One of the common characteristics of many mothers (at least those I know) is that they feel like starting to feed their babies.
Around four months ago, the majority begin to assess the issue and ask the pediatrician if they can start to give fruit and other things. Some even ask these questions at 2-3 months, when the (poor) baby is still beginning to hold the head.
The answer is always "it is soon, calm, there is no hurry", but at the insistence one ends up wondering: Is it boring to breastfeed or bottle for children?
Formerly
These "hurries" to give food to babies come, more than likely, from "formerly it was like this", and at 3 months there were few who had not yet tried orange juice, for example.
Coinciding with the crisis of three months, when many mothers had the feeling of running out of milk (we have explained on other occasions that it is not that the mother runs out of milk, but that the baby needs more milk and therefore sucks more, to increase production), pediatricians introduced the first bottles of artificial milk and started complementary feeding.
Over time these recommendations have become obsolete, since it has been observed that as good mammals we are, breast milk meets the needs of babies until at least six months of life. Artificial milk, which now comes more enriched than then and with more nutrients, It no longer needs to be supplemented so soon with other foods.
Now
Now many mothers, when they are told that up to six months they can give only milk, they are happy for the comfort of being able to continue with the breast without having yet to start preparing meals for the baby (although they are clear that the time will come soon). Those who bottle feed do not usually see (at least it is my perception) a benefit in it, I imagine that because preparing to prepare, both gives a bottle than a porridge.
However, there are other mothers who, excited to start feeding their babies, they stay with two candles when you tell them that it is best to continue with milk until six months. In such cases, nothing happens to open the door to complementary food a little: “it is not necessary, much less, to take fruit or cereals every day at this age, but if you are excited, nothing happens if you give one day ”(in fact, I am almost certain that even if they were told not to do so they would… because“ they gave us and nothing happened to us ”).
Why is it better to wait
Well, basically for two reasons: milk is better and at four months they are still small for the spoon.
Speaking about the nutritional quality of various foods, milk is the most complete of all that can be offered to a baby. It has more calories than fruit and provides many more things than cereals, for these reasons It is preferable to continue with milk until six months exclusively.
With respect to the spoon, many babies of this age still have the so-called extrusion reflex, with which they expel with the tongue anything strange that enters the mouth (as a survival method to avoid drowning). This makes many babies refuse food and many mothers try to insist that their child eat the porridge, thus initiating a problematic relationship with totally unnecessary food.
After six months they are better able to start trying foods and the chances of success are much higher.
It's boring?
¿It is boring to breastfeed or bottleHow to insist on starting to give food when they don't need it yet? Maybe not, maybe you can just want to see your child grow, mature and start eating other things. What is your opinion?
Photos | Raphael Goetter, derekmswanson on Flickr
In Babies and more | Why exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to six months (I) and (II), Supplementary feeding: When to start? (I) and (II)
