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“A spoonful of puree makes the baby grow round”
The aim of the game, to feed your toothless wonder, mushed up food on a spoon. Spooning it in – ensures your little one grows up BIG, real BIG.
You can do it yourself, with your state of the art liquidizer (hard work) or you can buy it ready made off the shelf. The aim of the game, to feed your toothless wonder, mushed up food on a spoon.
Spooning it in – ensures your little one grows up BIG and strong.
B-I-G, maybe TOO big.
Research from Swansea University is linking puree loaded spoons with childhood obesity.
A spoonful of puree
The research team quizzed 298 moms of tots, between the age of 18 and 24 months, on how they had gone about making the big transition from milk, to foods.
All the moms in the study had been breast feeders, but when it came time to wean their little one, some of the women had opted to use spoons full of puree, while some used the revolutionary practice of, baby led weaning.
NOTE : It is probably not as revolutionary as it appears. It is how weaning was done before the invention of the liquidizer and the establishment of Purity® brand.
The researchers asked both groups of Moms, how feeding was going and their child’s current weight.
Baby led weaning unplugged
Baby led weaning involves serving baby, chunks of food – a piece of banana, a sliver of cheese, a hard boiled egg . The food is big enough to grab, but small and soft enough, to slip down without a big chew. The foods are offered and baby gets to choose – what and how much, lots of mess, minimum fuss.
Allowing baby to load up requires a certain amount of co-ordination, so baby led weaning typically begins around the 6 month mark. Purees can be introduced a little earlier, since all baby needs to do is open, then swallow, however, official WHO guidelines recommend, feeding of “solids” begin at 6 months. So the difference in baby led weaning and standard weaning is simply process.
Feeding time
The Moms in the study, were all pretty happy with the way feeding was going, reporting no differences in how much their little one enjoyed food. There were some fuss pots in both groups, but on the whole, the moms reported their toddlers got excited in the presence of food (food-responsiveness).
The survey did suggest spoon fed babies, were not all that proficient in knowing when they were full i.e. satiety-responsiveness. And this weakness, showed….. babies scoffing down purees, were heavier.
None of them were actually overweight – but they were on the heavier side of normal. Destined to be fat ? Only time will tell this for sure.
Learning about “I AM FULL”
Incoming areoplanes, I mean spoons, can cause confusion.
First off….. by the time Mom is talking planes, trains and automobiles – odds are baby is already a bit full, but Mom wants just one more spoon to go in. Just to be sure, junior is REALLY FULL. (No mother wants here child to go hungry).
And an incoming plane is FUN. And the extra attention is COOL.
So………. baby opens wide and lets the spoon land inside.
Unfortunately, back in the ARC (appetite regulating centre), the part of the brain tasked with deciding when FULL is FULL, the fact that the plane successfully landed, without an explosion……..
Suggests FULL is not FULL to capacity – FULL has built in wiggle room.
Appetite is only a guide
And once the “FULL is not FULL to capacity” lesson is learned – there is always room for NICE THINGS. Eating to appetite is no longer obligatory.
Oh dear……….. junior has been wired to overeat.
With baby led weaning – FULL is FULL, because when you’ve had enough, you stop sticking the carrot stick in your mouth, instead you..
- Stick it in your ear or up your nose
- Throw is on the floor
- See what happens to it when you squish it
And the carrot stick is just that………………….. a carrot stick. It’s not a plane trying desperately to land in your mouth.
Good to know when you’re full
Knowing when you’re FULL , should help cut those CALORIES IN.
Do something “revolutionary” – help your little one’s brain learn the basics, let baby lead the weaning process. If you’re not ready for the mess that will accompany “revolutionary”, at least stop loading up the spoon at the first sign of resistance. That one more bite could bite you, in the long run.
Further reading
The danger of “finish your broccoli or else”
Clean your plate talk makes probably doesn’t turn your child into a vegetable lover, instead it turns them into a heffa lump.
Eating diet foods causes children to flunk out of calorie school
You don’t want junior to be overweight, so you opt for low calorie foods but young brains aren’t too good at calorie maths and can end up being wired to overeat.
Feed your toddler fish to wire in a life time of health
When junior is being introduced to solids, fish pate is probably not on the menu, but it should be, because going gaga for fish brings life long heatlh benefits
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