Spoon feeding 'makes babies fatter'

kendrafallon

Just thought I'd share this article I read online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16905371

Clarecbear82

So that's why I got fat! Lol

Emilia6909

I will read the article but responding to your post heading.

I will not at all be surprised if this is the case. I practiced "baby led weaning" on my last child and WHAT A DIFFERENCE in his approach to food. I allowed him to eat how he wanted and quantity he wanted, all by himself from the age of 6 months. By this I don't mean that I was irresponsible and would leave him with foods he could choke on.

Did you know that when we spoon feed a baby and they gag, it's not because the don't like the food. It is because we have pushed the spoon to far back into their mouths. It is a natural reaction for any human being to gag when they have no control over something in their mouths. In some countries where babies are hand fed, the food is placed in the very front of the mouth. Again... age old concept that we tried to out smart.

engineman312

agreed!! its not my fault i'm fat! its my parents!!

Justjoshin

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

Drunkadelic

correlation =\= causation

quietlywinning

What a silly article and study! I've never known anybody to pick *either* spoon-feeding the baby *or* allowing finger food. As was mentioned earlier, WHAT is on the spoon matters a whole lot more than the delivery method.

I've never seen anyone put the spoon in the back of the baby's mouth, either. Nor have I seen anyone manage to convince a baby to finish what is in the jar if he/she doesn't want it. They close the mouth and turn away, or spit it out. I've heard of force feeding, but never seen a normal human being DO it.

What the experts consider obese in a 6-year-old may not mean a thing to weight in adulthood, anyway.

AnninStPaul

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

Jarred food WAS full of additives; much of it today is the food plus some ascorbic acid (vitamin c) to retain color.

midwifekelley2350

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

my kids are far from babies and this is what i did (in addition to breastfeeding for a very, very long time). we didn't give them food until they were able to sit up on their own and show interest. they fingerfed themselves. it worked for us and they are healthy and have a healthy relationship with food as adults

PinkEarthMama

I'm staying FAR AWAY from the breastfeedign part of this discussion. Y'all have a child with a feeding tube for two years, and then we'll come back to what's "best".

I did practice baby led solids with my youngest. She is BY FAR my best eater. She voraciously tears into cavier, eggs, meat, beef jerky, salmon, etc etc. My other kids won't even touch the stuff. My oldest, who is neurologically normal, was spoon fed from 4 months to 1 year old. We've spent hours trying to get this kid to try to eat healthier food, but until we make it an issue, he'd never ASK for it. My youngest ( also " normal " ) will ASK for apples, carrots, peppers, quinoa, black beans, etc etc.

Qarol

I was a FAT baby. I refused to nurse. But I guzzled that bottle. The doctor recommended my mom start putting water in it since I had what he called an "overactive sucking reflex." :blushing:

After a short while, my mom discovered it didn't even need water in it. I refused a pacifier. My bottle WAS my pacifier. It would dangle from my mouth at almost all times. I can remember the sound of chewing on the nipple.

k8blujay2

I don't know if that's necessarily true... While I allow my child (who is just shy of one years old) to feed herself... there are time still where I spoon feed her (and I did in the beginning)... I watch for her cues that she is done and don't force her to eat... and she is usually in the 20th percentile for weight... And she will eat broccoli and green beans and just about anything I put in front of her without much of a fuss (unless she is teething or just generally doesn't feel well).

HisPathDaily

Articles like this make me chuckle.

hehehe <--- that was a little chuckle.

Now let's get back to reality ... apparently none of my 4 kids were part of this case study ... I think we would have blown the control group! lol

ashquin

allot of the jarred baby food these days are NOT packed with additives and crap. Pick up a jar and read one. i read every jar i feed my baby and the only thing that is added to it is asorbic acid. there is no food coloring , dyes, preservatives etc. I dont know what your feeding your kids but its apparently not food made for babys

correlation =\= causation

k8blujay2

allot of the jarred baby food these days are NOT packed with additives and crap. Pick up a jar and read one. i read every jar i feed my baby and the only thing that is added to it is asorbic acid. there is no food coloring , dyes, preservatives etc. I dont know what your feeding your kids but its apparently not food made for babys

correlation =\= causation

I agree with this... I look at ingredient labels... and even the Gerber baby foods (just the regular ones, not the organic or specialty ones) only had the fruit/veg it was supposed to have and possibly some water or asorbic acid...

ashquin

i totally disagree with you. jarred baby food is NOT full of additives and crap. i read every jar i feed my baby and the only item that is added is ascorbic acid. I dont know what your feeding your children but it must not be baby food.

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

raisingbabyk

We're getting completely off topic here as well. The article is about spoon feeding puree vs baby led weaning feeding themselves solids anyways... Not breast vs formula.

tinalatina

I saw this on the news today!

ahinescapron

Problems with this article:
First of all, the sample size is 155 children (up to age six, which makes no sense)
One study is never enough to conclude much at all- show me five more scientific studies that back it up and we'll talk
The study is cross-sectional, so there is no way to establish the direction of influence (what causes what)
They are trying to make a correlation look like causation
Most of the argument in the article is based on conjecture...it makes sense that...blah blah blah (this means nothing scientifically)

Be an informed consumer of information people!

galegetsthin

My little girl maybe ate 10 jars of baby food and a half a box of baby cereal when she was transitioning to food. She just didnt like it. She would never drink the juice, she would never eat the stuff out of a jar. But if I mushed up OUR food, she ate it. I was always there to watch her and would substitute mashed beans for meat sometimes. But the ingredients on the jars were just the fruit, usually another fruit and ascorbic acid and water.

leanmachinedream

I didn't read the article, too lazy. I wish spoon feeding made my baby "fat". She's sooooo petite I worry sometimes. She's just small in every aspect, doesn't look like she's almost 2 at all. Everyone thinks she's a little over the age of 1. Uhh, not even close! She just has a small appetite and would rather play and dance than eat.

If I ever have another child, I'm going to practice baby led weaning. Only because spoon feeding is annoying as hell.

Sabresgal63

I spoon fed both my boys and they are not fat.:bigsmile:

cessnaholly

bump

christina0089

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

As often as possible I made my own baby food using real foods in the blender I felt it was better in establishing the texture/taste of real foods rather than what came out of a jar. I know that is not for everyone and I can say I did rely on some of the fruits and cereal mixes for my son to put in his milk (he had enlarged tonsils and did not like the feel of swallowing food) I really prefered home made to jar.

Beezil

This article has little to do with "Spoon Feeding"

This study was done on Children that were fed baby food from a jar.

The majority of jarred food is packed with preservatives, sugar, garbage etc.

Although I understand the point of over feeding by what may equate to force feeding with a spoon, this likely has little to do with the results we are seeing.

Try the study again, with home prepared whole foods blended to baby consistency, then compare it to babies who eat "more satiating" carbs such as toast...


Before someone comes in and tells me I'm just advocating this because it's what I do with my child..My child has fed themselves finger foods or with their own spoon from the time they were able to use those little fingers.

As often as possible I made my own baby food using real foods in the blender I felt it was better in establishing the texture/taste of real foods rather than what came out of a jar. I know that is not for everyone and I can say I did rely on some of the fruits and cereal mixes for my son to put in his milk (he had enlarged tonsils and did not like the feel of swallowing food) I really prefered home made to jar.

That is so awesome though, I wish I could have done that. I was such a young mom, honestly so stressed out all the time and my depression was the worst it's ever been in my life for the year following my son's birth. I'd like to think if I ever do have another baby I could do something like that.

ahinescapron

You can spoonfeed your baby without overfeeding him if you recognize his cues that he is full. Both my kids made it very clear when they were full and I did not try to make them eat more than they wanted. Of course, if you ignore their cues and keep jamming food in their mouth they will eat too much. It is just like if you make your kids 'clean their plate', even if they are already full.

DreamLittleDarling

I will read the article but responding to your post heading.

I will not at all be surprised if this is the case. I practiced "baby led weaning" on my last child and WHAT A DIFFERENCE in his approach to food. I allowed him to eat how he wanted and quantity he wanted, all by himself from the age of 6 months. By this I don't mean that I was irresponsible and would leave him with foods he could choke on.

Did you know that when we spoon feed a baby and they gag, it's not because the don't like the food. It is because we have pushed the spoon to far back into their mouths. It is a natural reaction for any human being to gag when they have no control over something in their mouths. In some countries where babies are hand fed, the food is placed in the very front of the mouth. Again... age old concept that we tried to out smart.

every human has a gag reflex (well most of them do)

what mother hasn't accidentally put the spoon too far into her baby's mouth? it's hardly a tragedy ok, chill out!

Beezil

You can spoonfeed your baby without overfeeding him if you recognize his cues that he is full. Both my kids made it very clear when they were full and I did not try to make them eat more than they wanted. Of course, if you ignore their cues and keep jamming food in their mouth they will eat too much. It is just like if you make your kids 'clean their plate', even if they are already full.

I think it has to do, in part at least, with how much time / care the parent is taking in these types of things. Some mothers are very young and ignorant (hope no one takes offense to that, I was one of those mothers) and often times can't help not knowing everything there is to know right off the bat about parenting. I think for me personally, I was more concerned just with getting my little guy to eat, period, because I was so worried about him all the time. He was just a tiny little thing. And I always had this nagging need in the back of my mind to feed him, which could in fact be related to my not being able to BF him. Who knows? hehe... I still kind of freak out inside a little when he doesn't eat or doesn't want to finish his dinner. lol

maryjeffe67

Wow, bashing the breast fed comment lady. Leave her alone already! A comment is just a comment. I'm quite certain she wasn't implying that she was better than anyone, just making a comment.
Where's all this hostility coming from. Go eat a cupcake! LOL =]

jcpmoore

You can spoonfeed your baby without overfeeding him if you recognize his cues that he is full. Both my kids made it very clear when they were full and I did not try to make them eat more than they wanted. Of course, if you ignore their cues and keep jamming food in their mouth they will eat too much. It is just like if you make your kids 'clean their plate', even if they are already full.

^^^^
This!

When my first son was 4 months, the pediatrician said we could see if he was interested in rice cereal. So we mixed it up and offered it to him on a spoon. I emphasize-offered it! He tasted it and spit it out and showed no more interested. Away it went for another month. Tried again at 5 mos. No interest. At around 6 months he was interested. When I fed him it was always an offering. I don't put the spoon in his mouth-I put it TO his mouth. He had to come take the bite. If he didn't, then he wasn't hungry anymore. If I closed the jar and put it away and he cried to see this, then I'd offer him one more bite. IOW, I followed his cues. It's not that hard if you just let the baby be the one to decide.

My gran always said that if the baby is hungry he'll eat. If he's not you can't make him eat. Good thoughts to consider.

Oh, and all that's irrelevant to what kind of milk he was drinking.

KitTheRoadie

Hmm I wonder if I am the only man commenting on this thread....

We are weaning my 7 month old son as we speak and he has finger food and puréed pouches, he has always been in the 50 percentile on the graphs and I really don't think he is going to be obese when he grows older. He has always been breast fed, although it did take a couple of weeks for my wife to start producing her milk properly.

I/we will make sure he leads a healthy active life just like his parents.