Kids Dish

Yesterday I wrote about baby-led weaning, the philosophy that allowing your child to feed himself, rather than spoon feed him traditional purees, is the healthiest way to begin solid foods. I struggled with when to start solids with Sam. Here’s a bit about our early experiences last summer.

When I finally got breastfeeding under control I had grand visions of nursing exclusively until Sam was old enough and developed enough for finger foods. Why start with cereal when I could wait a bit longer and start with something yummy like avocado or sweet potato? Why try to spoon feed when I could let Sam experiment and control what goes into his mouth?

While the AAP recommends starting solids between four and six months most of the breastfeeding literature I’ve read suggests that the longer you wait, the better off your child will be. Starting at four months is fine, but waiting until six is better for exclusively breastfed babies. Babies are less likely to develop food allergies, their digestive systems will be more mature, and they’ll have more protection against illness if starting solids is delayed.

But at our four month appointment when the pediatrician gave us the green light to start solids I began to wonder if my grand visions were too grand. Nursing exclusively, while incredibly rewarding in more ways than I can count, was a huge pain in the ass. Even though Bob was home for the summer, I still only had two hours at a time to myself. Bob could go out alone with a friend for a day, but I couldn’t because Sam was still eating every two to three hours and even if I left a bottle I’d have to pump and what fun is that? Solids started to sound appealing. And it suddenly seemed like Sam was interested in what we were eating. Right around five months he started to watch everything that went into our mouths and grab for whatever it was we were eating or drinking. It looked like he was ready for some real food.

I decided to split the difference and offer Sam cereal. In preparation, I went out and bought a couple of rubber tipped spoons and a box of rice cereal. But then I got home and read the ingredients. I was completely grossed out. At the time I was aware that I’m an adult and when I have an urge to eat something bad for me, like candy bars or cheetos I know exactly what I’m doing. But more often than not, I try to eat foods that only contain ingredients I’ve heard of. Sure, many of the ingredients on the box of rice cereal were vitamins and minerals, but some of them, higher up on the list were not, and if I wouldn’t want to eat it, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to feed it to my son.

I chickened out. I waited for a few days, I bought the book Super Baby Food and I returned the nasty box of rice cereal to the store and gave Sam the spoons to play with. I knew that there are better commercially prepared rice cereals, like this one, but if I’d already waited five months, so I decided that he could wait another month to start solids for real. Despite my moment of hesitation I stuck with my vision. I waited.

We didn’t wait for much longer though. Tomorrow I’ll write about some of Sam’s first foods.

starting solids, breastfeeding, baby-led weaning, rice cereal