BABY BREAKTHROUGH
The key to a healthy childhood
Baby-led weaning, or getting your infant to eat finger food, could hold the cure for childhood obesity. Otago university researcher Rachael Taylor has co-led a two-year trial to see if letting infants feed themselves helps them self-regulate their energy intake.
If it does, baby-led weaning could help prevent obesity, the problem plaguing one-third of Kiwi kids aged 2 to 4 — around double the number of the previous generation.
Taylor suggests childhood obesity relates to diet, physical activity and epigenetics, which are changes in the way genes express themselves shaped by the environment.
The Baby-led Introduction to Solids project involved 206 infants, with half in a control group. It finished early this year and researchers will publish their final results towards the end of the year.
Taylor said infants don’t have the dexterity to use a spoon, so are given “chunks” of food. Doing so allows the child to control their portion size. But
researchers will be looking carefully at the quality of finger food they eat.
“The belief is that they’ll keep better energy regulation; they’ll eat better to their appetite.”
Child health expert Dr Julie Bhosale said lots of mums complained to her their child is bloated, vomiting, constipated or has diarrhoea.
The cause in many of these situations was feeding children too early or with the wrong type of food she said.
Bhosale endorses the World Health Organisation’s recommendation to start babies on solids at 6 months. But what you start your child on can be just as important as when.
Children’s digestive tracts don’t fully develop until they’re 2, and can’t digest grains until they’re 10-12 months old, Bhosale explained. Babies are born with enough iron to last them six months, as breast milk doesn’t provide it. So it’s important to introduce your child to foods high in iron, like red meat and vegetables.
Feeding children wrong foods at the wrong time could give your baby an irritated gut, interfere with their sleep and exacerbate fussy eating.
Bhosale said baby-led weaning was an old philosophy experiencing a renaissance. It means to eat meals with your child on your lap and give them bits from your plate.
However, you should still make purees to complement this.
“Let the baby choose what they want to eat,” she said.
“It’s important for infants to taste and explore but you just don’t rely on baby-led weaning because you can’t put a raw carrot stick in front of them and expect them to eat that because they can’t. They are going to need some pureed food.”
Bhosale began her Starting Solid tour with baby sleep consultant Dorothy Waide yesterday in Auckland, with shows in Tauranga and Wellington in October 15 and November 5.
Let the baby choose what they want to eat.