Starting solids early

[krisp]

I've just come from an appointment with my Child Health Nurse and we were talking about starting solids. I was concerned that I had started Paisley too early (5 months 1 week) as after 4 weeks she is still no closer to "getting it" than when we first started. She just mixes the food with saliva and pushes it back out of her mouth. To my surprise the nurse said she had just been at a conference and the latest research is saying that we should be starting sooner rather than later in fact closer to 4 months! And she said let the baby feed herself - gave me examples of chunks of watermelon, the drumstick from a chicken. What!!! Has anyone else heard of this? I thought you started on purees moved to mashes, then chunkier, then small soft pieces, have I got it all wrong? I'm very confused now....

[JordieC]

It sounds to me like there are sooo many theories out there but I def hadn't heard starting at 4 months. I have heard about chunky finger food cause that's what we are doing with our 8 month old who is still no where near intersted in food. I have no idea whether starting her earlier would have made a difference or not though. Good luck getting some answers - I'll be interested to see what people say!

[QueenMab]

Sounds a bit like baby led weaning (google it for a tonne of sites & info) to me, except for the starting at 4 months part, basically blw (I am getting organised early for when DD starts wanting some munchies!!) is recognising when bubs starts to get interested in actually eating food, as well as whether or not they are able to hold food (pincer grip) to eat it & sit up enough to eat it. The theory is that if they tick all those boxes then they are ready to start tasting things (because according to the ABA it is all about tasting & textures until a fair bit later) on their own. Oohparently, they are less likely to choke on a steamed piece of brocolli they can control eating on their own, than pureed brocolli one is shoving down their throats with a spoon....

As for your DD not yet 'getting it' I have heard of bubs just on this site alone that don't really start to want to eat on their own anywhere from 6 to 12 months, I'm sure those Mums with that experience will be able to set your mind at ease there.

[MantaRay]

Krisp, I don't want to be cynical, but the MCHN conferences are often sponsored by formula and baby food manufacturers. I am not a health professional, but I think you find that many people who are will tell you that the latest research does not suggest that solids be introduced at 4 months. The recommended age is always going to be contentious.

As QM says, BLW is being talked about a lot atm, although not a new concept and it makes a lot of sense. When babies are ready for solids, they are able to feed themselves finger food. The idea of starting with mush was only introduced relatively recently, when the age that we started feeding babies dropped (to 3 or 4 months at various times). By 6 months, many babies are ready for food and can eat finger food. There is great information out there about BLW and in fact, most of us with more than one child find that after the first we pretty much do BLW by instinct and necessity anyway.

As for your DD not being interested, my first DD was 8 or 9 months before he really wanted to eat anything, and about 1 before he ate any quantity of food. There are always going to be babies who aren't ready until well after 6 months. Which personally makes me wonder why so many people are keen to recommend starting solids at as early as 3 or 4 months. There is no harm done by not starting solids as soon as they are ready.

[BhoysGirl]

Krisp,

I'm a long way from being an expert, but from what you've described about the food being pushed back out, well, it sounds to me as though she hasn't lost her tongue thrust reflex thing, which means she doesn't yet have the skills/maturity to know how to swallow. There's a pretty big school of thought that says that there's really no need to rush the whole solids thing, and that they still get the majority of their nutrition from milk for quite a few months more. I know that my DS has only just started to be consistently interested in solids, but even then we're talking tablespoons at a time, not cups, but as far as I can tell he's pretty normal in his development. THe finger food thing I think is a good way for them to explore texture and tastes, but at 6 months I'd expect it to be just a game, not a way of getting that much into them. Broccoli is good though - I used to cook it with some slices of apple, so that the apple juice flavoured through the broccoli bits, which DS then quite enjoyed sucking on, but there was never much that actually got eaten.

If I had my time again and I had a bub that kept pushing the food out, then I'd just give it a break for another month before trying again. But, that's just me, and not necessarily the right approach for other people. But I definitely wouldn't stress about it...

[fionas]

Studies schmudies. Conferences may have dodgy sponsors but I've worked in academia with academics who desperately try to find something new to study so they will get a grant and carry on being an academic. So there will always be lots of conflicting advice because academics are motivated to challenge the existing advice. And yes, I've also heard that they are thinking of reviewing the starting solids at 6 months advice.

But, if we accept the principle of baby-led sleep routines and baby-led weaning, then I say why not accept the principle of baby-led solids? That means some are ready at 4 months, others not till 9 months. Who cares? Just go on your instinct. If your baby still has the tongue-out reflex (sorry, forgotten the correct terminology) then I'd say she's not ready.

[sangie]

Kris if she is pushing the food out with her tongue then she is probably not ready and I would probably stop and try again in a few weeks. My DD had 'mashed' food for only a few weeks and then we moved onto chunkier finger foods and never looked back. We started a few days before she was 6 months and never looked back but like others have said every baby is different. Good luck!

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

This is a serious issue.

Recently, many Maternal and Child Health nurses (about 500 in Victoria I believe!) Attended a conference run by a formula company, Wyeth. At this conference "an expert" gave this information that "it might" where allergies are concerned help to introduce solids earlier. That was her expert opinion - not a change in policy.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has had many queries via our helpline about this. On Monday I spoke to the Department of Education, Early Years program (in every state other than Victoria Breastfeeding is a health issue - but that's another story!)
The person I spoke to confirmed that the policy of the department as stated on their website is to start solids at 6 months. This has not changed. It is a well researched position.
The person I spoke to also said that "The department had no control over health nurses attending formula company seminars"
Not good enough, I say - really not good enough.
The Victorian Government needs to effectively resource and educate it's Maternal and Child Health Nurses so that they don't need to rely on formula companies for education.
I think that concerned mothers should write to the Minister - Maxine Morand - I will post details of her e-mail address later - or maybe some-one else will - I'm a bit e-mail challenged at the moment

Warm Regards
Barb

[june78]

Krisp if your baby keeps pushing food back out of her mouth then she may not be ready for solids yet. Don't make it too stressful! However eating is something that is learnt so they won't always get it the first few times. I totally agree with fionas on this, that you should go with your instinct. Baby led-everything is probably a good way to go.

Also, I have seen some research lately that is contradicting the current stance of waiting until the 6 month mark to introduce solids. I know not everyone will agree with this and it is important to follow expert guidelines. But again its really up to the individual on what you want to do for you and your child. I started DS on solids before 6 months and he has loved every minute of it. It has worked for us, but you have to make that decision.

[titti]

My DD started solids at 3 1/2 months. She was ready for it, reaching for food and wanting to try our own meal. So we started with mashes (pear and apple at first, then the usual slow introduction of different mashed vegies). I kept breastfeeding all the time though. I think that we should follow our own child pace... mine was early, but she shown all the signs of interest, so we started.
Who knows what will be with the next one... they are all unique.
She is a healthy 18 months old child now and eating everything (loves fruit and vegies and crazy for cheese).
Just trust your instinct and your baby, she will let you know when ready for solids.
xxx

[MantaRay]

Barb, thank you so much for clarifying that. I agree with you that it is wrong for a food/formula company to be "educating" health workers. I have posted before that as State Government employees, I cannot understand why MCHNs are allowed to give out information on a regular basis which is contradictory to the policies of the State Government. It's not even as though they are telling the odd mum that their child might be ready early, in many cases they recommend all babies start at 4 months. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

[MantaRay]

Titti, I agree with you that they are all different and there are signs that they are ready.

But reaching for food is not a sign that they are ready, not on it's own anyway. Paediatric dieticians say the signs are all three of getting teeth, losing the tongue-thrust reflex and showing an interest in food. They stress that the third sign on its own is not enough. If you think about it, they reach for everything at that age - and put everything in their mouths. They don't know it's food, and they are not telling you they are ready for food, they are just following their instincts to touch, smell and taste everything they can. My boys reach for lots of things I wouldn't give them yet - knives, alcohol etc. Reaching for something is not a sign of being ready to have it.

[[M]umma[M]ia]

every baby is different. Just do what u think is right for ur baby. My nefew loved vegemite at about 2 months. but as i said everyone is different

[MantaRay]

Hollye, TBH that scares me a lot. Vegemite is very high in salt and there is no way that a 2 month old's kidneys could process that salt properly.

[christy]

But if it were all up to whatever we feel, why have WHO recommendations on when to start solids?

I'm sorry, but as someone whose children has food allergies, I would be petrified of starting solids early. My DD2 started solids at 6mths 2 weeks and is thriving as well.

[krisp]

It might be a dumb question, but I really have no idea - how is the age solids are started linked to developing food allergies? If it's a BF/antibody issue then OK I get it, but what about FF babies?

[christy]

The thing is that there is heaps of discussion in especially FF babies about not having mature enough intestinal systems to deal with processing different foods. BF babies get different proteins etc through breastmilk, but FF babies don't, they get what they are given regularly and their tums aren't developed enough. Often times with allergies things that are given too early can cause problems. Gluten allergy and cows milk protein are probably the worst allergies, but both of those can be found in formulas, so often those allergic babies get picked up earlier than other food allergies anyway. Or are just diagnosed with reflux...

[Kmn]

There's more information on this here:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundb...08/2226031.htm

In particular
"At the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Dr Mimi Tang's been looking closely at these amazing few months of early life.

Mimi Tang: Importantly, some emerging data suggests that there might be a window of opportunity between four and seven months when you're actually very good at developing tolerance to foods. So your natural body's tendency is when you eat a food to not react to it. You learn not to react to it, you learn to be tolerant of it. And it seems that there is a window period between age four to seven months where foods introduced at that time, particularly if under the cover of breastfeeding, you are very likely to be able to be tolerant to it. It's the optimal time to develop tolerance against foods."