Psychology Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Background
This article reports the development and validation of a measure of parents' use of baby-led weaning (BLW). BLW is a child-centred approach to complementary feeding where the infant is allowed to eat whole foods (rather than purees) and explore a variety of foods and textures. To date, parents' use of BLW has been assessed using either single items or a wide variety of measures.
Method
In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on independent samples supported three BLW subscales: independence, exploration, and family.
Results
The final 13-item scale showed adequate fit statistics and good reliability (χ2(62) = 115.02, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.05; SRMR = 0.06; exploration a = 0.738; family a = 0.715; independence a = 0.809). In addition, the scale demonstrated good external validity and related in theoretically expected ways to an infant feeding-style measure and parent report of complementary feeding approach. This study was limited as it was mostly white parents, and the scale should be validated on a more diverse sample.
Conclusions
Future research can use this scale to examine if BLW relates to infant taste preferences, parenting styles, and child eating behaviours to improve child nutrition and health outcomes.
Copyright Statement
Publisher PDF
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Repository Citation
Studer-Perez, Emma and Musher-Eizenman, Dara, "To Feed or Let Eat! A Scale of Independence, Exploration, and Family to Measure Baby‐led Weaning as a Complementary Feeding Approach" (2022). Psychology Faculty Publications. 60.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/psych_pub/60
Publication Date
11-3-2022
Publication Title
Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
Publisher
Wiley
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.13110