Baby-Led Weaning: A Scoping Review Exploring Benefits and Risks in Comparison With Traditional Approaches to...

Complementary feeding is a critical period for meeting an infant's nutritional needs and creating healthy eating habits. Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a newer complementary feeding approach that encourages infants to feed themselves finger foods from the start of solid food introduction.

This scoping review aimed to explore the extent and nature of the available evidence describing the advantages, disadvantages, and safety of BLW compared with traditional approaches to complementary feeding.

PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases were searched for eligible studies. Peer-reviewed studies published in English up until July 05, 2024, that evaluated infants who were exposed to BLW, traditional weaning, or a mixed approach at the start of complementary feeding were included. Screening and data extraction and analysis were independently conducted by 2 authors.

Sixty-three studies and 80 reports were reported in this scoping review, including 19 reports from 5 randomized control trials, 45 cross-sectional studies, 8 reports from 5 longitudinal cohort studies, and 8 qualitative studies. Most studies were conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 27). The most common methods used to measure outcomes in the reported studies included self-reported questionnaires and 24-hour dietary recalls. The evidence was organized into the following outcome categories: food and nutrient intake; eating behavior; growth and obesity risk; developmental milestones; choking risk; parental characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and experiences; and health care professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and recommendations.

Findings from this scoping review suggest a need for stronger study designs that apply objective assessments to measure infant feeding and a clear definition of BLW that can be used across future research.