TED is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to disseminate ideas and knowledge considered of interest. "TED" stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, which are considered as the three pillars on which society is growing. In these events, the lecturers explain something that they consider important in their field and that they consider to be “worthwhile ideas”.
These events are organized in many cities around the world and recently took place in Valencia, where Carlos González talked about a food free of porridge, something in Babies and more We have known as Baby led weaning, which is something like putting food within reach of the baby and that he decides what to eat.
In the video of the conference, which you can see below, the well-known pediatrician explains his vision about how complementary feeding should be based on two assumptions that few people are clear about: one, that complementary feeding does not begin to be given to nourish and to meet urgent requirements and two, that food must be something we enjoy (and children enjoy).
Then I will go into depth to explain these two assumptions (the text is mine and not by Carlos González, which on other occasions there has been confusion) and in the end you can see the pediatrician's video in the TEDx of Valencia.
The food is to enjoy
Surely more than one you know the shakes to prepare that they sell in pharmacies that contain dozens of ingredients and that provide many vitamins, iron, zinc, certain calories, proteins, fats and many more things (type Meritene or Pediasure), which serve for those children who, according to the manufacturers, eat badly.
Following this product model and as explained by Dr. González, We could all live with a preparation specially designed for us, with all the nutrients that our body requires in the desirable proportion and thus achieving a perfect diet.
Babies could also live like this, moving from breast milk or artificial milk to shakes or preparations and thus always take a balanced diet appropriate to the needs of their bodies.
However, today it is difficult for something like this to work because still, and I hope it happens for a long time, we want to enjoy the food. In other words: we risk eating an unbalanced diet, and in fact many are wrong in choosing food, precisely because we want to be able to choose. We want to eat what we like, what makes us feel good, what we want in each moment. We want to stay with friends for dinner, invite the family to eat and we want to be able to take the children to a certain restaurant because we know that they will love the food there.
Could we do the same with a milkshake?
Well, probably not, because staying to eat and drink a milkshake is not to enjoy food, but to nourish yourself and nothing else. It is done in a moment and doesn't have time to talk. Nobody leans back because it is full and keeps seeing food on the table, nobody laughs at how much you have operated the steak they put on you and nobody steals those olives that you don't like.
As well, Children have every right in the world to enjoy food and enjoy eating. That is why it seems that the most logical thing is to let them try, let them experiment and let them eat whatever they want and how much they want so that they learn to create their tastes (and their “dislikes”) and to learn to know food and develop their preferences .
When we give them the fruit mixed with a cookie we are not letting them know the taste of the fruit. When we mash them by making the plane with the TV on, we are not letting them know what a mash is, or choosing how much to drink, nor letting them enjoy it.
That is why it seems that the most logical thing is simply to leave the food that we want them to start eating at their fingertips and that they are the ones who touch it, grope and those who take it to their mouth whenever they want and as many times as they want.
Surprisingly, in the long run, children who choose what to eat and how much to eat end up doing a fairly balanced diet (especially if the food we offer them is healthy, because otherwise they could always opt for what is better - and yes, I am thinking about chocolate) and they have less manias, because nobody has forced them to eat anything (“force me and I will end up rejecting it”) and nobody has rewarded them (“give me a prize and I will lose interest in what you ask me in favor of prize").
Complementary feeding is not intended to cover urgent requirements
It is often erroneously said that 6-month-old babies have to start eating only because they need to cover requirements that milk alone does not cover (sometimes it is even said at 4 months, being even more wrong).
In the last century, the majority of children who were not breastfed (who were normally more than breastfed) needed to start eating rather soon other foods other than the milk they were prepared because it had significant deficiencies. Now, however, artificial milks carry what manufacturers want to put, as far as knowledge has allowed them to reach (they continue researching to improve formulas), but containing the nutrients and elements that babies need No need to add other foods to the diet.
After 6 months, if they need more nutrients these nutrients could be added to artificial milk or, if it already contains them, modify the concentrations to adapt it to the new needs. That way we would reach the aforementioned shakes with everything a human body needs.
However, this is not done for what has been said, we want to eat everything. And to eat everything a baby has to learn to eat, knowing textures, smells, colors, temperatures and flavors.
This is not done overnight, but, like everything else, you learn with experience. That is why when someone says “he is six months old, now that he starts eating”, he is not saying that he has to eat fruit, a piece of each fruit, vegetable with meat, a 240 ml bowl and cereals, about 180 ml of pap. What is being said (or what should be said) is that now that you have six months, You can start trying foods so that, little by little, milk is no longer the main food and starts eating the way you will eat for a lifetime.
As getting used to something is a matter of time and depends on the learning of each child, the logical thing is to be allowed to assume concepts and get to know the food for themselves: I put the food in front of you and know it. If you want, even try it.
But won't it be missing ...?
The only thing that can be missing for a baby fed with breast milk if the months go by and nobody gives him anything to eat is iron (good and zinc, but nobody is very clear about what babies should take zinc). By this I mean that if a doctor or pediatrician were interested in a baby without iron deficiency, he could solve it by giving iron droplets. It makes no sense for mothers to understand food as if it were a treatment: “it has to take 30 grams of chicken every 24 hours,” basically because then there are children who eat it and others who do not.
That is why the recommendations have to be that, recommendations: “so that you go taking iron, go offering him some meat cooked like this or that way and eat what you want” and even open the door to tranquility: “and if you see that he eats little or nothing and time passes you tell me and we appreciate giving you a few drops of iron while learning to eat. ”
Well, as with meat, it happens with vegetables and fruits. Why do it in porridge and crushed, as if it were something necessary to live or grow if there is time to let them learn and accept the food. Why give them food in porridge, if then no adult eats crushed except when a fig puree is brewed. Why give them eight cereal porridge, with barley and millet, if then at home nobody eats millet, or barley.
Most babies, although we don't believe it, are very capable of eating semi-solid foods (soft, boiled, ...) from 6 months. And those who are not yet, will be from now on as they try to eat alone with their hands and their abilities. Now, to allow a child to try, you have to take away many fears of choking and be willing to clean up for a while after eating.
I leave you with the video of Carlos González, very interesting:
Video | Agnès Ortega and his life
Photos | thepinkpeppercorn in montage with image of Carlos González, Sami Keinänenen on Flickr
In Babies and more | Carlos González explains how to start complementary feeding, Supplementary feeding: how to feed a baby through “Baby-led Weaning”, Learning to eat: from the hands to the fork
