Baby-led weaning can have growth benefits over traditional methods

The popular parenting method of baby-led weaning, in which babies are fed whole, unpureed foods as an introduction to solid foods, provides adequate nutrition, according to the results of a new study. The work was presented today at the NUTRITION 2024 conference in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.

“One of the biggest concerns with infant-led weaning was that it was not known whether it provided enough nutrients to support infant growth,” says Kinzie Matzeller, clinical research coordinator and registered dietitian at the University of Anschutz Medical Campus. Colorado, in a speech. press release.

Baby-led weaning has become increasingly popular among parents since the first research and recommendations on the subject were published in the early 2000s. The approach recommends that babies from around six months can feed themselves solid food with their hands. A more traditional approach is to feed pureed solids, but this is increasingly going out of fashion and proponents of baby-led weaning suggest that allowing babies to feed themselves encourages healthy eating habits.

Despite its popularity, with some online baby-led ‘influencers’ having hundreds of thousands of followers, the method has not been extensively studied.

The researchers studied infant-led weaning in 70 infants participating in a large National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study called the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Trial (MINT). The study looks at the influence of different types of food with a high protein content on healthy growth and intestinal health. This involves caregivers recording all the food babies received over three days, including milk (breastfed or formula) and solid food. Babies who received less than 10% of their calories from pureed foods were considered to be engaging in baby-led weaning. The recorded data was used to calculate the baby’s nutrient and calorie intake, and the baby’s weight, height and head circumference were also measured every month.

The study found that babies fed with baby-led weaning had the same calorie intake as babies weaned with conventional methods and some suggest they may have a higher growth trajectory, although the researchers emphasize that more studies are needed to confirm this finding. to investigate further.

“It’s comforting to know that baby-led weaning provides enough calories for growth,” says Matzeller. “Previous studies have relied on self-report to classify infant-induced weaning. The fact that we used nutritional data sets our study apart from previous research and may help provide a more universal definition for infant-led weaning, which would help standardize research on this topic,” Matzeller added.

The study also found that mothers with higher incomes and higher levels of education were more likely to try baby-led weaning, with the researchers speculating that this could be because families with higher incomes can more easily afford the time and resources required for food preparation. and exploring alternative weaning methods.

Matzeller recommends that parents interested in baby-led weaning try a variety of foods, such as steamed vegetables, small pieces of meat, cheese and soft fruits. All food offered should be presented as sticks the size of the baby’s fist to prevent choking.

“Baby-led weaning can be a great way to include more options and different foods that your little one might not otherwise get. It often takes up to 15 exposures to a food before a baby accepts it, so perseverance is key, Matzeller said.

The researchers plan to continue investigating baby-led weaning in a larger group of babies and also plan to look more closely at the differences between different weaning methods, including the impact on feeding habits as babies get older and differences in the intake of vitamins and minerals.