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

Nourishing Traditions

Hi Marjorie!

I laughed ruefully at your reports of the holiday feeding...and I definitely agree with you that the older generations are way more relaxed. My only moments of being on the receiving end of harsh disapproval about my kid's diet have been at the hands of "well-read" mothers my age and medical professionals. On the topic of reading, I thought I'd post a review of a recent book that shares some common ground with the themes of this blog.

I know that both of us are readers of the culinary magazine Saveur, probably the best mainstream media source of food anthropology. Every January the magazine publishes a "Top 100" list of all things food-related: selections range from ingredients, to techniques, to geographical regions. I was surprised to see the inclusion of a book that recently came on to my radar screen: Nourishing Traditions by S. Fallon and M. G. Enig. I had recently checked it out of the library in the interest of research for this blog, after having noticed it cited as a source several gardening manuals and cookbooks.

The essential argument of the book is that we need to reject the modern wisdom of "nutritious food" and go back to eating the traditional foods that nourished our ancestors. The authors describe many worthwhile kitchen techniques (i.e. making yogurt, stock and salad dressing) and make some compelling arguments against highly-processed foods. One of their more interesting literary flourishes is to include sidebars featuring a laundry-list of ingredients and asking you to identify the various store-bought products that they represent (i.e. granola bars, whole-grain crackers). I was quite interested that they champion animal fats over processed vegetable oils, arguing that animal fat is a traditional "whole food". My eyebrows began to rise when the authors promoted meat eating to the point of hostility: at one point the text insinuates that children of vegetarian mothers have lower IQs!

Let me warn you that the writing can be gimmicky and intentionally provocative -- just look at the subtitle: "The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats". For all of their many claims to be rejecting mainstream wisdom, the authors also endorse several heavily marketed health food store products (i.e. Noni juice, blue green algae) that have little science to recommend them. Overall, I struggled with the credibility of the text: the citations are old, often circular (i.e. citing an article previously written by the authors themselves) and usually not from a peer-reviewed source. Some of the health claims (both original and cited) verge on the offensive: the authors argue that "the deadly AIDS virus" emerged because we abandoned lacto-fermented foods, and they cite another author who reports that the doubling of the teenage suicide rate is largely due to soda pop and spaghetti.

The section on the feeding of babies shocked me. After emphasizing the importance of breastfeeding, they include two recipes for homemade formula in case it becomes necessary. One of the recipes is meat-based and the other one features raw milk! Now, am I a "Diet Dictocrat" for being concerned about feeding a newborn raw cow milk? I am uncomfortable that they advocate feeding a product potentially loaded with pathogens to a vulnerable and weak immune system. Of course, these concerns are dismissed as the work of "public health propagandists" and the reader is confidently reassured that "your nose will tell you if raw milk is contaminated".

Finally, I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I read yet another sentence admiring the healthy "native" practices of "African tribes" or extolling wise "Oriental" cultures. These continents of wise natives seem to exists only in the netherworld of self-help books -- I'm sure you noticed that pregnancy and childbirth manuals are littered with similar references. Where is the reality of famine, of crop failure, of poverty and epidemics? I shudder at the image of myriad American mothers earnestly "going native", blithely ignorant of the horrifying industrial food practices blossoming all over the globe, usually at the expense of a majority of the population. Lest you think this cultural reductionism is aimed only at our darker-skinned brethren, there is also a passage admiring the"stalwart physical development and high moral character" of "sturdy Alpine mountaineers" who have "developed on Nature's primitive foods". Is there a way to be interested in traditional cultural practice while avoiding this dangerous naivete?

As we have learned from our attempts at research, there is scant first-hand knowledge in the published literature regarding baby feeding practices. Most of what I have found is similar to the dreck published in Nourishing Traditions: second-hand reports of the aforementioned "African native" or the "sturdy Alpine" ancestor. Do you and I believe in this mythical healthy ancestor? We must, if we believe in going local and emphasizing unprocessed foods. Or maybe it is less about health and more about frugality and the ecosystem and general daily simplicity. Again, I ask you, can we be interested in this without pigeonholing "native" cultures into this static box of traditions? I hope so! Part of this is just recognizing that traditions can morph and that traditional practices occur in the context of modern realities. There must be a way to preserve varied regional practices and avoid converging on a monolithic new "tradition" of Gerber!

Abbie

P.S. You asked about my son's favorite foods. At two and a half years old, he loves pasta with pesto or tomato sauce, rice and beans, homemade pizza, vegetable potstickers, and anything involving fruit. He won't go near a potato or shellfish, and only agrees to meat every now and then. And, lest you think that he has no vices, even this young he has a serious love of chocolate and ice cream.

Relaxed Relatives

Hi Abbie!

Happy 2010! I enjoyed your post and especially loved the idea of the Muslim practice of tahneek, where a respected family member gives a baby the taste of a sweet date in the hopes of imparting some of their own admirable character traits. I also long for some interesting and meaningful ways of marking my son's eating milestones with my family. Actually, it would be disingenuous for me to pretend that his eating habits weren't a key part of my family's holiday entertainment! He was like a little prince sitting in his daddy's arms at meal time with everyone watching him gobble up mouthful after mouthful of squash, peas, potatoes, pears. He's a great eater, but I have to admit that my overflowing pride was tempered with a dash of annoyance at the endless suggestions and advice.

After five months of parenthood, I expected the onslaught; what took me by surprise was its direction. I had already steeled myself against what I thought would be disapproval over his very early introduction to a wide variety of solid foods (a list that still doesn't include the "traditional" cereal). What I got instead was relentless pressure to introduce MORE - things like my grandmother's "mallow-topped sweet potatoes" (6lbs potatoes, 6 cups sugar!! literally!) or the walnut-cranberry sauce ("for some great faces!"). I went to fill my water glass and returned to find my lactose-intolerant son happily eating Bavarian Cream Doughnut off of his uncle's (probably unwashed) fingers!

How ironic - I, who have been trumpeting the merits of the permissiveness of certain other cultures, who have been poo-pooing the tentativeness with which we Americans approach the feeding of our babies, I found myself playing the role of the over-protective mother, denying the party-trick food requests ("can I feed him this bacon?"), snatching my son out of his uncle's sticky, doughnut hands... It makes me laugh now thinking about it - oh, what a lesson. My point is: my family on the whole was much more relaxed when it came to the feeding of a baby than I expected them to be.

Of course, not all family members are created equally in this situation. Obviously, a childless uncle makes less of an impression than a mother of four, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother of three and counting. But, it got me thinking. Maybe this obsessive, ultra-careful feeding-of-American-babies stuff is less pervasive than it would seem from my over-educated, literature-saturated mommy groups (clearly true). Alternately, it could be a real but very new phenomenon resulting from the mountains of information available to the typical, modern American parent due to better access to health care, online resources, numerous tomes written on the topic, etc. Obviously, there are lots of pros to knowing more. I am comfortable with my decision to hold off on the walnut cranberry sauce because of all I have read about early nut introduction (though I still find this a confusing issue!). However, I'm also fine with my son's latest new food addition (chicken!), which he started just shy of his six-month mark. My family's laid-back attitude helped remind me to keep relaxed and just follow my instincts and my son's cues. He's surviving, and thriving, so far!

Hugs to your little guy! What have been some of his favorites lately?
Marjorie

PS You asked me if I came back with any new family baby food recipes or ideas. The answer is not really. I think the next trip home will probably uncover some new things, but with solid food still relatively new, we're still pretty much sticking to steamed, pureed foods on their own. One exception: chicken, which I bake, cool, and puree with some water, seems to be too dry on its own, so I mix in something else like prunes (this is actually really delicious!). I'm unwilling to add too much water to the puree, because my little beanpole needs the calories. I'm also unwilling to use his formula instead, because I think it tastes gross. In general, I like the idea of not mixing things up too much, so my son can taste the individual flavors. But, as with all of my "big ideas," this concept has gotten much more relaxed :)

First-feeding traditions continued

Hi Margie! I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season! I enjoyed the interview notes about Indian baby food traditions. I showed it to a colleague from Pakistan, and she reports that Sandra's answers are very similar to her own. She brought up two additional baby food traditions from Pakistan: ghutti and sooji (these are the spellings she gave me, forgive me if they are incorrect). Sooji is a semolina pudding that is a traditional first food in Pakistan, and very popular with young children. It seems quite similar to the "Cream of Wheat" cereal that I grew up eating.

Ghutti is a bit more complicated, and is in a similar vein to the annaprashan tradition that I posted about previously. My colleague described ghutti as a ceremony of first feeding, where a very young infant is given a taste of honey from a respected relative. She said she was so nervous about giving her newborn honey that she sent her husband all over the city looking for a pasteurized form. When I looked further into this tradition, it is actually described as part of a general family of "pre-lacteal" practices, meaning that the newborn is fed something prior to tasting mother's milk.

I found an interesting article for medical providers that describes the various ways Hindu and Muslim families observe these ceremonies. One example from the article is the Muslim practice of tahneek: "A softened date is rubbed into the infant's upper palate by a respected member of the family in hopes that attributes of this individual will transfer to the child". This hints at another aspect of this practice: the taste of sweetness is the goal -- I don't think anyone expects a newborn to swallow fruit. As with my prior reading on annaprashan, I was surprised by the variety and richness of the ceremonies worldwide that mark an infant's first feeding. From my reading, I most appreciated the general emphasis in all of these ceremonies that food is a way to transmit both values and health. How far this is from the day to day approach I witness in my community!

What is your son eating now? Any new discoveries into his likes and dislikes? I know you went to see family over the holidays...did you learn any new baby friendly recipes?

Abbie

An Indian Perspective (my interview with Sandra)

Hi Abbie!

Ever since your post on annaprasan I have been meaning to go back to my notes from an interview with my friend Sandra to see if she touched on this first-food tradition. While I didn't find any mention of it, I did enjoy reading back over her thoughtful and detailed answers and decided to go ahead and post them now before the craziness of holiday travels leaves me happily stranded in Indiana without internet access :) I haven't yet tried her recipe for kichri, as my son is too little for it at 5 months, but I'm looking forward to it. I hope you and your family have a very happy holiday season!


On traditional first foods: "In India, babies are usually nursed until about 9 months of age, sometimes longer. Solid foods are introduced at 3 months of age. One of the first solids is a cereal derived from rice which is thought to be most easily digested. This would be cooked into a thin gruel and called "conji". Nowadays the most common brands for babies cereal are "Farex" and "Cerelac" that is usually mixed with formula to form a runny porridge. Other first foods are mashed banana, and when the child is a little older, at about 6 months, vegetables cooked and in chicken or beef broth and then pureed and strained."

On more "advanced" infant foods: "The most common food for children around 1 year old is a dish called "kichri" (recipe at end of interview). This is rice and lentils cooked together until it becomes very soft. Other foods would be rice and yogurt, custard, a piece of chapati (Indian flat bread that looks like a tortilla), buttered rice, and fish (especially where I grew up along the coast). This was simply a spoonful of butter stirred into a cup of just-cooked rice with fish either poached or sauteed. Children were always given sweeter tasting river fish (with skin and bones removed) instead of the sea fish."

On taboo foods: "No crustaceans as they were considered difficult to digest. No fruit called custard apple similar to cherimoya, since it has small seeds that could pose a choking hazard. No uncooked eggs and no caffeinated drinks."

On medicinal or health-promoting foods: "Honey (given only to children older than 3 years), milk, onion juice cooked with sugar - remedy for colds, porridge made out of ragi (millet) flour was supposed to be good for overall health, other grain porridges made from oatmeal, whole wheat flour, semolina (cream of wheat) and sago (starch extracted from the pith inside stems of the sago palm Metroxylon), coconut water from tender (green) coconuts is considered cooling in hot weather."

On liquids given to babies: "Milk is the primary liquid. Cow's milk is only introduced after the child is 1 year old. Formula milk is becoming increasingly common. Rice starch (ie water collected after boiling rice) is also given. Babies are not given fruit juices to drink."

On the feeding of babies: "Usually it is the mother who feeds the baby. Previously in the joined family with extended family members present others would pitch in to feed the baby. Most middle and upper class families would have a nanny or "ayah". She was a servant of importance who worked with the family for many years performing the role of lady's maid as well. We look upon ayahs with great affection as she was like a second mother to us. Fussy eaters would be made to eat by distracting them with songs or bird/animal noises. Milk is fed in a bottle. For all other semi-solid and solid foods babies are spoon fed. It was not uncommon for the ayah to put small morsels of food in the child's mouth with her fingers. Babies were fed before their older siblings. Having spent my childhood in India and having brought up my own children here I can see the difference in expectations re:when a child ought to feed itself. In India the ayah would feed the child until 5 or 6 years of age. Whereas here children are encouraged to feed themselves as soon as they have the motor skills to do so."

"Here are some of my favorite toddler foods: Fresh fruit - especially diced mango, "Eggy soldiers" Soft boiled egg with butter toast fingers to dip into the yolk, Custard. Ready-made or bottled baby food was not favored - all food was made using fresh ingredients. Indians are quite fastidious about this."

"Here's my home recipe for kichri - interestingly this is believed to be the origin of the Anglo-Indian rice dish called "kedgeree":

- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup yellow lentils (moong dal)
- 2 cups water
- 1 tbsp butter
- pinch of salt
Wash the rice and lentils till the water runs clear.
Put in a large saucepan with 2 cups water and a pinch salt.
Bring to a boil on medium heat then partially cover the sauce pan and simmer till the rice and lentils are soft and the water is absorbed.
Stir in the butter
The water in the above recipe can be replaced with chicken broth."

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!