FOOD FOR THOUGHT

By |October 18th, 2018|

HHumans are omnivores, that is, they can eat many different foods. We need food for our body to maintain and grow our cells. But the cells, especially the ones in the brain, are only interested in glucose. That is the only fuel that creates energy to power the cell. So all foods have to be convertible to glucose, and the body has wonderful ways of doing it.

In our cells is an awesome mechanism called the ‘Krebs Cycle’ (Citric Acid Cycle). Plug in any food, carb, fats, or proteins, and it ends up as glucose. This works just fine, even when […]

Solid Data on Solids (3)

By |May 6th, 2017|

Fully breastfed infants start to need other foods at around six months. By then they have run their stores of iron down and also need to supplement the vitamin D in their diet. Also breastmilk (and formula) is relatively low in protein, which is suitable for babies, but the growing infant now needs more.

 

Back in the day, the often-recommended first food was baby rice. We now recognise that early taste experiences program our babies’ food preferences for later, so processed refined rice flour, which is a world away from real food, and is now no longer recommended. Better […]

Solid Data on Solids (2)

By |March 17th, 2017|

Children Eat What They Enjoy, and Enjoy What They Know….

 

 

Humans are omnivores – they’ll eat anything that looks nutritious, and therein lies a problem: they can also poison themselves in many different ways. So evolution came up with a solution. Make the young generally ‘neo-phobic’ (fear of new things’) that is, wary of unfamiliar foods. Another great strategy is to get them to copy their mother and only eat what she eats, as it’s should always be safe.

So we copy our Mum.

When we’re in the womb we swallow the amniotic fluid and learn the tastes of the foods that […]

Breastfeeding to Sleep

By |February 11th, 2016|

Just lately I’ve had a question from a couple of mothers through email and Facebook asking me what to do as their babies are now 6 months old and they are still exclusively falling asleep at the breast.

A paediatrician to one of them told her to stop this, and the other was told that ‘feed, play, sleep’ was some kind of gold standard to work towards as early as possible.

It’s perfectly okay for babies to continue falling asleep at the breast if you are both happy with it. There is nothing essential about separate sleeping and nothing biologically important […]

Breastmilk as a painkiller

By |September 15th, 2015|

“II am a breastfeeding, first time mum of a lovely and funny 7 1/2 month old. Cameron is teething like crazy (yet to get any chompers but all the signs are there) and we have been breastfeeding like crazy at night. I’m very interested in what is known about breastmilk as an analgesic but haven’t been able to find very much information on it. I was hoping you may be interested in sharing some on your blog some time.

Thanks for your science based and heartfelt based approach to baby rearing! We love it!!!”

What an interesting question! Particularly as I […]

Time to Cease Breastfeeding

By |August 5th, 2015|

Gems from ILCA 2015 (No.1)

1

As it is World Breastfeeding Week I think I should relate a gem from the International Lactation Consultants Association conference held last week in Washington DC.

  • Kathy Dettwyler, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Delaware gave a great talk about the time of weaning (meaning ‘ceasing breastfeeding’ not adding solids).

Unencumbered by culture, societal and peer pressure, how long does biology tell us to breastfeed our young?

It seems reasonable to compare the timing of weaning in non-human primates, but as they have different lifespans, growth rates and times to mature we need to look at this […]

Constipation after Spoon Foods: Act Fast!

By |September 8th, 2013|

“My 7 mo has constipation. She’s breastfed and on solid. She eats lots of vegetables, fish, fruits and a little meat. I’ve given her pear puree and prune puree but they don’t seem to work. I recently had to apply a vaseline covered cotton bud to the inside of her rectum to help with things, and even then she cried and strained a lot. Her stool looks like it has blood and is hard.”

If   If your baby’s getting true constipation (that is, hard, pebbly, rabbit-pellet stools, not just infrequent ones) after solids have been introduced, […]

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