Abstract
Childhood is a window of opportunity for the prevention of the obesity pandemic. Since “the first 1000 days of life” is a period in which healthy eating habits must be acquired, it should be the target for preventive strategies. Baby-led weaning (BLW) is an emergent way of weaning that could influence children’s health. The nutrition committees of the main pediatric societies affirm there is not enough evidence to support which is the best method of weaning. The aim was to determinate the influence of BLW on the infant’s weight gain compared to the traditional spoon-feeding, and to assess if it could decrease the risk of obesity in children. A systematic review was conducted, following the PRISMA method. Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Out of 747 articles, eight studies (2875 total infants) were included (two randomized control trials, 6 observational studies). Results were indecisive, while some studies seem to demonstrate lower weight gain in infants that apply BLW, others show inconclusive results. The risk of bias in all included studies was moderate or high. In conclusion, more clinical trials and prospective studies should be done prior to providing a general recommendation about the best method of weaning to reduce the risk of obesity.
Highlights
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has increased dramatically in the last four decades, from 4% to 18%, becoming one of the pandemics of the 21st century [1].Overweight children have an increased risk of being overweight as adults, leading to a higher risk for suffering from respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases than children with normal weight [1,2]
The nutritional committees of the main Pediatric Societies affirm that there is not enough evidence to determine which is the best method of weaning: either the traditional introduction of grinded or mashed food using a spoon or the increasingly popular baby-led weaning (BLW), in which a variety of whole foods are presented to the infant, who self-select them and self-feed [7,13,14,15]
This systematic review of randomized controlled trial (RCT) and observational studies assessed the effect of using a Baby-led weaning (BLW) compared to traditional spoon-feeding approach on the risk of obesity in infants
Summary
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has increased dramatically in the last four decades, from 4% to 18%, becoming one of the pandemics of the 21st century [1].Overweight children have an increased risk of being overweight as adults, leading to a higher risk for suffering from respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases than children with normal weight [1,2]. “The first 1000 days of life” refers to the period between the moment of conception and the child’s second birthday and is a dynamic period of extreme vulnerability for the growth and development of the child [3]. This period appears to be the best target for preventive strategies against later medical conditions as overweight and obesity [3,4,5,6]
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