Pediatrics. Brown A et al. Baby-led weaning: The evidence to date.

Current Nutrition Reports 6 Brown A. No difference in self-reported frequency of choking between infants introduced to solid foods using a baby-led weaning or traditional spoon-feeding approach. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 31 4 : D'Auria E et al.

Baby-led weaning: what a systematic review of the literature adds on. Italian Journal of Pediatrics Dogan E et al. Baby-led complementary feeding: Randomized controlled study. Pediatr Int 60 12 : Komninou S et al.

Differences in parental feeding styles and practices and toddler eating behaviour across complementary feeding methods: Managing expectations through considerations of effect size. Appetite , Pesch M et al Baby-led weaning: Introducing complementary foods in infancy. Contemporary Pediatrics. Utami AF et al. Is the baby-led weaning approach an effective choice for introducing first foods?

A literature review. Enfermeria Clinica 29 2 Wright C et al. Is baby-led weaning feasible? When do babies first reach out for and eat finger foods?

Join now to personalize. Photo credit: BabyCenter. What is baby-led weaning? What's the difference between baby-led weaning and baby-led feeding? What are the advantages of baby-led weaning? Churbock does add that some of the foods above can be served if you prepare them differently. Babies under the age of 1 also should never ingest certain foods, including:. Peanut butter and yogurt can also be allergens. Before settling on baby-led weaning, Dr. Parents and babies can also ease into baby-led weaning together.

For example, you might help a baby hold a spoonful of puree, but then allow them to move the spoon to their mouth on their own. There are multiple ways babies can learn how to feed themselves. Learn about baby-led weaning, and what foods are best, and which ones to avoid.

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