Which of the Following Is Not an Indicator That a Baby Is Ready for Solid Foods?

My last post went into peachy detail about the research on historic period of starting solids and health outcomes, including nutrition, growth, illness, and allergies. If you read that post, you know that there are modest risks and benefits of starting earlier or later (in the range of 4-6 months), simply there's no evidence for an optimal age of starting solids for all babies. Here's what to expect for instead, starting with a brief summary of the data on age:

1. Your baby is at least iv months of historic period.

Read my post on this if you want to know the details and come across the references. If non, here'south a summary:

• There is adept prove that information technology'south best to expect until at to the lowest degree 4 months of age to showtime solids, unless advised otherwise by a physician for a specific medical reason.
• Starting solids between four and half-dozen months of age may give babies a boost in iron nutrition, assuming they're getting some good dietary sources of iron. Exposure to potentially allergenic foods, such as wheat and eggs, by most 6 months may reduce the run a risk of allergy to those foods.
• Exclusive breastfeeding until vi months of historic period may reduce your infant's take chances of minor gastrointestinal infections, although this isn't shown in all studies. For moms, it may also event in greater weight loss and prolonged lactational amenorrhea.

Whether or non you showtime solids at 4 months, 6 months, or somewhere in between is up to you and your baby. The research on this topic is still evolving, and either is a fine choice. In fact, given that babies develop at unlike rates, it seems unlikely that all babies would be fix to start solids the moment the clock strikes midnight on their four-month birthday or 6-calendar month birthday.

This was the same sentiment eloquently expressed in a 2009 editorial past British pediatrician Martin Ward Platt, using the term "weaning" to mean starting solid foods:

"The weaning argue has been largely predicated on the notion that there is some magic historic period at which, or from which, it is in some sense ''prophylactic'' or ''optimal'' to introduce solids. Yet it is highly counterintuitive that such an age exists. In what other surface area of developmental biology is there any such rigid age threshold for anything? We all recognize that age thresholds are legal inventions to create workable rules and definitions, and accept no meaning in physiology or development, however when nosotros talk well-nigh weaning we seem to forget this."¹

Given this, information technology'due south really up to you to follow your infant's atomic number 82, watching for the developmental signs discussed in the rest of this post.

ii. Your babe tin can sit down upright and concur his caput upwardly straight.

These gross motor skills signal that your babe has the cadre trunk forcefulness and stability needed to consume solid foods. Pediatric feeding specialist and certified spoken communication language pathologist Melanie Potock explained why this is so important on my Facebook page:

"Gross motor stability (in this case trunk stability) provides the support for fine motor skills. It's very difficult to larn to eat purees off a spoon or do any sort of self-feeding of soft solids if the trunk is not supported. Effort information technology yourself by letting your trunk relax and autumn into the dorsum of your dining chair, slightly slumped. Now stay that mode and attempt to bite, chew and eat. Imagine if you were simply learning to eat this way!"

[I'm thrilled that Melanie Potock wrote a guest post explaining more about why stability is and then important and how to best seat your infant comfortably at the table here: South.I.T.! Feeding Your Child Using Stability and Independence at the Tabular array ]

In other words, when babies have gross motor stability in place, they'll take a much easier time with the fine motor and oral motor skills needed for feeding. That means that baby should be able to sit comfortably upright, on his own or with a little support, and concur his caput up to face up you. In one study, babies were able to sit in a caregiver's lap without aid at five.5 months, on average, but this milestone was quite variable (standard departure of 2 months).²

Torso stability is also important because it allows yous and your baby to exist able to be face-to-face during feeding and for your baby to exist an active participant in deciding whether, how much, and how fast to eat. You offer baby a seize with teeth, and he leans forwards and opens his mouth if he'd like to have, or he turns his head away to say no thanks. With good trunk stability, a baby can communicate his wants and needs to you, and you can be responsive to them. This way, feeding becomes a respectful and pleasant conversation betwixt the two of you.^three

Feed your baby responsively, watching for his cues of wanting more or being done, like a back-and-forth conversation.

three. Your infant has the oral motor skills to handle solid foods.

At nascence, most babies are already skilled at sucking. Sucking is an involuntary reflex that develops around 32 weeks of gestation, and babies practice it in utero earlier birth. Sucking gives them the skill to efficiently transfer milk through a nipple, whether from breast or bottle.

To consume from a spoon, a infant needs a dissimilar set of oral motor skills. She needs to have the jaw stability and coordination to open her mouth when offered a bite. She needs to take lost the tongue thrust reflex present earlier in life, which meant that if you placed food on her lips or in the front of her mouth, her tongue would immediately push information technology back out. Instead, she needs to be able to motility her tongue to push food to the back of her mouth. Her gag reflex needs to accept toned down and moved to the back of her mouth, finally assuasive her to swallow her first bites of food. These oral motor skills will be in place sometime betwixt 4 and 6 months for nearly babies.^two

Some babies and/or their parents prefer to skip purees and start right in with self-feeding soft foods. This requires greater oral motor development to bite off pieces of food and use the tongue to move it betwixt the jaw for mashing earlier swallowing. It besides requires fine motor development to rake foods on a tray, pick them up, and put them in her mouth.

All of this development is pretty impressive when y'all think about it, and in most babies, it happens correct about the fourth dimension when they start to demand diet from additional foods beyond breast milk – effectually half-dozen months.

Babies gain the gross, oral, and fine motor skill needed for feeding at different ages. These data are based on a longitudinal study with 57-sixty babies assessed at each fourth dimension point (Carruth and Skinner, 2002).

How will you know that your baby has the oral motor evolution to eat solids? One indicator is that she'southward putting her hands and toys in her mouth without gagging on them. But at a certain bespeak, y'all'll just need to offer her a bite of nutrient and see what happens.

four. Your babe is interested in outset and continuing to eat solids.

Past four-6 months, virtually babies are showing interest in foods if yous're eating effectually them. BabyM has been in our arms at meals since he was a newborn, and by four months, he was sitting up in our laps and lunging forward towards our plates. He was watching us consume and grabbing at our easily and utensils as if he wanted in on the fun. I was also giving him his vitamin D drops on a spoon, and he was eagerly opening his mouth for it.

Of form, grabbing for food doesn't mean that your baby is hungry or fifty-fifty has an interest in trying nutrient – merely that he is interested in putting in his mouth what you're putting in yours. Think about information technology… babies this historic period explore everything with their mouths. And here you are, putting something in your oral fissure, and looking pleased about it. Of course your baby wants to get in on that activeness.

Still, this interest is a sign that your baby might be upwardly for trying solids. So if he'south sitting up and putting things in his mouth, yous might now try a bit of food. Offer him a bite, just e'er allow him choose if he wants to accept information technology. Await until he opens his mouth for it. Let him move that food around in his oral cavity, taste it, swallow, and think information technology over. Then, does he open his mouth for more than? If so, carry on with the side by side bite. If he doesn't testify interest in some other bite – not opening his oral cavity, turning his head away, or fifty-fifty starting to fuss or cry – then you know he's non quite ready. Give him a few days or a week or more than before you lot try again, and merely let him chew on a spoon at dinner until then.

I tried giving BabyM a few bites of nutrient around 4.5 months. I'd been researching this topic, and every bit I said, he was showing lots of involvement in food and the spoon, so we tried a scrap of sweet white potato. He readily opened his mouth for the offset seize with teeth simply then pushed most of it right back out onto his lips (natural language thrust reflex in action). He fussed a little and showed no involvement in a second seize with teeth. A few days later, I offered him a sense of taste of oatmeal thinned with breast milk, and he had the same response. And so, we took a break from solids for a while. BabyM continued to join us at the table, where he learned other things about food – that information technology's enjoyable, social, and something to be shared with family.

Just today, at five months and 1 week, BabyM was grabbing for the leftover pot roast I was eating for lunch. I threw some in the food processor and offered him a few bites. He ate like a pro from the spoon and kept opening his mouth for more than bites, fifty-fifty fussing a little when I was likewise slow to offer him more. Letting him lead the mode ensures that eating will be a pleasant experience from the start.

This brings me to my last point: Information technology's really important not to pressure a baby to eat.

What's most of import is getting off on the correct pes with feeding responsively, showing your baby that he's in accuse of deciding whether to eat, how fast, and how much. You'll find there aren't a ton of references on this post, because there really aren't a lot of studies evaluating outcomes based on starting solids according to developmental readiness. (Age, apparently, is much easier to evaluate, as evidenced by the reference listing in my concluding post.) Merely everything about readiness to eat solids hinges on this of import concept of responsive feeding, and there is potent testify to support this.

Responsive feeding sets infants up to eat and grow well. For example, 1 recent written report found that when mothers of 4-calendar month-olds had low awareness of infant hunger and satiety cues, they were more than likely to pressure their babies to swallow, and their babies were more probable to exist picky eaters at 2 years of age.⁴ Some research indicates that greater sensitivity to baby cues results in slower (and presumably healthier) weight gain in infancy, perhaps contributing to healthier weight in childhood.^5,6

In another study, mothers who were responsive in their feeding of solids had babies that seemed to self-correct their growth trajectories in late infancy. That is, babies that had gained weight speedily in early infancy showed slower growth betwixt 6 and 12 months, and those that were growing slower began to gain more. The opposite happened when mothers were more controlling in their feeding: smaller babies stayed pocket-sized, and bigger babies gained more.^7,8 Babies are practiced at self-regulating caloric intake to meet their needs, and nosotros desire to exercise everything we can to trust this innate ability and honor their cues.

Is doubling of birth weight a sign that baby is fix for solids?

I've seen doubling of birthweight, or hitting about 13 pounds, listed as an indicator of solids readiness on several reputable sites (plus plenty of less reputable ones). Problem is, I can't find whatever research to back this upwards or whatsoever explanation of where this "milestone" comes from. Every bit far as I tin tell, information technology's completely arbitrary. It may exist true that most babies who have doubled their birth weight are fix to offset solids, simply there'southward no evidence that a certain size is important. Instead, it's about gross, fine, and oral motor skills, and interest in eating.

Here are two of my favorite books for advice nearly feeding solids:

(These are affiliate links to Amazon, so I become a small commission if you determine to club 1. Thank you for supporting Science of Mom!)

• Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter
• Fearless Feeding by Jill Castle and Maryann Jacobsen

You can't beat Satter'south Child of Mine for insightful give-and-take of responsive feeding and feeding dynamics. The but problem is that some of the information near starting solids is a little outdated – mainly that she recommends delaying potentially allergenic foods, and I think she's a little too devoted to rice cereal for some of my reader's tastes. Fearless Feeding is more than curtailed and gives lots of practical advice about what to feed at this stage. Of course, my own book likewise includes several chapters on feeding solids, with details on when and how to begin and the all-time foods to feed. My book – The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby's Starting time Year – is now available on Amazon.

References:

1. Platt, Yard. P. Due west. Demand weaning: infants' answer to professionals' dilemmas. Arch. Dis. Child. 94, 79–80 (2009).
2. Carruth, B. R. & Skinner, J. D. Feeding Behaviors and Other Motor Development in Salubrious Children (2–24 Months). J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 21, 88–96 (2002).
3. Black, M. M. & Aboud, F. E. Responsive Feeding Is Embedded in a Theoretical Framework of Responsive Parenting. J. Nutr. 141, 490–494 (2011).
4. Cassells, E. L., Magarey, A. M., Daniels, L. A. & Mallan, Chiliad. One thousand. The influence of maternal infant feeding practices and beliefs on the expression of food neophobia in toddlers. Appetite 82, 36–42 (2014).
5. Worobey, J., Islas Lopez, M. & Hoffman, D. J. Maternal Behavior and Baby Weight Proceeds in the Offset Yr. J. Nutr. Educ. Behav. 41, 169–175 (2009).
6. DiSantis, K. I., Hodges, Eastward. A., Johnson, S. L. & Fisher, J. O. The role of responsive feeding in overweight during infancy and toddlerhood: a systematic review. Int. J. Obes. 35, 480–492 (2011).
7. Farrow, C. 5. & Blissett, J. Decision-making Feeding Practices: Cause or Event of Early Kid Weight? Pediatrics 121, e164–e169 (2008).
8. Farrow, C. & Blissett, J. Does Maternal Control During Feeding Moderate Early Infant Weight Gain? Pediatrics 118, e293–e298 (2006).

How did you lot know your infant was fix to start solid foods?

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Source: https://scienceofmom.com/2015/05/28/4-signs-your-baby-is-ready-for-solid-foods/

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