Baby led weaning

How long do you have to feed a baby with breast milk? At what point do you have to introduce solid foods into your diet? Are the purées good? These are some of the questions that can daily go through the mind of a mother and whose response will vary depending on each case. The important thing during the first year of life, as indicated by the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (Aepap), is to provide the necessary nutrients so that the growth of the baby is optimal.

Given this, the Aepap indicates that breastfeeding during the first six months of life is the ideal food; After that time, and until two years of age, it must be accompanied by a complementary diet that is guided by the needs of the child, neurological maturity and the interest that the baby provides for the food.

The changes that society has undergone in recent years have meant that in most families the child’s diet is supported in purees, dishes that in addition to ensuring the necessary nutritional input, are easy and quick to prepare.

“The feeding through the purées are not a problem while the psychomotor and emotional development of the baby is promoted from other aspects”, explains Begoña Domínguez, president of the Aepap. “However, tools such as baby led weaning , help the child is an active part of their diet and can help prevent childhood obesity .”

What is it?

The Baby Led Weaning is a method to introduce food in a complementary way that is gaining importance in society and is based on replacing the purees administered with spoon by parents for whole foods that the child is able to catch and take to the mouth .

The key to this technique is that the infant will eat the same foods as the rest of the family, adapted to a size and shape that can be grabbed, as an alternative to crushed foods; thus, it will play an important role in their diet, since although the parents will select the food, the child will decide what foods and at what rate they will eat them.

Normally, the skills to eat autonomously and in sufficient quantities do not finish developing until eight months, so pediatricians say that it is essential that the needs are completed with breastfeeding , formula milk or mixed lactation .

Although specialists point to six months as the recommended age to start the Baby Led weaning, primary care pediatricians indicate that to include this technique:

• The child must have acquired the seat.
• The baby must be able to coordinate the hands to explore and pick up objects, as well as being interested in knowing the characteristics and being able to differentiate the sizes and properties of the food.
• Finally, the infant must have developed the motor skills that will allow him to manipulate the pieces of food, perform masticatory movements and mobilize the tongue laterally to move the food through the mouth and be able to swallow it.

Advantage

The main benefits of this technique are:

• Promotion of breastfeeding during the first six months.
• Promotion of good healthy habits : If the baby led weaning is carried out correctly, that is, the parents follow a healthy diet and take care of their diet, the child will acquire from a child some appropriate guidelines that can continue the rest of his life.In addition, establish some eating habits since childhood is linked to the signs of satiety and hunger and one of the objectives of this type of food is that it is on demand depending on the needs of the child, so it will be essential that you know how to show hunger and satiety with their gestures.
• Promotion of psychomotor development: The child will pick up, touch and handle the food, which will promote the development of eye-hand coordination, chewing, swallowing, etc.
• Prevention of obesity: Food based on purees, porridges and crushed foods will depend on the caregiver of the infant and this can cause, on occasion, an excess of caloric intake.With the baby led weaning the child will select the food and will promote the development of satiety sensations, which will prevent obesity.

recommendations

To ensure that the child covers all energy needs, there is no imbalance of nutrients and the infant does not suffer a choking, it is essential that this technique is supervised at all times by an adult.

In addition, from the Aepap recommend:

• Offer foods that provide enough energy.
• Continue breastfeeding.
• Introduce foods that provide iron daily .
• Constantly monitor the baby and adapt it to their special situations.
• Quickly handle the situation if a choking occurs and learn to differentiate it from an arcade.
• Ask the pediatrician for a list of foods that may be choking hazards.

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