More than milk, introducing solids to your baby

Today's topic: Introducing solids into your baby's diet.

There are two main ways to do this, purees or baby-led weaning, which is sometimes referred to as a current trend in feeding your baby. However there are other ways I'm sure, but here in New Zealand those are the only two that I know of.

We strive to have independent children, we want them to make their own decisions and figure out the world for themselves. We could wrap them in cotton wool and molly-coddle them until they are ready to leave home, that way they will always be our "baby". When do they ever stop being our baby? We know from our own experiences that allowing babies and children to experience things in their own time, form their own opinions and make their own decisions creates independence and confidence. When did society strip the independence and choice when it comes to babies and solids.

I have my own opinions about this whole introducing solids debate and I will try and voice it here, I will not however favour one method over another.

Introducing solids in most countries is recommended to begin when your baby is around the 6 month mark but no earlier than 4 months. This is due to a baby's digestive track not being mature enough to cope with anything but breast milk or infant formula. Here in New Zealand the Ministry of Health have the following view on when to introduce new foods:
"Babies should be exclusively breastfed (have breast-milk only) until they’re ready for – and need – extra food. This will be when they’re around six months old." New Zealand Ministry of Health Website

I realise that that statement doesn't mention formula feeding and I could not find anywhere in the introducing solid section any mention of formula being the main food. When looking at a second website I found the following reference on the Healthed website:

"Breast milk (or infant formula) gives babies all the nutrients they need up to around 6 months old. From 6 months babies start to need food as it provides extra sources of nutrients, such as iron. Also, babies have usually grown and developed enough to start eating solid food. Breast milk (or infant formula) is still very important."

Here in New Zealand the Ministry of Health advises that babies be around 6 months of age before introducing solids. I have scoured both their website and the Healthed site and could not find anywhere reference to 4 months being the minimum age. For that information you have to go onto the Plunket site.

Both the World Health Organisation and UNICEF advise that babies should be breastfed exclusively until 6 months and continue to be breastfed for up to two years plus. They also advise that complementary foods be introduced from 6 months onwards.

Adequate nutrition during infancy is essential for lifelong health and wellbeing. Infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while continuing to breastfeed for up to two years or more. - World Health Organisation

After reading multiple websites and publications I have found that all agree on the following things:

• Breastfeeding is considered to be the best form of nutrition for babies with formula being used when breastfeeding is not possible.
• Solids or complementary food should be introduced at about 6 months. The reason why it is "about" 6 months is that some babies are developmentally before and some after 6 months. 
• Solid/complementary foods should be offered in a form that is suitable for your babies development. 

Now that the age of starting foods is clarified lets talk texture.

Here in New Zealand the recommended way to introduce solids is to start with purees, then mashed, then lumpy and finally finger and table foods. So what that basically breaks down to is smooth and runny, then thick and mashed and finally minced and lumpy.

 After reading the publications put out by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF website, Gerber.com, forbaby.co.nz, among many others my understanding is that purees or "stage one" is for babies in the 4-6 month age range as they have yet to develop the skills to chew and swallow thicker chunkier foods. Yet once they reach 6 months and older and have developed the chewing/swallowing skills to handle thicker mashes and textured food is fine and so on from there.

Originally before I started to read up on it all I wondered where the puree/mash/lump/fingerfood approach came from. I had assumed that it was just some outdated approach to solids that no one really questions these days. I think this could partly be because I read Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley before fully reading up about infant feeding. I now stand corrected. The World Health Organisation guidelines follow the mashed food route.

Now onto baby led weaning.

This approach to introducing solids is based around giving your baby the food to feed themselves in whole form not purees. The food however does have to be at a state/softness that it turns to mash when baby gums it, so basically the food just before you put it in the blender or attack with the potato masher. It is all about giving your child the control and independence over food.

One of the primary concerns with baby led weaning is that as your child is controlling what goes in their mouth you cannot measure how much they ingest and whether it is enough. But as with the puree method you as the parent give the food and can therefore ensure that what they are eating is healthy and full of essential nutrients.

I myself can see the benefits of both the puree/mash route and baby led weaning. Puree/mash is what is recommended by most health care professionals.

I started to write this post when I was first reading up and looking into feeding methods before starting my son on solid foods. He is now 9 months old and eating amazingly. The route I followed was in no way conventional and I did not just go with one method.

I waited until he was about 5 and half months old before introducing solids. He was showing all the classic signs at about 4 and a half months but I had decided that I wanted to start him as close to 6 months as possible. At 5 and a half months he was holding his head up really well, could sit supported and would keep food in his mouth. The true indicator however was when he grabbed a piece of pizza crust off my plate at dinner one night and proceeded to gnaw on it actually ingesting some in the process.

I did not start with the cereals but with a piece of plum. He loved holding it, sucking on it and exploring it. From there I introduced pureed apple among other foods. I did not stick to the finger foods of baby led weaning or just purees, I mixed and matched dependent on what I was comfortable with as a parent. Now at nine months my son will quite happily feed himself and quite efficiently too. But then he will also eat off a spoon with no arguments or issues.

I have always allowed him to be in control no matter what he is eating and right from the word go, if he wanted to hold the spoon to put it in his own mouth then so be it. By letting him take control of the spoon it meant that I didn't have to battle him to get the food into his mouth or play tricks to get him to open his mouth for the spoon. He learnt early on how to turn the spoon over once it was in his mouth to suck or lick the contents off that way none was wasted. In the early days there was a lot of mess as he got the hang of holding the spoon, but there was also a lot of mess when I gave him finger foods.

There is no hard and fast rule about the methods to which we should introduce solids to our babies diets. It is up to the parents and what they feel is right for them and their baby. Some babies prefer the baby led weaning approach while other prefer the puree method each baby is different. I do feel that as a parent you should do a bit of reading before starting so that you can know make an informed choice.

Listed below are links to the sites and publications that I read and explored while writing this so please browse through them and see if any are helpful for you and your baby. Please note any listed as WHO is for the World Health Organisation

Watties ForBaby Website
Gerber.com
UK NHS pamphlet found on the UNICEF website
Babyledweaning.com
New Zealand Ministry of Health


World Health Organisation links

• Infant and young child fact sheet
• Complementary feeding
• Infant and young child feeding publication
• Guiding principles for complementary feeding of the breastfed child publication
• Guiding principles for feeding non-breastfed children 6-24 months publication
• Complementary feeding: Family foods for breastfed children publication

Disclaimer: I am just a stay at home mum with no prior qualifications so have voiced my opinion and understanding on all the information I read. I am in no way a health professional and advise to talk to your health care professional before starting your baby on solids.