Proteins and baby-raising

Hi Marjorie!

I too have had a lot of difficulty finding reliable information on early proteins. It is hard to find much academic research on the topic, and what I do dig up is quite old and difficult to access. For example, I found several references from the early 1980's, mostly from anthropology journals and nursing manuals, but actually finding copies of the texts has proven extraordinarily difficult. I have access to several academic libraries, and one of these days I will go in person to dig up the dusty, yellowing volumes. I have become spoiled by online access to most research references -- spending actual time in the stacks seems so antiquated!

What I could uncover in the published literature aligns with your findings that babies are usually given small, well-cooked amounts of whatever adults eat. There are also several references from the late 1970's written by folks reporting on "developing" and "third-world" countries (it all smacks of the early Peace Corps and Margaret Mead "living amongst the natives"). The authors discuss the primacy of breastfeeding and report that the "tradition" is to wean babies on to porridge. Several authors discuss a paucity of meat in infant diets or document "taboos" against protein-rich foods for kids. What goes unexamined, however, is whether these choices are purely "cultural" or if they are in fact a reflection of general food scarcity due to geopolitical forces. One also wonders if a "taboo" against feeding kids high-density foods like fat and protein actually represents a community allocation of nutrition resources to adults struggling to keep their families alive with manual labor.

There was an interesting article on the La Leche League website , about cultural differences in baby feeding practices. She, too, seems to have honed in on the political issues behind "cultural" feeding choices:

The staple food in Niger is a grain called millet. It is frequently the only food available and is not a complete protein. Even if there is meat available, women and children may be the last ones served.

It does seem that the author made an attempt to cite actual references rather than repeat the general stereotypes you so rightly pointed out in your last post. On further examination, however, these references are, with one exception, non-primary sources - mostly breastfeeding manuals. The author reports the early feeding of fish in Oceana and Japan, as well as the possibility of insects and grubs as a protein source. Despite the usual reports of no grease and animal fat for babies, she also cites how Inuit people feed their babies seal blubber. All of this deserves further examination, especially given the citations, but I appreciated the general tone of acceptance in the article. I also must commend her lack of disclaimers about "talking to your pediatrician before starting any solid food before the age of three", or other such nonsense.

On a more personal front, many mothers I know of Mexican and Salvadoran origins tell me that their infants' first exposure to proteins is traditionally meat broths, although lentils are also a common infant staple. Meat broths are considered nutritious, easy to digest, and have "baby-friendly" flavor. With my own child, his earliest proteins were mashed egg yolks, black beans and salmon. After 9 months or so, we would give him a chicken bone to gnaw on with some meat attached. In general, though, most of his proteins were milk based, both human and cow. He ate a lot of yogurt, cottage cheese and ricotta. I tried the meat broths but quickly tired of having to gently spoon everything into his mouth while avoiding his impatient little fists-- so little of the soup ended up in his tummy, and so much ended up on his shirt! I liked feeding him thicker things that he could try to eat himself, or at least had less propensity to dribble off the spoon prior to touching his lips.

The one thing that continues to bother me about fish is the issue of pollution, mercury and other contaminants in fish. I wanted to share an article that I found helpful in the New York Times that listed the fish and seafood that are safe for young children and pregnant women to eat on a weekly basis. Helpfully, the list also excludes fish that, though potentially safe, are poor choices from an ecological perspective due to overfishing, bad farming practices and the like.

Finally, both of us have chosen to eat meat and are also raising our kids omnivorously, but while investigating the subject of proteins for babies, I have also become interested in some of the debates about raising babies on vegetarian, vegan and even raw diets. I imagine that you know some moms who are doing this -- I know many vegetarian moms, some due to lifestyle choice, many for religious reasons. Have you found any information on this topic?

Be well, Abbie

Early Proteins

Hi Abbie!

Thanks for the thoughtful and articulate review of Nourishing Traditions by S. Fallon and M. G. Enig in your last post. The book had caught my eye in Saveur's top 100 issue as well, and after reading what you and other online reviewers had to say, I'm happy to skip this one! Although I'm sure the book had its pros, I agree with you; in this day and age, I find it irresponsible to recommend things like raw milk to infants if there are other options available. And you're so right - "There must be a way to preserve varied regional practices and avoid converging on a monolithic new "tradition" of Gerber," while hopefully avoiding the "cultural reductionism" employed by these and many other authors when examining different global traditions. This gets to the heart of what we are trying to explore with this blog; it is an issue that comes up routinely and one that you'll see rear its ugly head for me later in this post.

One new challenge my husband and I are facing with our nearly seven month-old is his overwhelming preference for solid food over his soy formula. We realize that breast milk (or formula) remains the most important part of a baby's diet until twelve months of age or more and that it provides an indispensable source of protein and fat, among other things. Our son is getting "enough" formula, but I want to supplement the good fats and proteins he's ingesting with his solid food. Until recently, American mothers were encouraged to hold off on meat until nine months or a year. One pamphlet I received at our local Women's Center cautioned to hold off on fish (not just shellfish) until 3 years! In general, however, the trend now seems to be more flexible - meat and fish as early as 6 months.

In Canada, meat is commonly among the first foods a baby is given, because the iron in meat is much more bio-available than that in fortified baby formula or cereals. (I know many breast fed babies receive supplemental iron, in vitamins or fortified cereals, but this has never really sat well with me; I would think that after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, breast milk would pretty well cover all of the bases...but, I digress). One thing that I read over and over is that too much protein at once can be hard for little baby kidneys to process. A small amount of protein served in conjunction with other foods at each meal rather than one huge serving seems to be the way to go (probably true for all of us!).

One reason it has taken me so long to post this entry is that I kept hoping to magically uncover information from different regions of the world about first/early proteins fed to babies. I wanted actual recipes from firsthand accounts, not just "second-hand reports of the aforementioned "African native" or the "sturdy Alpine" ancestor" as you wryly put it in your last post in reference to Nourishing Traditions. I don't want the generic, stereotypical, and in many cases probably inaccurate list: China = tofu and fish, India = lentils and chick peas, etc. However, unsurprisingly, it does appear from my limited research that if and when babies are fed supplemental proteins, they are given small amounts of whatever proteins are common in the adult cuisine of the region. One near-universal seems to be the avoidance of too much grease or animal fat.

Alas, I have very little new information to report. In an interview with my friend from Nicaragua, beans, eggs, and meat broths came up as "more advanced foods" for babies. He also mentioned pork as a taboo food for young children, as it is "difficult to digest." I have already posted my friend Sandra's recipe for kichri, which calls for yellow lentils, in an early post (see 'An Indian Perspective'). My Taiwanese mother-in-law and her sisters served their babies tofu poached in chicken, beef, or fish broth. Other early selections included steamed "softer" fish (i.e. white river fish, not tuna steaks) and poached eggs.

I know there are concerns about introducing egg whites to young babies because of the potential for allergic reactions, but we started egg yolk this week. I just hard boiled it and mashed it with a little water. He loved it! I have found "recipes" online for scrambled egg yolk, which I think would be too dry for him at his age. We've also started salmon - baked and pureed with some water - plus, chicken and avocado. We're gearing up for tofu, beans, and more meats and fish. My investigations into hummus for babies revealed sesame seeds to be the 9th most common food allergy in the world. It is easy enough to prepare hummus without the tahini if one is concerned about this.

I would love to hear what kinds of proteins you started out with for your son and how you prepared them. Also, if you have come across some interesting recipes or traditions in your research related to early proteins/fats. I will keep looking and share more when I find it.

Hope all is well there!
Love,
Marjorie