IF there is anything that our modern culture gets totally wrong, its how to feed babies and properly introduce solid foods.
Pediatricians, dietitian, 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, contributing greatly to the epidemic of fat toddlers and the worrisome childhood obesity problem in general according to the website www.thehealthhomeeconomist.com.
Rice cereal is not a healthy first food for babies because it contains ample amo3unts of double sugar molecules, which are extremely hard for such 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.
A babys 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.
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.
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.
Mashed banana is also a wonderful carbohydrate to add around this time as banana digests very easily due to the copious amounts of amylase present no need for babys small intestine to produce it herself.
At the age of 10 months or so, pureed meats, fruits and vegetables can be added.
These foods should be introduced one at a time to reduce any chance of a reaction. Best also to avoid high starch veggies like potatoes and sweet potato, which contain very complex starch molecules which 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 with some deep yellow, grassfed butter.
Homemade soups made with real chicken, turkey, or beef broth rank as one of the most nutritious foods for babies to be eating at this age.
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 has been pasteurised away) and only serves to spike the blood sugar and increase the risk of obesity. It also kills the childs 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, her 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 after age 10 months or so.
