Author(s): Sarreira-de-Oliveira, P. ; Fernandes, S. ; Ramalho, R. ; Loureiro, F.
Date: 2024
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/46883
Origin: Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Subject(s): Baby-led weaning; Healthcare professionals; Knowledge; Attitudes; Perceptions; Infant nutrition; Review literature; Guideline
Introduction: Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a growing method for parents to introduce food to their kids. As advisers whoaffect the decisions of parents, health practitioners have significant obligations in this regard.Objective: We aim to identify existing literature on the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of health professionalstoward BLW.Methods: We carried out a scoping review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews andMeta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. After registering with Open Science Framework, published articles wereretrieved from EBSCOhost, PubMed, SciELO, ScienceDirect, Open Grey, and the Portuguese Scientific Open AccessRepository. Primary studies with full-text availability in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, and no data publication limitationswere included.Results: The final sample included seven publications conducted in five countries published between 2012 and 2022. Onlyone study employed a hybrid methodology showing incongruent practices in parents/health professionals on BLW, whereasmost studies employed a quantitative approach. Regarding BLW, it is recognized that there is a dearth of evidence, consensus,and advice.Conclusion: Despite benefits, health professionals hesitate to recommend BLW due to insufficient study and safety con-cerns, warranting more research. Hence, our scoping review demonstrated that BLW is a scientifically under-researched sub-ject, indicating a significant research gap that must be filled in the future.
