Australian Regulators Considering Label Change on Baby Food
I think this is an interesting story. What's happening is that food regulators are thinking about changing the labels on baby food because currently they say that the food is safe for infants over 4 months of age. Why the change? The baby food is perfectly fine, no? From the story:
"The regulator said there was also evidence that introducing solids earlier limited a baby's supply of vital breast milk and potentially harmed the kidneys ... The regulator said between the ages of four to six months, human breast milk or infant formula was generally considered sufficient to meet the iron and zinc needs of infants."
The proposed label change will be toward something more like "around 6 months of age" to coincide with prevailing Australian guidelines. Here in the United States, you will find that most pediatricians and health care providers really only push the 6-months-old time frame for children in families with a history of allergies. Anything outside of that is up to the parent and I never hear much talk about potential kidney damage among parents who start solids earlier rather than later. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that breastmilk or formula should be fed exclusively for approximately the first 6 months, but they also say that 4 to 6 months is the time to start solids. I like the advice from Denise Fields and Dr. Ari Brown in their book Baby 411,
"Any solid food offerings from 4 to 6 months of age should not be considered nutrition ... If you (or grandma) choose to sneak in some solid food from 4 to 6 months of life, view it as a treat. In other words, offer a taste or two of solid food when it is not feeding time."
So, solids are fine at 4 months, but not as a meal and not to replace a formula feeding or nursing. Contrast that, however, with the recommendation of Dr. Glade B. Curtis in his book, Your Baby's First Year Week-by-Week. Week 20's chapter opens sounding like solids are meals that have been going on for some time:
"Your baby is making progress in learning to eat solids. By this time he is probably eating two meals each day of cereal made with breast milk or formula. He may be taking in as much as 2 tablespoons at each feeding."
There are major allergies on both sides of the family, so there was no question about when to start solids for my son. We didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. So, we waited to introduce solids -- although grandma did sneak some in and I about had a cow. I also nursed for quite a long time to try and offer him all the protection I could against that. In the end, he still became allergic to corn, egg, and every plant and tree under the sun. We gave it a go, though.
For those of you who don't have to contend with allergies, how did your health care provider treat starting solids? Was there a strong recommendation to wait or did you feel like it was something for you to consider and decide on your own? When did you end up starting solids and why?
Comments
I started at six months, although our pediatrician said we could start around 4 months. After all I’ve read about “open gut” I just didn’t want to risk it. I’ve known people with sensitivities to certain foods, though none are my family, and it’s not fun to have them. I want to protect my child from that if at all possible.
Shortly after my son turned 4 months, we gave him oat cereal made with formula (I was never able to breastfeed). I don’t think that much of it actually went into his belly for the first several tries and it was something that we did only after a regular formula feeding. It wasn’t long after mastering cereal that we moved on to other kinds of foods, waiting nearly a week between each one to monitor for potential reactions. As a result, my now 26-month-old still loves to eat from a wide variety of foods and we’ve managed to avoid what people will make you believe is the “inevitable” picky eating stage. One disclaimer: there are no food allergies on either side and we avoided certain “taboo” foods until the recommended age (ex. peanut butter, honey, shellfish, etc.).
I started feeding my daughter solids around 4 months but her grandmother gave her bananas a few time before even 4 months. She liked them and she kept fuller longer and still had the same number of bottles. After she mastered applesauce and cereal and the bananas, probably about 5 months then, she tried a new food, mostly vegetables, alost every 2 or 3 days and only with jarred pureed beef did she cringe. She loved everything else! She still isn’t too picky but her favorites include;
Bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, carrots, applesauce, cheese, french fries, and ground & shredded beef. But she really doesn’t like chicken that much, sometimes she even asks for something else if she doesn’t bother trying the chicken. Anyways, as long as allergies don’t seem to be a problem for you or your partner or immediate family, and you keep with a variety of foods (I suggest starting with veggies before fruits), then as long as your baby drinks the suggested formula or breast milk for their age etc.,and your baby is intersted, I think that earlier than 4 months could be the right answer too, and maybe it isn’t, ESPECIALLY if they aren’t intersted!
Our pediatrician told us to start solid foods at 4 months. We tried rice cereal for a few days at 4.5 months; our daughter refused to eat it. So, we tried again at 5 months old and had success. At the time, most of her food and nutrition was still from breastfeeding.
She is now 20 months old, still breastfeeding, and eating 3 good-sized meals every day. She has no food allergies and hasn’t been sick with anything in the past year.
At about 5 months I started my daughter on some cereal but she wasn’t very interested in “food” until she was past 6 months. Her doctor really pushed me to get her to eat. I felt it got in the way of breast feeding her. I made all of her baby food and in time she really took to it. I now know for our next child that it will happen in the baby’s time not when we think it should happen.
My son refused to eat solid foods until he was one year old. Then he practically skipped from milk to adult food. I guess he was just as repulsed by eating baby food as I was by looking at it.
He will eat anything, too. Give him jalapeno potato chips or garlic tuna even, and he’ll gobble it down. Is this common for children in the 1-2 year range, or is my child unusual?
I gave my daughter rice cereal at five months, but I almost felt pressured by family members, message boards, other parents, etc. to try that early. I really wanted to wait until six months. We gave her the cereal for a full month b/f switching to other baby food.
I had been struggling to nurse or at least give my breastmilk in bottles to my twins for the first 6 months of life. Then we moved my husbands country of origin. The day we got there my father-in-law forced baby food down the 6 month old twins throats! I mean talk about trying to get acclimated in a new country …gettting used to the food and allowing me to feel confortable with that country`s baby food…oh boy. I was just forced to do it when I was not ready and I do not think my twins were ready yet either. They had been premature and I had been working so hard to get them to nurse and pump so they could still recieve the breast milk for 6 months. We were seriously thrown into another world and forced to start solids the second we were with my inlaws. I must say it really affected me emotionally and took awile for the babies to react positively!