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Choking hazards similar for BLISS, traditional feeding methods among infants
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Baby-led approaches to introducing solids in the diet resulted in safety outcomes similar to traditional methods, according to trial results published in Pediatrics.
“Despite considerable interest in [baby-led weaning (BLW)] from health professionals, parents and policymakers, only two small studies have investigated whether baby-led approaches increase the risk of choking,” Anne-Louise M. Heath, PhD, senior lecturer in the department of human nutrition at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and colleagues wrote. “Analysis of 3-day diet records indicated that BLW infants were not offered foods posing a choking risk more often than infants following traditional spoon-feeding, but the small sample size and wide confidence interval suggest caution in interpreting the data.”
Heath and colleagues developed a randomized, control trial (Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS, or BLISS) that included 206 infants who were assigned a BLW-based form or control (usual care) feeding approach to determine whether one method was more likely to result in choking or gagging from December 2012 to March 2014. The researchers collected frequencies in choking or gagging from parents at 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 months via questionnaires and daily calendars. The weighed diet records noted at 7 and 12 months were used to assess foods that increased the incidence of choking and gagging.
Analysis revealed 35% of infants aged 6 to 8 months choked at least once in the control and BLISS groups. Infants in the BLISS group gagged more at 6 months than control infants (RR = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.13-2.17). However, BLISS infants gagged less frequently at 8 months (RR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.42-0.87). Parents reported 199 choking events in their children on 894 questionnaires from birth to 8 months, then at age 11 months.
“Infants following a version of BLW modified to address concerns about choking did not appear to choke more often than other infants, suggesting that baby-led approaches to complementary feeding can be as safe as traditional spoon-feeding methods,” the researchers wrote. “However, high proportions of infants in both groups were offered foods posing a choking risk, infants were not consistently closely supervised while eating, and a small number of serious choking events were observed in both study groups.” – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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