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Starting Solid Foods
Handout #16. Starting solid foods. Revised
January 2005
Written by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC. © 2005
Many health professionals suggest starting solid foods
at four months of age. However, most babies do fine with breastfeeding
only to six months of age or even longer. You should start your
baby on solids when s/he shows signs of being ready for
solids, not by the calendar. See below. Health Canada and UNICEF
recommend breastfeeding exclusively to about six months.
Why start solid foods?
- Because there comes a time when breastmilk no longer
supplies all your baby’s nutritional needs. (This does not
mean, as some uninformed people say, that there is no
nutritional value in breastmilk after the baby is six months old.)
A full term baby will start requiring iron from other sources
by 6 to 9 months of age. The calories supplied by breastmilk may
become inadequate by 8 to 9 months of age, although some babies
can continue to grow well on breastmilk alone well past a year.
- Because some babies not started on solids by a certain
age (9-12 months) may have great difficulty accepting solid foods.
- Because it is a developmental milestone that your child
passes when he starts solid foods. He is growing up. Usually,
he will want to eat solids. Why stop him?
When to start solid foods
The best time to start solids is when the baby is
showing interest in starting. Some babies will become very interested
in the food in their parents’ plates as early as four months
of age. By five or six months of age, most babies will be reaching
and trying to grab food that parents have on their plates. When
the baby is starting to reach for food, grabs it and tries to put
it into his mouth, this seems a reasonable time to start letting
him eat. There really is no reason to start on a specific date (four
months, or six months). Go by the baby’s cues.
In some cases, it may be better to start food earlier.
When a baby seems to be hungry, or when weight gain is not continuing
at the desired rate, it may be reasonable to start solids as early
as three months of age. Starting at three months of age when things
are going well, however, is not recommended (see above). However,
it may be possible, with help, to continue breastfeeding alone and
have the baby less hungry and/or growing more rapidly. See Protocol
to Increase Breastmilk Intake by the Baby. See also handout
#25 Slow Weight
Gain After the First Few Months for reasons your milk supply
may be down. Check the videos at www.thebirthden.com/Newman.html
so that you can use the Protocol better. But if the techniques used
in the clinic do not deal with the problem, adding solids can help.
There is no advantage to giving artificial baby milk (formula) and
there may be some disadvantages, especially if it is given by bottle.
The baby who is not satisfied completely at the breast may start
to take more and more from the bottle, and end up refusing to take
the breast.
The breastfed baby digests solid foods better and
earlier than the artificially fed baby because breastmilk contains
enzymes that help digest fats, proteins and starch. As well, breastfed
babies have had a wide variety of tastes in their lives, since the
flavours of many foods the mother eats will pass into her milk.
Breastfed babies thus accept solids more readily than artificially
fed babies. Breastmilk is amazing stuff, eh?
How should solids be introduced?
When the baby is starting to take solids at about
six months of age, there is little difference what he starts with
or the order foods are introduced. It is prudent to avoid highly
spiced or highly allergenic foods at first (e.g. egg white, strawberries),
but if the baby reaches for the potato on your plate, make sure
it is not too hot, and let him have the potato. There is no need
to go in any specific order, and there is no need for the baby to
eat only one food for a certain period of time. Some exclusively
breastfed babies dislike infant cereal when it is introduced at
about six months of age. There is no need for concern and no need
to persist if the baby doesn’t want the cereal. There is nothing
magic or necessary about infant cereal. Offer your baby the foods
that he is interested in. Allow the baby to enjoy food and do not
worry exactly how much he actually takes at first. Much of it may
end up in his hair and on the floor anyhow. There is no need either
that foods be pureed if the baby is six months of age or older.
Simple mashing with a fork is all that is necessary at first. You
also do not have to be exceedingly careful about how much the baby
takes. Why limit the baby to one teaspoon if he wants more? You
do not need to waste your money on commercial baby foods.
Be relaxed, feed the baby at your mealtimes, and as
he becomes a more accomplished eater of solid foods, offer a greater
variety of foods at any one time.
The easiest way to get extra iron for your baby five
or six months of age is by giving him meat. Infant cereal has iron,
but it is poorly absorbed and may cause the baby to be constipated.
There is no reason to introduce vegetables before
fruit. Breastmilk is far sweeter than fruit, so there is no reason
to believe that the baby will take vegetables better by delaying
the introduction of fruit.
Respect your baby’s likes and dislikes. There
is no essential food (except breastmilk). If your baby does not
like a certain food, do not push it on him. If you think it important
for him, wait a few weeks and offer it again.
At about eight months of age, babies become somewhat
assertive in displaying their individuality. Your baby may not want
you to put a spoon into his mouth. He very likely will take it out
of your hand and put it into his mouth himself, often upside down,
so that the food falls on his lap. Respect his attempts at self-sufficiency
and encourage his learning.
What if I am starting solids at 3 months?
At this age, it may be prudent to go a little more
slowly. Start with infant cereal or easily mashed foods such as
banana. Sometimes a baby will eat better from your finger than off
a spoon. Go a little more slowly with quantities as well. But as
the baby tolerates solids, both quantity and variety of foods can
be increased, as the baby desires. Incidentally, why are you starting
solids at three months? Many grandmothers are keen that the baby
start “real food”, but if there is not a good
reason to start at 3 months, don’t. (The
most common legitimate reason to start earlier than five
or six months of age is poor weight gain not corrected by correcting
latch, using compression,
switching back and forth, using domperidone)
Solids or breast first?
There seems to be considerable worry when a child
is starting solids about whether to give the breast first or give
solid food first. If breastfeeding and the introduction of solid
foods both are going well, it probably does not matter much. Indeed,
there is no reason that a baby needs both breast and solids every
time he eats.
Questions?
see
my book Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding (called
The
Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers in the USA)
Handout #16. Starting solid foods. Revised
January 2005
Written by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC. © 2005
This
handout may be copied and distributed without further permission,
on
the condition that it is not used in any context in which
the WHO code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes is violated
