Complementary feeding: the texture of food

When feeding our babies, we have to take into account what we give them and how we give it to them. The immaturity of babies does not allow them to eat in the same way that adults do, and there may be a risk of choking depending on what food or preparation.

That is why we must consider what it is food texture that can assimilate being aware that not all children mature at the same time and therefore some will accept one type of food before and others later.

The usual recommendation is to start the supplementary feeding with the crushing of food. Some authors, on the other hand, comment that not only is it not necessary but that it means teaching to eat in a way that will not be the one you use as an adult and that it is therefore better to provide them with easy-to-eat textures, but without crushing.

If we consider that the crusher is a recent invention in history, it makes sense to think that it is not an essential element. Now, it is possible to assume (and it is known) that some foods were crumbled by hand or previously chewed by adults to be later offered to babies.

WHO, in its guidelines for the feeding of breastfed infants and non-breastfed infants, specifies the following:

  • After six months, infants are able to eat purees, porridge and semi-solid foods.

  • At eight months, most can eat food that they eat with their fingers (which they can take and eat without supervision).
  • At 12 months they can eat the same foods that the rest of the family consumes.
  • This sounds bold considering that at present the instructions are usually to crush all the food until practically the year of life and then, little by little, to offer them foods with more consistency.

    The reality is that a year most children still eat crushed, either by the indication by professionals or by the comfort for parents, who see that their child quickly eats what it would take to eat much more if consistency were more solid

    Some studies suggest that there is a “critical window” for the introduction of food into pieces. Northstone and colleagues observed that children who began to eat food in pieces after 10 months they consumed less variety of foods and were less likely to share adult food at 15 months.

    This means that although crushed feeding saves time it would be advisable to gradually increase the consistency of food, according to the maturation of the child.

    In fact you can (it's just a suggestion, not an obligation) start without having to crush the food. The softest foods (banana, potato, boiled rice, carrot, ...) can be crushed with a fork. The apple can be grated and the pear, ripe, almost melts in the mouth. The chicken can be chopped and saute in the pan so that some small balls of meat are left, or cut “threads” from it.

    In this way children can start from the beginning to make a menu like ours (we cook things that they can eat and set aside their part before seasoning), we save ourselves making separate food for them and start learning themselves, knowing the different flavors and food textures in an almost identical way to what they will take when they are children and adults.

    If you opt for crushed, the way to add more solid pieces and foods is simply to test them directly. Some people recommend crushing the porridge a little less, leaving “stumbles”. I personally do not like this solution, because many children reject the porridge, precisely because they find things they did not expect to find. Think about what bothers to find poorly crushed chunks or lumps when you are eating a puree.

    Video: Feeding Babies: Starting Solid Foods. Kaiser Permanente (March 2024).