Baby Food and EC

Let Your Baby Feed Themselves...

Starting baby food is a super exciting time.. how will it effect your baby? You'll be able to use your best homemade recipes when starting baby on solid foods. Discover how Elimination Communication can help you do this at the right pace for your baby.

Baby Led Solids is a way of introducing homemade family foods that allows you to support your baby's natural instincts about which foods they eat.  - How you can notice signs as to whether your baby is ready for the various foods and food combinations, and what you can do to ease the transition.

It is also called 'Baby Led Weaning', (that is the correct term) but I prefer 'baby-led solids' as a description of starting solids with baby leading the way, by trusting baby's in-built natural instincts. 

Once your baby is older than six months, you can see if they are ready to begin eating, as they'll let you know, by picking it up and eating it themselves! Throughout the anthropological record, it has been noted that babies began eating foods other than breast milk between 6 months and two years, so it is really only now that evidence based science has caught up and confirmed six months plus as the right time to introduce solids to baby.

Skip the purees and mush to have fun with table foods!

The evidence for this is in the result of too-soon solids on the digestive system, on allergy levels, and you can read more at www.kellymom.com. It's really helpful to know about the open gut of a young baby and the impact of starting baby foods too early can have on their digestion.

Interesting insights from doing baby-led solids with my baby:

- He had a slow introduction - he didn't eat anything until 7.5 months, and would only eat a small amount - far less than what the baby books would say, yet he'd be perfectly happy eating for about five minutes or so, then that would be it!

- I would always notice how his body responded - if he got any digestive disturbances, started having any sort of straining to poop, I'd ease back to just milk until it cleared, then try something else, as his body was probably not quite ready for that food.

- Mostly, however, he would do this himself - we'd put out a variety of foods, he'd choose to eat those things that his body could easily manage at that age - it wouldn't just come out the other end looking the same! That was a sign he wasn't producing the appropriate enzymes yet for that type of food. Some enzymes aren't produced until they are over eighteen months of age. It was interesting that he really began eating lots and all sorts towards his second birthday, and this was when it would all be 'processed' nicely by his body! It was also curious that by eighteen months I realised he had been independent for doing poops for a while.

- In practicing EC, with the immediate feedback (and I don't mean getting weed on, I mean noticing how it is effecting them) it can be easy to spot signs of food reactions. Here are a list of common symptoms that might mean baby is reacting to a food, whether it is directly or via breastmilk. If it is via breastmilk you can remove or limit them from your diet once identified, and what a difference that can make to your ease of EC, and to you and your baby's lives!

Signs of a possible food reaction *

This is a list from the Elimination Communication Yahoo Group - I found it a valuable resource in helping me to realise that my baby was reacting to *too much* wheat in my diet, and later to pineapple (too many salicylates in them for his system, a natural pesticide in lots of fruits that some babies react to). I was able to identify and remove or reduce the 'offending' foods, and thus had a much happier baby! If it wasn't for EC, I may not have known the effect it was having on his little body. As he grew older and stronger he was able to tolerate those foods normally. I was so glad to have found out before any permanent or chronic problem emerged.

* You can do your own research starting at resources such as these:
"Is This Your Child?" Doris Rapp, MD Dr Rapp.com

Her Cookbook "The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook" Removes the 8 allergens responsible for 90% of all food allergies in each recipe in the book.
"Fed Up!" by Sue Dengate. The Food Intolerance Network An excellent resource from Australia. Several books, DVD's and lots of recipes and information online. The Fail Safe recipes are full of great ideas!

There is a Yahoo group called Foodlab run and visited by a large group of Mums (some of whom practice EC) who explore food intolerances, allergies and reactions and share experiences, recipes, support and help pinpoint possible causes. A valuable resource to consider joining if you think your baby may be reacting to a food, environmental trigger or something else and you can't work out what it may be.

How will your EC practice help with the start of using family table foods for baby?

• When practicing any amount of EC you will begin immediately developing the awareness of the response of baby's digestion on their elimination patterns - for instance if they start doing a lot more wees, or weeing more often, or if they get constipated or the runs, it is easier to tell when it is in a potty or a bowl, rather than sucked away into a nappy.
  

• You can easily see if their wee is getting smellier or more concentrated due to an imbalance for the same reason, by the scent or colour (as close to clear is best) and can scale back their amount of solids or what they are eating accordingly, and then begin once their system clears. 
  

• I found EC was a great reassurance for breastfeeding - I always knew he was feeding enough by his patterns and that his wee was nice and pale and odourless. On hot days of course it was more concentrated, and after naps. But, if he began weeing copiously and got stressed or stopped signalling at all, I'd suspect something wasn't agreeing with him at the time, and his system was getting rid of it as fast as possible. So, I'd help him by offering the breast more (he was cue-fed anyway) while reducing the food I suspected was the cause (though he ate what he liked, and would stop eating by his own instincts.)

Learning More About Elimination Communication:

To discover how wearing your baby will definitely help you to refine your EC senses and skip lots of nappies, visit Baby Wearing and Elimination communication.

To learn about how using baby sign language can aid in your communication with your baby for pottying and many other ways, read Baby Sign Language and EC.

Resources Supporting Baby-Led Solids That I found Helpful:

Kellymom.com such as Solid foods and the breastfed baby / toddler 

World Health Organisation such as Exclusive Breastfeeding for six months

Australian Breastfeeding Association such as Just breast milk, thanks!

Guidelines for implementing a baby-led approach to the introduction of solid foods.

Wikipedia: Baby Led Weaning entry.

A bunch of Mums on the ABA Forum use a baby-led solids approach.

Baby Led Weaning Blog 

Baby Led Weaning Yahoo Discussion Group