Solid foods

When a baby starts solid foods is something of a debate, and like vaccinations, it seems there's a generational disconnect when it comes to best practice. What was considered best practice a decade or two ago is a little different than what is considered best practice today. In the case of solid food, this change is rather slight, but present no less. (We're not talking about putting cereal in bottles, or any other misguided advice handed down through generations for whatever inane reason. We're talking about BEST PRACTICE recommendations, the type of stuff research supports, or did then.) Click here to see the AAP's article on it from earlier this year.

It used to be recommended to start trying to give solids at 4 months, and to definitely do it before 6 months. Now they say you can start as early as 4 months, but preferably will wait until 6. This is a small change in wording, but a big change in meaning. The window of opportunity is the same, but the preferred time frame has shifted from earlier to later. This mirrors the recommendation of many national medical associations throughout Europe. It's been working great there for years, and makes perfect sense to me.

I did give Erin and Orren solid foods earlier than 6 months (Erin was 5.5 months, Orren was 4.5 months), but as far as we knew then, the recommendation had not changed. Either way, it wasn't bad or anything. Just, waiting until closer to 6 months may be better, especially for a breastfed baby since a lot of the traditionally given solid foods are more or less empty calories, and breastmilk is a lot better for them than that anyway. Being that Erin and Orren were on only formula by that age, it may have actually been better for them to have solids a little sooner than a breastfed baby would, just because formula is not as nutritious as breastmilk.

That brings me to my next point. The whole rice cereal and purees thing is quickly going out of style. We have learned a lot about this stuff in the past couple years that gave us a great distaste for it in general. In fact, we quit purees and cereals with Orren just weeks after he began eating solid foods. The nurses at our pediatrician's office thought we were nuts (They don't ask what he eats. They ask, "What stage of Gerber is he on?" I kid you not.), but it worked so well to just not us purees that we knew what we were doing was right. We simply fed Orren whatever we were eating, and he fed himself with his hands. We later learned that there is a name for this, baby-led weaning. Click here to learn more about it.

Basically, the idea is that you don't spoon feed purees or cereals. You just give the baby his own food, and let him do it his way. He will eat what he is able to eat. I have found this to be absolutely effective, and encourages a diverse palate as well. Erin, my kid who ate jarred food all the way, is the worst eater I can imagine. Meal times with her are a nightmare every single time, even now. Orren, who did baby-led weaning, is the exact opposite. Coincidence? Maybe a little bit, but probably not entirely. It's pretty obvious what we'll be continuing with Chai.

We also recently learned that the grain cereals are not very healthy to eat. For one, rice cereal is linked to an increase in diabetes. It throws sugar and insulin levels all out of whack. That's something I would pay special attention to. My boys, being of Asian heritage, are more prone to diabetes anyway, and there is a family history on Thak's side of the family (his mom had it) so we're not going to do anything that would increase our boys' chances of developing it. Not to mention, rice cereal is pretty much empty calories, tastes like cardboard, and all of it that's sold here in the US is iron-fortified, which is bad for breastfed babies. The reason that's bad for breastfed babies is because the synthetic iron supplement in it can actually inhibit the absorption of the iron in breastmilk, and cause the baby to become anemic. Talk about counter-productive! In formula-fed babies, this is not an issue because the iron in rice cereal is similar to that in formula, so there's no inhibiting of absorption there. Basically, the old stand-by of starting with rice cereal is something that should be considered carefully before doing it. Some people may still decide to do it, and that's cool, but it's not right for everybody, and we decided, now knowing what we know, that it's not right for us.

Chai will probably start with homegrown squash. If not that, then maybe avocado or banana, just sliced on his high chair tray where he can manage them. He already puts everything in his mouth, so it won't take him long to get the idea. From there, he'll branch out into whatever else suits him, just like Orren did.