I am so sad to hear that you and many women are pressured to turn away from their own judgment and inclinations. Luckily, children, adaptable and resilient, can thrive as long as they have that most important offering, nurturing love–and I see so much of that in your blog and in each comment. Each of you young mothers wants to raise your child perfectly, just as I did, but no mother ever has or will. I certainly didn’t come close. Thank goodness. How would a child ever live up to that, or feel free to have faults of his or her own?

Sorry–a bit off topic. I hope no one out there took my comments as criticism.

I love to see the kind of support young mothers can now find on the internet. Thanks again for your blog. I found it quite by accident–I don’t have time to read blogs generally, but plan to check here as often as I’m able.

Thank you for you nice words and your comment. To answer your question, I think it is more cultural than medical. From my own experience, I felt forced to give my first born formula in the hospital after birth b/c she was not gaining weight fast enough. This was against my plan, wishes and education. However, I did it. I did it in fear my child would not go home with me b/c of their threats. Now fast forward a couple months. I was told my 2 month old needed rice cereal in her bottle b/c of acid reflux. At 6 months, I was told my child would have an eating disorder bc I wanted to follow the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) approach. I did not give my child the rice and I did follow BLW. This was my experience with the medical field and feeding my baby.

As for family and friends, I can sadly say it was not much different- I cannot say most of them have been supportive of extended breast feeding and BLW. In fact, I was made to feel “wacky” at times. I was referred to as a cow and worst a family member threatened to not eat dinner at MY dinner table, if I was going to breast feed at the table.

I believe we both did right by our children. As you said so perfectly, it is following your own instincts with research and common sense mixed into it. It is also about surrounding yourself with supportive people and sticking to your ground. You must have had supportive people? I would love to hear about your support….I think this is such an important topic.

The argument seems academically sound; however, I cannot find clinical studies to prove the problems that arise from babies consuming starchy foods. Coming from an Asian background where babies are routinely weened onto congee (rice porridge), the empirical evidence seems otherwise.

I continue my research – even debating the merits of pre-mastication.

I waited until after two to introduce wheat to my children, but that was due to my allergies and fear they would also be allergic. I tried rice, barley and oat based baby cereals but my kids never liked them. They would just spit it out. Even now they arn’t crazy about the hot cereals.

We made our baby food and also bought organic varieties for travel. Most of it was just what we were eating but unseasoned and in a puree form they liked. I tried a few times to make big batches and freeze, but I found it easier to let them have what we did. My kids started on solids when they wanted them. My youngest didn’t start until 9 months. I didn’t know it had a name, but we did the child led weaning.

For the most part I think parents should just look for signs that the baby isn’t properly digesting the food or showing signs of allergies. If a severe allergy runs in the family for food X, it’s porbably a good idea not to introduce that one till they are older or have them tested. Wheat is one of the bigger allergen/intolerances, but the signs/symptoms can mimic other things too. I’ve heard that the proper soaking of grains and sprouting them helps, but I honestly can’t tell you, and my allergy is too severe to risk it lol. But I have heard from others that they can digest sprouted flour with no ill effects. I’ve also heard another argument that says this is true because your only eating the plants seeds where commercial flours are the whole plant. Again just something I’ve heard, but it might be worth looking into.