The Baby Feeding Jungle

Welcome to Truth Be Told, the weekly food and fitness newsletter published by The Whole Truth Foods.

Editor’s note: Hi there! Our dedicated long-time readers might recall our announcement about expanding the newsletter’s scope beyond just fitness to cover health more broadly. (We’re trying!) That’s why this article on baby feeding.

Now, for all you new parents out there, figuring out how to feed a tiny human can feel like navigating a jungle. While we grown-ups just grab a snack when we’re hungry, feeding a baby can be a whole adventure — full of firsts, choices, and sometimes, a fair bit of head-scratching.

In today’s piece, Hamsini Ravi explores her personal experience with introducing solid foods to her baby, a process known as weaning, and offers insights that can be valuable for anyone interested in nutrition, child development, and family dynamics

The mid of 2016 was a revelation for me in many ways. As a new mother, my cooing, responsive six-month-old infant brought joy and new challenges. Alongside figuring out my return to work after maternity leave, I faced the task of introducing solid foods – a process known as weaning. This crucial phase in a child’s development isn’t just about nutrition; it’s also about developing motor skills and sensory experiences.

Now you see, the world of infant feeding is filled with diverse schools of thought, and what was once common practice has evolved. While many of us in our 30s started solids at 4 or 5 months, most paediatricians now recommend waiting until after six months before offering anything other than breastmilk (or formula).

This timing can vary based on the individual baby’s development, but it’s generally after six months when infants start showing interest in food, can sit up with support, and have lost the tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food out of their mouths.

In this article, I’ll take you through my personal journey of introducing solid foods to babies, examining both traditional and modern approaches. Through personal experiences, expert insights, and practical advice, I’ll explore the complexities of infant feeding and how our earliest experiences with food shape our lifelong relationships with eating.

 

The rise of baby-led weaning

 

When you think of baby food, you might envision gooey textures, purees, and the ubiquitous khichdi that nearly every Indian kid is fed in various forms.

But in 2015-16, a new approach called baby-led weaning (BLW) gained popularity among elite Indian households. Pioneered by British nurse Gill Ripley, BLW empowers infants to control their food intake during meals.

BLW rests on the belief that babies can innately decide how much to eat. It involves offering food pieces for babies to pick up and put in their mouths, contrasting with the conventional spoon-feeding of pureed or mashed foods.

Advocates claim numerous benefits: healthier eating habits, improved fine motor skills, better appetite control, and decreased obesity risk in childhood and adulthood.

As someone with a history of picky eating, I was anxious about my child’s relationship with food. It took adulthood and having my own kitchen to fix my food relationship.

Determined to set my child up for success, I wanted to expose him early to fruits, vegetables, and whole grains without labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘junk’. Babies and children, like all humans, come in various shades: enthusiastic about food, seeing food as just fuel, poor eaters, foodies, and indifferent to food.

As a young parent, it’s easy to conflate your worth and self-esteem with how well your child eats. It’s important to remember that being a good/lukewarm/picky eater is a feature, not a bug. It’s not a reflection on you as a parent.

 

The Reality of Feeding Practices

 

Despite what BLW champions might tell you, there’s little evidence proving its superiority over spoon-feeding. Research from developed countries suggests that families practising BLW may be higher income, better educated, more likely to breastfeed, and have a parent present at mealtimes to foster early independent eating habits.

Janani Lakshminarayan, a Chennai-based freelance writer who practised BLW with both her children, shares:

“Having started with traditional weaning for my daughter, I learned about and moved to BLW when she was 7 months old. It made life easier for us on two counts: it reduced the time I spent in the kitchen processing and blending foods, and it helped us get the child to eat whatever we ate, which was important to us as a family that travelled often. Having said that, what worked for me might not work for someone else simply because their situation and conditions are different from mine.”

Nagalakshmi Vishwanath, a food blogger in Sydney, started with BLW but switched to spoon-feeding. She says:

“When my daughter was born in 2017, parenting choices like baby-wearing and baby-led weaning were at their peak popularity. Due to colic and reflux, our paediatrician advised us to begin solids at 5.5 months, even before her neck was fully steady. I started her on pureed and mashed vegetables, and she ate them well. I joined some Facebook groups to learn more about BLW, but was put off by its litany of rules, particularly this notion that you are not practising BLW if you do or have ever fed your child. It was all or nothing, an ultimatum. That made no sense to me.”

Saraswati Datar, a media professional and mom of two girls, who practised BLW with her elder child but not with her younger, advises:

“You need to assess for yourself if BLW is compatible with your personality and support system. It is not a good fit for those who cannot deal with a lot of mess. Whoever is practising it needs to have a basic understanding of choking and be capable of acting quickly should this situation arise.”

As award-winning economist Emily Oster says in her book ‘Cribsheet: A Data-driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting: From Birth to Preschool’:

“If you do want to try baby-led weaning, there is nothing in the evidence to say it is a bad idea. If you do not, there is also nothing compelling to say you should go out and do it.”

Evolving guidelines and practical approaches

 

Infant feeding guidelines are constantly updated with new research. What you were fed as a baby likely differs from current recommendations. Check in with your paediatrician or a certified paediatric nutritionist about feeding your baby and introducing solids.

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics in its latest complementary food guidelines says:

“Feed with thick but smooth mixtures. Thin gruels do not provide enough energy, hence, a young infant around 6–9 months requires thick and smooth food preparations.”

Dr. Mugdha Joshi, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and paediatric nutritionist, provides a practical interpretation:

“Don’t puree or process fruits and vegetables, but mash steamed or boiled vegetables with your hands, potato masher, or whisk. The consistency of foods like porridges should be like melted ice cream – grainy and not pasty.”

There’s strong evidence about introducing progressively complex textures between 6 and 12 months, both for the development of oral motor skills and so that by at least 12-15 months, the child is eating from the family food pot.

Key principles for successful feeding

 

1. Adopt responsive feeding: This means stopping when the child signals fullness. I embrace Ellyn Satter’s Division of responsibility in feeding: the parent is responsible for what food to give when and where, and the child is responsible for whether they want to eat and how much.

As Indians, with our legacy of food insecurity, we are culturally conditioned to eat every last morsel on our plate, but it’s important to let the child decide when they’re done.

Dr. Mugdha advises:

“Don’t let the quantity of food you have served or mixed dictate the quantity the child should eat. Respect their food cues and stop feeding them when they are done.”

2. Be a good role model: Dr. Mugdha emphasises:

“If you want to create good food habits in your children, it’s important that you as parents lead by example. If you want your child to eat a balanced and varied diet, as parents you should first eat green vegetables and millets yourself. If you want your child to eat without distractions, you should not eat dinner while watching television.”

3. Set family food rules: Both Nags and Saraswati have rules around snacking that everyone in the household follows.

“We live in a sugar-saturated culture, and my kids attend birthday parties every other week with cake, cookies, and all kinds of sugary foods. So, I restrict sugary foods in the house,” says Saraswati.

Nags’ family has only one small snack between lunch and dinner. “Restricting snacks between meal times works for us as a family,” she says.

4. Make meals a family affair: Food is a central bonding factor for Janani’s family.

“Meals are quality family time for us. Simply eating together as a family has made my life easier as a parent. Our children have picked up so many things from us, including how to use cutlery and how to eat certain foods.”

As Dr. Mugdha reassures:

“There are always opportunities to shift your child’s eating habits. While it can be slightly harder in later ages and requires a lot of hard work on the part of the family, it can be done with intentional focus and change in their environment.”

Embracing the journey