Errors in the pediatrician's supplementary feeding sheets: express the amounts they should take

The six-month visit arrives, at which point the baby begins to eat other foods than milk and the pediatrician (and / or the nurse) gives the parents a role with the guidelines to follow to start feeding him.

I don't want to say that these papers are wrong, because even when we do it fatal our son will end up eating things that are not milkLike everyone, however, I cannot say that they are well (at least not all), because many have errors that can pose problems and anxieties for parents and children, such as (one, two, three, answer another time): express the amounts babies should take.

Express the quantities on the sheet

The pediatrician gives you his printed paper and explains the instructions to follow above and it turns out that, when it comes to saying what he can start eating, he tells you exact amounts to prepare the porridge: “180 ml of artificial milk with cereals "," 250 ml of vegetable porridge with chicken "or" Half an apple, half a pear, half a banana and the juice of an orange "are phrases that can tell us and can be read many times on the mentioned pages.

As we have said before, not all children need the same amounts of food, so it is not logical that a quantity of food is marked for all children when, for some it will be a lot and for others it may be a little.

Health professionals complain a lot about the manufacturers of artificial milk (at least I do complain), that in the boats they specify how much each baby should take according to age, because then there are worried parents thinking that their children would have to drink much more or Well leaving your babies hungry. It doesn't make much sense that we do the same with food later.

But the matter makes even less sense when, a few weeks before, a few months before, when moms asked how much breast they had to give and how often, we told them to do it on demand.

In other words, "trust your baby, that he knows when to eat and how much to eat" becomes, at six months, "distrust your baby, who doesn't know what to eat, or when, or how much." It is absurd to believe that children suddenly stop knowing how to regulate and it is absurd to pretend that a child goes from drinking only milk to suddenly eating a 250 ml pap as if he was born with a spoon in his hand.

The ideal, and the logical thing, is that you simply tell yourself what foods you can take, give some references to know how to start and explain what can happen: “So it is possible that you eat everything as if you only want a couple of tablespoons,” explaining that so normal is one thing like another.

The only thing that should be quantified is the protein; and not to keep it short, but not to eat too much. According to current recommendations, about 20-30 grams of meat per day, or about 30-40 grams of fish (per day), or a small egg can be offered.

For the rest, complementary feeding has the mission to start accustom the baby to new flavors, new textures and a new way of eating, with the spoon, hands or whatever it is necessary to bring food other than milk to the mouth and so that in the future we eat like us adults, who neither drink breast milk nor drink milk in a bottle.

PS: In a few days we will comment more errors that we can find in some complementary feeding sheets.