stillberatung bremen wrote:
> 2010/2/16 Sonya Myles <[log in to unmask]>:
>   
>> I keep reminding the parents I work with that we used to live in caves, and parent our children and what we did instinctively worked, because here we are, the dominant species on earth.
>>     
>
> (un)fortunately we do not live in caves anymore and we have done a
> great deal of work to seperate us from our instincts. this is why
> people give birth in hospitals, eat stuff that isn't food at all and
> sit in front of their computers instead of going out hunting for some
> real food.
> most people in our "civilised" western societies do not even know how
> to prepare proper food from fresh ingredients, so i think you're
> expecting a bit to much from them when your asking them to use their
> instinct on the question of when to start solids.
> most people do what the doctor tells them or what is written on the
> boxes with highly processed so-called baby food.
>
> nina
>   
But there is still an option in between.  Why not educate parents as to
how to tell if their individual baby is ready?  I think that if there's
going to be research on when to introduce solids, at least some of that
should be looking at the different signs of readiness and investigating
which ones are more accurate.  My personal guess would be that the
reflex to push food back out is more accurate than ability to sit up
with support, for instance. 

Here I'm speaking as the parent of a baby who managed to 'steal' food
several times at less than 3 months.  I used breastmilk on a spoon to
hold him off to 4 months, then introduced only applesauce and sweet
potato until almost 6 months.  I saw this as less likely to cause harm
than whatever he might have managed to steal.  He had this ability to
launch himself forward so that his open mouth landed on whatever I was
eating.  I had to eat sometimes when noone was around to hold him for
me, and I was not about to let him scream that he needed to be held
while I ate.  This meant I could hold him while I ate (which meant that
he would be stealing my food occasionally), or I could introduce a
carefully picked solid to him. 

I'm not sure that my solution was ideal.  With the next baby, I may just
skip the pureed food entirely.  When baby starts to steal food, I'll put
a piece of food in front of him or her, and if he or she can get it into
the mouth and eat it, OK.  I do think the trick of holding baby off with
a little breastmilk on a spoon is an important trick to have for little
ones who demand solids very early.

I know this is probably a shocking thing to say to some of the more
medical people on this list, but I think that the best thing and new
parent can do is to throw away/hide every calendar, clock, and chart. 
Then the attention is on the baby, not on our ideas about babies.

Christine Bussman

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