Starting Baby on Solid Foods

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Starting Baby on Solid Foods

Starting baby on solid foods is an exciting step in a baby's development. I remember the faces that my babies made upon their first taste of "people food". (If you want to call that stuff people food!)

Regardless of whether you breast feed or formula feed, it is recommended that you delay introduction of solid foods until your baby is 6 to 8 months old. In the recent past, the recommended age for this was 4 to 6 months; however, new studies and research from various sources have pointed strongly to the benefits of waiting until your baby is at least 6 months old.

This is backed up by the fact that most health related agencies have now changed their recommendations to reflect this minimum age of 6 months. These agencies include the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Health Canada, the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, and the Department of Health of the UK.

Starting any sooner than this recommended age can be tempting. If you understand the possible problems that starting sooner can cause, it will help you wait until the right time.

Before your baby starts solid foods, he should be ready:

Developmentally

Your baby should be able to hold his head up with control.
Your baby should be able to sit unassisted.
Your baby should be able to signal you when he is full.
Your baby should show an interest in food.
Your baby should have lost the reflexive tongue thrust. This is when the baby's lips are touched, he pushes his tongue forward. (Great for sucking but frustrating when you are trying to get food to go IN his mouth.)

Physiologically

This is much harder to measure than developmental readiness. Physiological readiness is determined by the maturity of the digestive tract. Research has shown that different enzymes needed to break down solid foods have not reached adequate levels until 6 months or beyond.

What's the harm in starting baby on solid foods before 6 months of age?

May trigger life-long food allergies.
May cause gas, constipation, or other digestive distress.
May lessen the immununological benefits your breast fed baby has for fighting diseases.

Then why do so many people say it's OK to start your baby sooner?

Unfortunately, many people (even doctors, books, and web sites) are working off old information. Current research points to the benefits of waiting until at least 6 months to introduce solids.

One common reason parents want to start their baby on solid foods earlier than this is the hope that it will help their child sleep longer at night. Studies have shown however, that this does not help to achieve the desired result. ( See this report at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. )

For other parents, starting baby food early seems like the answer to weight gain problems. This is also a false assumption since the calories and nutrients in solid foods are a fraction of the same in breast milk or formula.

In instances where there is a family history of food allergies, some pediatricians will recommend waiting until 12 months old before starting baby on solid foods.

Some people may tell you, "I started my baby on solid foods at 4 months, and he never had a problem." This may be true, but based on what we now know...

Is it worth taking a chance?