[umsami]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6762795.stm

Quote:

"After six months (of EBF), Mrs Rapley said babies were capable of taking food into their mouths and chewing it. Therefore, feeding them pureed food at this time could delay the development of chewing skills. Instead, she said, they should be given milk and solid pieces of food which they could chew. Mrs Rapley argued that babies fed pureed food had little control over how much food they ate, thus rendering them vulnerable to constipation, and running a risk that they would react by becoming fussy eaters later in life. "

What do you think of this?? I have no issue with her recommending exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months... but I'm not so sure babies at 6 months are ready for solid pieces of food to chew?

 

[mothragirl]

i think it is great but i'm of the "if they can't eat food then they aren't ready for it" camp.

 

[Dragonfly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mothragirl i think it is great but i'm of the "if they can't eat food then they aren't ready for it" camp.

Me, too. I think for a lot of babies, 6 months is still too early and pureed foods encourage parents to feed them things their systems aren't ready for.

 

[ChattyCat]

I think it's great!

Neither of my kiddos was ready for solid food at 6 months. With ds, I felt a lot of pressure to spoon feed pureed food. He is now fairly picky, although not much more so than most toddlers.

With dd, I shrugged and waited until she was ready. We spoon fed her a little as she closed in on a year, but not much at all. Now at 14 months, she wants to eat anything she can get her hands on. She has turned into such a mooch! She has yet to refuse any food offered, including raw broccoli, curried chickpeas, and black beans (which she loves).

I know that's anecdotal, but it's been my experience.

 

[Mama Dragon]

My babies all have been nearly a year old before anything more then little tastes of other's food is given. I think once they have about 5-6 teeth is the earliest to introduce.

 

[Marsupialmom]

I think we as humans pre-chewed food for our children. Puree I agree isn't natural but pre-chewed I think is more realistic.

 

[Snowdrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthea™ My babies all have been nearly a year old before anything more then little tastes of other's food is given. I think once they have about 5-6 teeth is the earliest to introduce.

Teeth are *not* an indicator of solids readiness. My DD is now, at 13 months, beginning to cut her first tooth. She's been a very avid self-feeder since about six months. Today she ate:

Whole cherries
Cheese cubes
Puffed wheat with milk
Fried tilapia
Orange slices
Leaf lettuce
Mashed sweet potatoes
Dried peas
and other things I can't remember...I think some crackers at a friend's house.

She has eated venison jerky with no teeth. I have no idea how, but she enjoyed it (no, it was not the over-chemicalized commercial stuff).

Sorry to go slightly OT, but it's important. For some babies teeth coincide with solids readiness, but they are not an indicator. As for the article, yeah, of course the only thing missing is that if the baby does not self-feed when given food, the thing to do is to continue EBF.

 

[Peri Patetic]

We did purees (homemade) for DS. It took him forever to get comfortable with solids and he gagged alot on anything not completely pureed. He's very picky and texture is one of his issues.

DD went straight to tablefoods. No issues at all.

Purees were developed I think so that people could get solids into babies at earlier ages than they ought to be eating solids, in the mistaken belief (that persists) that solids are somehow more "real" than breast milk (or even formula).

 

[Nikki Christina]

my 3rd child was interested in food at 6 months old ..we never did pureed foods.. just soft mushy foods that she could mash in her gums..
bananas, peaches,rice, cooked carrots, sweet potatoes & regular potatoes , cooked squash,okra (only really ready soft okra) , cabbage.. etc
she never choked or gagged

she picked it up off her high chair tray herself..mushing it in her palm & then eatting it from her palm..it took her a few months to get around to finger picking it up..

 

[Jennisee]

Obviously anectodal, but my DD couldn't eat chunkier food or pieces of food until well into her second year (no teeth and sensitive gag reflex), so we did a lot of pureed foods until she was almost two years old. Any time we tried to introduce something chunky and soft, she coughed on it. I don't think the pureed foods caused the delay in eating chunkier foods, as she was just a late physical developer--she didn't get her first tooth until 12 months, didn't crawl until 10 months, and didn't walk until 17 months. Rather, I think the delayed physical development came first, and we used pureed food because of it. Chicken and the egg sort of thing.

Now, at 3 years old, she is a great eater who will try just about anything. Lunch today was cheesy scrambled eggs with green onion, raw broccoli, grapes, and apple slices.

 

[applejuice]

I never bought baby food. I always fed my child from my own plate as they desired. That kept my diet healthy also. If I was going to share it with my sweetie, the food had to be balanced and nutritious.

 

[tinuviel_k]

I have no problems with ppureeing or mashing foods. Many animals chew and/or partially digest their food for their young. I don't particularly feel like chewing my daughter's food, so mashing and blending was a good option for us. She wasn't ready for any solids until she was about 1 year old in any case, and at that point she started eating chuunks of soft foods (like beans) and purees of other foods.

 

[Quindin]

Did you know that most baby food I used to buy as a new mom in Denmark actually came chunky? It looked a lot like real food actually. When I moved to the US I was surprised at how liquefied everything looked so I never bought anything. Then again, people in the US begin giving their babies solids A LOT earlier than people in Denmark, so maybe that's why?

I remember reading a research in Denmark that said that kids who were giving strips of the chunky Danish rye bread with topping to eat (like their parents) from about 7 - 8 mos seemed to be better at pronouncing words when they learned to speak. There was something about exercising the jaws and mouth muscles with the chunky bread that helped.

 

[tresleo]

My third baby was not ready to eat solids until well after a year. He had a taste of my food now and then, but nothing substantial.

I did the whole jarred baby food with my first two, before I knew better and I hated it! Such a mess... And honestly, I don't think they enjoyed it much either!

 

[NaomiLorelie]

Actually, I absolutely agree with this. I have never spoonfed any of my children. Whenever they seemed interested i would feed them tiny pieces of solid food, but the majority of their nutrition came from breastmilk until about 18 months or so. I know some kids might have sensory issues, gag reflex problems but most babies can do just fine with small pieces of soft food even without teeth. My first dd didn't cut teeth until 10 months old and my 11 month old now hasn't gotten a tooth yet.

 

[DarkHorseMama]

Picking up small bits of food is also excellent for developing both gross and fine motor skills in babies. Being fed with a spoon by another person does not have that benefit.

 

[beanma]

i _tried_ to feed dd1 homemade organic mushed up stuff, but she would have none of it. it wasn't that she wasn't ready (this was about 6 or 8 mo). she just wanted to be in charge of feeding herself. when i switched to finger foods after about two weeks she took over and happily munched on cut green beans and green peas (two of her faves) and lotsa other stuff, too. she had no interest in purees and still won't eat a lot of mushy stuff like yogurt to this day. she's 6 now, btw. so in my experience this report only confrims what was going on in this house!

dd2 was grabbing for food at 5 mo and her first solid food was actually a swipe of guacamole from a mexican restaurant. she self fed some and would allow me to help her some, too. she doesn't have the puree aversion dd1 does and likes yogurt and applesauce, but she was happy as an 8 month old to nosh with mucho gusto on a whole soft ripe pear or peach or nectarine.

 

[ShadowMom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peri Patetic Purees were developed I think so that people could get solids into babies at earlier ages than they ought to be eating solids, in the mistaken belief (that persists) that solids are somehow more "real" than breast milk (or even formula).

ITA.

However, I don't think it's probably that big of a deal if parents feed their babies pureed food, as long as they seem ready and are interested in it.

 

[Ruthla]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peri Patetic We did purees (homemade) for DS. It took him forever to get comfortable with solids and he gagged alot on anything not completely pureed. He's very picky and texture is one of his issues. DD went straight to tablefoods. No issues at all. Purees were developed I think so that people could get solids into babies at earlier ages than they ought to be eating solids, in the mistaken belief (that persists) that solids are somehow more "real" than breast milk (or even formula).

Actually, I think purees were created when babies were being fed straight cow's milk, NOT formula, and the babies needed more variety in their diets (even though they weren't developmentally ready for them) because they weren't getting enough nutrition otherwise.

Of all my kids, only DS really liked the purees. With the girls, they were spoon fed only a little (I went through maybe a dozen jars of baby food between the two of them) and were self-feeding soft table foods by 9 or 10mo. DS was equally interested in soft table foods by 10mo, but also liked being spoon fed the mushy stuff.

I don't think pureed foods are necessary for most babies, but I don't think they're harmful either- as long as they're not being force-fed too much food too young. I guess the danger is that many parents will encourage the baby to "finish up the jar" and/or will watch the calendar instead of the baby.

 

[Finch]

Some kids have feeding disorders....like my kid....and about half the kids of moms in special needs. Some kids barely tolerate purees, much less anything with slight texture. Some of us have children who are still eating 50% purees in their total diet at age 3.5, and this is considered a vast improvement from when feeding therapy was started. Some of us have children with no signs of self-feeding with utensils anywhere in sight in the foreseeable future, and they will only self-feed with their fingers a very limited list of items. Some of us have kids who recoil with utter terror and repulsion at the sight of something so innocent as a piece of a pear in front of them on the table.

Purees, however "unnatural," are part of my life and my child's life. Stories like this just give people one more reason to pass judgement on the contents of my shopping cart, something I'm already super sensitive about.

Count your blessings and please tread softly, some of us have very raw wounds regarding this issue.

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