Researchers at the University of Bristol studying the foods eaten by babies in their first year have found that delayed introduction of chewy foods with lumps may lead to difficulty in feeding the child later.
Children who were not introduced to chewy foods by 10 months of age were much more choosy about the foods they would eat by 15 months according to their mothers. Children who are very choosy about food often cause their parents a great deal of worry.
The findings were announced by Pauline Emmett, senior nutritionist on the Children of the 90s project. This study based in Bristol, has monitored the health and development of over 10,000 children from pregnancy.
Pauline Emmett explained, “Previous research had suggested that babies are ready to learn to chew food at between 6 and 9 months of age and that problems might arise if this ideal time was missed. We decided to see if this was so in the Children of the 90s group”.
She went on to say, “The majority had been introduced to lumps between the recommended ages of 6 and 9 months. About 10% had been introduced before 6 months and this did not seem to cause any problems. Nearly a fifth had not been introduced until 10 months or later and this
group ate less varied foods at both 6 and 15 months. By 15 months more than half of these children were said to be difficult to feed at times compared to a third of the other children. They were also twice as likely as the other children to have definite likes and dislikes”.
These results suggest that mothers of six-month-old babies should not delay too long moving from a semi-liquid diet to introducing more lumpy food.
Notes:
1. “The effect of age of introduction to lumpy solids on foods eaten and reported feeding difficulties at 6 and 15 months” K Northstone, P Emmett, F Nethersole and the ALSPAC Study Team. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 2001; 14: 43-54. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11301932
2. Please acknowledge ‘Children of the 90s’ in any reporting.