Early YEARS
When Do I Introduce Solids
to My Breastfed Baby?
BY LA LECHE LEAGUE OF BERMUDA
A
re you exclusively breastfeed-
ing? Wondering when your
little one should start eating
solid food? While mothers in Bermuda
are encouraged to start complementary
foods as early as four months, there
are many benefits to waiting until six
months. The World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO), the American Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) all recommend
exclusive breastfeeding until baby is
around six months old.
Human milk is the only food
that healthy, full-term babies need for
about the first six months of life. The
composition of human milk changes
in response to a variety of cues, so that
each mother provides milk that meets
her own baby’s unique needs. Human
milk provides immunity factors for
as long as the baby nurses, and many
of the health benefits of breastfeed-
ing continue well into childhood and
beyond. “Introducing babies to comple-
mentary foods too early can cause them
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BERMUDA PARENT MAGAZINE
to miss out on important nutrients that
come from breastmilk.” explains Chloe
M. Barrera, MPH, from the CDC.
What are the benefits of introduc-
ing solids at around six months? Babies
are born with very immature digestive
systems. While the gastrointestinal tract
is still maturing, infant’s systems are
not equipped to digest anything but
breastmilk. If anything but breastmilk
is introduced, it may alter baby’s gut
microbiota, causing problems like nec-
rotizing enterocolitis, diarrheal disease,
and allergies.
“In infants, the ring of muscle
between the esophagus and the stom-
ach—the lower esophageal sphincter
(LES)—is not fully mature, allowing
stomach contents to flow backward,”
says Andrew E. Mulberg, M.D., a pedia-
trician and pediatric gastroenterologist
at the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). “In time, the LES will mature
and open only when the baby swallows
and will remain tightly closed the rest
of the time, keeping stomach contents
where they belong.”
Holding off on all solids until six
months of age can boost your child’s
long-term health. Because infants who
start eating food need less calories
from breastmilk, they may lose out on
some of the most important benefits
of breastfeeding. These include lower
risk of obesity, diabetes, respiratory and
ear infections, as well as Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS). Breastfeeding
also reduces the frequency of doctor
visits, hospitalizations, and prescrip-
tions, according to the CDC.
“One of the benefits of breastmilk
is that each mother provides custom-
designed milk to protect her infant,”
according to Dr. William Sears, an
American pediatrician and the author