Study: Spoon-feeding may harm infants' development

A new study finds that baby-led weaning, a popular approach to introducing solid foods to infants and skipping purees, provides ample calories for growth and development.

This method emphasizes the importance of offering infants pureed foods and allowing them to feed themselves "by hand", as opposed to the traditional methods of feeding infants pureed solid foods using a spoon.

Proponents of this approach say it encourages healthy eating habits, as children are self-feeding and can explore a variety of foods.

The research team from the University of Colorado studied this weaning method in 70 healthy 5-month-old babies.

During the study, caregivers recorded the children's intake of all foods for 3 days.

The analysis revealed that baby-led weaning was associated with greater increases in weight-for-age and weight-for-length scores, compared with conventionally weaned infants.

Soft fruits, steamed vegetables, cheese and small pieces of meat are all good foods to try while weaning your baby, because they are easy for babies to hold and chew, the team said.

The study explained that foods should be presented in the form of sticks the size of a child's fist to prevent choking, adding that it is important to provide a varied diet when introducing solid foods to infants.

“It’s good to know that baby-led weaning provides enough calories for growth,” said study author Kinsey Matzeler, a registered dietitian. “It can be a great way to incorporate more choices and different types of foods that your little one might not otherwise get.”

The results were presented at the American Society for Nutrition conference in Chicago.