5 Cultural Myths About Starting Solids

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

Believe it or not, much of what we do as parents, is culturally dictated. If we lived in another part of the world, we may not use diapers or cribs. We may walk around with our babies strapped to our backs or even breastfeed not only our own children, but our neighbor's as well. So it is also with starting solid foods.

When the twins were ready to start solids, it pained me to feed them jarred food. It's different when you're feeding one baby (or at least it was for me) but with two, I just watched the money fly off the shelf twice as fast every time I opened up a jar. Not to mention the fact that the girls really didn't like the jarred food either.

So began my quest to learn about making my own baby food. As you are probably aware, jars come in stages and all you have to do is follow the stages and read the guidelines. Super easy. Unfortunately, the baby carrots in the produce aisle come with no such suitability labels and so I had to figure it out all for myself. What I started to learn however, is that feeding your baby solids; that is what to do and how to do it, is really as cultural as Huli Huli Chicken! So here are a few myths about starting solids that you may not have known:

You Can Breastfeed Exclusively for a Year! Breastmilk provides enough nutrition for the first year of life and so you don't 'have to' start solids, nutritionally speaking, before 12 months. (I should note here that your baby may not feel the same way--he may very much want to start solids earlier!) In other cultures it is more common to exclusively breastfeed for longer. I mention this first, because it explains the "how and why" of the other myths!

Mush is for Pets! You do not have to start your baby on mushy foods! We started all of our children on solid food when they were old enough to sit and could grab something and put it in their mouths themselves. There have been a few recent studies that suggest that allowing a baby (one that sits upright without assistance and one that shows interest) to put appropriate sized food in his mouth on his own, actually minimizes the choking hazard because the baby learns how to control how much goes into his mouth. Also, starting baby on foods that are not just pureed mush gives baby different textures to explore and this is a good thing.

Bland Food is for Bland Babies! While it is still a good idea to feed your baby one food at a time in the beginning to make sure that he doesn't have any allergies. . .you don't have to feed your baby bland food. We have always started our babies on bananas or avocados as a first food, and I know many people start with rice cereal. Apparently, in Japan however, radishes are one of the first foods of choice. My missionary friend in Papau, New Guinea fed her infants sweet peppers and fish.

Once you've established that your baby doesn't have any allergies, you are free to spice home made food with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper or just about anything else you find on your spice rack. I even have one child (the 3 year old mind you) who likes Taco sauce on everything. The Ideal Time to Start is Around 4-6 months! Not necessarily true and even American sources now say so. You can wait to start your baby on solid foods until he is a) sitting, b) has teeth and or c) shows an interest. All of our children started solids this way: baby was sitting next to mommy and grabbed something off of my plate.

I Need to Drop a Nursing Session Actually, if you plan to nurse for awhile, there is no need to not continue to nurse on demand as you normally would. Babies at this age should not get their primary nutrition from solid foods, but rather from breast milk. (If you are bottle feeding then you should replace a meal with a bottle according to your pediatrician's recommendations.) The point at the beginning of your adventures in solids should not be to get your baby to take in a whole meal at one sitting. The point is to get your baby used to a variety of textures and foods.

Of course, if you follow your pediatrician's recommendations (or the AAP guidelines) this is fine. It is not going to be bad for your baby if you start feeding him baby cereal at 4 mos. However, I find it interesting that it really is more of a cultural issue rather than a scientific one.

Note: Please remember that feeding your baby whole foods and/or letting your baby have spicier foods is NOT recommended for young babies. This is perfectly acceptable, however, for babies who are at least 7-9mos old.

Related Articles: Solid Food: The How to Start

Solid Foods: The When

Solid Foods: The Whys

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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