The media spotlight was firmly focused on the quality of baby food early 2009 after the Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) in the UK revealed the shocking amount of sugar and fat in Farely’s rusks. This raises many questions for parents about the “what, when and how” of weaning and introducing first foods for baby. Jars, foil wrapped foods, ice cubes, rusks, organic food, baby rice - the options are diverse and confusing.

Though it is common practice for parents to start weaning before four months, the World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for babies for the first six months. Breastfeeding offers incredible advantages that go way beyond convenience and affordability to the fact that breast milk builds up an infant’s immunity, is easily digested and absorbed, can increase a baby’s IQ and reduces the risk of diabetes, obesity, asthma and food allergy. Breast milk is dynamic: the composition changes to meet the growth and development needs of the baby satisfying thirst (foremilk) and hunger (hindmilk).

Interestingly, breast milk contains flavours of Mum’s diet. Research suggests that breastfed infants are more likely to accept a variety of tastes and textures and therefore enjoy a wide variety of foods later on, reducing the fussy eater syndrome. 

Regardless of the WHO recommendations (?), every baby is individual and should be managed according to their needs and the unique family situation. For example low birth weight babies, babies from allergy prone families and infants of vegetarian/vegan mothers may all have special weaning needs. So much depends on the quality of the mother’s milk supply, her stress levels and demands of work and other pressures.

What we do know is that baby’s iron stores laid down in the last trimester of pregnancy can become depleted at around 6 months. Additional food sources are needed even though breast milk and formula continue to supply a reliable source of iron. Both iron and zinc can also decline in breast milk towards the end of the six month period.

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Babies also require the extra calories from other foods. As breast milk is predominantly water, infants can fill their stomachs but are not getting enough calories. “Solid” foods, though less perfect sources of all needed nutrients, are more concentrated sources of calories than milk. Cues for readiness to introduce solids can include: baby is still hungry after finishing a good milk feed and you have tried giving more milk, starts to demand feeds more often, seems more restless than usual, may start waking again during the night to be fed. Reaching for food from your plate is a sure sign that baby is ready for a more varied menu.

As teething begins babies, need to experiment with textures that require chewing, although a lot of chewing/mashing is initially done with the gums. Learning that enjoyable food can also come off a plate is all part of the socialisation process. For parents, relaxing and enjoying the experience of feeding baby helps to ensure weaning happens at its own pace.

Preparing your own baby food from fresh organic produce is ideal, focusing on pureed/sieved fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potato/potato, carrot, peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, pear, apple, papaya and banana. Baby rice can help bulk out the diet once weaning with vegetables and fruit is underway, especially for hungry babies. Keep in mind that rice is bland so it does not encourage an acceptance of a wider range of flavours.

Introduce each new food on its own and as a single teaspoonful the first couple of times in case your baby has a reaction to a particular food. Look for skin rashes, diarrhea, stuffy nose, wheezing or changes in behaviour. Some foods are more likely to provoke an allergic reaction and should be avoided and only introduced based on the allergy history of the child and parents: wheat and wheat products, eggs, citrus fruits, high salicylate foods such as tomatoes, berry fruits, nuts including peanut butter, cow’s milk and cow’s milk products. Avoid fruit and veg with pips and seeds. Peel all fruits and vegetables to minimise pesticide residues and buy organically grown foods if possible.

As babies begin to enjoy single vegetables and fruits you can start mixing vegetables like a starchy veg such as sweet potato with a non starchy veg like broccoli or spinach. Wholegrain brown rice can be cooked and served with your own pureed fruits with no added sugar as a more textured form of baby rice. Oats can be introduced by gently cooking oatmeal in water then mixing some formula or breast milk. Later after one year finely groung flaxseeds, pumpkin, sunflower seeds and almonds can be sprinkled in teaspoons on porridge.

As their repertoire of vegetables increases you can consider giving some lean red meat like organic lamb or beef. Ostrich is similarly high in iron, zinc and protein so an ideal food once baby is comfortable digesting vegetables and rice around 7-8 months. The Organic Shop can finely mince the vacuum packed ostrich and it can be frozen in small portions, lightly cooked and combined with vegetables. As baby gets older and wants to feed herself, meatballs are the ideal finger food along with broccoli florets and carrots steamed until soft. Fish can be introduced along with organic chicken around 9-10 months depending on allergy history. Fresh white fish can be steamed or baked and introduced on their own or combined with favourite vegetables. After age one when baby starts eating family foods using a small pinch of Himalayan salt - a pink salt with high mineral content - can be used and is available in glass jars from the Organic Shop.

Commercially prepared baby foods can be a convenient stop gap especially for travelling and eating out but beware as they vary in quality. Baby food in jars is heat treated which reduces the level of vitamins particularly vitamin C. Foods in pouches which are used at room temperature without the need for refrigeration or frozen foods are probably the best option because they are likely to have the highest nutritional content of ready-made foods.

Read ingredient lists and avoid any brands that have added starch, sugar, salt, trans fats and too much water per serve which dilutes nutrients. As revealed by CFC, Farley’s rusks were twenty-nine per cent sugar and many biscuits and other foods marketed for babies had higher sugar and fat levels than junk food such as burgers. The bottom line is do not trust the claims made on baby food packaging – do your own research. Ultimately, the ideal is to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months and to continue breastfeeding for as long as is reasonably possible while weaning onto freshly prepared foods that introduce a wide variety of flavours. 

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