Pureed Food Unneccesary

[BellyBelly]

Putting this up for Barb #2

Babies need real food

Spoon feeding babies pureed food is unnatural and unnecessary and could lead to health problems such as obesity, constipation and babies becoming picky eaters Gill Rapley, deputy Director of UNICEF's UK Baby Friendly Initiative has warned.

Rapley who has been in involved in maternal and child health for 25 years, said children should be fed only milk for 6 months. Breastmilk, continues as a major source of nutrients for the first 12 months and beyond, while babies are weaned onto family foods to improve their control over what they eat.

"I found so many parents were coming to me with the same problems - my child is really picky, my child is constipated." Through these observations and her own studies, Rapley developed her program Baby Led Weaning.

"In 2002 the World Health Organization backed research that found that breastfeeding provided all the nutrition a baby needs during the first 6 months of life and that giving baby other foods during this time would dilute the nutritional value of the milk and might even be harmful to the baby's health."

Rapley believes the baby food industry is responsible for promoting the unfounded belief that babies need pureed, commercially produced foods. "Sound scientific research now shows that there is no window of opportunity in a baby's development where babies need more than breastmilk or less than solid food."

Australian Breastfeeding Association spokesperson Barb Glare said that whilst the National Health and Medical Research Council's guidelines clearly supported Ms Rapley's stance, baby foods were still able to be advertised as suitable from 4 months. "This is leading to a huge amount of confusion amongst parents who are trying to do the right thing," she said.

Gill Rapley will be speaking in Australia this week at the Australian Breastfeeding Association's Breastfeeding: A work of Heart Seminar series.
For more information, and to arrange an interview with Gill Rapley, please contact Barb Glare 0418 579 420

[fionas]

I tend to go with my instinct - people have been doing that for thousands of years without studies.

It has worked with her sleep - so I did the same regarding feeding.

So, I started feeding solids at 4.5 months because she was VERY interested in what we were eating. She would stop crying when she saw us chewing, for instance PLUS she was getting increasingly bored with bottles.

As far as I'm concerned that was taking a baby-led approach and I'm a big believer in letting your baby guide you. As I said before, 100 years ago we would have just gone with our instinct and I would have started feeding her solids at that time without feeling confused by often-changing guidelines on what's the right or wrong time.

[Claire]

My boy is 5 months now and has began grabbing for my food etc but I see this as interest rather than hunger. He breastfeeds 2.5-4 hourly and seems happy with this. I'm planning on skipping the mushy food stage this time around and going straight to finger food when he shows all the signs of being ready.

With my daughter I started her on solids at 5.5 months and pureed all her food at home. I remember she got constipated quite early on and so I stopped the pureed food and breastfed until the constipation had gone. That taught me to slow down with the solids.

My daughter was diagnosed with dairy allergy quite soon after solids were started. I'm hoping to avoid that this time by delaying solids with my boy.

[Rouge]

I dunno I can see what he means. We started solids with Paris early and we had worlds of problems with sleep, allergies and all sorts of things. With Seth we didn't push him, we waited till he would want to swallow and he didn't start solids till 10 months and then didn't really have 3 meals till 12 months. Now he eats everything and we haven't had any problems at all. I guess for me there are lots of things we've done over years and we thought we were ok iykwim but I can see the results for myself. I guess the reason they are advising this is because whilst some kids might be fine, its obvious some aren't and you don't know how your child is going to take it until its too late. So for me I wish I had known that before I started Paris on solids. It doesn't hurt them to wait, they don't starve and they don't stop growing so for me its not worth the risk. They will be eating their entire lives no need to rush these things.

[sangie]

Interesting article and yes I agree that having baby food labelled '4+ months' in supermarkets is confusing for parents.

I agree with Fiona on the baby-led idea. I have to say that although I look at the guidelines I go with my gut and do what I think is best for my DD - she gets a combination of finger foods, pureed foods and of course milk.....to be honest, guidelines seem to be constantly changing and what is recommended now will probably be 'shock horror' to the next generation. I look at what my mother did with me (solids at 4 months, cows milk at 6 months!) and she was doing what was recommended to her at the time.

[Tanya]

All my girls except for Bonnie started solids at 4 months MAX! They needed pureed/very smooth foods... really it was a pain!!

Bonnie has just started solids a couple of weeks ago (about 6 months). OMG it is so much easier starting at 6+months!! Foods don't need to be smooth, they can cope with lumps and less effort goes into their meal preparations!!

I can understand why some ppl don't want to wait to feed solids, but it's definitely worth waiting!!

[BellyBelly]

I think it's okay to follow guidelines from credible organisations though. As a population we now live longer and are healthier from what we have learnt about health. And I have stopped buying soy products as the Australian Cancer Council released a statement (which I posted on BB) that it can accelerate/contribute to cancer. So thank goodness we have organisations out there looking after our health and helping us make better decisions.

[River]

I am the same as Tan, my first ones were on solids earlier, but my 4th waited until about 7.5 months to keep any solids down at all. Only at about 8 months did she eat at all, and now at nearly 9 months she eats a bit. I only occasionally give her pureed food, and it's only usually a tin of commercial baby food when we are out or just stressed at home and cannot find anything suitable for her to self feed.

I posted this in another thread, it's a really good plain view look at it from a Mums point of view.

tribalbaby.org - a baby-led introduction to eating solids

(just on another topic, her article on Breastfeeding is awesome and inspiring tribalbaby.org - breastfeeding protects, supports and reassures your baby )

I think the labelling needs to be changed, amazingly one of the lables says not just 4+ months, but 4-6 months, indicating that by the time bubs is 6 months they should be well past the point of needing that 'baby' food.

Pureed foods have their place IMO, because its not always possible to have the situation of letting bubs feed herself, but it must be remembered the how much bulk of food you get into a puree, which is why they get constipated. If a baby were to eat the amount of unpureed food in a serve of puree, it would be an adult serve, so pureeing should be a now and then feeding tool I reakon.

As for the age of baby feeding, instinctively humans start feeding babies solids way later than is encouraged and practiced in our society. Babies are made to start somewhere closer on 12 months eating properly, its a societal thing starting earlier in their lives.

[Mel6374]

My boy is 5 months now and has began grabbing for my food etc but I see this as interest rather than hunger. He breastfeeds 2.5-4 hourly and seems happy with this. I'm planning on skipping the mushy food stage this time around and going straight to finger food when he shows all the signs of being ready.

With my daughter I started her on solids at 5.5 months and pureed all her food at home. I remember she got constipated quite early on and so I stopped the pureed food and breastfed until the constipation had gone. That taught me to slow down with the solids.

My daughter was diagnosed with dairy allergy quite soon after solids were started. I'm hoping to avoid that this time by delaying solids with my boy.

Hi Claire
My baby, Jack is 7 months old and since starting solids a month ago he's had constipation. I went to a dietitian last weekend who seems to think he might be intolerant to dairy (via my breast milk) because he's had eczema since very early on and also has had a lot of wind since day one (hard to settle etc). So, I've now gone dairy free to see if it makes a difference. The thing I'm confused about is most of the symptoms of dairy intolerance seems to be the opposite of constipation. Do you have any words of wisdom? It's difficult seeing him crying everytime he does a poo and I really want to help him out as best I can.
Cheers