As with many things in the world of babies, confusion abounds when it comes to
when to introduce “solid” food. Contention surrounds the six-month mark and
whether food should be introduced at or before that time. A friend of mine
highlighted this confusion in an email describing her experience:
(With my first daughter), all I heard was “no sooner than six months!” and
simultaneously “no later than six months!” But this time I've had doctors telling me
that the public health nurses didn't know what they were talking about and babies can start at four months if they're ready.
The debate seems to center largely on the issues of developing food allergies
and/or anemia. To complicate matters, a recent review has casted further doubt
on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life.
As it turns out, the very people promoting the idea that babies should be
introduced to solids prior to six months may have a vested interest in such a
recommendation. Three of the four authors of the review have “performed con-
sultancy work and/or received research funding from companies manufacturing
infant formulas and baby foods within the past three years.” An excellent break-
down of the review can be found here.
Conspiracy theories aside...there are plenty of sound, well-documented reasons
for exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life, not least of all
because the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada, Health Canada
and the World Health Organization recommend it.
In the end, however, parents themselves have to decide what works best for them and their baby. I feel strongly that Isla wasn’t ready for solid foods until now (at
almost seven months old) and truth be told, I wasn’t ready to take that step either.
The complete list of what I consider good reasons to delay solid food introduction until at least six months is too lengthy to outline here, but here are some of the
reasons that make sense to me:
- Delaying solids helps to protect babies from iron-deficiency anemia. Iron absorption from breastmilk is depressed when the milk comes in contact with other foods in the proximal small bowel;
- Solid foods interrupt the full immune protection babies receive through exclusive breastfeeding, reducing their immunity;
- Delaying solids decreases the risks of food allergies;
- Delaying solids gives a baby's digestive system time to mature;
- Solids should be delayed until your baby can sit up without support (which Isla did for the first time two days ago), allowing her to lean forward when she wants another spoonful and backward to refuse; and (similarly)
- Solids should be delayed until your baby can turn her head and/or push food away to indicate she’s full.
Ultimately, after all the debate and doubt, conjecture and conspiracies, it really
comes down to whether or not Isla actually wants to eat solid foods. Because the
simple truth is that all the research in the world can't make your baby open wide if she doesn't want to...
