A Disappointing Meeting

Hi Abbie!

Trust your instincts as a mother (and as a cook) - that is good advice. Last week, I went to a talk with the promising title "Starting First Foods and the Family Table" at our local Women's Center. The audience was filled with first-time moms eager for guidance and hanging on every word of the clearly unprepared nutritionist leading the discussion. It broke my heart to see moms asking questions like, "Will I being doing harm to my six-month-old baby by offering him a sip of water from my glass if he is curious about it?" or "We've been giving my son cereal exclusively for a month and a half, but he hates it so much he cries when he sees the bowl. Is it OK to try something different even though he isn't seven months yet?"

Despite my lack of expertise, I wanted to hijack the meeting and turn it into a pep-talk for embracing our inner mothering instincts. I wanted to remind everyone that our great-great-great-great-great grandmothers somehow made this motherhood thing work without much of the "expert" advice we have at our fingertips today and that we can do it too. My husband calls this my "in the wild" argument and correctly points out that infant mortality rates were much higher in the past. (I concede - modern technology often signifies forward progress. My own sweet son wouldn't have made it without much medical intervention at birth and for his first couple of months). But still! There is a time and place for strict rules and guidelines, and cooking and eating ain't it!

Everyone at the meeting received some literature with suggested times to introduce certain foods. One pamphlet, "Starting Solid Foods," put out by the American Academy of Pediatrics (revised in 2008), seemed refreshingly permissive compared to most other sources I have read, including the other handouts we received at the talk and the nutritionist's own advice. The pamphlet gave a generous age range for starting solids ("generally between 4 and 6 months"), and emphasized taking cues from your individual baby. As for types of foods offered:

"for most babies it does not matter what the first solid foods are. By tradition, single-grain cereals are usually introduced first. However, there is no medical evidence that introducing solid foods in any particular order has an advantage for your baby. Though many pediatricians will recommend starting vegetables before fruits, there is no evidence that your baby will develop a dislike for vegetables if fruit is given first...Many pediatricians recommend against giving eggs and fish in the first year of life because of allergic reactions, but there is no evidence that introducing these nutrient-dense foods after four to six months of age determines whether your baby will be allergic to them...Within a few months of starting solid foods, your baby's daily diet should include a variety of foods each day that may include the following:"
- breast milk and/or formula
- meats
- cereal
- vegetables
- fruits
- eggs and fish

This list covers a lot of food! In contrast, a different handout from the same meeting banned eggs and fish until after three years of age and advised against serving anything other than cereal until your baby is eating a half a cup of cereal at a time. (!?). The nutritionist cautioned against introducing meats for the first few months of eating solids due to their "strong flavor." I plan on adopting the "try it and see" approach myself...

We also received some recipes at the meeting. I have mixed feelings about them. The majority involve pureeing two or three foods together in strange ("cute?") combinations unlikely to be encountered in "adult" recipes (like "Blue Mash" - a blend of blue potatoes and purple cauliflower and "Banana-cado Puree" - you guessed it, banana and avocado). On the other hand, I think it is wonderful to encourage parents to experiment with cooking for their babies instead of just combing the baby aisle at Stop and Shop. If having these recipes in hand gives them the confidence to do that, great.

I am looking forward to some of your favorite recipes!
Marjorie