Health professionals’ knowledge and attitudes towards baby led weaning: A cross-sectional, exploratory, and observational study

TL;DR

This study explores health professionals' knowledge and attitudes toward Baby Led Weaning, finding generally positive perceptions, especially among younger female professionals.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into health professionals' perceptions of Baby Led Weaning, highlighting the need for better training and guidelines.

Findings

Health professionals who are women or younger (23–39 years) have more positive perceptions of BLW.

Acceptance and positive attitudes toward BLW are consistent among health professionals.

Training and clear guidelines for implementing BLW are needed.

Abstract

Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is a type of infant feeding that allows babies to feed themselves and has gain popularity among parents in recent years. Health professionals’ (HP) knowledge and attitudes towards BLW is less explored. We conducted a cross-sectional, exploratory, and observational study, with a web-based instrument, that aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of HP familiar to BLW regarding the use of this method in complementary feeding. In our sample of 118 HP, HP who were women or younger (23–39 years) had a more positive perception of BLW. We found that acceptance and positive attitudes towards BLW were consistent among HP. It is essential to improve the training of HP in the specifics of implementing this approach and to develop clear guidelines to guide practice.

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