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There's nothing better than baby fat on a baby. Chubby cheeks, thighs, toes, finger tips -- just about everything on baby is better when it's chunky. It's not cute on an older child or adult. Just the opposite. Plus it's unhealthy. A new study says we might want to delay solid food for baby because our children may be thinner as adults.
"The later you introduce complementary feeding to an infant, within the range of 2 to 6 months, the smaller is the risk that the infant will be overweight as adult," Dr. Kim Fleischer Michaelson of the University of Copenhagen, one of the researchers of the study, told Reuters Health. Read the full article on (solid foods and thinner adults here).
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests women breastfeed exclusively until at least six months, but many moms start adding cereal and other solids before then, before four to six months or even sooner.
Dr. Michaelson measured the body mass of 5,000 men and women and examined how their mothers fed them as infants.
According to Reuters:
"Half of the study participants were breastfed for at least two and a half months, while half started eating solid food at three and a half months of age or later. Seventeen percent of the babies started spoon feeding before two months of age, while 46 percent didn't start until they were four months old or later.
"At age one, babies who were breastfed for longer had lower body mass indexes (BMIs). However, there was no association between duration of nursing and BMI in later childhood, adolescence or adulthood."
What age did you start giving solid food to your baby?
Comments (12)
This has been toted for years, but it seems few people listen. Starting babies on food before their bodies are ready is damaging to their entire digestive system, blood sugar, etc.
I started my son at almost 6 months because I thought 6 months was just the "right number." With my daughter, I'm much more educated and started her when she wa biologically ready (able to sit by herself, able to feed herself with her hand, no tongue thrust reflex, etc.) - no mammal force-feeds infants, and humans shouldn't either.
My son was ready for solids at 4 months and he gobbles them down - we're doing 7 and 8 oz bottles as well, he's just a big boy - his dad's 6'5" so that explains a lot... :)
Care to be taken when doing this- I was advised to wait until 6-8 mos because of the obesity rate by the previous ped we had, and my son is now diagnosed with failure to thrive, because he refuses solids. Since we have changed peds, that ped has told us I should have started at about 4 mos. I dont believe this has any actual bearing on the obesity fact.
Corrina, just like while reading this article, I have so many questions about how you feed your son. How old is he? How often and how much do you feed him? Things like that. I find it odd that postponing solids would be the reason for a child to not eat.
Both my DDs were started on cereal early, both were breastfed till they were at least 6 months (my eldest was 8 months) and BOTH of my DDs are below the 50% mark for their ages... I think that obesity has to do with the parents teaching healthy eating habits more then when the baby was started on solids... If your a junk food junky odds are your child is gonna grow up to be a junk food junky...
I started around 6 months with all of my children. I actually started my son with cereal around 5 months because he was drinking so much formula at a time and was still hungry. My youngest didn't like baby food so she really didn't start eating solids until around 9 months when she fed herself small bits of food. They are all skinny children, barely hitting the 25th percentile.
This study may be new, but the idea isn't. Our son was exclusively breastfed until we introduced solids at 8 months and a few days.
Here is a great article explaining the benefits of delaying solids: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
Corrina, your first pediatrician had it right. The World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, UNICEF and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services all recommend waiting until AT LEAST 6 months before introducing solids. Delaying solids does not cause babies to refuse solids later, so I would keep looking to find the cause of your child's failure to thrive. Sorry you're dealing with that.
Corrina, I just looked at your profile because I wanted to see how old your little guy was. I saw that both your boys have health problems. One has Celiacs disease (which can disrupt the absorption of nutrients in the small intestine.) and the other Pulmonary Stenosis. I'm not sure which of your boys was diagnosed with Failure to Thrive, but don't you think these underlying health issues could be the cause, rather than delaying solids?
Corina, one of the major problems with weight gain and malnutrition is too early and too much solids. Not the other way around.
My 18 month old is about 22 pounds, give or take an ounce. She was introduced to solids at the age of 6 months. I guess the "research" doesn't apply to her, seeing as she is kinda small for her age range.
The problem I have with the "research" is that it fails to point out that most of the solids we as moms feed our babies are fruits and veggies. They are mostly low in fat and calories. A couple of jars of food per day doesn't add up to a significant amount of calories. Add a few tablespoons of infant cereal, and you still don't have that many calories.
Obesity is caused in part by not burning off enough of the calories one consumes on a daily basis. Not to mention environmental, genetical, and medical issues.