I just read this very interesting article on how we feed babies in America verses other countries/cultures. It’s 4 years old so I’d be interested to see how/if research has progressed. You can read it here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/
We started giving Clara cereal at 3 months and I did have some guilt about that since everyone says don’t do it until 4 months or better, wait until 6 months. But she handled it well and seemed to like it so I went on to veggies at 4 months with her. I asked our doctor about this and he said that was ok. She’s a much better eater than Lily was (and is!). I don’t think we did anything “wrong” with Lily. I’m still not sure why she is as picky as she is, I guess that’s just her, but I do wonder sometimes.
All the older ladies here told me they’d started their babies on solids at 1 month then by 6 months their babies were on table food. The books and articles I’d read warned that older generations would say this and we should ignore them since we know better now, that babies digestive functions are still immature etc. Since I’m not a doctor (I don’t even play one on tv) I just trusted that the “experts” I’d read knew what they’re talking about so I better be very cautious about everything the girls ate. This article says there doesn’t seem (scientifically) to be a “right” or wrong way to feed your babies if you use common sense. I’m glad it points out how feeding is done in other cultures. That is something that I’ve often thought about.
Anyway, this is just one more topic in baby raising that I tend to way “over think” and make more complicated than it should be. So I thought I’d share and see if any of you have “broken the rules” when feeding your babies!
I always say give them a cracker or a vanilla wafer…