Give me Cereal, or Give me Death

When did America turn into a Dickensian orphanage? I think it was sometime in the 50's, which puts us a bit behind the times as far as literary cliches go. At Finn's six month appointment, almost three months ago, his pediatrician recommended that I give him gruel, once a day. I smiled and nodded. I did not give him gruel.

Of course, she did not really say "You should give him gruel," but that packaged iron-encrusted rice flakey stuff is what I would call gruel. It's certainly not cereal, and I would certainly not eat it. The whole idea of giving him something other than breast milk just seemed wrong to me. First of all, I did not think that he was ready and second of all, I did not think that I was ever going to be giving him that stuff.

Baby junk food.

Little did I know the sniffy opinions people have about solid foods and when they should be given to babies. Many "helpful" people think they should start at at least four months. Some people start as early as six weeks. They will tell you that your baby won't gain enough weight, sleep though the night, or get enough nutrition if you don't start them on solid food at six months, at the very least.

(None of those things are true, by the way.)

And why do they care so much?

It all seemed weird to me. It seemed weird to me that this would not be adjusted for a premature baby, and then it seemed weird to me that an arbitrary thing such as a chronological date would determine when to start something so important. It seemed like baby behavior should be the guide. Also, since when is pre-packaged cereal watered down to the consistency of "thin soup" considered solid? It's been a long time since seventh grade science, but I do remember some things. Apple juice is not a gas, and thin soup is not a solid.

It's the whole "Cry-it-Out" war all over again, but this is more bizarre. Almost everyone always asks if he's eating solid food. This would never occur to me when observing someone's baby.

"Cute. Eating steak yet?"

And it's usually in connection with the "sleeping though the night" question.

(If we remember from our earlier notes, the medical definition of "sleeping through the night" is five consecutive hours, and a solid is defined, in chemistry as "state of matter characterized by particles arranged such that their shape and volume are relatively stable. The constituents of a solid tend to be packed together much closer than the particles in a gas or liquid."
Note: "thin soup" is not mentioned.)

Answers: No, Finn is not sleeping through the night, and no, he's not slurping gruel. He's not Oliver Twist.

Unlike the Cry It Out argument, I can cite actual acronyms supporting my side of the argument. The World Health Organization recommends that no solid foods be introduced to babies before six months. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no solid foods be introduced before six months. I am sensing a trend. In fact, they recommend exclusive breast milk for the first six months. Furthermore, I read that babies do quite well on just breast milk for the first year, and one should watch their baby for cues that it is ready for solid food.

What to watch for?
Well, sitting up unassisted, for one thing.

A mature digestive tract. Studies say that this is ready at around six months.

Losing the tongue thrust. This is the fun thing they do, and it's a reflex that protects them, when they automatically push solids out.
Ready and willing to chew.
Able to pick things up with the thumb and forefinger.
Tries to grab food and intercept food, displays interest in food.

Now, at almost nine months, I feel that Finn is actually there, which would be on cue had he been born in September. He's just starting the thumb and forefinger grasp, and his sitting up is getting better. He's definitely displaying the interest in food.

Of course, others around him would say that he has wanted to eat our food for a couple of months now, but I live with him and spend a great deal of time with him. Once he figured out he had hands and really started interacting with the world around him, he wanted to grab everything, and he wanted to put it all into his mouth. (let's sing: He's got the whole world, in his mouth.) If he saw it, he wanted it. It did not matter what it was. He's the same now, but he has started to become interested in food and the act of eating in a different way, and I can tell the difference because, I am just going to say it, I am his mother. He really wants my cell phone, but that does not mean I should let him make a call.

Now, I think he's ready. Not for a cell phone, but for solid food.

Not gruel. Not thin soup. Not rice cereal.
Oh no. I will not be giving him baby cereal first. I don't care if it's organic. It's not going to happen. He's not going to start with grains. When he's ready for grains, I'll make them, or he will steal them out of Pete's hands, but we're starting with either sweet potatoes or avocado. He has already nomm-ed on a couple of apples and an orange peel, so we know that he likes new tastes, and strong ones at that. Besides that, I think that this rice cereal thing is related to the early to mid to mid late twentieth century disdain and discouragement of breast feeding, and that is a path I do not tread.

Basically, I held off because I thought my baby was not ready and because no one could give me a good reason to start him, while I found many reasons not to, from the concern over allergies to interference with iron absorption. I inwardly rolled my eyes whenever someone made an aside about him wanting food, or how bad they felt eating in front of him, or how he'd sleep through the night, blah blah blah. It's really annoying. Just because it was done that way in previous generations does not make it right. Back in the day, we put babies to sleep on their stomachs, now we know that may contribute to SIDS. People smoke and drank when they were pregnant, and they smoked around babies and children. Breastfeeding was discouraged. We didn't always get things right.

Finn is facing a menu of avocado, sweet potato, and pear. Then bananas, then apples, then into meats, and then into whole grains, over a period of time. What we are doing, after all, is introducing him to new tastes, complementing the breastmilk, and adding new experiences. He'll still be nursing on demand, I'll be pumping more once I am back to work, and breast milk will continue to be his primary source of nutrition. We'll nurse first, then try a few bites of a new food and see how it goes. This is not nutrition replacement or behavior modification (i.e. sleeping through the night), it's practice and learning. The good old AAP says that breast milk should remain babies' primary source of nutrition for the first year, and that's fine by me. I can stay lashed to the mouth and to the pump for that long. And longer.

Many sources say that you should try one new food at a time, wait three to five days, and then introduce something new, but I have also read that it's good to introduce a bite of new flavors each day. That's what he's getting with the breast milk, too, based on my varying diet. Again, the AAP recommendations now forgo the suggestion of waiting in between new foods.

So far, he likes sweet potatoes and avocados, although he may just like the bright green color and squishy consistency of the latter.

Video to come. That's Pete's department.