There is minimal nutritional variance between Baby-led weaning and spoon-feeding

Babies who are hand-fed solid foods appear to take in the same number of calories as those spoon-fed pureed foods, suggesting that this type of 'baby-led weaning' may not have any particular nutritional advantages or disadvantages.

Despite its growing popularity, there is little scientific understanding of baby-led weaning, according to Kinsey Matzeler To investigate further, researchers at the University of Colorado asked the parents of 100 healthy 5-month-old infants living in the Denver, Colorado, area to report their infants' food and milk intake over a three-day period and also to weigh the food on their plates before and after meals to determine how much their infants had eaten.

Parents returned reports of their babies' food intake when they were 9 and 12 months old, and Matzeler and his team measured the babies' weight and size at each time point.

Using food records, the researchers identified 35 infants who were following a baby-led feeding system. Pureed foods account for less than 10% of total caloriesTo compare the groups, the team selected 35 normally breastfed babies who were matched to the babies in the Baby Lead weaning group for race, sex, and whether they were breastfed or formula-fed. Matzeler presented her findings June 30 at the 10th International Infant Nutrition Congress in Chicago, Illinois. American Society for Nutrition Annual Meeting.

The researchers found that daily energy intake, defined as calories per kilogram of the baby's body weight, was not significantly different between the two groups at any time point. The baby-led weaning infants consumed about 22 percent more protein than the other infants at 9 months of age, but this amount had returned to normal by 12 months of age.

At 9 and 12 months, infants who were fed solid foods were gaining weight relative to their age and height, but the differences were relatively small.

“Our experience is that if you were to show us the growth curves of babies weaned on baby powder and babies weaned the traditional way, you probably wouldn't be able to tell which was which,” Matzeler says, “and when you look at the babies, they're pretty similar.”

One key difference was that baby-led feeding was more common among mothers who attended college and whose families had higher annual incomes, suggesting a slight bias toward the middle class, perhaps because these parents can afford the time and money that baby-led feeding often requires, Matzeler says.

The results appear to contradict those of the UK study. Reduced energy intake when starting solid foods and Increased weight gainpictureInfants who drink electronic milk and also drink powdered milkHowever, the exact reason is unclear.

“Further research into feeding is needed to understand whether it has positive health outcomes for babies who follow this feeding style and whether these outcomes are truly due to the babies being fed, or to the socio-economic status of the parents who are more likely to follow this feeding style,” the researchers said. Joe Pierce At Sheffield Hallam University, UK.