A Different Look at Establishing Finger Foods
Purees May Not Be the Logical Next Step for a Breast-Fed Infant
I was very aware that breast-feeding was in my son’s control. Solid foods felt like an imposition to him.
— Gill Rapley, author and baby-led weaning pioneer
Six-month-old Max curiously eyed the cooked chicken leg on his plate. After some minutes of poking and picking, he clumsily raised the meat and gummed off a piece. His face contorted as he rolled it around in his mouth and then spit it back out.
This scenario might seem precarious enough to end in a fast lesson in infant CPR. But Gill Rapley says this isn't only safe, it's normal. Rapley, a baby-led weaning innovator and U.K. health visitor, believes finger foods offer a better segue into the world of solid foods than purees.
Background
During her time as a health visitor in the United Kingdom, Rapley encountered many parents who were having trouble introducing their babies to solid foods. The babies were fussy or they would not accept spoon-feeding. The problems cleared up after she suggested the parents allow their babies to feed themselves.
Rapley, mother of three, remembers feeling uneasy about feeding her own children solids, especially during a time when the standard age for solids introduction was 4 months.
“I was very aware that breast-feeding was in my son’s control," she said. "Solid foods felt like an imposition to him.”
Rapley says breast-feeding infants have a unique autonomy with regard to food intake. Nursing infants control portion size and duration of their liquid meals. The baby-led weaning method of solids introduction, as pioneered by Rapley, continues to give the infant control of his food intake.
Method
Under Rapley's method, instead of shoving a spoon of nondescript puree in the baby’s face, you let her eat what you eat. Provide her with a few choices so she can employ all her senses. Let her pick up the food and squeeze it, smell it, and put it in her mouth. If she spits it back out, that's OK. The process of solids introduction at this stage, after all, is just practice. Rapley says it might as well be practical, too.
“Why give them lamb mush first and then give them a toy to play with?" she said. "Why not just give them the lamb?”
The baby may gag at first, but baby-led weaning advocates insist this is normal. In fact, Rapley says, it’s a necessary safety feature.
“The place on the tongue that triggers gagging moves back with age," she said. "If you start putting things in your mouth, it would make you start moving it forward. The fact that (the reflex) moves back means they should start (finger foods) earlier.”
The baby’s natural instinct to chew, according to Rapley, is inhibited by purees and may create more potential for choking once finger foods are introduced.
Lisa Irvine, M.D. of Purcellville Pediatrics in Purcellville, Virginia, has had similar experiences working with parents whose infants are rejecting solids outright. “I’ve seen [refusal of food] happen in patients who were on purees for a while and then had trouble with more textured foods.”
Precautions
Penny Glass, Ph.D. and a developmental psychologist for Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., stresses the importance of timing when introducing babies to solids.
“One does not start [to feed] the baby when they are really hungry," Glass said. "It’s done in between a bottle or nursing so they have a chance to decide if they want it.”
While a child choking on solid food is certainly a concern for many parents, Rapley says spoon-feeding is just as risky because infants tend to suck in food. Taking a bite of something uses a different mechanism. She says distraction is a choking risk factor too, but people seem to be fine with that.
“And yet, with kids, what do we do to distract them to get them to eat?" she asked. "We use games and books and make them laugh, and that’s considered safe?"
Additionally, the prevalence of food allergies in American culture demands parents weigh for themselves which foods to introduce and at what pace. It is also important to seek the advice of your pediatrician if the infant possesses a high-arched palate or suffers from gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD.
Readiness
Kristin Potts, a leader for the breast-feeding support and education group La Leche League International, points to the league's book “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” as a feeding guide. It suggests that weaning away from breast milk should be an unforced process through which the baby develops interest in solid foods at his own pace.
“If the ultimate goal is to have a long, healthy breastfeeding relationship, solids should be introduced slowly,” Potts said.
Developmental wellness, Glass suggests, will also determine readiness.
“For many children, it’s more of a technical difficulty," she said. "Some babies are not growing well. In this case, letting a baby decide what to take in may not be the best idea.”
Irvine cautions parents with premature infants who are considering this method. “These babies may be aged six months, but may not be developmentally there yet,” she said.
In any case, parents should discuss the method with their baby’s health care providers. They must also watch carefully the child's ability to manage food.
“I would have them chew or gum things that would not break off," Glass said. "Give them ... a corn cob without the corn. Let them gnaw on it. Then they are really using their gums and not the sucking motion.”
Rapley says babies will go through a period of gagging. Witnessing your baby wretch during this experimentation may give you a start, but Rapley says it’s an important phase for the baby. The natural physical development takes them to solids readiness anyway. Gagging alone should not scare parents into switching to purees, she said.
“He’s ready because he’s ready,” Rapley insists, “not because he’s had two months of purees. We all eat purees essentially, that’s what we do when we chew. But even a child can do that for himself.”
- Photo Credit iStock Photo
