For a good 20 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has advised that parents avoid feeding solid food before babies reach the age of 4 months. That suggestion was revised last year, and parents are now being encouraged to provide nothing except breast milk until the baby reaches six months. When breast milk isn’t an option, formula is considered an acceptable alternative. Unfortunately, the message doesn’t seem to be getting across, the CDC says.
In a national survey of 1,334 mothers, 40 percent said they gave their baby solid foods before the age of 4 months, and 9 percent said they had started as early as 4 weeks. This suggests that either mothers aren’t aware of the recommendations, or they find them too difficult to follow.
Some of the most popular reasons for offering solids included “my baby is old enough,” “my baby seems hungry,” “I wanted my baby to sleep longer at night,” and (the most concerning of all) “a doctor or health care professional said my baby should be eating solid food.”
Economics seemed to play a part in the decision. Young, unmarried, and less educated women seemed turned to solid food more often than other mothers. Poorer women, who tended to view formula as more expensive, also tended to feed solids sooner than those in higher income brackets. Additionally, those that exclusively fed formula or a mix of formula and breast milk were the most likely to say they’d received the go-ahead from their child’s pediatrician.
“Clearly we need better dissemination of the recommendations on solid food introduction,” Kelly Scanlon, an epidemiologist with the CDC, and an author of the study, told NY Times. “Health care providers need to provide clear and accurate guidance, and then provide support to help parents carry out those recommended practices.”
The problem is, that while pediatricians may be sympathetic to the difficulty that parents face in feeding their child only breast milk or formula during that first six months, it’s important that they stand by what they already know . . . little good can come of feeding a baby solids before they are truly ready.
“When a baby is ready to start eating food, he will put his hands in his mouth, and you will see him actually making chewing motions,” Dr. TJ Gold, a pediatrician with Tribeca Pediatrics in Brooklyn, told NY Times. “At three months, they can’t even hold their heads up well and they can’t sit up, making it difficult, if not dangerous to put solid food in their mouth.”
In addition, infants under six months haven’t had the chance to fully develop the diversity of gut bacteria needed to safely process solid food. This can lead to a number of gastrointestinal problems, including diarrhea and gastroenteritis (inflammation of the intestines). And there are studies that have linked the early introduction of solids to problems ranging from obesity and diabetes to eczema and celiac disease.
And those reasons for feeding solids early? They don’t really hold up much when you really take a good look at them. For example, if a parent is turning to a bottle to help a baby sleep at night or gain weight, they might find that, in some ways, they’re actually being counterproductive.
“That big fat bottle at the end of the night isn’t why your baby is sleeping—it’s a skill you acquire,” Dr Gold said. “And if you think giving your child more calories is going to help him gain weight, but it gives him more diarrhea, then he’s not actually absorbing as much.”
In fact, the only one that really holds any serious weight is the cost of formula.
“The formula gets really expensive, especially in the 4-to-6 month window,” Gold said. “and if you have more than one child and you’re already preparing food for the whole family, it’s much easier to just start sweeping things off your plate.”
This issue can be balanced out by encouraging breastfeeding as much and as long as possible, especially for women that are in lower income brackets. This is because, unlike formula, breast milk is supply and demand. As your baby needs more, your body produces more. For help with breastfeeding struggles, seek out help from a lactation consultant or a pediatrician that supports long-term breastfeeding.
https://www.growingyourbaby.com/babies-receive-solids-too-soon/
https://www.growingyourbaby.com/introducing-solid-foods-to-your-infant/
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Sorry why oh why would there be an increase in food allergies since they have lengthened the time that food is introduced.
False correlation. There has been an increase in food allergies since they started recommending to delay certain foods or avoid them entirely. In places where they don’t delay specific foods there are very few food allergies.
This seems ridiculous to me. I knew both my sons were ready about 4 months for baby food. They were making themselves sick cause the formula wasn’t filling them up. And what mother would be stupid enough to give a 4 month old a hot dog. You give them baby food. It’s not like they have teeth. The whole scraping stuff off your plate and giving it to baby is dumb. They aren’t ready for that until almost one year when they have teeth to chew. That’s why they have these really watery liquid like jars of food called baby food.
You do realize that they do not need teeth to eat food right? No I would not give a 6 month old a hot dog because it’s garbage.
I wouldn’t even consider giving food to a 4 month old and I didn’t touch jarred baby food. At 6 months old you can give baby food straight from your plate. No purees! Purees are okay if you want to go that route but they do not need them at all. It’s called Baby Led Weaning and it can be done with or without teeth!
Thankfully I have a up to date doctor who understands that gut health is important! She recommends no earlier than 6 months for foods!
Where do you see a study that says that feeding early causes gut problems? More mothers are waiting yet gut problems are on the rise. This says that it is not caused by early feeding. Perhaps it is caused by having a pure liquid, painful tummy long after they need solid food.
Baby led weaning is unsafe and causes choking.
Yup! I was going to follow the fold and wait the “prescribed” 6 months but at our 4 month well baby the pediatrician, you know the one with his MD told me our son was ready. He also said “you eat 3 meals a day he needs to eat 3 meals a day”. My son is now 4. We see the same pediatrician, he has ZERO concerns about obesity, diabetes, and this kid has zero allergies.
At any rste by the time I am a grand mother you wont even be able to take the bubble wrap off your child til they are 18…and only then can we introduce food to them.
“He needs to eat 3 meals a day?” I would hope that your 4 month old was already eating far MORE than 3 meals a day. Most babies that age are nursing 6-10 times a day. (Or taking a comparable number of bottles.) If you were only giving your baby 2 bottles/breastfeeds a day, no wonder he was hungry.) IOW MILK is a ‘meal’ for infants. Solids, until baby is close to a year old, are mostly just for fun.
(Sad that your doctor, the one with the MD, is unfamiliar with the recommendations of his own professional organization. The AAP says 6 months.)
By 3 meals a day I think she means of solid foods in addition to bottles of formula or nursing.
They are referring to baby led weaning… Or mashing up veggies or fruits that would be served for the entire family. Some babies are ready around 4 months, like the article said… “Chewing motion”… Some babies aren’t interested in food until 14-16 months. Every baby is different. But, also, formula or breast milk is really all a baby needs until 1… Food before 1 is just for fun.
Until you see your baby going from being uncomfortable and never sated to being comfortable and fullfilled. This is simply formula companies trying to make more money. My boys were severly uncomfortable with a liquid diet and would cry when they smelled food and cry and reach for my food. Liquid only made them gassy and sick and they wouldn’t rest for more than an hour. Starting them on cereal early fixed this. Listen to your babies, not the CDC. They shouldn’t be in pain.
They were making themlselves sick?? a 4 months old? sorry or the formula was making them sick.. and yes you can give a 6 months old food from your plate.. fruit, veggie, meat .. and no they dont need theeths to eat that food
bayby food is rubish and full of sugar… unfortunatelly you wont see the result or consecuences of this until they are adults..
Idk about this… I have been giving my baby rice cereal for a week now he is 3months and 1 week…. he loves it. He opens his mouth wide when the spoon comes to him and he smiles and coos the whole time. I do not give him much. once in the morning once at night and only enough to mix with 1.5oz of breasmilk its barely solid mpstlt liquid. Idk I think this is a case by case basis…
What your baby ‘loves’ them is the concept of taking breastmilk from a spoon. Do you really think he notices the taste of a tiny amount of starch in an ounce of breastmilk?
If you really feel that your baby is ready for solids (and he isn’t), why not offer him real food with real taste?
Whether your baby will be harmed by early solids, nobody can say. But anyone can say with absolute certainty that he doesn’t benefit from it.
no people can’t say with certainty that he doesn’t benefit from it. Good job listening to your baby and fullfilling his needs.
I’m so relived to read this article. After a year of extensively researching the GI Tract development between birth and 5 years of age I’m so saddened the research behind waiting till the baby is physiological ready to safey consume foods other than formula and breastmilk isn’t researched more often by well meaning but misinformed parents. Luckily there are enough scholarly articles and research papers avaliable online when searching Google.
This research is accurate. Before 6 months, the baby does not have all of the enzymes developed to breakdown the solid food he is getting. Thus, this leads to gut malfunction and many other GI problems. Though you may not realize it now, this can lead to further issues even decades from now.
Just a dietitian’s perspective.
More parents are waiting yet gut problems are on the rise. Sorry, no correlation there. Made up facts, no study to prove this.
The gut issue is due to the fact that there are huge levels of glyphosate in baby formula. Another good reason to watch what you eat while breastfeeding too since glyphosate is passed through breast milk or if you find you can’t breast feed use organic baby formula.
Ashlee I saw my step sister in law give her son chicken that she pulled off the bone to her 5 month old son, who mind you had no teeth so believe it or not there are mothers out there that do dumb things like that.
Huh? How is that dumb? Both my kids have eaten chicken like that from 6 months on, maybe even earlier. Chicken is very soft. It’s called baby led weaning. Babies are capable of eating a lot more than people give them credit. It’s better than eating baby cereal and crap from a jar.
I followed my doctor’s orders and introduced rice cereal at 4 months. My son is big for his age and was sitting up really early and was ready for cereal. He started baby food (puree) shortly there after and introduced each flavor one at a time for a few weeks at a time so we knew there were no allergies. I think this article shines a bad light on the moms that are doing it correctly and following their doctor’s orders and suggestions.
This article seems to be talking about giving full on solids and purees prior to 4 months. You followed the doc and gave rice cereal (which is questionably a solid since it’s dissolved) at 4 months. You were working in conjunction with your doc and s/he was operating within CDC guidelines.
Both of my kids were eating a little cereal in their bedtime bottles at 2 weeks old. They are grown, healthy adults now. My youngest grandson turned 3 weeks old today and trys to eat his fist because he gets so hungry so fast. So if she waits until he is four months old to give him cereal, he is going to starve to death and they are going to go broke buying formula.
Beth, babies often chew on their fists. They are in the “oral fixation stage” at this point and put everything in their mouths… That doesn’t mean they are starving. This is NOT a reason to give cereal early. Babies will not starve without rice cereal. What do you think babies have done for centuries before cereal and baby food was invented?? They were breastfed usually exclusively for the first year if not longer. Formula/breastmilk is all a baby needs for the first months of life. Google “open gut” and read about the damage that can be done to baby’s intestines and stomach from feeding solid food before they are developmentally ready. Support your daughter/daughter in law and her decisions to wait to feed solids until 6 months or later.
Parents mashed up the same food the family ate. Baby foods have also been around for hundreds of years. Sigh. People are only starting to wait. Babies may have still been breast fed, but solids were introduced much earlier. Also many families had more children and when kids are less than a year apart parents were not breast feeding multiple babies.
I can’t actually believe this. A baby CANNOT stare on breastmilk/formula! How ridiculous! Babies sick their fists for COMFORT! If you think there hungry then feed them milk. I can’t actually believe the stupidity on thsee comments. Please never advise other mothers to wean early. Tell them to do there own research and tell them the guidelines…
Babies CAN starve on breast milk and formula! My youngest almost did! I HAD to give him mashed up food from the table! We found later that he was allergic to the formula and wasn’t getting enough from breast milk! The dr told me I was feeding him solids too early but he took his time to figure out the problem! If I had listened to my pediatrician, my baby would have died!
3 weeks is a growth spurt. That’s why your grandson’s fist is in his mouth. Look into pace feeding. It will help get through growth spurts. There is a lot of new information out there, that parents did to the generation having kids now that is harmful and obsolete. I don’t know how many times I needed my doctor to talk to my mom about the new ways.
With eight kids I’ve found each one was ready for solids at a different apge. It’s called baby led weaning. You watch for signs for when YOUR baby is ready. Every baby is different 😉
I just want to Thank you for your input. It’s nice simple and honest. And not once did you have to go bash someone else and what they think.
I hate to see babies fed while the child is reclining. Too hard to swallow! Would you like to eat in that position?
Sit the child UP at least on your lap if not in a chair.
I started with solids (avocados and bananas) at six months. I breastfed, but I do not agree with telling any mother how to parent, especially when it comes to breastfeeding, nor nutrition, aside from being kind and compassionate. It’s a very personal decision, based not only upon personal choice, but economic. My daughter has a great palate. A great book on food for kids is “Super Baby Food”…I used it and as my [vegetarian] friend said, “If you use 10% of this book to cook for your kid, you are crazy awesome.”
I have read many things about starting before 6 months and why it’s recommended. I started all 3 of mine early and no problems. The theory of open gut is just that a theory. If you can show me scientific peer reviewed articles I might change my mind. Also cereal in a bottle is so bad unless there’s reflux issues and many people give babies things like chicken when they do BLW. Yes a hot dog is ridiculous but to each their own. Everyone parents differently. No reason to judge.
The world health organization, the American academy of pediatrics, and the CDC all recommend waiting until 6mos to start solids. Why argue?
Rice cereal added to bottles presents a choking hazard. Rice cereal also has 0% nutritional value and is just fillers. So giving it to baby is basically taking up room in there belly where they need nutrients from breastmilk, formula, or other food.
Your doctor who recommends starti g solid before 6mos may have plgotten theri PhD 20yrs ago and we are muc more davenced medically. Yes, they take refresher classess to keep their certification, but it doesnt mean they take ones that present these fecommendatoons. A lot of doctors give bad and outdated advice.
“Open gut theory is just a theory”… so is the theory of gravity but I don’t see anybody arguing THAT…
Every baby is different yes to an extent but baby should still be at LEAST four months old…
Gravity is a law. Not a theory, FYI.
Incorrect… A law is a theory. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-gravity-still-technically-just-a-theory
My grandson is 7 1/2 months old & we were given formula & stage 2 baby food for him through our WIC office,No matter how much we try to feed him the baby food he does not want it at all,he closes his mouth tightly or he turns his head & shakes it in the motion of no,so in place of using the spoon to feed it to him we will put it into his food bottle,he takes a few sips off of it & throws it away from him.I think he is not ready to eat food.we give him water daily now cause that’s what they said for us to do because of the food.but I totally feel he just does not want the food yet just his formula.we try all day everyday & still get the same reaction from him.
Three of my kids completely skipped the “baby food” stage and went straight to things they could pick up and gnaw. They breastfeed exclusively, grew just fine, and started in on soft table foods at 7-8 months.
That’s fine! Food before 1 is just for fun! You could look into making your own food. Momtastic.com is a good source.
You should read the baby led weaning book on amazon!! It has some really great insight into this situation. Good luck!
http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/faq/
No where in the cdc report does it say your bogus statements such as ” Young, unmarried, and less educated women seemed turned to solid food more often than other mothers. Poorer women, who tended to view formula as more expensive”
Im old married and graduated college and still find this so offensive, couldnt take the rest of the article seriously after these rude inaccurate comments…
You are more than welcome to read the entire study here. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236081861_Prevalence_and_Reasons_for_Introducing_Infants_Early_to_Solid_Foods_Variations_by_Milk_Feeding_Type
(RN) For those of you insisting your kids ate at 4 months “and they’re fine” or your idiot MD recommended it early… Let me tell you WHY you THINK there’s no consequence and you dr is clueless. The effects of virgin gut syndrome and side effects of early feeding aren’t typically manifested until early to middle adulthood. That means by the time your child is having issues with their health, or major GI problems, they’re too old to be seeing a pediatrician, and old enough that you’re not thinking back to when you fed them too damn early. Let’s hope they take better care of you in your old age than you did of them by feeding them too soon.
This is one of the most inaccurate thing i have read
Studies look at the relationship of marital status, education levels and age and it is not meant to be offensive. The fact of the matter is, these factors play a role in health services research and health outcomes research. The study found those things to be significant factors.
We waited until 6 months. But no no no you don’t have to do pureed food first because a baby doesn’t have teeth. We literally gave our daughter bites of what we were eating from day one. Now at 19m my nugget will eat Pho, sushi, Moroccan and Persian food. Purees are fine but not a necessity