Feeding Your Baby a Developmentally Appropriate Diet

We take a little different approach to the introduction of solid foods, as I outlined in this article. Now 4 months into feeding my daughter solids and as she has passed her 13-month birthday I have even more confidence in this developmentally appropriate way of introducing solid foods. Compared to other children her age, who are fed formula and lots of grains, she shows excellent growth, and regular but not excessive bowel movements. Why does that matter?

Well, when children's diets are mostly made up of grains like wheat (crackers), oats (Cherrios), and rice (the ever popular rice cereal), they end up consuming a fair amount more food than they are able to use. Children do not develop enough amylase to properly digest and use grain products until they are 2 years old.

Being given so much of this undigestible foods can stem all sorts of problems, from obesity to failure to thrive to diabetes to colon and intestinal problems.

Obesity can be caused when given a diet full of foods that the child is unable to use and digest because he learns mixed messages about his hunger system. He is given food when he is hungry, but since it is not digested or used, it is not filling. Just think how you would feel after eating a nice lunch of styrofoam. You would be physically full, but your body would be saying 'eat more!" because you really did not get anything useful out of it. The same is true when loading children up on grains that they cannot digest.

Failure to thrive among the toddler is lesser known and understood than it is in infants. I believe that it is caused by an excessive amount of undigestible food given to children.

Intestinal problems arise from the amount of undigested food that passes through daily. A little fiber (which noone can digest and is good for the bowels) is good, but if the bulk of your diet is made of food that is just passing through, this is overload.

So, what can they eat, if not grains? I asked myself that question... What do I feed her?

First of all, human milk (breastmilk) is considered essential and the ideal food, even after 12 months of age. It is still packed with nutrients (that are easily digestible, nonetheless) and antibodies for the rapidly growing toddler. We will breastfeed for a minimum of 2 years. Second, there are great whole real foods, just check out the produce section. We like to cook squash, carrots, sweet potatoes all for their beta carotene. We cook dried beans and lentils and season them with salt and pepper, for protein. We use olive oil when cooking for baby for its rich healthy fat content. Apples are a favorite and provide vitamin C. Almost any fruit and veggie can be cooked, grated, mashed, or eaten raw and is much more useful to a developing body that needs all the nutrients it can get. I hope you can re-think the old wive's tale of adding cereal to a baby's bottle to fatten them up or get them to sleep through the night. It really is not very healthy for the child at all.