Baby-led complementary feeding, or letting infants feed themselves all foods once complementary feeding begins, has been proposed to improve calorie intake regulation, reduce food fussiness, and protect against overweight. 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. The BLW infant also shares family food and mealtimes and is offered milk (ideally breast milk) on demand until they self-wean. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many parents are choosing this method instead of conventional spoon-feeding of purées.
Baby-Led Weaning will not suit all infants and families, but it is probably achievable for most. Observational studies support these claims, but more-rigorous studies are lacking. A randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Pediatrics…
