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!
I was wondering about quinoa as a first food. It doesn’t act like other grains in the body (from what I’ve read) and is loaded with nutrients. I have no kids of my own…yet ,but I am slowly trying to make changes in my lifestyle for overall health and in preparation for that time. Thanks for all your great information.
I love this idea and my daughter-in-law is planning on using this plan. But what alternative would there be to start with other than the egg? Some people in our family have egg issues and we are afraid to try it on her. Thank you for any help!
You can just do the grated raw liver frozen for 14 days minimum if you like. But, why don’t you try putting a bit of soft boiled egg yolk on her skin first and see if there is a reaction. If not, try just a tiny taste and work from there.
Hi Sarah. “Beans are one of the worst choices you could feed a baby”. Are lentils included in this statement? Thank you very much.
Just wanted to chime in that lentils might be okay. From GAPS perspective lentils are legal (i.e. easier to digest than beans) while only white beans are but both are advanced foods, so should not be introduced if there is digestive trouble. I myself would wait till they’re 12 months or so…
Hi all – I am the mother of twins – they turned one on the 4th of July (which was more a celebration for their father and me) 🙂 My question relates to egg yolk – we got away from feeding this for a while as we were trying other foods (which now I wish I had not) – when we fed him the other day an egg yolk again, he gots red blotches all around his mouth. He did not seem to have any other reaction. We thought maybe it was a fluke so tried it again yesterday and the same thing happened – and we noticed it is specifically where the egg touched his face. Has anyone else seen this kind of reaction to egg yolk – not sure if it is allergic or what. The only signs is the redness – nothing else. Thanks!
my now 10 month old baby vomited every single time we tried to give her cereals… it did not matter the type (rice, oatmeal)
Hi Lori, here’s a link to the proper diet for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Most likely, your diet is too lowfat and contains allergens (such as wheat/pasteurized dairy) which are making your baby drowsy during feeding and not satisfied when he nurses:
http://westonaprice.org/childrens-health/311-diet-for-pregnant-and-nursing-mothers
I loved reading this post! I know it’s been a while since you first posted this so I’m hoping you still can see responses to it..but what would you recommend in the diet of a breastfeeding mom? My son is 3m old..hitting all dev. milestones but is not gaining weight very quickly..non-vaccinated. He falls asleep quickly at the breast and want to nurse constantly. I’d appreciate any suggestions…thank you!
Would you recommend anything to get the rotting food out of the sys
Sorry – I tried to do this post from my phone and it didn’t post it all. Is there anything you would recommend to help get rotting food out of the gut. I always felt weird about giving my daughter cereal, and she didn’t get very much, but I’m sure it was enough to still be sitting there. 🙁
Just feed her the right foods and the body will take care of it on its own! 🙂
I sadly went through a phase when I stopped listening to my grandmothers and started lsitening to the standard food rhetoric. It was really only with the sixth of my ten kids but I was trying to eat “healthier” because of their grandfather’s heart attack. We started drinking skim milk, eating Egg Beaters, dropped butter for canola oil and the like. What happened with my 11 month old baby? Well, an anaphylactic reaction to the Egg Beaters. Seriously.
All the egg white proteins in there (it’s egg whites, starch, dyes, and preservatives) caused him to have labored breathing, swelling in his throar, hives and needed a ride to the E/R where he needed IV antihistamines, injections of epinephrine and a week to wean off steriods. Not good but better than dead. The allergist told me to stay away from egg whites until my babies are at least two and not to eat store bought baby food. And no store bought breads either to make sure that they were egg free. We ALL went on a serious corrective diet (actually more like what I grew up on) and none of the four kids since have had any trouble. Now my kiddo is six and healthy and can eat egg yolks all day and whites in small amounts in baked goods. Wish I had NEVER seen a carton of Egg Beaters.
When new mothers ask me how I can be confident in how I feed my kids, I tell them that for thousands of years there was no baby food companies. We thrived throughout the world without instant rice cereal. Mothers need to stop listening to anyone advocating Gerber foods and go back to what women fed babies for thousands of years. Thanks for being a force to be reckoned with, Sarah.
Hi Sarah. Despite eating a NT diet for 2 years, I had a premature baby by emergency C-Section at 29 weeks, due to a placental abruption. The baby was a good weight for 29 weeks at 3 pounds 1 ounce (90th percentile, thank you NT!). However, I lost half my blood volume, was in surgery for 7 hours, ended up with a partial hysterectomy to stop the bleeding, and basically almost died. Thankfully, I’m still here. 🙂 Modern medicine does have its place in crisis situations. I’m an older mom, at 41 years old, and we also have a 3 year old.
I pumped for my baby since day 1, and he was able to be fed breast milk exclusively until he was 3 months old (a few weeks after his due date). He was in the NICU for 56 days, and once they started feeding him by mouth, a few weeks before he came home, the neonatologists said they suspected he had reflux because his heart rate would drop shortly after a feeding. So with no real way to know for sure that he had reflux, they put him on Prevacid (!!!) and started adding 2 tsp. of (you guessed it) rice cereal to every feeding to “weigh the milk down” and hopefully help the supposed reflux. AARRGGHH!!! This was all before he even weighed 5 pounds! Plus they asked us for our consent for HepB before he was “due” and still weighed less than 5 pounds! We declined. No vaccinations for us! They didn’t pressure us at all about our decision, surprisingly enough.
He came home on Feb. 11th, about 3 weeks before his due date of March 2nd. I quit giving him the rice cereal within 2 days, because I KNEW in my gut it would do more harm than good. I also weaned him off the Prevacid within a few weeks, because again, I knew it was a horrible thing to give him.
As is the case with a lot of moms in my situation, continued breastfeeding was a struggle, and soon his intake outpaced my production. We never really got actual breastfeeding down, and pumping became too much. I already had the raw milk formula ingredients on hand, since I knew I would never give my baby store bought formula. I so wanted to be successful with breastfeeding, but I transitioned him fully to the raw milk formula about 2-3 weeks ago. The only diffence is that I am using Baby Biotic probiotics sold through the Gaps Diet online store instead of the single strain in the WAPF recipe.
All this background to say that my son is hugely constipated, with only one bowel movement every 2 – 3 days. He has horrible gas (although it’s getting a little better), and I mostly blame that stupid rice cereal! He was also on antibiotics a few times while in the NICU, in addition to the C-Section, so I’m sure his gut is not in good shape. Do you think in time the constipation and gas issues will resolve, now that he is on a nourishing raw milk formula diet with probiotics? Is there a possibility of long term damage to his gut from about 3 weeks of getting the rice cereal in his feedings? Is there anything else I can or should be doing for the constipation in such a young infant? He is now about 9 – 10 pounds, and 3.5 months old (though only a bit over one month according to his due date). I hate the thought of giving suppositories, but I wonder if it will harm him to go so long between bowel movements. His pediatrician (yes, we have to have one for now becasue he is on a monitor for heart rate and respirations) said it’s not a problem as long as he doesn’t go more than 3 days, but as a mom I know that has got to be pretty miserable for him. Of course I know you’re not a doctor, but I would appreciate any “mom” and NT suggestions you might have in this situation. You’re site is wonderful, and I thank you for getting the truth about diet and other important health issues out there. Finally, I apologize for such a long comment!
On a good note, we actually have a great pediatrician who is fine with us not vaccinating. So far, at least.
I would consider taking him to a holistic chiropractor to be adjusted. Preferably a “Maximized Living” chiropractor if you can find one in your area. This could likely stop the reflux. See the book Well Adjusted Babies by Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani.
Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I was told by my pediatrician (I know…. an evil word around here… 🙂 who is very pro-parent and has never pressured us to vaccinate, etc., that it is normal for a baby at that age to not have regular bowel movements. My oldest son (now 5) went through a long period starting around 4 months old where he only went once a week. His Dr. said he was just very efficient with his food and there was no waste. He was only nursing at this time, so the situation may be entirely different. But I just want to give you an offering of hope that perhaps it’s not a big deal after all. He never showed signs of discomfort, so we didn’t worry about it. Eventually, he started going more often, but we thoroughly enjoyed changing fewer poo diapers 🙂 Anyway, if that doesn’t satisfy you, a suppository-free remedy (also offered by our pediatrician, if we weren’t comfortable not letting him go) was to insert a lubricated q-tip into his rectum about 1/2 inch for a few seconds and it would stimulate his body to “go”. Just beware that it can happen very fast and to be prepared, so you don’t get covered in poo 🙂