New Survey Results: Dietetics Students Need Starting Solids Training [Infographics]
First off, for those who don’t know me yet, let me introduce myself.
Who is Jessica Coll?
I was one of the first registered dietitians in Quebec to teach Baby Led Weaning (BLW) workshops back a decade ago. Since then, I have created a global community. Through my International Starting Solids Network for Health Professionals, I equip health professionals with all the resources to teach their own starting solids workshops along with continuing education courses.
Watch this video to find out more about me:
I was one of the first dietitians in my province to teach BLW workshops. After a few years, a dietitian asked me if she could use my material to teach workshops in her city. That request sparked something much bigger: the International Starting Solids Network for Health Professionals. Today, I'm proud to support a global community of health professionals, one CONFIDENT starting solids journey at a time.
My New Study: Assessing Dietetics Student Starting Solids Knowledge
I conducted a survey recently on dietetics students which found that 47% of dietetics students are not confident with starting solids.
With 0 being I know nothing and 10 I know everything, 47% rated their knowledge to be a 4 on 10 or less. Astounding, no?!
Also, the study found that 56% of dietetics students have never seen a baby eat or if they did, they can’t even remember.
New dietitians are starting in the workplace with very limited knowledge and confidence with starting solids.
This was me.
There was so much information out there that was conflicting. What I decided more than a decade ago, was to do all the research on my own, a full literature review, experimentation, and eventually I started teaching BLW workshops to parents. Back then I was the only one of two dietitians in my province that was teaching those workshops. After a few years, a dietitian asked me if I could sell her material to her so she can learn from me and teach workshops in her own city. That's when my International Starting Solids Network for Health Professionals was launched. I now have a global community of health professionals that pay me a yearly membership to have access to everything they need to teach workshops, along with continuing education training and support.
I Can’t Believe These BLW Myths Are Still Circulating…
I came across loads of starting solids misinformation tidbits that are still being shared in dietetics school and among groups of health professionals in 2024 (!). Here are the main ones I found recently:
Can babies eat enough with BLW?
One controversy is that babies won’t eat enough with BLW. This has been debunked by 4 major research articles published in the past few years. We found that babies who self feed are more in tune with hunger and satiety cues. A study by Neves in 2020 surveyed 458 healthcare professionals to assess their perception about the benefits of BLW based on their experience with clients. Most healthcare professionals agreed that a BLW approach to feeding was advantageous in terms of encouraging self-regulation and satiety among other benefits.
The bottom line here isn’t about BLW versus purees.
It’s about trusting the baby's ability to feed themselves and trusting that the baby knows how much to eat, just like we’ve done since birth.
Coming back to the survey I performed, I asked dietetics students who should be the one deciding what quantity the baby should eat.
51% answered it was either Health Canada, WHO or the caregiver. However, it's the baby who decides how much to eat. About half the dietetics students got this question wrong. This is alarming…
If you are a new dietetics grad, a dietitian, occupational therpist, physical therapist, pediatrician, doctor, lactation consultant, registered nurse, speech language pathologist or early childhood educator interested in working with babies starting solids, I created a free 30-minute webinar just for you.
I know that health professionals LOVE research articles so you’ll get access to my list of research articles about BLW when you sign up for the webinar.
