So you have your newborn baby at her first outing to a birthday party, should you offer her a bit of your cake, or perhaps a sip of your soda? Of course not, but if you think that nobody ever does that sort of thing anymore – think again. A recent study found that an alarming number of babies have tried a variety sugar filled treats even before 2 months of age.
Renowned experts and ‘go to’ resources for maternal and infant health across the globe can agree on at least one universal recommendation: babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. Despite the global increase in advocacy for both breastfeeding rates and duration, it was made clear from this new study that there is a long way to go to improve our babies’ diets.
Published in Nutrition and Dietetics, the study revealed that some 4-week old babies had already been introduced to high salt, sugar, and fat foods. Lead researcher Jane Scott explains: “Almost one in four mothers had introduced fruit juice, biscuits and cakes to their infants by six months of age. This is a worry because eating habits developed early in life usually continue throughout a person’s lifetime — and an overweight child is much more likely to become an overweight adult.”
Scott and colleagues tracked 587 women from two Perth maternity hospitals for 12 months after birth via phone interviews as a means to understand how these new babies were being fed by their mums. The information gathered also provided further evidence to delay introduction of solid foods to 6 months; as babies who were started early on solids or had 2 or more siblings had an increased chance of consuming salty, high fat, and sugary foods by their first birthday.
What this Means for Mums
Yes, we are just as shocked as you are but knowledge is power so this is an important topic to discuss. Mum Mum’s reported just a few short months ago that many baby and toddler snack foods on the market were laden with fat and sugar; again encouraging babies to develop a ‘taste’ for salty or sweet foods. Whether or not you chose to wait until your baby is 5-6 months old to introduce solids is up to you, but it is most important to start with natural foods like fruits and vegetables. Babies, not even young children, do not need sweets, sodas, or snack type foods. In fact, during the first year of life breast milk or formula provides all the nutrition your baby needs. If you are unsure about how to feed your baby, please seek the assistance of a physician or a registered dietitian.
Tags: baby food, breastfeeding, toddler snacks
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 am and is filed under Baby Feeding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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