On weaning..

I don't have kids of my own yet (very very soon, insyaAllah) but I do deal with kids and parents a lot since pediatric is my field of interest.

One of the problems that I faced or shall I say my kiddo patients have are anemia (low hemoglobin) due to delay in weaning to solid food. Majority of these children was found to have Hb as low as 7gm/dL and the main cause of it is that they are iron deficient. Infants beyond 6 months of age should not receive their main source of nutrition from breast milk or formula milk alone as the iron content is not sufficient. That's why WHO recommend that weaning diet is introduced by 6months of age.

When I asked the parents (unfortunately many of them are not that well educated) they cried in despair saying that they have tried different kinds of baby cereal/porridge and the baby just refused or could probably take 1 -2 spoonful before he starts screaming or closing his mouth shut. I'll start sighing coz that means I have to spend extra time taking a detail dietary history. What surprised me was that some of these parents don't even know that there are rules to follow with soooo many ways in preparing baby's food from fruit puree to finger food!

I believe u lovelies out there knows that in these days and age, u can almost get everything online, including baby's food recipes.

What I always say to these parents are:

1) When introducing solids, make sure that u offer same new food and wait for 2-3 days to look for symptoms of food allergies. Do not introduce more than 1 new food at one meal.

2) Experiment.. experiment.. experiment.. Different babies have different reaction to the taste and texture. Offer them different foods and use different ways of preparation.

3) Be patient.

Foods for different age:

6 months:

cereals & grains, fruits (banana, avocado, mango, pears), vegetables (sweet potato, carrots, peas)

7 to 8 months:

you might add on proteins (chicken and tofu), dairy (plain yoghurt)

8 to 10 months:

you can be add more variety to the above food e.g fruits (dates, papaya, kiwi), vegetables (broccoli, white potato), proteins (meat, egg yolk) and dairy (cream cheese)

10 to 12 months:

carbs (pasta), vegetables (tomatoes -> introduced late due to its acidic nature), protein (whole eggs after 12m.o)

What I've discussed here are all based on my readings on these issue (I don't have any first hand experience) . I'm planning to compile a simple handouts s on baby food recipes to give to my troubled patients and parents which I have yet to add in my TO-DO LIST!

I'm sure you parents out there are very creative and experts when it comes to this matter. Do share with me your opinion on this ya..

Thank you!!!!