The best age to begin a baby on solid foods is debated by doctors, parents, and grandparents. The usual recommendation is withhold solid foods for the first year. However, many mothers decide to start their babies on solids sooner.
The growth patterns of babies exclusively or predominantly breast-fed differs from non-breast-fed babies. Less is known about the growth impact of introducing solids to breast-fed babies.
A recent World Health Organization (WHO) study included nearly 5,000 healthy infant-mother pairs from seven different countries. All the babies were either exclusively or predominantly breast-fed. The solid foods were begun between four and six months. The small differences in growth were found to not be biologically significant.
This large study of infants says nothing about the impact of introducing solid foods earlier than 4 months of age or after 6 months nor about the relationship between introducing solids for infants living in poor environments. It also doesn't address the increase risk of allergies from th early introduction of solids. It does show that introducing solid foods to healthy breast-fed infants between the ages of 4 and 6 months doesn't affect their growth.
Pediatric Notes, 10/03/02.
May not be reproduced in any format without written permission.
