By: Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc, CCHExcerpt from Child Health Guide, North Atlantic Books, Spring 2005
At five to six months it is time to start introducing your baby to the idea that some objects in the world, other than a breast or bottle, taste good. Give your baby tastes of food on your finger or on a small spoon if she expresses any interest. Usually she will make a face and push the food back out at you with her tongue. It takes practice for babies to learn how to swallow solids because a new skill of muscular coordination is necessary to get those solids from the tongue into the throat. Up until now your baby has only ingested food by sucking. There is no urgency to get solid foods into your baby at any particular age. Babies do fine on just breast milk for nine months if necessary. Some babies are more interested in solids than others. Some six-month-olds will be grabbing the food out of your hand. Others seem to show no interest at all. Follow your baby's clues, and keep offering different types of foods. Do not feel compelled to get your baby to eat. Giving too many solids may discourage your baby from the all-important task of breastfeeding.
The first foods for babies, other than breast milk or formula, should be cooked fruits and vegetables and mashed bananas. These simple carbohydrates are the easiest foods for your baby to digest. The enzymes that break down solid foods develop slowly. Start with very simple carbohydrates and gradually introduce more complex carbohydrates and proteins later. Do not start your baby with rice cereal. Grains are too complex, and the early introduction of grains is associated with later development of allergies and the formation of autoantibodies associated with diabetes. Go slowly, introducing one new food at a time, wait two or three days to observe reactions and introduce another.
Common allergic reactions are a rash around the mouth or anus, runny nose, diarrhea, or fussiness. Allow your baby to play with new foods and observe her face afterwards to see if she develops a rash. The most allergenic foods are egg whites, dairy products, nuts, wheat, soy, corn, citrus, and berries.
Infants should get only pureed or mashed foods. Any foods with chunks can cause choking, which is a very serious danger. Of course you need to be vigilant about anything that goes in your baby's mouth. Avoid hard foods and small round foods such as raisins or whole beans until your baby has molars for chewing. Never let your child run or play vigorously with anything in her mouth. A general rule for solids should be, the more teeth your child develops, the more capable she is of coping with firmer foods.
Dangerous Solid Foods: Choking Hazard
- Whole nuts (especially peanuts) until three-years-old
- Popcorn (hulls are dangerous)
- Raw carrots
- Raw apples (watch out for peels)
- Beans unless mashed
Baby food jars themselves contain a chemical that may be hazardous to a baby's health, regardless of the nutritional value of the product inside. Baby food jars contain a substance known to cause cancer, liver damage, and genetic modifications. The chemical, called semicarbazide, is found in the plastic sealing gaskets of glass jars with metal lids. The chemical leaches into the foods contained in these jars. The nutrient content of baby food products in jars may be considerably inferior to their freshly cooked counterparts. Nutrients in single ingredient baby foods (first-stage foods) vary depending on the amount of water present in the jar. The carbohydrate content of first-stage foods is a measure of the amount of fruit or vegetable present compared to the amount of water. The brand with the highest carbohydrate content contains nearly 80 percent more carbohydrate than the brand with the least amount (Stallone, 1995).
I encourage parents to make their own baby food from organic vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats whenever possible. Several excellent books provide detailed instructions for home preparation of foods for children aged 5 months to 3 years, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron being one of the best. I agree with most of her methods except for the use of microwaves, a certain hypervigilance about microbes, and the early introduction of cereals.
Do not microwave your baby's food or bottles. A Swiss study showed that changes in the blood of test subjects could be detected after eating foods cooked in microwave ovens. Several studies observed the formation of known carcinogens when vegetables, milk, meat, and grains were heated with microwaves. Russian researchers also reported a marked acceleration of structural degradation in microwave heated foods leading to a decreased nutrient value of 60 to 90 percent in all foods tested (Lee, 1998).