question re solids and BLW

[babymango]

I hope this is not the wrong place to post this... I saw there is a CLW forum, but it seems to be more about BF older kids. I apologize if this is not where this post belongs.
I have a 6 months old who just started solids. We're doing infant self feeding, im trying to let him eventually self wean. Im confident that this is the best way to do solids (at least for my child) but like many other moms who give solid solid foods (instead of mushed solids) i've faced doctors and public health nurses who were very suspicious. I've discussed this with other moms and found that this is a common situation. We were trying to find objective research/papers/articles, something that would fit the "evidence based" way of thinking many doctors have. Unfortunately, we really couldn't come up with much. This is why im posting this here, Im hoping maybe you ladies might be able to help.
Here is the original post that started our discussion on the other forum:

This talk about doctors made me think about things a bit. We accuse them on not keeping up, but other than the Gill Rapley book, is there anything published on BLW? Any study or documents that we could show our doctors to help them understand?

[OurGift]

Thanks for asking OP!

[Xerxella]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but why discuss it with the doctor at all?

You're primarily breast feeding and beginning to introduce solids. Whether the solids are chunky or pureed doesn't matter to the medical world.

[blumooned]

I agree with Xerxella. When visiting the doc, you can tell them what your LO is eating (fruit, veggies, meat, yogurt, etc) but you don't have to go into detail. Our doc/nurse usually just asks is he eating meat yet? yogurt yet? etc.
You could also refer to what you're giving your LO as "finger foods" - this term seems more well known than BLW. Our doc actually encouraged finger foods. You could just say, "LO didn't like the spoon/wanted to feed him/herself, so we just started giving him/her finger foods."

I'm not saying this to deceive the doc, I just don't think it is that important to discuss with them. They're trained in medical issues, usually not nutrition or parenting styles.

Sorry, I didn't really answer your question either . . .

[babymango]

I agree that i dont NEED to discuss it with my doc.
BUT, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem... We can't keep blaming doctors for not knowing and at the same time avoiding discussing it. Many parents who go for check ups DO think that doctors are trained in infant nutrition and will follow (almost) any instruction given by the doc. I agree that doctors are not experts in infant feeding, we (parents) are, that's why i feel it is in part our job to make sure that they hear the real story about food in order to stop giving out outdated advice.
And doctors are not the only ones who question our decision. Our moms, MILs, collegues, friends... Some people feel confident enough in their choices that they don't mind being challenged. But that's not the case for everyone.

[blumooned]

I'm replying to "bump" this up to see if anyone can help you.

I guess I didn't really realize there was so much resistance to BLW. I just thought it was another way to serve/prepare the food.

[wombatclay]

I think you may want to consider just what, exactly, you want to show your doctor. Are you looking for studies that explore the best age to introduce solids? the "role" of solids during the first year? The impact of a wide variety of foods on potential allergies? Do you want to explore research into what type of foods are "best" for children? Once you've focused on a specific area of infant feeding then a resource like PubMed/Medline is a great place to find studies from peer reviewed journals.

Purees and soft foods were thought of as ideal "first foods" in part because very young children were being given solids. Older children (6-8months) have physical skills that make purees unnecessary. It's not that "chunks" are necessarily better for a child than "squish", it's more that an older child can self feed chunks more easily. Is that the sort of "statement" you're trying to find research into?

[JMJ]

I think that this would be a good place to start. It has a lot of links to research about starting solids in a way that protects breastfeeding. I think that most physician fears about BLW revolve around two myths:
1) A baby who is given large pieces of food will choke on them.
2) A baby needs to be spoon fed in order to get enough food... possibly because Mom will not have enough milk to make up the difference.

The first myth is pretty easy to dispel. You just say that your baby doesn't have a problem with it, and you take these percautions to make sure that your baby doesn't choke. If your baby were to choke, you are prepared to step in.

The AAP itself recommends that breast milk be the main source of food for at least the first year, and there is a lot of research out there to show that a baby who continues to be breastfed does not need very much nutrition from solids for quite a while. I think that pointing that there is an inconsistency between saying that breast milk should be the main component in children under 1 and placing so much emphasis on nutrition from solids helps.

Mothers who work full time, are pumping to try to keep up with their babies' food needs, and don't feed their babies at night may very well have a hard time producing enough milk to make up the difference if their babies don't eat solids, but most mothers who primarily or totally nurse their babies at the breast and don't try to get them to sleep through the night will have pleanty of milk. If they don't, that is not an issue with the amount of solids a baby is getting, it is a breast feeding issue.

How soilds are presented to a baby is really a parenting issue, and if your pediatrician wants to tell you that your way of doing it is going to be unhealthy, the burden of proof should be on him/her.

[annekh23]

As others have said, it depends what info you want to show your doctor. I emailed our doctor this week because DD still has her tongue thrust reflex at 8mths, which seems late to me, but the reply included not to worry as she didn't need any solids in the first year, as she's breastfed. So if they don't even need it, then does it matter how they are given? A lot of the underlying assumptions of the how and when of introducing solids assumes the baby is formula fed.