New baby led weaning research

[ljmarsden]

I've just been looking at some research which was published looking at baby led weaning last month.

This study was performed on 155 children and indicates that babies which follow a baby led weaned approach appear to be more likely to develop healthier food preferences when they are older.

This makes sense to me as this weaning method allows a baby to choose the (solid) food they eat for themselves from 6 months. In the book Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley it explains that babies who are intolerant to certain food types will actually often naturally avoid the food in question when they are given the choice. I also find this research reassuring as my baby has been weaned on this approach but it is still not very common so I like reading all the research which backs it up.

[DoubleSunshine]

That is great news! I think anything parents can do to get children to eat healthy and teach them early on to make ealthy choices is fantastic. While I didn't use the Baby-Led weaning method, I did make my own baby food and the textures were thicker, the flavors were truer (not watered down) and the variety of foods I offered my children were much more diverse thatnthe babyfood flavors you buy in the stores. My husband thought I was crazy making brussel sprout babyfood They ate it though.

I happy to report that neither of my boys are picky eaters. They each have a couple of things they aren't crazy about but that is to be expected. Everyone has their own preferences. The boys always eat whatever I fix without complaint, which makes dinner time a very enjoyable experience because I'm not a short order cook making something different for everyone. I watched my Mum do this with my very picky eating brother and it just looked exhausting