More on Early Fruits

Hi Abbie!

Wow, the figures you posted regarding the amount of fertilizer required to cultivate bananas are staggering! I'm surprised, given that bananas are the most often consumed fruit in the world (at least according to an old trivial pursuit question). We had been avoiding them for our son for another reason (his ongoing struggle with constipation), but this definitely complicates matters further... I found the whole article you linked us to interesting and upsetting; it helped remind me that in this day and age, with so much information and choice available to us, we have an obligation to do the best we can for our planet, our children, each other... This philosophy should apply whether we're talking about the fanciest "adult" recipes or our children's "first foods."

As for alternative "first fruit" traditions, I haven't uncovered much beyond what you mentioned. Many of my friends and cousins with children also started with bananas. In the interview from my friend Sandra (see next post), bananas are mentioned as a common early fruit in India, and mangoes came up as an "all-time baby favorite." Infants and Children: Their Feeding and Growth by Frederic H. Bartlett, M.D., (NY: 1932), which I referenced in an earlier post, suggests apples and prunes as first fruits, followed by banana, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, and red raspberries ("don't worry about the seeds") - all stewed except for the very ripe bananas (p. 60-61). Pears and peaches come up over and over as "first fruits" in the books on baby nutrition I've borrowed from our local Women's Center.

I have read in several places that babies should wait until the one year mark before trying citrus fruits due to their high acidity and propensity for causing allergic reactions. Then again, your research shows that Kenyan mothers start oranges early (at 3 months), and my friend from Nicaragua named orange juice and lemonade as early and health-promoting foods. The advice tome from the 1930s recommends orange juice beginning at 2 months (hehe). So, who knows? How old was your son when he first tried citrus?

So far, the only fruits my son has tasted are prunes and pears (OK, my husband pointed out that technically most of his foods have been fruits (squash, avocado, etc.), but you know what I mean!). We'll probably start apples next. I'll keep my eyes peeled for more opinions and information on early fruit traditions!