Neglecting doctors' advice at least 40 percent parents feed their infants solid food (including cereals and baby food) before the baby is four to six months old, claims a new research.
"Health authorities do advise parents to wait until after 4 months because infants aren't developmentally ready to eat solid foods before then," explained the study's senior author, Kelley Scanlon, epidemiologist at the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Explaining further about the drawbacks, Scanlon said that feeding solid food to an infant can lead to chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, celiac disease, diabetes and eczema.
Around 1,300 mothers with infants were studied for the two year research. Mothers filled questionnaires once a month on the eating habits of their infants. The exercise was to determine why solid foods were introduced early and whether breastfeeding or formula-feeding made a difference in the introduction.
The researchers found that 40 percent of mothers introduced solid foods before their infants were four months old. About 24 percent of exclusively breast-feeding moms introduced early solid food, while close to 53 percent of formula-fed babies were given solid foods early on.
A bit more than 50 percent of babies that were fed both breast milk and formula were introduced to solid foods before four months. According to the study, reasons cited by the moms said, "My baby was old enough," "My baby seemed hungry," "I wanted to feed my baby something in addition to breast milk or formula," "My baby wanted the food I ate," "A doctor or other health care professional said my baby should begin eating solid food," or "It would help my baby sleep longer at night."
The study also found that formula-fed infants were twice likely to be introduced to solid food at an early age compared to breast-fed ones. The researchers also found that mothers who fed solid foods to their infants were more likely to be younger, unmarried, less educated and be participating in government food programs for women, infants and children, reported Medical Xpress.
