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Posted by: mystic_eye_cda on 2009-01-19, 20:52:57
I'm going to let you in on a little secret the baby food industry doesn't want you to know.... ...a baby that is old enough to eat non-milk foods is a baby that is old enough to feed themselves normal every day table foods. Letting a baby self-feed prevents constipation, overeating, insufficient breastmilk/ formula intake and picky eaters (so you don't have to buy all those stupid toddler foods later). My kids eat what I eat, so the total amount of time I spend making their food is pretty much ZERO -and there's nothing to "store ". And it basically doesn't cost anything because I buy less convenience foods/ junk food and buy more whole foods and actually cook. And because I know my kids will eat anything I never have to worry about packing food and taking it with me when we go out or when we go to other people's for dinner. I'm not saying my toddler doesn't have foods he likes better than others, but most of what he prefers is healthy food. I love when he is at my grandmas and he looks in her fridge and asks if he can have the bottled water *lol* or the grapes. Sadly he also have a love of "rubber cheese " (american cheese/ kraft singles/ whatever you want to call it) news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/ hi/ health/ 6762795.stm Solids best After six months, 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. She blamed the food industry for convincing parents that they should give children pureed food. She said: "Sound scientific research and government advice now agree that there is no longer any window of a baby's development in which they need something more than milk and less than solids. " msnbc.msn.com/ id/ 9646449/ Yet experts say children over 6 months can handle most anything, with a few caveats: Be cautious if you have a family history of allergies; introduce one food at a time and watch for any problems; and make sure the food isn't a choking hazard. Parents elsewhere in the world certainly take a more freewheeling approach, often starting babies on heartier, more flavorful fare — from meats in African countries to fish and radishes in Japan and artichokes and tomatoes in France. The difference is cultural, not scientific, says Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee who says the American approach suffers from a Western bias that fails to reflect the nation's ethnic diversity. Bhatia says he hopes his group soon will address not only that, but also ways to better educate parents about which rules must be followed and which ones are only suggestions. borstvoeding.com/ voedselintroductie/ blw/ engels.html#choke Babies who are allowed to feed themselves seem to accept a wide range of foods. This is probably because they have more than just the flavour of the food to focus on – they are experiencing texture, colour, size and shape as well. In addition, giving babies foods separately, or in a way which enables them to separate them for themselves, enables them to learn about a range of different flavours and textures. And allowing them to leave anything they appear not to like will encourage them to be prepared to try new things. General principles of good nutrition for children apply equally to young babies who are managing their own introduction to solid foods. Thus, 'fast foods' and foods with added sugar and salt should be avoided. However, once a baby is over six months old there is no need (unless there is a family history of allergy or a known or suspected digestive disorder) to otherwise restrict the foods that the baby can be offered. Fruit and vegetables are ideal, with harder foods cooked lightly so that they are soft enough to be chewed. At first, meat is best offered as a large piece, to be explored and sucked; once the baby can manage to pick up and release fistfuls of food, minced meat works well. (Note: babies do not need teeth to bite and chew – gums do very well!) There is no need to cut food into mouth-sized pieces. Indeed, this will make it difficult for a young baby to handle. A good guide to the size and shape needed is the size of the baby's fist, with one important extra factor to bear in mind: Young babies cannot open their fist on purpose to release things. This means that they do best with food that is chip-shaped or has a built-in 'handle' (like the stalk of a piece of broccoli). They can then chew the bit that is sticking out of their fist and drop the rest later – usually while reaching for the next interesting-looking piece. As |
