# FILE NAME: 00002569.soc
# TITLE: Are ‘baby-led’ weaning diets a better way of introducing solid foods to babies than spoon-feeding? [973117fb672ba579793a04ad3a6479e2]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 5
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 2
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - Baby led weaning diets are a great way to introduce food to a baby, it gives them the full experience from exploring textures, temperatures, and smells to the full autonomy of working out how to eat the food. It also allows the child to eat as much or as little as they want. Soon feeding babies can end up force feeding the baby as the guardian may worry they are hungry, whereas baby led allows them to listen to their body so can help reduce food problems in future. It can also help  reduce aversions as the baby has had chance to explore a range of textures and food as it comes naturally. Not all babies would be suitable to do baby led feeding so spoon feeding has benefits to babies who would otherwise be unable to eat non pureed food.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - I believe both of these have their benefits, spoon-feeding is great for parents who want to feed their babies and slowly introduce them to this new way of feeding. Yet baby-led weaning does offer more benefits in my opinion. It can be extremely messy - I have a 15 month old and therefore know all about this first hand. But babies are supposed to play with their food and explore at their own pace. This has a huge impact on promoting their confidence and independence, experiencing different textures and temperatures, and also allows them to develop their fine motor skills. Babies can begin this from as little as 5 months old, however it's important to ensure that the food is served age-appropriately and that they're supervised at all times. 
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - I don't really have an opinion on this, and I have no real idea what 'baby-led' diets are. 
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - I simply don't know enough about the subject to have an opinion. In general, I'd instinctively expect a 'baby-led' weaning diet to be a better method, but I'd certainly need to find out more to be sure that it was the case. I'd be inclined to trust expert opinion on this subject.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 5: Statement 5 - I think baby-led weaning diets may well be better for introducing solid foods to babies than spoon feeding .  It is a more sensory process over all, the baby can touch and smell the food easily.  You can give the baby a variety of food to put in its mouth, it may be a quicker way to wean  baby as it can copy it's parents eating different things.  However, I think whatever way a parent wants to feed it's baby is down to them.
4: 1,2,5,4,3
1: 2,1,5,4,3