Let babies be babies!

Adulting is hard, so I don’t get why people want to make kids “big” before their time. I have a friend with a small baby and she often asks for advice regarding what age to do what. It makes me think back to a year or so ago when little M was only 4 months old. A time when I was faced with the question “Have you started giving her solids yet?“.

I know there is the big ‘4 month vs 6 month’ debate. I decided to do my own research, because when she was 4 months old I found it way too small to give solid foods. She was just a little baba. I heard friends and mommy groups saying start with rice cereal or yellow veggies at 4 months. 4 months! When you go to Pick ‘n Pay, all the cereal boxes say 6+ months. I don’t care if you have fed all 7 your children from 4 months old and they are “a healthy 6 year old today”. Scientists study and test these things and they put a recommended age on the box for a reason. You aren’t going to give a baby medicine that is meant for a 2 year old, so why would you give them food not meant for them?

I decided I was not going to listen to what society felt was okay, because honestly, is okay really acceptable for my child? No. I strive to do whatever is most beneficial for her in every way. The following extract was taken from a fantastic article:

There you have it. This was enough to convince me! I personally felt it was the best thing for my child to start later. I felt about a week or two before she was 6 months old, she was ready. There is a major difference between a 4-month old baby’s gut and a 6-month old baby’s gut. Yes Jane from Facebook, your baby may be a healthy 6 year old now, but you may have caused issues in her stomach that will affect her later in life. She may have medical issues when she is 15 years old. I’m sorry, but to me that’s not worth it. I would much rather wait the 2 months than cause my child permanent damage that could have been prevented.

Children have their whole life to eat a whole bunch of things. Little M is 1 yr 3 months old. She loves her flings but I really see no need to give her a bunch of sweets. She is still little. No, I will not be a mom who bans sugar in her diet, but she will also not eat sweets all day every day, specially not when she is little.

I really find it difficult to handle when someone gives her sweets. Even if they ask me, I feel like they may think I am odd not wanting her to have a lot, but I just don’t think a little baby should be eating proper sweets and drinking gassy cold drinks and definitely not caffeine, energy drinks or anything like that(not even a sip).

There are so many different things being said in society, by friends and family and on social media, but I truly believe in research. Specially when it comes to your children. I don’t think it’s okay to tell someone to do something or use something because you did it and your child was fine or because so and so said that. We need to be so extremely careful when it comes to these little human beings, and let’s be honest – leave it up to the scientists. It is their job to research these things and tell us what the effects of our decisions are. If I am unsure of something, research is def my go-to. For myself and for the benefit of my child – because her health and doing the right thing is vital to me.