Re: introducing food to babies

[Guest guest]

I lived in Italy for 10 years, and there they prepare broth with tiny pasta

for infants, stir in a large amount of olive oil and parmesan cheese, and as

soon as the baby is willing to eat it, they feed it this as well as the

breast milk. I also saw grandparents chewing up meat for infants, and old

people and babies also drink a kind of " beef tea " made from horsemeat, which

is very lean. I never encountered anyone with gluten intolerance, or any

other eating problem.

Janette

>

> I recently read a book called " Childbirth Wisdom " which was a study of

> traditional childbearing/rearing practices in a variety of indigenous

> cultures around the world. The book reported that most cultures start

> introducing solids around 6 months. The book also reported, however, that

> this was the most dangerous time health wise for babies, and that more

> babies died during the transition period between mom's milk and solid foods

> than died at childbirth. I found this to be rather fascinating, it's not

> what we are traditionally taught in the birthing professions about " dangers

> to babies in the past. " The book didn't really explain why this trasition

> was so perilous to babies- if it was from bacteria in the food, lack of

> nutrition or what.

>

> I also lived with a (rather traditional) arabic family when I had my first

> baby. From the time of about 4 months on at family dinners older family

> members would chew small bits of their food (rice, meat stews, etc) and

> place them in my sons mouth. He never had any adverse effects from this,

> and as far as I know doesn't have any food allergies.

>

> Just some food for thought on the whole " when do you give gluten to babies "

> debate.

>

> Meg N