"Pureed food 'isn't natural' for babies"

[theUrbanDryad]

[JackieNo]

Norty

[theUrbanDryad]

and here's the proof

[JackieNo]

Am I misremembering, or in some cultures don't the mums actually pre-chew food for their DCs when they're starting solids?

[theUrbanDryad]

are you sure you're not thinking of owls regurgitating mouse bits into their babies' beaks??

[edam]

Oh Lord, isn't this just the other camp repeating the same nonsense from a different direction about what you feed babies at four to six months making them picky eaters or delaying chewing skills? How many adults do you know who can't chew food, except those with major medical problems?

FWIW (I know this is anecdotal) ds had purees and he is remarkably un-picky compared to his peers. I get caught out on playdates because other children turn their noses up at what ds eats!

[JackieNo]

Maybe, theUrbanDryad. Wonder where I've read it...

[theUrbanDryad]

fight, fight, fight....

(boring sunday morning here...)

[kittylette]

'whateverrrr'

lol

[theUrbanDryad]

oh kitty, you're such a spoilsport....

[theUrbanDryad]

FWIW - i couldn't give a flying...damn about what other people feed their babies, we're doing blw cause i'm too lazy to make purees!!

[JackieNo]

Ooh look at the 'preindustrial first foods' section - glad I wasn't making it up.

[DominiConnor]

I think it's sad that so many people fall for the "natural is always good" fallacy.

We evolved away from "natural" behaviour so long ago that you can see it in the structure of our bodies.

When we were scavangers, we ate what we could find. Thus the only food may well have been roots or tough meat that's hard for a yound humanoid to eat. Parental chewing would have been necessary for survival.

In any case the UNICEF issue is with kids in shit countries. In that environment, you must work hard to stop the baby being exposed to tainted food. Purees go off very quickly and are expensive.
Bottled foods that I see in shops are pretty awful. Because they pander to the high expectations, but low educational standards of many mothers they contain serious amounts of junk, just with misleading lables for those who sat giggling with their friends at the back of science classes.
We see "sea salt" and "organic sugar", and know for a fact that this fools dimwitted consumers else the makers would go out of business.
I'm always entertained that these products are "GM free", but contain enough conventional poisons to be used in chemical warfare.
We made our own purees for the kids.

[edam]

I thought you were right, jackie! But couldn't remember any sources so didn't post. Gosh, all those references to 'pap' in literature and history, how can I have forgotten?

DC, it's a fallacy that UNICEF recommendations are only for the developing world, they ain't.

[theUrbanDryad]

not sure i want to feed my baby "gruel"

i don't think anyone can deny that the infant food market is a multi-billion pound affair, and that jars of food are not the best idea in the world.

i was looking at "reduced sugar" rusks the other day, and amusingly, sugar is still the 3rd ingredient in the list. dextrose is the 4th.

[akaJamiesMum]

Hmm! DS had both normal family food and jars at times. Agree that the baby food industry (like any other industry) tries to tell us we need things when we don't sometimes though. However, am too busy being a Mum to worry too much about it all.

DS weaned easily and eats a good diet now so I think that's all that matters.

[puffling]

excellent post dominiconnor

[MuminBrum]

Oh FGS, even if the woman is "deputy director of Unicef's Baby Friendly Initiative", she was also a health visitor for 25 years, and we all know that 95% of what all HVs say is utter crap.

[minorityrules]

Everyone I know my age were fed purees. Can't see it being harmful

I do think later weaning means you don't 'have' to feed purees as a 6 month old is able to go straight to finger foods but don't think it's aproblem to go either way, whatever suits the family

Bit confused about that piece, it says WHO changed its guidelines because of Rapleys research? I thought WHO changed before her research came out

[ratfly]

lol muminbrum!
Anyway, feeding purees is FUN!! I am loving weaning!

[kiskidee]

making then feeding purees is the most mindnumbing task women created for themselves.

[Kewcumber]

Jackie I came on to say exactly yhte same thing - but you got there before me. Isn;t that how it is beleived we weaned all babies at one time - mother chewed food first aka puree?

[kiskidee]

my mum took a piece of potato out of the family stew mashed it a bit with a fork to break it up and covered it with some of the stew.

such a no brainer over making purees.

[Aloha]

What do you mean by 'natural', exactly?

[Aloha]

Oh god, I haven't accidentally wandered onto a blw thread have I? Dullsville.

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

My sister's old, old, old nanny used to chew up her food and pass it on to her. It was a good wind-up for my sister for years and years, made her retch everytime I reminded her. (For some reason I didn't get this, I was an eat-anything-baby.)