4 months!

Little peeper is 4 months old today. He has grown so much since he was born and, it's been a little while since it was possible to see that he was premature just by looking at him.
He has outgrown the cradle now, so after a second attempt to get the crib from IKEA, successful this time, me and Alex put it together last saturday.

He even sleeps in it a little bit every now and then, but he likes mommy's and daddy's bed better.

It's time for solids now, but we've decided to wait until he would have been 4 months had he not been premature. His nurse says that there's no need to wait, but as long as he still gets full off of my milk there's no reason to stress things along.

His stomach is very sensetive and we think he's got enough trouble as it is, without giving him food that'll be harder to digest. Quite frankly I've never known a baby to have so much gas. Not even Alex. But it may be that my memory fails me...

Either way, if you take a look at the following, I'm sure you'll agree that it's better not to introduce solids too early:

• Baby's intestines need to mature. The intestines are the body's filtering system, screening out potentially harmful substances and letting in healthy nutrients. In the early months, this filtering system is immature. Between four and seven months a baby's intestinal lining goes through a developmental growth spurt called closure,meaning the intestinal lining becomes more selective about what to let through. To prevent potentially-allergenic foods from entering the bloodstream, the maturing intestines secrete IgA , a protein immunoglobulin that acts like a protective paint, coating the intestines and preventing the passage of harmful allergens. In the early months, infant IgA production is low (although there is lots of IgA in human milk), and it is easier for potentially-allergenic food molecules to enter the baby's system. Once food molecules are in the blood, the immune system may produce antibodies to that food, creating a food allergy . By six to seven months of age the intestines are more mature and able to filter out more of the offending allergens. This is why it's particularly important to delay solids if there is a family history of food allergy, and especially to delay the introduction of foods to which other family members are
allergic.


• Little babies have a tongue-thrust reflex. In the first four months the tongue thrust reflex protects the infant against choking. When any unusual substance is placed on the tongue, it automatically protrudes outward rather than back. Between four and six months this reflex gradually diminishes, giving the glob of cereal a fighting chance of making it from the tongue to the tummy.



• Another reason not to rush solids is that the tongue and the swallowing mechanisms may not yet be ready to work together. Give a spoonful of food to an infant less than four months, and she will move it around randomly in her mouth, pushing some of it back into the pharynx where it is swallowed, some of it into the large spaces between the cheeks and gums, and some forward between the lips and out onto her chin. Between four and six months of age, most infants develop the ability to move fthe food from the front of the mouth to the back instead of letting it wallow around in the mouth and get spit out. Prior to four months of age, a baby's swallowing mechanism is designed to work with sucking, but not with chewing.
  
  More over, feeding solid foods is a less intimate and more mechanical way of delivering food than the baby is use to from the early months. It requires the baby to be able to sit up in a highchair - a skill which most babies develop between five and seven months. In the early months, babies associate feeding with cuddling. Feeding is an intimate interaction, and babies often associate the feeding ritual with falling asleep in arms or at the breast. The change from a soft, warm breast to a cold, hard spoon may not be welcomed with an open mouth. Holding a breast fed baby in the usual breastfeeding position may not be the best way to start introducing solids, as your baby expects the friendly nipple and clicks into a mode of food rejection when receiving the cold spoon instead.



• And last, but not least, young infants are not equipped to chew. Teeth seldom appear until six or seven months, giving further evidence that the young infant is designed to suck rather than to chew. In the pre-teething stage, between four and six months, babies tend to drool, and the drool that you are always wiping off baby's face is rich in enzymes, which will help digest the solid foods that are soon to come.Also, older babies like to imitate caregivers. Around six months of age, babies like to imitate what they see. They see you spear a veggie and enjoy chewing it. They want to grab a fork and do likewise. All of this indicates that solids should not be introduced until 6 months of age.

Now after collecting that information I'm inclined to wait for quite a while. Especially considering that Alexander has had trouble with his stomach all his life. I can't say for sure if it would have made a difference to wait, but since the recommendations back then was to introduce solids at 3 months, it's clear that his digestive system would have been far from ready. It sounds like common sense to me at least, so as long as Peeper is getting all he needs from nursing, he's gonna have to do without solids.

There won't be any "ready to eat" baby food either. It's processed to high hell and, I wouldn't even serve it to my enimies. He'll eat home made baby food and, that's the end of that.

I so wish I would have been more aware of these things when Alex was little. But I guess all I can do is learn from my mistakes and, pray that he doesn't get cancer, diabetes or some other terible disease due to my ignorance...