Wondering about Weaning: Part two

So here it is, part two. I wanted to explain why I have chosen to wait until now (Annika had banana on Friday and I will post about that later) to start Annika on solids. First off a number of organizations all recommend waiting until the middle of the first year to start, they include but are not limited to the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the Canadian Pediatric Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and UNICEF. My choice to wait was not just based on the fact that these organizations said to wait, because when Markus was a baby 13 years ago they said it was okay to give solids at 4 months, I went and did my homework and found that based on the information I found I felt that it was best to wait until at least until 6 months.

The four month mark had been used because we thought that babies stores of iron would be depleted at that point and that babies would need some kind of supplement. Baby cereals are easy to add iron to and the grains like rice, oatmeal and barley are pretty bland and non-allergenic so that's what we went with. We now know that iron stores in full term babies don't begin to dwindle until around the 6 month mark.

There is also an interesting difference when it comes to iron found in breast milk versus formula, while this may not sound like a reason to wait with solids, it does support exclusive breast feeding until the 6 months. Breast milk has 0.3 milligrams of iron per liter compared to formula which contains between 10 and 12 milligrams of iron per liter. Here's the reason for this huge difference, the iron in breast milk is so much better absorbed by a babies gut that 0.3 milligrams per litre is all that needs to be there. With formula only 4% of the iron is able to be absorbed by a baby's gut with the rest being excreted. Now here's where I think it gets really interesting to me, when you give a breast fed baby formula or for that matter baby cereal with iron in interferes with their guts iron absorbing abilities, they actually become less able to get the very specific amount of iron found in breast milk.

Another reason that I found compelling was that a baby's gut needs time to mature, to help prevent allergies and to be ready properly digest food. When it comes to preventing allergies, between 4 to 6/7 months the intestines change from an "open" gut that allows many molecules including allergens and pathogens through to a "closed" gut that is better able to defend the body. Many of the digestive enzymes needed for proper digestion are not fully present until between 6-9 month. Starting solids early means the body is unable to get much nutrition from the food and it takes up space in the baby's stomach making the baby feel full, but is does not meet baby's nutritional needs.

All of the readiness signs from the last post are also there for a reason. If you think about it, a baby who cannot sit, cannot make chewing motions and pushes everything out of their mouth really has no business "eating". When they are ready to put things in their own mouths, chew them, swallow and go for more, then they are ready. Other reasons to wait include helping to prevent obesity, helping maintain mom's milk supply, helping ensure the gut has well established "good" bacteria and that it is easier to start solids with a baby who is developmentally ready.

So now you know why I have chosen to wait. I really feel that babies aren't not ready to start solids early and that there truly is benefit to allowing your baby to mature. When I get some more time I'll post some of the photos of Annika eating some banana and explain how I'm skipping using pureed food and going straight to the real stuff.