Common Misconceptions about Introducing Solid Baby Foods
Common Misconceptions about Introducing Solid Baby Foods
Introduction
Many parents, especially the ones with no previous experience, often have problems with not knowing when and how to introduce solid foods to their baby's diet. Therefore, they tend to do it in many different ways, many of which are not so great. The reason for this is the fact that there is a lot of different information on when and how to introduce solid foods and on feeding babies in general. Thanks to this, many parents end up getting wrong information on the subject and because of this, many of them have numerous problems with this tricky subject.
The Most Common Misconceptions about Introducing Solids
The fact is that the subject of introducing solids is much more complex than many people think. Generally speaking, it is fairly easy to find a lot of information about introducing solid baby foods and all of this information is valid. However, every baby is different and the general rules on how and when to introduce solid foods cannot always be applied successfully. There are babies that are ready for solid foods much earlier than others, and there are babies that can be breastfed until they turn 12 months. Therefore, it is easy to see why the subject of introducing solid foods is as complex as it is.
First Misconception – Baby's Weight
This misconception is probably the mist common one. Namely, there are two opposite opinions. The first is that a larger baby needs solid foods to keep growing and start getting more vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, there is also the opinion that introducing solid foods will help smaller babies grow more quickly. The truth is that neither of these two opinions is exactly true, because breastfeeding gives babies more nutritive elements than solid foods do. Therefore, when to introduce solid foods should never be determined by the baby's weight.
Second Misconception – Baby's Interest in Solid Foods
Many parents feel that they should introduce solid foods as soon as their baby shows interest in solids. Babies tend to show interest by grabbing plates and foods from their parents' hands while they are eating, and this makes the parents think that the baby actually wants to eat the same kind of food. Although this is a logical explanation, simple logic does not make it true. Babies show interest in many different things in the same manner, but this does not necessarily mean that the parents should pay much attention to all of these interests. The fact is that babies often try to grab a plate simply because they want to be involved and they need for their parents to pay more attention to them, and not because they are ready to start eating solids.
Third Misconception – Cereal and Sleeping
Parents may get a lot of different kinds of advice on how to keep their babies asleep throughout the night, and one of these is to give them cereal. This is a piece of advice that, even though it sounds difficult to believe, is taken into consideration by many parents. Feeding a baby cereal has got absolutely nothing to do with sleeping and there is no connection between the two, so it is best that parents ignore this and other similar advices.
Introduction
Many parents, especially the ones with no previous experience, often have problems with not knowing when and how to introduce solid foods to their baby's diet. Therefore, they tend to do it in many different ways, many of which are not so great. The reason for this is the fact that there is a lot of different information on when and how to introduce solid foods and on feeding babies in general. Thanks to this, many parents end up getting wrong information on the subject and because of this, many of them have numerous problems with this tricky subject.
The Most Common Misconceptions about Introducing Solids
The fact is that the subject of introducing solids is much more complex than many people think. Generally speaking, it is fairly easy to find a lot of information about introducing solid baby foods and all of this information is valid. However, every baby is different and the general rules on how and when to introduce solid foods cannot always be applied successfully. There are babies that are ready for solid foods much earlier than others, and there are babies that can be breastfed until they turn 12 months. Therefore, it is easy to see why the subject of introducing solid foods is as complex as it is.
First Misconception – Baby's Weight
This misconception is probably the mist common one. Namely, there are two opposite opinions. The first is that a larger baby needs solid foods to keep growing and start getting more vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, there is also the opinion that introducing solid foods will help smaller babies grow more quickly. The truth is that neither of these two opinions is exactly true, because breastfeeding gives babies more nutritive elements than solid foods do. Therefore, when to introduce solid foods should never be determined by the baby's weight.
Second Misconception – Baby's Interest in Solid Foods
Many parents feel that they should introduce solid foods as soon as their baby shows interest in solids. Babies tend to show interest by grabbing plates and foods from their parents' hands while they are eating, and this makes the parents think that the baby actually wants to eat the same kind of food. Although this is a logical explanation, simple logic does not make it true. Babies show interest in many different things in the same manner, but this does not necessarily mean that the parents should pay much attention to all of these interests. The fact is that babies often try to grab a plate simply because they want to be involved and they need for their parents to pay more attention to them, and not because they are ready to start eating solids.
Third Misconception – Cereal and Sleeping
Parents may get a lot of different kinds of advice on how to keep their babies asleep throughout the night, and one of these is to give them cereal. This is a piece of advice that, even though it sounds difficult to believe, is taken into consideration by many parents. Feeding a baby cereal has got absolutely nothing to do with sleeping and there is no connection between the two, so it is best that parents ignore this and other similar advices.
Source...