Infants Are Fed Solid Food Too Soon, C.D.C. Finds

[alp227]

Source: NYT

In a national survey of 1,334 mothers, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent said they gave their baby solid food before they were 4 months old, with 9 percent starting as early as 4 weeks. Doctors now recommend waiting until a baby is at least 6 months old.

For at least 20 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics had advised against feeding babies solid food before they turned at least 4 months old. Last year, encouraged by growing evidence of the health benefits of breast milk, the group raised that age, saying babies should be fed nothing but breast milk for six months. When breast milk in not an option, formula is an acceptable alternative, the group says.

But the survey suggests that mothers are not aware of the recommendations or find them difficult to follow. Popular reasons for giving solid food to babies before 4 months included “my baby is old enough,” “my baby seemed hungry,” “I wanted my baby to sleep longer at night” and — most alarming to researchers — “a doctor or health care professional said my baby should begin eating solid food.”

...

Further, the women in the survey who turned to solid food early were more likely to be young, less educated and unmarried. They also had lower levels of income or education, and were more likely to participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/health/many-babies-fed-solid-food-too-soon-cdc-finds.html

[SunSeeker]

1. There should be PSA's that breast milk is free and it's the best thing for your baby.

Babies on breast milk get less ear infections, less allergies, provides nutirients found nowhere else to help the baby develop its brain...the list goes on and on...

And, it is good for the mother's health as well.

[Hamlette]

9. "free" is a relative term if you have to work

yes, you can pump at work but not all work places look kindly on it. And in some places it is very difficult if not impossible.

We'd have to redo our whole economy to accommodate breast feeding that long. If all those anti-abortion protesters want to do something productive, they should help pass legislation that would give mothers 6 months off with pay after the birth of a child.

[Freddie]

10. Come on you know better

"Pro-life" means protecting the fetus, they don't give one flying f*ck about the actual baby.

[Nikia]

32. I told both workplaces that I would be pumping

The first place had not had lactating women before, but the second, my current workplace, did. Despite the fact that this place is accommodating, there are other women with infants who gave up on breast feeding before returning to work at 4-8 weeks. I believe that Federal law now requires accommodation for lactating women. Sure pumping is a pain and prevents me from hanging out with coworkers during break, but is free and gives me peace of mind that my baby will probably not get a serious illness.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I remember my pediatrician telling me to start feeding cereal to my daughter at 6 weeks.

I was nursing her, and I knew this was wrong, so I didn't. This was in the late '60's.

I felt very guilty, even though I knew I was doing the right thing. There was research available at that time that backed me up.

I started her on small amounts of rice cereal after the 3 month checkup.

She nursed till she was 11 months old, and she did well. Never used a bottle; she went straight to a cup.

[surrealAmerican]

27. At a time when a large majority of babies were fed formula ...

... and the available formula was generally deficient in some nutrients, this may not have been a bad recommendation. Of course, for you it was wrong because your baby was not fed formula.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. I was put on solid food the day I came home from the hospital.

Maybe explains why I have a digestive system like a macerator pump. You could drop a spoon into it, and it would come out the other end in pieces.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. Hell, I still enjoy breast feeding.

[elleng]

5. I don't get this:

'Parents should also know the signs that their child is ready for solid food, like sitting up, being able to take food off a fork and not closing the mouth when food is offered, Dr. Scanlon said.'

Take food off a fork? Suggests teeth, right? Not discussing/considering 'baby food,' applesauce consistency? Seems like this story/study has skipped an entire chapter.

[vanlassie]

8. The fork think is strange, but puréed foods like applesauce

really are not that necessary if you wait until they are at least six months. Then they just need soft foods they can get to their own mouth like avacado or cooked cubed squash or banana.
Many exclusively breastfed babies don't need solids until they are seven or eight months old and by then they skip the spooned foods. Maybe that's what they meant.

[Demo_Chris]

6. I'll never forget or live down...

The day I took my daughter to work with me to show her off. It was her forst time away from her mom. Three months old. When I got back home my wife wanted to know what I had fed her for lunch -- apparently thinking that I had forgotten. Not me, I was a good dad! I proudly told her that I had fed her some french fries. My wife went ballistic. It turns out babies don't eat french fries.

She ate 'em though, with no problem. And it's not I wasn't paying attention to her while she was eating them.

[No Vested Interest]

7. I was one who fed my baby solid food too soon

This was decades ago. Breast-feeding was not in vogue as much as it is now, although I agree that it is a wonderful way to start.

My babies were big - all 8 & 9 lbs.
The first one I breast-fed for one month. I felt she never got enough, and she cried a lot, and I was getting exhausted. At one month I put her on the bottle. (Actually I had planned this ahead, as I had to go out-of-town without her for a long day.)

When the second one came along, larger than the first, I never planned to breast-feed her, but gave her bottles from the start. I decided on my own to give her a tiny taste of cereal at 2 weeks (!), which did seem to satisfy her more.

I did not fit the young, less educated & unmarried definition, and had adequate income.

It's far too late if it did any damage, but that child is fairly strong-headed and a big help to me today.

[newfie11]

11. That's what I did

My kids were nursed until 6 months and then got the same food we ate. I never used the prepared baby food.

[Kalidurga]

12. All of my children refused solid food until they were around 6 to 8 mos...

They hated cereal, but they would eat some veggies and fruits. Then pureed whatever we were having after that.

[Summer Hathaway]

14. When my son was born

I was only one of two women in the maternity ward who was breast-feeding - because "studies showed" that bottle-feeding was better for the baby.

When my daughter was born seven years later, there were only two women in the maternity ward who weren't breast-feeding - because "studies showed" that breast-feeding was better for the baby.

Since the dawn of time - and long before "studies" on the topic existed - women have been feeding their infants based on their observations of how their babies react to what they are fed, how they are fed it, and at what age they are fed it.

I understand that quite a few babies survived those dark times - despite their mothers not having "studies" to tell them what to do.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. ^^^ THIS^^^

There is too much conflicting info that the pseudo-scientific/medical media promote as "the final word" and then one wonders why this country has become so dysfunctional.

[peacebird]

19. Bingo!

[union_maid]

15. 50% of my children were way too hungry to wait that long

My first was a great eater, but she was one hungry baby. She was miserable until I started living her a little cereal, which was way before they're recommending now. She was bottle fed. Very little breastfeeding when she was born. My second was the opposite. Did not like anything. Not breast milk, formula, solid food - anything. I tried to breastfeed him for a while, but finally gave that up. We assumed it was a digestive thing. I don't think so now. He stayed a fussy and mostly unenthusiastic eater for a long timie. He didn't like milk or any but a couple of foods throughout his childhood. Both grew up to be healthy adults with excellent eating habits.

[sybylla]

25. You know, my experience with babies and my response to them was much the same as yours.

Except both my babies were big eaters. They got solid food way too early from well-meaning family members (one was even a nurse who should have known better :crazy .

But I started them on solid foods by about 4 months, long after they started sleeping through the night, because they weren't satisfied any more by an all liquid diet.

What so many people fail to see is that, though moms and dads have been given so much contradictory advice for so long, babies grow up healthy and happy anyway.

I come from a whole generation of babies born when moms drank and smoked while they were pregnant, who were bottle fed, who were given solid food very early. Obviously I don't suggest we go back to those days, but it's clear a huge percentage of babies are very resilient regardless of the environment they incubate and grow up in.

My advice to new parents is to take everything anyone tells you (even doctors and their studies) with a grain of salt. You and your baby are unique and need to find your own way through the world together.

[llmart]

30. Best post in this thread!

Whatever did mothers do before all this so-called advice and scientific studies?

Both of my children had "solid" food at 3 months (I say "solid" because it was rice cereal with enough formula in it that it was more liquid than solid). I had a large garden and put the cooked veggies in a blender and they ate that, but I also kept some Gerbers in jars on hand too.

I didn't smoke but I had a drink now and then and guess what? My son had an IQ of 145 and was accepted at MIT. My daughter is also very intelligent. Both are productive, healthy, well-adjusted adults. Neither of them EVER had any allergies.

My son, who is the oldest, gets a laugh out of my story of how the night before he was born, we had a small get together at our apartment and I had a screwdriver with my dinner, which wasn't a very healthy dinner I'll admit but I had eaten healthy during my pregnancy. It just happened that we had pizza or hot dogs or some such that night. When I got to the hospital the nurses asked what I had last eaten and when and I was ashamed to tell them what I REALLY had so I made something up!

But then again, I DID let both of them ride their tricycles without a helmet (there were no such things as helmets back then), so maybe I really was a bad mother

[rosesaylavee]

17. I went to the trouble 20+ years ago to interview

pediatricians who would be supportive of my breast feeding ... only to have the guy come to visit me in the hospital after my surprise caesarian to join in with most of the nurses on staff in the baby ward that I tell me I was starving my child and that I should start him on rice cereal right away as he was a 'big boy' at 8#. Fortunately I had supportive females around me who convinced me to stick it out - caesarians are a shock to the system and the milk doesn't kick in immediately. My son is a healthy 6 footer and probably a little underweight for his height but very athletic and not prone to illness.

Among those who were advising me on breastfeeding at the time also said to introduce cereal solids at 6 months as otherwise the kids would be prone to food allergies. So this is not news to many of us moms. Sounds to me that the CDC is just catching up to what lactation specialists were saying in the early 90s.

I am sharing for those women who think that it is commonsensical to breast feed and of course their physician will support them. Not always and not even when you quiz them on it prior to birth. Headsup!

[peacebird]

18. My son started having a little rice ceral in his formula at a month & was eating three meals

plus a couple bottles by 6 months. I was also raised that way, as was my brother. I was a college graduate/ professional woman when I had my son.
My son was perfectly able to eat, and was quite ready. He was clearly hungry and milknalone was not satisfying him. A little rice cereal stopped his hunger, making him a happy baby. They KNoW the study is a crock, they ADMIT it is hard for a family to keep a baby on just milk. Why is that? Probably because a hungry infant is a crying irritable infant.

I think this CDC study is suspect, who wants to bet the formula industry is behind it?

[onehandle]

20. The librul nanny state telling us what to do.

Beef jerky is baby food, imo.

[VA_Jill]

21. I knew this 40 years ago

being an enthusiastic member of La Leche League at the time. My oldest is 40 and I started him with a little yogurt just before 6 months because he kept grabbing my spoon. He nursed until he was 14 months old and only quit then because he had such a bad cold he couldn't breathe and nurse at the same time. I won't even tell how old my others were when they quit, but neither of them started solids until after 6 months, and then they mostly got pureed fruits and veggies of whatever variety we had.

With my first I had a pediatrician who insisted on a "relief bottle" daily; relief for mom, I guess. I didn't give it because I didn't agree. At the 6 week checkup he asked if I was giving the "relief bottle" and when I said no, he asked why not. I asked him if it had ever occurred to him that there were moms who preferred to totally breastfeed. I guess it hadn't. I switched pediatricians after that, to one whose wife was a member of LLL.

[KittyWampus]

22. How do they define "solid food"? Anything but milk? Big difference between mushed apples & steak.

[elleng]

24. Yes, I agree,

quite ambiguous in the article.

[crim son]

23. I definitely fed all three of my children solid food too soon, apparently.

If there was any damage done it isn't apparent... all three are healthy and slim. Perhaps the fact that they only ever ate homemade food, including homemade baby food, helped them survive my error.

[bitchkitty]

26. I'm just glad I never had kids

because I probably would have unintentionally killed them or scarred them for life. So many things that can go wrong!

[azurnoir]

28. when and how was this "survey" done - 35 years ago I was told this exact same stuff

when my eldest daughter was born same with next 3 kids and that is over a nearly 20 year period

when I took her for her 4 month well baby check-up and said she was eating solid foods I was asked did she show readiness and how, well yes she did, she was sitting in lap while I was eating and leaned forward grabbed a fist full of rice off of my plate, and stuffed into her mouth, seemed ready enough to me

with the others it was quite similar and between 4-5 months

[alphafemale]

29. I take it you've never seen a six month old face plant on a steak?

They let you know when they are ready for solid food...lol...trust me.

[dipsydoodle]

31. Must confess I did wonder how they ate peanut brittle with their gums.

[Nikia]

33. I saw no reason to feed my babies solids early

I exclusively breast fed them. If they seemed more hungry, I fed them more often. Instead of spending money on formula, all their calories were coming from me. This allowed me to get thinner without dieting. With my first, I put on weight as I decreased breast feeding. With my baby now, I am trying to substitute running with breast feeding. Breast feeding burns as many calories as heavy exercise so why not do it longer?