Archive for May, 2010

It seems like the suggested guidelines for raising your child are constantly changing.  How is one supposed to keep up with the latest research and new studies?  I still consider my oldest child a baby, she’s three and a half.  But a lot of what I was told while raising her during her infancy and toddlerhood has gone right out the window.  When is the American Academy of Pediatrics going to make up their minds?  I know what you’re saying… “They have to change their suggested guidelines based on new research.”  While I appreciate that, it makes it hard that I have to keep changing the things that I was doing with my first daughter now that I’m raising a second one three years later.  I mean, the first one turned out ok, so do I really need to change my ways?

Case in point – Three years ago when it became time to introduce Brinley to solid foods, her pediatrician strongly suggested that I start with rice cereal, then move on to oatmeal, and then barley.  From there he suggested starting fruits and veggies, one at a time, leaving a few days in between to make note of any reactions.  I followed protocol to a tee.  I was also instructed that under no circumstance was I to give her nuts of any sort, eggs, citrus, honey or shell fish before she turned two years old.  Again, I followed what I was told.

Fast forward to about seven months ago…  I’m at Nora’s four month well visit with the same pediatrician and the topic of starting solids comes up.  He asks me when I’m planning to start and I tell him probably in a month or so.  He asks what I plan to start her with and I say rice cereal.  He let’s me know that I may start with any of the grains and go from there.  Alright, a little different than with Brinley but nothing too different.  Same rules applied for the fruits and veggies, one at a time with a few days in between. Then he lays it on me, “Once she get’s the hang of eating, go ahead and offer her anything that you happen to be eating.”  I, thinking I’m all smart, say, “Right, but make sure not to give her nuts, shell fish, citrus, honey or eggs until she’s two.”  He says, “No, no.  You can go ahead and give her all of that stuff, except for the honey, right away.  There’s no need to wait.  The earlier you expose her to those things the less likely she will be to develop an allergy.”

Wait!  Hold the phone! You mean I should be giving her peanut butter and scrambled eggs and shrimp?  Before she’s two?  Well, apparently, yes I should.  According to the AAP, “Current evidence is insufficient to document a significant protective effect of maternal dietary restrictions during pregnancy or lactation. Nor is there sufficient evidence that any dietary intervention after 4-6 months of age prevents allergic disease. This includes delaying the introduction of complementary foods.”

So, Nora has dined on everything thus far from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to tuna fish, to strawberries.   It’s a good thing that this new research came about because Nora is a human garbage disposal.  She will and does eat anything.  So if I’m eating it, you better believe that some of it is in her mouth as well.  Since PB&J is pretty much a staple in my life (I ate it for lunch every single day of my grammar school career) it’s a good thing that I don’t have to try to keep it away from her.  One of the only foods that she doesn’t like so far is pasta.  Must be too bland for her.  Among her favorites are taco beef, black olives, Mexican rice, and baked beans.  Could she be any more different from her big sister who eats maybe four things total?