If there is anything that our modern culture gets totally wrong, it’s how to feed babies and properly introduce solid foods. Pediatricians, dieticians, and other “experts” are quick to recommend that the perfect first food for babies at about the age of 4-6 months is rice cereal.
Not only is this advice completely misguided, it is also extremely harmful to the long term health of the child. Such advice contributes greatly to the epidemic of fat toddlers and the growing childhood obesity crisis.
Rice cereal is not a healthy first food for babies
Rice cereal is an extremely high glycemic food. This means that it spikes the blood sugar rapidly. It also contains ample amounts of double sugar (disaccharide) molecules, which are extremely hard for an immature digestive system to digest. The small intestine of a baby mostly produces only one carbohydrate enzyme, lactase, for digestion of the lactose in milk. It produces little to no amylase, the enzyme needed for grain digestion.
Interestingly, avoidance of allergies is one of the reasons cited by pediatricians for using rice cereal as the first food! While rice may be gluten free, it is by no means disaccharide free. Thus, it can contribute to the development of allergies and other autoimmune disorders just the same as a gluten containing cereal such as wheat or spelt. This is why going “gluten free” does not solve digestive ailments in the majority of children with autoimmune issues linked to grain allergies.
This approach may reduce symptoms somewhat, but it does not solve the problem entirely. The disaccharide molecule is still present in high amounts in gluten free grains. A similarly hard to digest starch molecule is present in grain substitutes such as potato flour, arrowroot, bean flours, etc.
Rice Cereal Now, Weight Issues Later?
Why then, is rice cereal so very popular as a first food to feed babies? One reason is that it is so readily accepted by the baby (who wouldn’t like a food that spikes the blood sugar? It is a bit of a “high” after all) and it fills them up like a lead brick leading to longer and more frequent periods of sleeping and more passive behavior in general. Be aware that there are still some misinformed doctors that advise mothers of babies that do not sleep well to introduce rice cereal as early as 3 months old – sometimes right into the baby bottle if the tongue thrust reflex hasn’t yet disappeared preventing the baby from taking food off a spoon! This is a recipe for childhood weight problems if I’ve ever heard one.
If your baby zonks out right after eating on a frequent basis, this is a major clue that what the child has just eaten was not easily digested (this goes for breastfeeding too .. a poor diet that is not digested well by the breastfeeding Mother will result in toxins in her breastmilk which will have an opiate like effect on the child).
Dr. McBride’s book mentioned above discusses this huge issue of toxins from undigested food and gut pathogens in the breastmilk as well. The same goes for adults, by the way. If you get sleepy after eating, it’s because what you just ate isn’t getting handled very well by your gut. The body is basically compensating for the brick in your stomach by putting you to sleep so that a sufficient amount of energy can be diverted to digestion.
Even Health Canada recognizes the dangers of cereal as a first food for babies and recommends against it.
So What is the Right First Food for Babies?
A baby’s digestive system is much better equipped to handle fats and proteins than carbohydrates. For this reason, a wonderful first food for babies is a soft boiled egg yolk from a pastured hen. Take care to only use the yolk and not the egg white which contains difficult to digest proteins. For my own children, I started giving a taste of a soft boiled egg yolk from my own plate starting at about 4-6 months old. Just a taste! If the child is completely uninterested, then try again in a week or two.
If the child likes the little taste that you put on her tongue or lip, then give her two tastes the next day and three tastes the next day, gradually building up to the entire egg yolk. Never force the child to eat. Remember that egg yolk is an extremely rich food and force feeding any rich food can cause the child to vomit.
Benefits of Egg Yolk for Babies
Egg yolk from pastured chickens contain ample amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and natural cholesterol which are critical to a child’s mental development and may be lacking in breastmilk depending on the quality of the mother’s diet. Children who receive sufficient omega 3 fats in their diet tend to speak clearly and understand verbal direction from the parents at a very early age.
I just went back and looked at my children’s baby books and all 3 of them (even the boys) spoke short sentences by 15-17 months of age. First words (Mama or Dada) occurred around 7 months. While these sentences were very simple (“Get that”, “Don’t want that”, “More of this”) I have no doubt that getting ample omega-3 fats from their diet played a big part in their ease of communicating at an early age. The pronunciation was clear enough to be understood even by those outside the family too.
At 6 Months of Age
At about 6 months of age, grate a bit of raw, grassfed beef or chicken liver into the warm egg yolk for baby to eat. This mimics the traditional practice of African mothers who would chew raw liver and then give small amounts to their babies as a first food.
Make sure that the raw liver is frozen for a minimum of 14 days as recommended by the USDA to eliminate any risk of parasites. Mashed banana is also a wonderful carbohydrate to add around this time. Banana digests very easily due to the copious amounts of amylase present. When the enzyme is present in the food, there is no need for baby’s small intestine to produce it herself.
If you can’t source quality raw liver in your area, desiccated liver powder can be used instead.
At Age 10 Months
At the age of 10 months or so, add pureed meats, fruits and vegetables. Introduce one at a time to reduce any chance of a reaction. Best also to avoid high starch veggies like potatoes and sweet potato. These veggies contain very complex starch molecules. They are much more difficult to digest for baby than non-starchy vegetables. Take the time to make your babyfood at home with organic ingredients, and mash the veggies withgrassfed butter.
It is worth the effort! Organic jarred baby food is not only overpriced. It is microwaved, watered down and contains no healthy fats to facilitate absorption.
Consumption of veggies with a bit of healthy fat like butter increases mineral absorption tremendously! You can freeze your homemade baby food in ice cube trays. A quick thaw in a small sauce pan (not the microwave!) makes for a fast and nutritious meal.
Soups made with homemade broth rank as one of the most nutritious foods for babies at this age. The gelatin in the homemade broth is protective against any intestinal bugs. It facilitates digestion too so that baby absorbs as many nutrients as possible.
When Should Grains be Introduced?
It’s a good idea to delay introduction of grain based foods and starchy vegetables for as long as possible. Grains are the hardest foods to digest of all.
Some experts advise that a child pass his/her second birthday before eating these foods. Whatever you decide, it is wise to forgo them until well after the first birthday. Even then, the grains should be properly prepared. This means they are either sprouted, sour leavened or soaked to ensure maximum digestibility. This careful preparation breaks down some of the hard to digest starches, gluten and anti-nutrients such as phytic acid.
It will take every ounce of your will power to keep the grain based foods out of your child’s mouth until well after her first birthday. In fact, the longer you can delay, the better. Teething biscuits, cheerios, crackers, and bread are all favorite foods for moms to feed as soon as the child can sit up in a high chair and grab from a plate. The first thing most parents give a baby at a restaurant is bread from the bread basket.
Babies may love it, but don’t do it!
Resist the temptation to use these foods as a pacifier. Commit to offering only truly nourishing fare at such a young age. The time will come soon enough when your child will have more control over his/her food choices. Wisely use this time of complete control to make sure every calorie baby eats is nutrient dense and easily digested!
Skip the Fruit Juice!
On a final note, whatever you do, skip the fruit juice! Fruit juice from the store, even if organic, is just sugar water. All the nutrition, enzymes and probiotics has been pasteurized away. It just spikes the blood sugar and increase the risk of obesity.
Juice also kills a child’s appetite for hours, even a day or two. Many a Mom has told me that when she took away the fruit juice, within a few days, a picky eater suddenly started eating!
The one exception would be freshly pressed juice diluted with some filtered water. Fresh fruit juice is full of enzymes and nutrition and would be an acceptable drink for baby on occasion. This is acceptable after age 10 months or so.
Still unsure where to start? This video on how to prepare the best first food for baby can help too!
Lol. I believe my last one’s first food was broccoli. And then bacon. She really loves bacon.
Not food!
No no no
I did it when my daughter was a baby, but I would never do it today. I wish I knew then what I know now.
Still? No way. Most I know are going organic veggies.
La Leche League has long recommended proteins for babies. However, I think it is a little reckless and ignorant of the author not to mention what the solid readiness signs are for babies which varies a great deal. Instead of using age, LLL has always told mothers that solid readiness is better determined by whether the baby has teeth, if the baby can sit up unassisted and has mastered the pincer grasp. There is also evidence that babies with food allergies are often uninterested in solids way beyond 6 months. So to keep trying to introduce foods seems pointless. I have yet to hear of any adult that didn’t make the transition from breastmilk to solids. If baby is growing and meeting all milestones, breastmilk is the superior and primary food in the first year. There are still many benefits to nursing in the second year and in fact the WHO recommends nursing for 2 years. I very rarely agree with doctors but even the AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants until 6 months of age and I think this is sound advice especially for people who do not know much about babies, breastfeeding or nutrition. This article does nothing more than keep people believing that babies need solids at 4-6 months.
HUMM
As a practising naturopath with passion for traditional baby foods, here r my views:
1.
human milk is top priority
and if it is less, generate it ! moms must take nutritious foods, more garlic, milk of wheat germs and moderately sprouted nuts seeds legumes. Human milk and all nutrients thru it are easily absorbable for the babe.
2.
present day Rice in any form is not advised.
30 y back Rice and Wheat were totally Good, with less chemical infusions into them while cultivating and growing.
It is due to Chemical Infusion or Invasion it is causing digestive problems, sticky spurtive pasty mucussy stools causing various diseases.
3.
In my place excellent traditional gr ma’s used to soak sprout sundry pulverize and then prepare easily digestible highly nutritious baby foods, Only in cases where human milk was deficient for no dietary fault of mom.
As such Rice and Wheat WERE once the most popular foods for babes after milk stopped;
In the interest of innocent helpless baby guys whose life otherwise be VERY MUCH IMPAIRED BY FEEDIN THEM WRONG AND HEAVILY PROCESSED FOODS WITH CHEMICALS THAT WILL HANDICAP THEM FOREVER!!
Mine got table foods that hand been zapped in the blender.
Doctors do suggest waiting until 6 months for oatmeal cereal. Amylase is 2/3 that of an adult in an infant. There is limited pancreatic amylase in the intestine, but there are other enzymes in in the small intestine that break down the carbs. Isomaltase and glucoamylase are at mature levels in the term baby. Glucoamylase splits the multiple glucose molecules from a complex carb so they can be absorbed. This helps with low pancreatic amylase. Mom’s breast milk contains amylase also. The human body is amazing. No need to rewrite what has been working for the last century or whatever the latest yuppy diet fad is this week. Many kids ARE allergic to egg protein. Be careful. Yes we are smarter and what we do MUST be based on clinical evidence with scientific studies. Here are studies below this article to support. There are many more studies that can be accessed by YOU the mom. Don’t listen to hype and propoganda.
I really hope that parents read these comments and talk with Reregistered Dietitian, NOT a nutritionist. (These are not the same!) This article is not bad, but in a lot of ways it can be harmful to someone who doesn’t know FACTS about biology and nutrition. A baby’s first foods should be rich in DIGESTIBLE iron. This is why iron fortified cereals were created, but it does not mean they are best choice. Breastmilk does contain amylase in sufficient amounts for baby of solid eating ages, however you should still be very selective on portion sizes and frequency. I do agree that most people over feed carbs to children, especially in America; but please remember carbs are in vegetables too. I do think that a lot of this article is based on current FAD and should be researched and discussed with professionals before diving in head first.
Fad? This is based on ancestral nutrition! LOL.
Sarah, I’m so sorry you had a laugh about this. The fact is your article isn’t ‘wrong’ (as previously stated). But to take advice, such as you mention in your article, as solid nutritional advice, well I think I would look into peer reviewed journals before jumping on the bandwagon. If you have already done so, you should provide the links so your readers can benifit.
How about healthy cultures around the world who fed their babies this way for centuries? That’s better than science for sale any day of the week.