Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Traditional complementary feeding (TCF): Overweight/obesity risk
- Population
- Healthy, term-born, normal-birth-weight infants aged 4-24 months (breastfed and/or formula-fed) in Western industrialized countries
- Intervention
- Baby-led weaning (BLW)
- Comparison
- Traditional complementary feeding (TCF)
- Outcome
- Overweight/obesity risk
Among observational studies, baby-led weaning was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity than other feeding models (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.55), but certainty is very low.
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Other models of complementary feeding (traditional CF) Overweight/obesity risk · Healthy, term-born, normal-birth-weight infants aged 4-24 months (breastfed and/or formula-fed) in Western… · Follow-up interval 18-78 months, Outpatient care in Western industrialized (European/Anglo-Saxon) countries, BLW; observational studies Among observational studies, baby-led weaning was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity than other feeding models (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.55), but certainty is very low. Complementary Feeding Caregivers' Practices and Growth, Risk of Overweight/Obesity, and Other… (2022) All outcomes | OR 0.37 [0.25, 0.55] | 3 studies · 969 participants | Very low |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complementary Feeding Caregivers' Practices and Growth, Risk of Overweight/Obesity, and Other Non-Communicable Diseases: A Systematic… 2022 All outcomes | Updated to September 2021 | 24 | Low / Critically Low |
Related questions
The same intervention and outcome, asked in another population or against another comparator.
- Baby-led weaning (BLW) vs Other models of complementary feeding · Healthy children aged 6–24 months in Western industrialized countries · 1 review
Studies behind the findings
The primary studies the full-text reviews tie to this outcome. Reviews with headline outcomes only do not list them here.
- Baby-led weaning versus traditional weaning: the assessment of nutritional status in early childhood and maternal feeding practices in… · 2020 · included by 1 of these review
- Early influences on child satiety‐responsiveness: the role of weaning style · 2013 · included by 1 of these review
- Baby knows best? The impact of weaning style on food preferences and body mass index in early childhood in a case-controlled sample. · 2012 · included by 1 of these review
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.