Namastè!
I hope you are all enjoying the afterglow
Baby Namastè's now 16 months old, as you all know. He is still breastfeeding. He is also taking expressed breastmilk in his cuppa, and we've added in almond, coconut, and cashew milk.Some babies his age have eaten solids for many months now. In fact, our pediatrician was pleasantly surprised that he has not.
Many parents go by the calendar or wives' tales to determine when to start solids, most doing so by way of infant cereal added to formula or breastmilk to either reduce crying or help baby sleep.
I didn't take that approach with Baby Namastè.
*Note: I am a blogger. Not a pediatrician. This is not intended to encourage any particular path, simply to share my own. If you deem a different route acceptable, go that way with your head held high! Feel free to listen to your friends/family/doctors/whomever. No judgment here! Remember, most of YOU can have delicious guac. I am allergic to avocado so that same delicious dip YOU can enjoy, might actually KILL me. Just perspective.
Most pediatricians recommend starting solids at 4 to 6 months, depending on readiness. Thankfully we have one who not only recommends delaying, but shows research journals proving the open gut as well as the link between childhood obesity and starting solids too soon.
Readiness means the baby no longer pushes food out of their mouth with their tongue. (While newborns seem totally defenseless, most of their reflexes are designed to give them a little protection--the tongue thrust prevents the baby from swallowing things s/he isn't able to break down properly. Readiness means the baby can sit up unassisted. Readiness means the baby is capable and willing to see the spoon and open their mouth. Readiness means the baby WILL EAT THE FOOD OFF THE SPOON without being forced. Feeding devices like cereal feeder bottles and those silicone feeders with handles (often misnamed, feeding pacifiers--which by the way should not be confused with the VERY SUITABLE AND SAFE mesh nibblers used by older infants for teething with bits of cold fruit) should not be used by anyone in my opinion
Baby Namastè has met all his "milestones" pretty early. At 4 months he knew what spoons were about--but he showed no inclination to eat purees. His silicone spoon was a teether, nothing more. (He would not have gotten solids that early anyway.) Months five and six, same. Months seven to nine, more interest but still refused puree.
I'm a parent who believes in letting the baby lead.
This doesn't mean I am ruled by them. It means I do what they are ready for, not what "I want to do with MY baby." (If you haven't noticed already, that is a group of parents I generally avoid, the "It's MY baby" crowd. No one doubts that it's your baby, but sometimes they doubt your choices when everything is trend based or set by what you want versus what Baby needs.)
It means I follow their cues. When Baby Namastè eschewed my organic mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes, I didn't push. Admittedly it was hard because I had a lot of pressure from well-meaning humans who wanted me to "just give him a bite" or "see if he sleeps better after having some cereal!"
I digress.
I let Baby Namastè decide when we would go to the baby spoons and jars.
Tick through months 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11--he was still exclusively breastfed, consuming only milk and very sporadically playing with bits of food.
Now hee eats when he is inclined. As he learned to "chew," I carefully expanded his organic noms. The rule for us is, all or at least 90% organic at home. I don't mind him having regular stuff, though. I just feed him what I eat. He now eats about 4 small meals per day, and he spends about 3 hours (of 24) nursing. He drinks one 4 ounce serving of coconut, almond, or cashew milk; roughly 4 ounces of water; and we are still waiting for his taste for fruit juice to kick in. No rush, as he doesn't care for it right now and we aren't pushing it! He does not consume dairy, so we give coconut milk yogurt. Due to his diet (tons of mostly organic veggies), he does not miss out on his calcium. I am not vegetarian but Hubby Namastè is, so Baby Namastè's gotten used to having meals from both diets and enjoys both equally.
He eats things like baked sweet potato, steamed carrot pieces (he especially loves purple carrots!), and he's developed an affinity for little broccoli florets. He is game to try almost anything he sees us eat.
Initially I was freaking out because my baby did not want purees. Period. I had a hard time getting him to eat anything at all, and while I knew he would be fine, I was hoping he would be a tiny foodie.
This is the time to begin shaping their ideas about food, though, and I don't believe in forcing anything. Sure, I could give him pureed carrots through a nipple on a feeder. But what would I accomplish besides a full belly for him? I wouldn't be teaching him to eat, I'd just be slamming food down his gullet. Babies naturally suckle so yeah...nothing there.
But in applying a bit more patience to my approach, I learned that he is willing to eat. He desires solids, not puree. He could care less about the adorable spoons and plates (even the silver spoon we planned to use for his very first meal), but he does like texture and color. He likes sitting with us as he enjoys his tiny portions.
Turns out, this approach has a name. It is baby led weaning!
It's exactly what its name suggests. Letting baby lead the way to solids based in their own readiness and willingness.
We often quote doctors, friends, parents, etc when defending our choices with our children or bolstering our stance on said choices. The problem here is, no two babies are alike, and very few milestones occur solely by chronological age. Good but slightly unrelated example--Baby Namastè knows both his father and me by our names, Amma and Dada. He calls us by name, with discernment, and has for a little while now. Most infants do this at about 10 months forward, but he began at around 7 months. But this doesn't mean I would expect all children to do the same. In contrast, Princess Namastè scarcely babbled at all as an infant. My point is, we have to make decisions and conclusions about each child based on that child alone. I can run down each of my children's milestones and the ages they hit them, but that would serve at best only as a mere point of reference. Nothing ironclad.
By letting Baby Namastè lead--as well as using my own noggin--I was assured of two things. One, he was both ready and willing to eat foods. Two, he was actually able.
When we push food by age instead of readiness, we overlook a baby's ABILITY. Swallowing rice cereal is NOT akin to eating a jar of carrots. Eating a jar of pureed carrots is NOT akin to eating pieces of cooked carrot.
Note: I do not like, endorse, or recommend rice cereal for any infant. It's the nutritional equivalent of a candy bar--empty calories. Also, it DOES NOT aid in treating acid reflux. Those calories help baby gain weight often lost during bouts of spitting up. It serves as a thickener, which can be a boon to prevent choking and gagging in infants whose reflux has rendered their gag reflexes hypersensitive. Bottom line, you cannot cure reflux with this stuff. You need a pediatrician, a feeding plan, and possibly medication to control and alleviate the damage done by the acid. FURTHERMORE, PLEASE SECURE THE PROPER TESTING. Spitting up and fussiness don't automatically mean reflux. Reflux can only be diagnosed via endoscopy by an ENT, NOT a series of questions from a pediatrician. You wouldn't let a mortician do your gel manicure. You wouldn't let a secretary do your Pap Smear. So please stop expecting that pediatricians can magically do the work of medical specialists. There are different types of doctors for a reason.
Needless to say, we skipped the cereals and mushes.
I was determined to not be a parent who rushed my baby's infancy. I wanted to revel in each stage. This baby led weaning has been messy at times. We don't use feeders or extra food processing--the most we've done for his food is to take his portion out before adding spicier masalas or sauces. He sits at the table with us, and the only gadgets we use right now are his high chair and his suction cup-bottomed bowl.
It's messy.
I often end up washing veggies from his hair. I'm not sure how they end up there, but I've picked little chunks of chicken or turkey from his diaper. The poops--oy, the poops. We marked the calendar when he eats something red (tomato, bell pepper, cherry, etc) so we wouldn't freak when it passes through again in his bowel movement.
The easiest way to know your baby is ready to have some big noms is to just watch them. They'll reach for your food, and will often thrown fits if they're excluded from mealtime. In our case, Baby Namastè got grabby-grabby and began taking whatever he could reach off our plates. Thankfully his little manners have improved since then. He will eat any vegetable and some fruits, as long as they are not pureed.
When they get that first serving of yumminess, they probably won't eat it. They'll smash it. Squeeze it. Pick it up and put it back down. Even toss it across the room! They may taste a little too.
They'll probably gag periodically, but that's part for the course. If you had been consuming only liquid, then someone gave you something solid, you'd gag too as you figured out how to swallow it! But given time, you would learn.
It would seem that that makes the case to start with purees, and if that's your thing then go for it! But bear in mind this--even a baby who loves his or her purees will eschew them completely once they get a taste of what Mom and Dad eat.
Baby Namastè still gets a good percentage of his nutrition from nursing, and he eats about 4 small meals a day. I let him eat when he is willing, and when he gets full, I let him stop.
Please don't rush to feed your infants, solid foods. Don't let antiquated, outdated, medically disproven ideas sabotage your child's health. To wrap up, let's summarize:
1. Some doctors have and still do prescribe cereal for infants. Remember what their buildings are called--PRACTICE. They aren't necessarily trying to hurt your baby, but some doctors simply do not change their stances regardless of what the research they do proves. They are practicing on us all, and in practice very little is perfect.
2. Cereal bottles do not help an infant with reflux. They slow the spitting up, but that is merely smoothing a symptom. The excess acid production requires medication.
3. ALL BABIES SPIT UP. PERIOD. BREASTFED. FORMULA FED. EVEN TUBE FED. Only in recent years have so many babies been diagnosed as having reflux, and it's because their parents completely ignore or don't understand natural development.
NOTE: Some babies DO legitimately have reflux, but please don't allow a prescription for cereal bottles OR medication without proper testing, which generally would require an ENT visit. Simply spitting up does not mean your baby has reflux.
4. Starting solids too soon, or even overfeeding with formula or breastmilk bottles, stretches a baby's stomach too fast and causes them to overeat. This of course leads to obesity. Which opens the door to a host of problems, of which overeating is only a tiny blip.
5. Babies have tiny tummies--tummies designed for frequent small feedings at first. Accept it. In time, the tiny baby who wants to be fed every two hours will stretch into every 3 or 4 hours...then they'll be sleeping all night! Just be patient.
I hope this helps. As always, feel free to research anything I say and confer with your baby's care team! That's why they exist. I'm just sharing what I myself have learned.
Namastè!
-- Tayè K. ♡
