Even though rice cereal in the US has nutrients these are artificial nutrients that have been added in, even when it comes to organic products the vitamins and minerals are exempt from having to be organic and natural. There has been research in the past that has indicated that fortified is not as good as getting the nutrients from foods where they are present naturally. There have been analyses done recently on rice products from the US including baby rice cereal and these have found potentially dangerous levels of arsenic. This is due to industrial contamination from the cotton industry the same type of land now being used for growing rice. Again there is no difference with the organic rice and potentially whole grain rice could be more affected as the casing which absorbs some of the arsenic, has not been removed.
My youngest has been able to sit unaided for a good 30 seconds to a minute since he just turned 3 months, can sit without slumping with very little support, can stand himself up against the sofa if his back is to it, can roll both ways, had great head control from the start, 'chats' with us and is trying to push himself forward and crawl. He can also put things in his mouth in a well controlled way. This is not a brag but just to say despite all of this and him being 17 weeks now-I do not feel he is ready for solids. He looks at us eating with interest and copies us, again it doesn't mean he is ready for solids. I just don't know if his insides are ready.
It's a myth that babies have been weaned at 3-4 months 'forever', in the 50s, 60s and early 70s there was a trend towards making babies into mini adults in a sense, sleep training from the start and starting on solid foods in the first few weeks with some US doctors advocating giving puréed solids including meat, in the hospital! Prior to this though historically weaning was done at around 6-9 months, if not later. It has been said on the thread that waiting until 6 months hasn't cut the risk of allergies but the fact is that despite updated guidance being in place for ten years the majority of babies are still weaned onto solids well prior to six months with it still being worryingly common for them to be weaned prior to four months. It could only be confidently stated that delaying until six months hasn't cut the risk of allergies if parents were sticking to this guideline but the reality is, very few are.
As for dieticians the professional body the majority of them belong to in the UK, The British Dietetic Association, isn't a completely neutral organisation, it is funded mainly by corporate sponsors and partners and this includes the updated training provided for them. Their main partners/sponsors are Nutrica (wing of Danone that makes c&g, aptamil and their associated baby food ranges), Danone itself, and Abbott Nutrition who don't make mainstream formulas in the UK but they do in most other countries. Call me a cynic but there is a lot of marketing of their products involved and I don't think that all dieticians can possibly be immune to this. Xx
That you won't get any argument with! Perversely though, I enjoy it. I doubt I'll feel the same in 4mths time, but for now I'm enjoying the daily battle to get him to try a bit of food.
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