Baby-Led-Weaning or BLW is introducing complimentary foods to nurslings and though doesn’t ward off excess weight, it makes your child– A HAPPY EATER!
Giving infants solid finger meals like broccoli florets and no puree makes your little tikes masters of eating on their own. Observational studies also highlight that BLW encourages babies to improve their eating patterns.
Ms. Rapley, a researcher of – ‘Introducing of Solid Food to Infants’ highlights that- babies should only eat solid food once they develop the ability to feed themselves.
She further adds, “Most parents worry that their little ones may not eat their needy amount when doing it on their own.”
But she reassures by saying that these little tikes are very smart and good in deciding just how much they need to intake.
As mothers have shared their concern on chocking of food when allowing BLW, she brings light to this worry as well. As she stated, “Choking can happen to anyone at any given time. But most literal publications state- the possibilities of chocking are more in traditional modes of spoon-feeding.”
She further gives the logic behind it. A baby, on most occasions, has control of the amount of food which is entering his/her mouth. So, there is less risk of chocks. This is in contrary to a toddler who sucks food from a spoon back to their throat before they are actually ready to handle it.
In lieu to all this, some other research work highlights, BLW could ward off obesity. However, some US nutritionists when drawing out the BMI of toddlers who intake food on their own, did not find any proof that they don’t grow similar with either of the eating styles.
A clinical test was run on 200 Mommy-baby pairs, following both eating approaches. After a year, the average BMI scores of both pairs were pretty much similar. BLW led to produce 10.3% overweight babies while the other method showed 6.4% (a difference which by no means is meaningful)! Both had the same food intake, nutritional count and energy levels.
However, BLW did bring to light some hidden perks. Babies are less fuzzy about their meals; they enjoy eating on their own and it brings about a natural transition. All these stats point towards a more positive experience when using BLW, especially for parents who cherish watching their little angels eat on their own.