Doctors recommend feeding babies solid foods sooner
SEATTLE -- While the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) previously recommended parents wait until their children are 6 months old before introducing them to solid foods, new research suggests babies may benefit from trying their first foods sooner.
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology released a study in January that found babies who started eating solid foods at 4 months old had a reduced risk of allergies and asthma.
Likewise, AAP published a study in December showing that infants who were fed solid foods at 4 months had higher iron levels than those who were exclusively breast-fed until 6 months old.
Doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital are taking note and now recommend parents begin introducing their babies to solid foods at 4 months.
But, Dr. Mollie Grow, a pediatrician at Children’s and a mother of two, said children are not all ready for solid foods at the same age. While her first baby wasn’t ready until 6 months old, Grow said her younger daughter started when she was closer to 5 months.
“You have to look for the signs,” she said.
Grow said parents should offer babies solid foods if they notice them watching adults eat, smacking or licking when they smell food or opening their mouths when they are offered a spoonful of food.
No matter what age the child is, Grow said parents should not force an infant to start eating solid foods. If they close their lips or turn their head away, she says stop and try again the next day.
“If babies show they are not able to effectively accept food or are not interested we don’t ever want to push it.”
Grow said parents shouldn’t just think about when they introduce solid foods, but should also carefully consider what foods they give babies.
“Parents should think about what they want their kids to be eating for the rest of their lives,” Grow said. “You’re laying down the foundation for their metabolism for life.”
Rather than serving them rice cereal, which Grow said was previously recommended, children should be fed fresh fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains. She says plain yogurt can also be great for babies’ digestion.
“We’ve learned that fresh foods – especially fruits and vegetables – and variety in our diets provides the best nutrients our bodies need for optimal growth and performance,” Grow said.
Grow also urged parents to try making their own baby food. She said fresh foods tend to be more nutritious while processed foods often contain extra sugar, salt or fat.
“It was really satisfying to give fresh, tasty foods to our kids,” Grow said. “Things we would want to eat.”
Mothers can increase the likelihood that their child will accept nutritious foods by eating these themselves. When a child is exposed to a particular food through breast milk, Grow said they are more likely to accept it as a solid food.
Parents should be patient with their children, Grow said. One week a child may love a particular food, and another day they could hate it.
“Our responsibility is to provide the environment and opportunities to eat well,” Grow says. “If one thing does not work, try something else.”
When in doubt, Grow recommended mixing and matching foods.
“Combine fruits with vegetables and be creative,” Grow said. “One of the most popular foods in our house was spinach and pears.”
Grow said parents should offer infants a new food every three days. That way, if they have a bad reaction to one meal it is easy to determine which food is the problem.
Even after starting solid foods, Grow said babies still get the majority of their calories from breast milk or formula, so it is important that parents not stop feeding the child milk right away.
Grow also advised parents not try to introduce solid foods to a child before 4 months of age, as this can actually lead to an increase of allergies.
With both of my kids, I put a little rice cereal in their nighttime bottles starting around 4-6 weeks (at the recommendation of both my mother and grandmothers who all raised healthy kids with no allergy issues).Around the time I started them on this regimen, they started sleeping through the night â for the most part.Never had a problem and both of my kids are allergy free as well. They were both eating other foods prior to 6 months as well. Of course, I would only introduce one at a time to make sure there was no reaction.
â'You have to look for the signs,' she said. Â Grow said parents should offer babies solid foods if they notice them watching adults eat, smacking or licking when they smell food or opening their mouths when they are offered a spoonful of food."
That's pretty much what I did with my daughter; she was about 4 1/2-5 Â months when she started showing interest in what other people were eating. Â I did go slow just in case, with bland-type stuff like a wee bit of baby cereal...she turned out fine!
@DMT I too, started feeding my boys baby cereal mixed with their formula when they were 4 months old. They too don't have any allergies and they're perfectly healthy. (Btw my boys are 13 and 18 respectfully......so I was doing this back when doctors were shaking the finger at parents like me.)
@yentaleh @DMT When a child is ready, he or she will let you know!  Parents sometimes do know best, especially when they are attentive to their kids.  :)
Oh, and my daughter just turned 20 on 12/28!
I actually started with my kids around 4-6 weeks and my kids are a robust 26 and 15!  They each had different doctors and both of them were perfectly fine with it.Â
One of my friends starting putting rice cereal slurry in her baby's formula at 4 weeks! She did so to try to get them to sleep all night because she had to return to work only 3 weeks after their births. Even though I didn't agree w/ it, they didn't seem to suffer, though it was discovered later that one of her children had a compromised immune system and suffered greatly w/ allergies and excema. No idea if it was due to the decision to go to solids so early.Â
I started both my kids on cereal slurries by 4 or 5 months.
I started with my kids at around 4-6 weeks at the suggestion of my mother and grandmothers (who all raised healthy kids with no allergy issues). They never had any issues or allergies and it was nice to have them sleep through the night before 2 months old.
Wish I had started that soon. Â But Mom wasn't close so I didn't get that wonderful information until we went for a visit when my first was about 6 weeks old. Â He demanded almost hourly feedings all night. Â Like your mom mine suggested a little rice cereal with the 10 or 11 pm feeding. Â We tried it that night and I had my first full nights sleep since he was born! Â Â
When I had my first child I was up every two hours nursing. My mother advised me to give her a teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with some breast milk at the 10 PM feeding. She was only two weeks old. She slept all night that night and it was the first nights sleep I got since she was born. After that she got a teaspoon each night at the 10 PM feeding. She never had any allergies and all four of my children got the same feeding plan. I also made their own food except the cereal. They ate what ever I was having for dinner. There is not one of my kids that won't eat any type of food and none of them had allergies. They rarely got sick and most trips to doctor were for broken bones or stitches from some type of playing (skateboards were the worst!). Did I listen to the doctor, NO! I listened to my mother who had given birth to 9 children none of them with allergies!