Erna, you did right in telling this mom to return to exclusively
breastfeeding of her baby. This child is saying very clearly that she
should not have cereal.  The "cereal-as-first-solid food" idea came back
when babies were given solids beginning at 2-4 weeks.  Very thin rice
cereal was something that most moms could get most babies to drink down,
much to everyone's delight.

We now know that babies shouldn't have such at that age, but the cereal
idea just won't die.  Most baby cereals aren't even good nutrition.  Any
nutrients are artificial and added on during manufacturing.  Certainly any
breastmilk that is replaced is substituted by an inferior food.

There is no rush to feed babies solid foods.  Many babies are given weaning
foods long before they have the enzymes to properly digest them, so they
are just displacing breastmilk, which is what they need. When they can sit
alone and are keenly interested in what the rest of the family is eating,
they can be "offered" some nutritious foods that the family is enjoying.
These foods can be crushed with a fork, at the table with everyone else,
and baby picks it up with her fingers and eats it, if she is ready for
solids, or paints her face and hair with it, as the case may be.

As one article I read said, "Baby food is our food that we feed the baby."
Whatever it is, when the baby needs solid foods, she needs iron-rich
(natural food iron) foods and foods that offer calories in the way of fats
or carbohydrates.  As has been mentioned numerous times on Lactnet, many
babies are fed low-cal diet foods as weaning foods and everyone is alarmed
when they don't gain weight. Or they are fed cereals that are not
nutritionally adequate.

If the family eats meat, baby can begin with meat (dark meat of chicken or
turkey is rich in iron).  If the family doesn't eat meat, then there are
many iron-rich  vegetables that can be prepared in a way so that baby's
calorie needs aren't compromised.

Many babies are not "ready" for solid foods until near, or even beyond,
their first birthdays. Beginning sooner than baby's body can assimilate the
nutrients compromises her health, even if she isn't throwing it up.  When
she is ready, and is offered wholesome foods, she will eat just like the
rest of the family does. And when she eats food that is appropriate for her
she won't throw it up.

There are always some families who eat poorly, but this is no excuse to
recommend that all babies must have purchased, jarred foods.  Many times a
family's food choices improve when baby begins coming to the table.  Ours
certainly did. If a family is having a meal that doesn't seem appropriate
for beginning, weaning foods, something else can be prepared for baby, such
as frozen vegetables, steamed with added olive oil.

So I would tell this mom that, obviously, her baby should continue with her
"perfect food" for a while.  There is nothing "wrong" with her baby.  She
is listening to her body, and Mom should too.  I hope that she can find a
doctor who will be as attentive and knowledgeable.

And one last opinion that I hold strongly: Babies should eat at the table
along with everyone else.  Eating is a social activiey and digestion is
aided by fellowship.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee
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