New Research Says Baby’s First Food Should Be Finger Food
by Jennifer Chait, 02/10/12
Back in the day, as recommended by a bazillion baby rearing books on the planet, most parents chose white rice cereal for their baby’s first solid food. Then the great white out debate began, not to mention arsenic scares in rice, and baby advocates started telling parents to start Baby off with healthier fare, like brown rice cereals, brown rice mash or vegetable purée. Now, it’s a whole new game, as brand new research says you should consider starting your baby off on solids with healthy finger foods. Researchers on the study compared a group of spoon-fed babies to a group of self-led weaning babies. What they found is that babies who are allowed to self-wean and who are then introduced to solids by feeding themselves versus having a parent spoon feed them, were able to better master skills related to self-food regulation. In turn self-food regulation is directly connected to health benefits for life such as a lower BMI and a preference for healthy foods like carbohydrates.
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