Get the white out of baby's first foods, pediatrician says

I recently saw this article posted in a friend's facebook feed and though it was great to pass along for those of you who have young babies.  A friend of mine tipped me off to the fact that you CAN give a fruit or veggie first, and thankfully my pediatrician was totally on board. She said, "Only corporate America wants you to give rice cereal first".  Ava's first food was avocado! I also read Dr. Greene's book which was extremely helpful in making meals for my daughter.

 

 

Almost every child care book offers the same advice about a baby's first meal.

When infants are ready for solid food, experts say, start them first on rice cereal, available in a box, mixed with breast milk or formula. Babies have launched their eating careers this way for 60 years, says Alan Greene, a pediatrician at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children Hospital.

In the 1950s, Greene says, baby food companies trumpeted the benefits of white rice cereal, telling mothers that it was easier for babies to digest than anything they could make at home. "The ads said, 'You can't feed children as well as we can,' " says Greene, author of Feeding Baby Green.

But David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital Boston, says "there's no scientific basis for this recommendation. That's a myth."

Concerned about increasing childhood obesity and growing rates of diabetes, some pediatricians want to change how babies eat.

Read the rest of the article here.