When it’s time to add solid foods to your baby’s diet, is it best to do the traditional method of spoon-feeding them purees, or is it best to let your baby feed themselves soft finger foods?
The second method, called “baby-led weaning,” has exploded in popularity over the past decade, but many parents and caregivers are concerned about whether it will lead to healthy development or whether it could have negative effects.
Nutritionists at Colorado State University are trying to solve this problem that affects countless babies. Researchers evaluated 150 infants from six months to one year old and compared baby-driven weaning food to typical pureed weaning food and found that babies in the two groups received similar calories and nutrients and grew at the same pace.
This study is the first to correlate diet and growth data and scientifically compare growth outcomes from two weaning approaches. Although specific health indicators were not assessed, the findings suggest that healthy growth and development can be achieved if baby-led weaning relies on a variety of healthy foods.
“These findings reassure parents and caregivers that babies after baby-led weaning grow at the same rate as babies after conventional weaning,” said Professor Ming-Hua Tan, Lillian Fountain Smith Endowed Chair in Nutrition in the CSU Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
Tan and doctoral student Kinsey Matzeler, along with colleagues from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, conducted the study and published their results in the journal June 24. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“Baby-led weaning is very popular, but there hasn’t been a lot of research-based evidence about whether it’s better than traditional weaning or whether it can be harmful,” Tan said.
These findings help close the gap by showing that babies after baby-led weaning develop on the same trajectory as babies weaned with a spoon. ”
Minghua Tan, Colorado State University
Matzeler said he finds it rewarding to provide parents and caregivers with information that is evidence-based rather than anecdotal.
“I feel relieved to be able to rely on research and am optimistic that parents may not have to worry about healthy growth if they choose baby-led weaning,” she said.
Supporters of baby-led weaning, including social media influencers, point out that this approach encourages babies to eat the same foods their families are eating. Adjusting your intake based on hunger cues can lead to healthy, long-term eating habits. It also improves fine motor skills and promotes the development of the nervous system.
According to Tan, there are important things to keep in mind for successful weaning. Among them: the baby must be developmentally ready to feed on its own, it must eat soft enough food cut into small pieces to avoid choking, and it must be provided with a healthy diet.
Solid foods are usually introduced at about 6 months of age, when babies are still receiving breast milk or formula to meet most of their nutritional needs. From 10 months to 1 year of age, most babies get about half of their nutrition from solid foods, Tan said.
The new study has several distinctive aspects.
- It specifically defined baby-led weaning as relying on pureed foods less than 10 percent of the time, rather than relying on general instructions from parents or caregivers.
- Meal records were analyzed to determine exactly how many calories and nutrients were consumed each day.
- The study correlated dietary intake with monthly growth data to understand and compare the effects of weaning with baby food versus traditional weaning.
This quantitative, or data-driven, dietary assessment provided objective results that parents and caregivers could rely on when making weaning decisions.
The popularity of baby-led weaning food has skyrocketed in recent years, reflecting the way most families fed their babies before processed foods became the norm, Matzeler said. Blended baby food is now commonly available in bottles and bags.
The baby-led weaning study is the result of a larger research project led by Tang called the Maternal and Child Nutrition Trial, which investigated over 18 months how different protein-rich foods affected babies’ growth and gut health. This trial is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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colorado state university
Reference magazines:
Matzera, Kuala Lumpur; others. (2026) Associations with complementary feeding approaches, dietary intake, and growth: A secondary analysis of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Trial (MINT). Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2026.156376. https://www.jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(26)00091-2/abstract.
