Unlike the conventional parent-led weaning, baby-led weaning (hereafter referred to as BLW) is an approach that proposes harnessing the babies' own eating abilities by allowing them to choose what they want to eat based on their interests, and eat at their own pace. BLW is currently gaining ground around the world. Interestingly, in Japan, a book on BLW was translated into Japanese in 2019. Based on foreign literature, there is a possibility that BLW may lead to iron and zinc deficiencies compared to conventional weaning; however, there was no significant difference in choking risk. Benefits such as less food pickiness and less worry about becoming overweight due to self-regulating eating as a satiety response were identified. Overseas, based on the results of BLW and TW (traditional weaning) research, weaning methods for infants are being considered. In the future, while paying attention to safety issues such as choking, we will devise ways to proceed with weaning in consideration of the Japanese diet, and will promptly accumulate BLW research from related fields in Japan. We believe that this would influence the practice of BLW in Japan and its subsequent dissemination.
