Feeding My Little Bird

My little guy is FIVE months old!  How the heck did that happen?  It's amazing how quickly the time has passed and at the same time, the days seems so long.  Everyone has said that would be the case and they're right.  He's growing beautifully and has these sweet little chunky legs, full cheeks and dimpled hands.  It's a good time to talk about feeding, since he's at the right age for introducing solid foods and I've had several friends ask me about it. 

Disclaimer: Before I start, I want to say that I'm doing what works for us.  It's what I'm comfortable with as a mother and as a registered dietitian.  By sharing this, I'm not giving you advice on what you should or should not do with your child.  If you want to do something different, that's certainly your prerogative.  The truth is that there are several schools of thought on infant feeding and none of them is absolutely proven to be the very best way to feed babies.  I suspect that the best way is the way that leads to the most enjoyable meals and the least amount of anxiety around food.  My practices here are based on my experience, as well as my understanding of the available research and best practices.

When it comes to feeding kiddos, I have a specific perspective.  First, I want to raise a child who likes a variety of flavors, textures, and foods.  I like food.  It's adventurous and exciting.  I want to raise a child who also likes to explore food.  Second, I want to introduce a variety of healthy, nutritious, homemade foods to develop a preference for that kind of eating.  I cook every day.  I don't rely on many convenience foods or restaurant foods and we only eat out a couple of times a week (often only on date night), so there's plenty of from-scratch goodness to be had here.  Finally, I want to do what I can to reduce the potential for food allergies - if possible.

Roasting sweet potato and pumpkin is super easy for making homemade baby food

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Here's a super brief summary of the research/experts (not meant to be an exhaustive summary): The American Academy of Pediatrics says that solid foods can be introduced at between 4 and 6 months and, at the same time, they recommend exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months.  Recent research indicates that waiting too long to introduce solid foods, particularly potentially allergenic foods, may increase a child's risk for developing food allergies.  And to complicate things more, there's been at least one study that has shown introducing wheat too early (before 4 months) may increase the chance of developing celiac disease (for those with the genetic predisposition).  There appears to be a symbiotic relationship between environmental exposure to food proteins and complementary feeding, whereby tolerance of potential allergens may be developed when foods are introduced via both routes at the same time.  Also, concurrent breast feeding may provide some additional benefit for allergy prevention.

So, I decided to wait until about 4 1/2 months to give my guy his first taste of something besides breast milk.  The first introduction had two goals: (1) To test his readiness for trying solid foods.  He'd been watching intently and mouthing, so I thought he might be ready.  (2) To introduce the concept of eating something besides breast milk and to introduce a spoon.  He was so excited and enjoyed his first meal of rice cereal!  Rice cereal is a good option, because it has almost no potential for causing allergic reaction, has a very mild flavor, and it can be easily thinned, so it's just a little different from breast milk.

Once we introduced the idea that food doesn't only come from mommy, we were off to the races.  Now we're focusing on the adventurous eater part.  My little bird has tried pumpkin, apple, sweet potatoes, pear, pineapple (which he LOVES), avocado, potato, carrots, banana, cauliflower, orange, homemade whole wheat bread, and rice and oat cereals.  He's also had tastes of Tikka Masala, tomato basil pasta sauce, and kale and bean soup - and the tiniest bite of rotisserie chicken.  So far, he still has a little tongue thrust working (this is when a baby instinctively sticks out their tongue when you put anything in their mouth), so he's mostly tasting, although he will enthusiastically eat cereals and some fruit.  I will let him taste almost anything that I'm eating by putting just a drop on the tip of my finger and touching it to his tongue.  The idea at this point is not to replace breast milk (he only eats a teaspoon or so of anything else), it's just to introduce him to eating and to the varied tastes of food.  And the truth is that he's tasting so much of it via breast milk anyway.

Homemade applesauce is as easy as steaming and pureeing some peeled sweet apples.

After we've introduced a few more vegetables and chicken (again), we will begin the process of introducing potential allergens (8 allergens are responsible for 90% of reactions in the US - milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy and wheat).  I'll likely start with eggs, since they are naturally mushy and easy to eat.  Then, whole milk yogurt, peanut butter, and fish.  He's already had wheat and soy and tree nuts will come some time along the way.

As he becomes more interested in food, we'll increase the amount of solid food that he gets and he'll begin to have snacks and "meals".  At this time, he's getting rice or oat cereal and/or a mashed fruit or veggie each day (just a couple of teaspoons), plus a taste here and there of whatever is going on the table.  Breast milk will be his primary source of nutrition for this first year, decreasing over the next 7 months as he eats more and more solid foods. Infant cereals will also be an important part of his diet, since they are fortified with Iron, an important nutrient for little ones.

Here are a some other things to keep in mind:

• No matter what you feed your child, make sure it's developmentally appropriate and is not a choking hazard!
• Children with a first degree relative with food allergies are at higher risk for developing them.  If this is you, talk to your doctor before beginning solids for advice. The evidence at this point supports introducing just as you would if the child did not have this risk, however you will want to be sure there isn't some need for extra caution.
• Go slow, but not too slow.  There's no need to wait a week to introduce something new, but do give yourself enough time to watch for allergies.  I don't usually introduce more than one food a day, but I also don't usually wait more than a couple of days for a new food.
• My son likes flavorful foods.  Probably because I eat a lot of variety and he's always experienced that - first in the womb and now via breast milk.  It's okay to give babies foods that have spices and herbs in them, as well as combination foods once they've shown tolerance to a variety of single foods.  Watch the salt and avoid added sugar, because babies don't need that.  Never give babies under 1 year of age honey, because they could get very sick (botulism).
• Do not shovel food into your child's mouth.  Allow them to guide you.  I'm very sensitive to my son's attention and mouth and hand movement.  When he's done, he looks away and turns his head.  He will even push away my hand.  That's the signal that we're done and I respect his autonomy to decide that he's done eating.  If he doesn't open his mouth, I don't force him to take even one bite.  I'm allowing him to respond to his internal cues too, since he knows if he's hungry or full, or if he's just not into whatever I'm dishing up at the moment. I love Ellen Slatter's concept of the division of responsibility around food.  Parent decides what will be served and when and child decides if and how much they will eat.  If a child rejects a food, it doesn't mean he will never like the food.  Children often require a food to be introduced many times before they accept it.
• Allow children to explore using all of their senses by holding the food and/or spoon in their hands, but always supervise infants and toddlers while they eat, since choking can happen very quickly.  Proponents of baby led weaning promote this heavily and I agree with the importance of children being able to have the full experience of eating - it should be fun!  One example we've tried is pineapple.  This fibrous food is too much for my son to eat right now because he doesn't have any teeth...but he sure can gum the heck out of a spear of the core - as in the picture above!  He holds it in his hand and chews and sucks on it.  He loves the sweet flavor of the pineapple and he gets to hold it and look at it and, when he's done, toss it.  We've done this with semi-firm pear pieces, watermelon, avocado, bread crust (use care with bread, however as it can quickly become a choking hazard), and boiled potato.  Be mindful of fruit and vegetable skins as they can choke babies.

That's it for now.  I think we're on our way.  My little bird is doing great with his new adventure in eating and taking his time.  I hope this is helpful for any of you starting solids with your little one too.  Have fun!  Be healthy!!