Actually, studies have shown that breastfed infants have more acceptance of new foods
during solid food introduction (around 4 - 6 months) than formula fed infants.
Formula - fed babies are at risk for the introduction of solid food too early in life (3 to 4 months old), and
early solid food introduction places children at a higher risk of obesity later in life.
«
Solid food introduction from 4 months of age, including a wide range of healthy foods and potential food allergens such as eggs, peanuts, and fish, is our current best advice,» says Debbie Palmer, head of the Childhood Allergy and Immunology Research team at the University of Western Australia, who has published extensively on the topic.
Mean and standard errors of monthly weight gain after adjusting for maternal age; race / ethnicity; education; household income; marital status; parity; postpartum Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program participation; prepregnancy body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); infant sex; gestational age; birth weight; age
at solid food introduction; and sweet drinks consumption.
Statistical methods were used to adjust the findings for a range of maternal factors, including BMI, as well as infant sex, gestational age, birth weight, and age
of solid food introduction.
More than anything,
solid food introduction is a photo opportunity because much of it may end up in his hair and on the floor!
Timing of
Solid Food Introduction and Risk of Obesity in Preschool - Aged Children Pediatrics February 2011.
So what exactly is Baby Led Weaning as relates to
solid food introduction?
«Additionally, our findings suggest 17 weeks is a crucial time point, with
solid food introduction before this time appearing to promote allergic disease whereas solid food introduction after that time point seems to promote tolerance.»
Detailed diet histories from both mother and infant would be obtained prospectively before and after birth, including information of breast - feeding duration, use of supplemental formulas and probiotics, and
solid food introduction.
She contents that
solid food introduction for formula - fed babies is a very different situation than that for breastfed children and presents these variations.