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This is a fantastically complicated and contentious issue, isn’t it? Debates rage on parenting forums about when is the best time to wean your baby and why, and mothers are given heaps of conflicting advice from the very people who ought to all be saying pretty much the same thing.
Even best-selling authors of baby books, like Annabel Karmel, are saying outright that mothers should ignore the current government guidelines to delay the introduction of solids until babies are around six months old.
The excuse given for opposing what the UK Department of Health (DoH) recommend is that their guidelines have been drawn from what the World Health Organisation (WHO) say and, apparently, WHO guidelines are only relevant for people living in developing countries.
Karmel, and others, think that it’s just about having the resources and equipment to be able to sterilise things properly, and that if you don’t start introducing solids before six months, then your baby will never learn to like new flavours.
I don’t actually understand that argument. There are plenty of things I hated as a child that I love now (I started solids before six months as per the advice at the time), and I see my children’s own tastes changing all the time (all mine had solids at around six months).
But Karmel is missing the point. It is not just about sterilisation, it is about the development of babies digestive systems and how they react not just to pathogens (germs and bugs) but to allergens as well.
Even if we are privileged enough to live in a culture where we have high quality health care, free at the point of delivery, that doesn’t negate the potential effects on babies’ guts of introducing solids too early. And these risks are potentially life-long: allergies, obesity and diabetes.
Is it really worth it? What is the point of introducing solids before six months? Well, according to popular belief, it’s because babies seem to be ready before then, and mothers’ instincts are telling them that it’s the right time.
But the problem is that we have had so many years of being told what the ‘signs of readiness for weaning’ are, that for many of us our instincts have been well and truly buried. We have been told that babies are ready for food when they start grabbing at things and putting them to their mouths, but this is just a sign that they are 4-5 months old.
We are told that watching us while we eat is a sign that they’re ready, but they watch us going to the loo, walking and driving cars, and they’re not ready for that yet.
And, this is often the hardest one to accept, we are told that babies being cranky and starting to wake more often is a sign that breast or formula milk is no longer enough and they now need solids. But actually it’s a sign that they are having a development spurt which is stressing them out, and they need to suckle more to enable them to relax, and also to increase your milk supply to their new needs. It usually passes in a few days to a couple of weeks, and then you get your happy smiley baby back.
Really, the best way to tell if your baby is truly ready for solids (and it will be different ages for different babies) is to let him lead the way. Just as you can trust that he knows how much milk to take and how often, he will know when his mouth and gut is ready for solid foods. When Gill Rapley did her research into baby-led weaning, she found that most babies began to actually eat solid foods at around six months.
As with so much when it comes to parenting, in general, the more we parents try to second guess our babies and interfere with their natural development, the more stressful and worrying it is for us. And it often is counter-productive, creating new problems and sometimes slowing things down.
Pureeing food, and pushing it, however gently, into your 4 month-old baby’s mouth is totally overriding all his natural instincts to protect himself and his gut until he is ready for that food, and, whatever Ms. Karmel says, there is simply no need to do so. Working with your baby is so much simpler – maybe a bit messier, but definitely simpler and easier.
But this post isn’t about baby-led weaning, but about the age at which weaning should start, and why the six-month guidelines aren’t just for developing countries, and the reason is simply because babies know best, and, as Rapley’s research has found, babies usually tell us they’re ready for solids at around six months…which is kind of the time that all the research into babies’ guts says they’re ready too. Clever, aren’t they, those babies?
Images: LeeKelleHer, MissMac, Flickr.
Another great article thank you!! I followed Ms Karmel’s advice to the letter with my first child, now 13, weaning her onto solids at 4 months as was the recommendation then. She threw up epically for months after each meal if you didn’t hold her just right. I am now a nutritional counsellor and know that this was probably due to her vastly immature gut rebelling. Infant led weaning really appears to be the answer, babies learn how to eat and what to eat from watching their parents, in many more primitive cultures, mothers chew their babies food for them, this isn’t just because of a lack of a stick blender but because the mother’s saliva contains enzymes to begin the digestion process which in turn helps the baby to digest his or her food far more easily. It takes children until they are about a year old to have all the digestive enzymes needed for proper digestion in place and operating optimally. Breast milk is loaded with enzymes and probiotics whcih is why it digests so easily and efficiently compared with formula. Digestion is all about the enzymes and absorption of nutrients is all about the gut flora, everything you do to wean your baby needs to support these two systems. Gut flora is of course also a vital component of the immune system too. (You and your baby have more bacteria in your body than your own cells, make sure that the bacteria is always on your side!!)
Thank you for all that insight! That’s really interesting. I knew about the cultures where food is pre-chewed for babies by their mothers, but I didn’t realise about the enzymes – it all makes sense, though!
I know this isn’t a BLW debate but I would be interested to know what medical research backs up the BLW theory. Do paediatricians agree with it in the UK? I ask re the UK as it certainly hasn’t caught on over here.
As for weaning, our paediatrician (Luxembourg) told us to start at just over 17 weeks with pureed fruit and veg only until 6 months. Not sure of why, but that is how it is done over here. Now she is 8 months she has a bit of everything, sometimes mashed up to various degrees (though I annoy a lot of the puree advocates by giving her real food to chew on).
I’d like to say it is done to keep the baby food manufacturers happy but in our case that won’t have worked as we didn’t use any baby food at all. And most people I know make everything from scratch.
I guess like all parenting advice new research will at some point disprove old research. I’m reading a really interesting parenting book given to my granny by my mum’s nurse in 1945. You’d be surprised how many things that we agree with now, and that you advocate on your blog, were agreed with then too. It appears that advice changed in the 60s, 70s, 80s etc and the new stuff which is coming out is actually going back to basics, so to speak (htough haven’t got to the part on weaning).
I’d send you the book but I’m hoping to get some more use out of it first! I think you’d find it interesting though.
It sounds fascinating, the book. What’s it called?
And with regard to baby led weaning research, there’s more research that has been done into that than the traditional puree-feeding (for want of a better term!)…in fact, although I may be wrong, I don’t think there is any research done into puree-weaning!
“The Care of Young Babies” by Dr Gibbens; Am hoping to get some articles out of it. Some of it is stuff we wouldn’t dream of saying today, but a lot of it is very similar to what we do now.
I wonder why BLW hasn’t taken off abroad yet. I guess it’s too new and it takes a while for these things to filter through.
Thank you. Well, Gill Rapley is in the UK, and yes, new evidence can take years and years to filter through.
Did you noticed that those who said that babies are ready before 6 months old, are either those from older generation where the guideline was still 4 months, or those who are selling baby food products? ;)
LOL – yes, you’re probably right!
Great article! The line about our instincts being “well and truly buried” is spot on, because I generally think that parents know their own babies better than any book or “expert”. But in some cases, we can only know our babies in so far as we can interpret their signals, and if we are given the wrong dictionary, so to speak, then even the most tuned in parent will come to the wrong conclusions! I also think that if people knew more about the so-called 4 month sleep regression, and its causes separate to anything feeding or hunger-related, that would help parents better interpret their babies’ needs, as so many people seem to introduce solids because of sleep problems.
Thanks for your comment, Amy :) I love the analogy about being given the wrong dictionary!
Good stuff Clare! I often read your articles nodding to myself and occasionally saying ‘exactly’!
LOL, thank you, Beth :)
A really interesting article and such a hotly debated topic – when to wean. I’m a total BLW at 6mth+ preacher but I know that the people around me who started weaning their babies before 6 months with purees did so in the hope it would buy them more sleep. I think that myth needs to be debunked more loudly. It hasn’t meant more sleep for anyone I know but I know how tempting it can be to try things when you are sleep deprived and clutching at straws!
Absolutely, bluebird (nice name!). When our culture gives us such unrealistic expectations of babies then it’s so easy to do whatever we can, especially when people are telling us to!
Excellent article! And interesting comments too. BLW was one of the highlights of my son’s first year – he loved it, we loved it, it got us into the habit of eating good food together as a family and we never had to faff around with purees or spoon feeding or introducing one type of food at a time or anything. Waiting until your baby is ready (properly ready) makes everything so easy. But I got a lot of stick from family and friends about it (“He’ll be too hungry”, “It’ll help him sleep” etc) as nearly every baby I know was weaned at 4-5 months (I know one woman who introduced solids to all three of hers at 12 weeks!). I’m really glad I didn’t cave in. For an insight into the baby food industry, and its history, Dream Babies by Christina Hardyment is excellent – it also provides an overview of how fashions in babycare swing from generation to generation as LittleMe says.
Oh that is a fantastic book, isn’t it? Must re-read it. Thanks for your comment :)
My boy was exclusively breastfed until he was 28 weeks old when we started a mixture of purees and BLW. He is now 19 months and eats everything put in front of him, including curry, chilli (only mildly spiced, but still spicy!) and just about every vegetable. We’ve never had a problem with him vomiting after food and, I can genuinely say that he enjoys his food and is willing to try more different ingredients than any other child of his age that I have come across. I am convinced that this is because we ignored HV and family advice and just did our own thing. Mealtimes in our family are a source of pleasure at being together and enjoying our meal instead of worrying about a stressed toddler who won’t eat what is put in front of them. In fact, when my son refuses food we allow this as he does it so infrequently, he will generally eat it next time anyway. I have always been determined not to make a drama out of mealtimes and I am sure that this contributes to.
Sorry, clicked the mouse before I was done. Contributes to us all having a relaxed attitude towards meals being eaten or not, which invariably leads to them being enjoyed.
Thanks for commenting. My children seem to go through fussy patches and, like you, we try not to make a big deal of it. We usually find that suddenly, for no particular reason, they change their mind about foods they like or don’t like :D
Our babies tell us when they are ready by what they show interest in and what they also resist eating. My son did not show interest in solids till about 7 months, and he never enjoyed purees, much preferring fresh whole foods to gnaw on. He was exclusively breast-fed until that point. I find that his taste in foods change over time but he has always enjoyed trying new things because I have never forced him to eat any foods he showed a distaste for as long as he tried it first. I follow his cues respectfully. I mean, my tastes vary from time to time too, so I try to respect his choices as well. In comparison to other children in my family whose parents are more mainstream in their introduction of food, they struggle with mealtimes convincing their children to eat enough or not too much as if they cannot determine what their own bodies need because they have not learned to respect their inner promptings. I have also noticed that they are also resistant to new foods and textures while my son gets excited to try new things. Perhaps there is a correlation? I have also noticed that these other children have various health issues already, namely with elimination and allergies, and I wonder if it is because they were given certain foods before their bodies were ready to handle them safely. This subject deserves more study.
I do hope there is more research done into the subject because, I agree, there is a real dearth of good evidence about how to introduce solids to babies.
Hi there,
I have just stumbled upon your article as I was doing some research for one of my own on a similar subject.
I agree with most of what you say, however there is something I do not understand… this article is dated end of 2011, but my first daughter was born in 2010 and at the time the advice was already to start at 6 months (but we are in Scotland).
One other thing… you say: “that doesn’t negate the potential effects on babies’ guts of introducing solids too early. And these risks are potentially life-long: allergies, obesity and diabetes.”
This is actually incorrect. Recent research (I have some articles buried somewhere) show that, say, 5-8 months, if not earlier, is the best time to introduce solids (the bigger variety the better) to minimize allergies. So, if allergies are our main concern, one should start earlier rather than later.
As to the baby’s stomach being ready, my understanding is that it is ready at about 4,5 months.
Obesity has been very recently linked to spoonfeeding in general, but I am not aware of a link with starting early.
So why are we not starting earlier… simply because the child is not interested, and that is good enough reason to wait until HE grabs his first bite; why would I want to make their life (and mine…) a misery? The rest is secondary.
Sorry, I’m not entirely certain what you’re asking me. The advice to start weaning at 6 months is a good few years old now – that doesn’t mean that writing articles about it is no longer relevant though.
I’d love to read your articles saying early weaning can reduce allergies. Are you sure that’s not pertaining more to formula fed babies who don’t get the early exposure to allergens in the same way breastfed babies do?
My fault, I misread the beginning of your article when you said:
“Even best-selling authors of baby books, like Annabel Karmel, are saying outright that mothers should ignore the current government guidelines to delay the introduction of solids until babies are around six months old.”
I thought that Annabel Karmel (who I don’t know) says to delay the introduction of solids, ignoring the current guidelines. I don’t know where I got mixed up as you mention her later on in the article as well… Senrion moment I suppose:(
Anyway, regarding papers on the allergy thing, there is this position paper:
http://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Fulltext/2008/01000/Complementary_Feeding__A_Commentary_by_the_ESPGHAN.21.aspx
where I think you will find all you need.
This one is from The Lancet
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2880%2990657-1/abstract
and this one is from Pediatrics
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/125/1/50.full
In all honesty, all you have to do is google “allergy weaning” and similar keywords and you will find all the results you like. Besides, even in the UK there is no restriction on what food you may give to a child from a point of view of developing an allergy. The only exception is if there is a history of allergies in the family, but even then they don’t advocate delaying the introduction of any food, but advice to monitor the child.
Forgot one… but I can’t find the reference… there is a very famous study comparing the allergy rate from peanuts in the States, where they are introduced at 3+ years, and Israel, where they are part of the diet of any infant; the outcome is that the allergy rate is way lower in Israel, than in the US.
Thank you for those Andrea. I’ll look those up. To be honest, my main beef is with health care professionals who dismiss guidelines just because they’re inconvenient to them :-/
In all honesty, my personal experience with HV is rather good/indifferent.
good because they never said anything bad (except with breast feeding where I think they weren’t terribly helpful, but not for lack of trying) and was always told to start weaning at 6 months.
Indifferent because I never really had any contact with them and the few times I spoke to one I was given the official “party line”, so I could have been talking to almost anyone.
Anyway, this is way better than in Italy where every paediatrician tells something different, weaning is a jungle, they seem to know sod all about breast feeding, etc. etc.
So there you have it… :)
:) mine too, Andrea. Have supported too many women who have not been so lucky, though.