Allan: 4 Myths About Feeding Your Baby | Modern Alternative Mama

Julian at 8 months feeding himself avocado

There is a plethora of information at the disposal of parents today regarding feeding your baby. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know what is good advice, what is well-intentioned and what is just plain wrong, especially when people you trust, such as your mom or pediatrician, are the ones doling out the advice. I hope to dispel some commonly held ideas today and give you encouragement to do what is best for your child regardless of what others think.

Myth # 1: The best first food is rice cereal.?

What is the best first food for my baby? Ask your pediatrician and the answer will most likely be rice cereal. Unfortunately, any grain-based food is not a good choice when starting solids with your baby. The Weston A. Price foundation, a source I highly respect, has this to say,

?Grains, nuts and seeds should be the last food given to babies. This food category has the most potential for causing digestive disturbances or allergies. Babies do not produce the needed enzyme to handle cereals, especially gluten-containing grains like wheat, before the age of one year.?

The needed enzyme, pancreatic amylase, is not produced by the body until at least one year of age, although some experts say it is not fully produced until somewhere between 5-12 years of age (1, 2). After researching this, my husband and I decided to wait on feeding our son any grains until all of his first year molars came in. For us, that meant that we have been eating grain-free as a family for about a year now. My son?s molars recently all came in and, while we plan to introduce properly prepared grains slowly over the next few months, I must say that after we discovered how delicious ?baked goods with almond flour (such as these muffins) are over the past year, it would be hard to cut that out completely!

Myth #2: You must wait ____ days between introducing each new food.?

Some websites say three days, your pediatrician says five and your best friend?s grandma says two if your baby is a girl and four if your baby is a boy. In my research, I could find no evidence that this is necessary. My best guess is that this idea surfaced because of how young most babies are when they are given solid food for the first time. Any reaction to food they are given is more likely than not due to the fact that their little bodies are not ready to consume anything other than breast milk. Delaying solid foods until at least 6 months of age may make a big difference for your baby. For my family, we chose a baby-led approach to feeding, which means that your baby eats what the rest of the family eats. I can assure you that I do not feed my family one food at a time and I do not want to spend any more time preparing food than I already do. Not only is this ?rule? unsubstantiated, it is rather impractical!

Myth #3: Babies are ready for food when ________.

Only you truly know your baby. There is no magical milestone that clearly indicates your baby is ready to eat solid food. While there is certainly a ?window of opportunity? to introducing solid food to your baby, usually between 6-9 months, there is no one indicator, be it age, weight or sleep patterns. It is also interesting to note that several reputable sources (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) suggest that?all babies be?exclusively?breastfed (no cereal, juice, water etc.) for the first 6 months of life. I don?t know about you, but our pediatrician began recommending rice cereal when our son was merely 4 months old. I politely told her we would not ever be giving him rice cereal and that was the last I heard about that! Kelly Mom?gives several good reasons why exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of age is the best choice. For my family, we chose to keep our son exclusively breastfed for 8 months.

Myth #4: Babies need baby food.?

When I was pregnant with my now 17 month old son (and before I started researching real food), I knew that when the time came for introducing solid food to him we would not be buying jarred (or boxed, pouched, plastic encased) baby food. While my parents, in the late eighties and mid nineties, did occasionally use jarred baby food, they also tell me stories of throwing whatever they were having for dinner in the blender to feed my sister and I. I figured that would not be too difficult and would definitely save some money. Then, when I started researching real food, I realized that not only do babies not need jarred baby food from the grocery store, but they don?t even need pureed food. What a relief this was to me! I had visions of myself standing in front of the blender for hours mixing up food for my little guy.

I came across this book?in my research and, while I don?t agree with everything the author suggests, her idea were the catalyst I needed to firm up my philosophy on feeding my baby solid food. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, we adopted a baby-led feeding (you may hear this called baby-led weaning, but I don?t like that term because it insinuates ceasing breastfeeding, which was not our goal in the least bit) approach, which means that we fed our son what we ate. We did not spoon feed him (except when eating something like soup), but rather put the food directly on his high chair tray and let him at it! Sure, this often times resulted in a messy baby and a messy floor, but, for my family, the benefits of feeding him this way far outweighed the mess.

What About Toddlers?

Julian at seventeen months feeding himself brown rice spaghetti

I have spent quite a bit of time talking about babies, but what about toddlers? How does this look in real life? To be honest, when we are at home, I don?t often think about the food/lifestyle choices we make as being counter-cultural. It isn?t until we are out in public at restaurants, extended family events, church potlucks or even in the nursery on Sunday mornings that I am reminded that we are, for lack of a better term, odd.

Our son ?has never eaten typical kid food. Chicken nuggets, fish crackers, animal cookies, puffs etc. have no place in our home or in my toddler?s tummy. He eats what we eat for meals and snacks on real food, like raw milk cheese cubes, organic raisins and mushrooms. Since he chose to stop breastfeeding, he drinks non-homogenized, low temp, vat pasteurized whole milk (we don?t have a source for raw) and filtered water.

I don?t say these things to brag (I am certain there are families out there who eat better than we do!), but to offer encouragement to other mommas (and dads!) who are worried about the choices they are making for their little ones. You may be given blank stares, scoffed at or even openly ridiculed by others, but hold your head up high and know that you are doing the best you can with the information you have available.

If you need a source of in-depth information on baby and toddler feeding, plus healthy recipes they?ll actually eat, try Breast to Bib! ?And yes, you can even find homemade chicken nuggets in there.

Other Sources

There are several e-books available to help you navigate the waters of baby feeding. One of my favorites is Kate?s Breast to Bib! Here are also some other blog posts that cover this topic that are worth perusing: