I sent the following to an email list about this topic. (I have slightly edited it for readability) The woman asking about solids was looking at specialized tables that have been "scientifically" calibrated to tell you what texture to introduce, how often during the day, and in what order to be sure that the child doesn't have texture issues later on. What?!?
This is a soapbox for me... I have heard over and over and over and over again that if you don't feed your kids solids until they are older they will have food aversions or texture issues. I personally think that barring something like autism, this is mostly hogwash IF the family eats a variety of textures etc themselves. Children want to do what we do. Most families eat things that are all the same color, similar texture, etc. Most families today eat a lot of processed junk and don't have variety. Furthermore, these families often want their kids to "eat healthy" so they start pushing foods that they themselves won't eat and is it any wonder the child refuses!? I am the mom of 3 and have delayed solids with all 3. They are the least picky kids I know.
Here is my method:
First and foremost, recognize that as teeth come into the mouth, more and more enzymes for digestion are produced. The last enzymes produced are those which are for the digestions of grains. This happens when the eye teeth come in. I think part of this is due to the fact that you MUST chew your grains thoroughly for the enzymes in the mouth to combine with the grains. This is where the primary digestion of grains occurs. Therefore, I delay the introduction to grains until well after a year. Furthermore, I use sprouted grains because they are better for the body.
Second, I wait until the child has lost the tongue thrust, has teeth, sits unassisted, has a pincher grasp, crawls with the belly off the floor, and is grabbing for food. The grabbing for food I am referring to is not the imitative grabbing at 5-6 months. Babies at that age grab at anything. I am talking about purposeful grabbing of food. Until then, I give them spoons to play with or special dinner time toys during meals.
Third, I only give them what is on my plate- I don't un-spice things, make special baby food, or puree foods. I literally feed them what is on my plate. If there are some soft cooked carrots, I might mush them with a fork, but that is usually the extent of my blending foods. I don't do baby food. I have the opinion that if they can't mush it up themselves in their mouth, they really shouldn't be eating it yet.
Fourth, I follow their lead. As they get more teeth, I will put salad, etc on their plate. Salad is kind of hard to eat, so I usually put 1 piece of lettuce etc and expect them to play with it more than chew it. But, they are used to the variety of textures and colors when I do this. I don't stress. I have one who refused food at all until 8 months and then it was a taste here and there because I didn't really want to feed him solids. At 11.5 months he insisted on 3 square meals with the family. One was 11 months before she would taste foods and began to eat at 14.5 months. One was also about 11 months before tastes and then she began to eat at about 16 months. The last one was a partly delayed in eating because I didn't bring her to the table for dinner time until she was nearly a year old. I did this because she was content playing and I didn't think she needed the food since she was well above average for weight and height on nothing but breastmilk. At about 11ish months I felt like she ought to be part of the family at meals and so I began to bring her to the table and she started to take an interest in what we were doing. She is now 2 1/2 and she asked for her second bowl of salad tonight complete with red leaf lettuce, tomatoes (she will eat an entire chopped tomato by herself while I turn my back to get the lettuce washed if I don't pay attention. Then I have to go chop another tomato!), red peppers, and green cabbage with a little of my Annie's Goddess dressing knockoff. My other daughter got angry with me last night because I made some kale salad and ate all of it- kale massaged with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, a tiny bit of greek spices, sea salt, and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds and a chopped tomato.
All of my kids loved spicy (garlic) and lemony hummus by 18 months. Yesterday's lunch was hummus with carrot sticks and celery sticks. No complaining.
So, I think that as long as YOU don't live on chicken fingers and fries and white rice and iceberg lettuce you can raise a healthy eating child without special equipment or specialized feeding schedules or introducing foods at 6 months before a child is truly ready to eat.
2 comments:
I just LOVE reading your blog! I think I have commented before(I am a friend of Katie's from BYU). Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for sharing your ideas on your blog.
Also, I had a few questions. If you are too busy to reply, I understand, I have 2 little ones of my own...but just in case you want to post some more info on your blog... I have a little one who is almost a year old, and mostly breastfeeds. Recently, his iron was tested and they said it was too low and that at this age he couldn't get enough iron from breastmilk. They suggested a liquid iron supplement. I was hesitant abou this because I would rather have him get it in a more natural way, such as food. DO you have any advice?
Also, I have recently been reading about digestion and how fruits should not be eated with vegtables because they are digested differantly...What do you know about food combinations? Are there certain foods that should be eaten at differant times than others?
Also, do you ever post your favorite recipes?
Thank you and I understand if you don't respond, I'm sure many people have inquiries for you, and I always am happy to read what you post anyway. Thanks, Jenni
Most breastfed babies are anemic according to medical testing by about 8-9 months. My personal opinion is that the doctors are comparing the statistics of blood iron levels to that of formula fed babies and therefore, they would tend to have more iron. Formula has huge quantities of iron in it, to make sure that the baby absorbs something. Also, they start eating iron fortified rice cereal very early. I personally believe that if God wanted babies to have high blood iron, then he would have made them have high blood iron. In other words, when babies are fed the way that nature intended them to be fed, and they all test "low" maybe it isn't that they are low but that the other babies are high because they are getting artificial foods. If you are worried about it, I would give my baby red raspberry leaf tea (unsweetened) or make a small fruit smoothie with plenty of greens in it) but I would not give a synthetic iron supplement to satisfy a test.
As for food combining. I tend to stick a bit with Dr. Christopher on this one- he always said, "Go ask a Gorilla!" In otherwords, does the Gorilla spend his day making sure that he hasn't eaten fruit in a given amount of time since he ate a vegetable or does he just eat wholesome foods?
Now, for sick people, this may be true. I just have a hard time believing that a person was designed to spend their day worrying about how long before the last type of food was eaten. does that make sense?
I guess for me it is similar to the blood type diet thing. Yes, there is some truth to ancestral foods, but considering that two people with similar ancestry could have different blood types, I don't think it works to say certain people eat x foods and certain people eat y foods. Those weren't necessarily their ancestral foods anyway. Again, that is too complicated.
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