They freak out if you don’t stick to the textbook facts on eating, well facts are only statistics and statistics change and are not studied on every population group. In fact almost all studies on children are done in population groups of like 100 and can you really tell me those 100 children is enough? Kids are so different that this number is definitely not high enough.
I have an MS in Nutrition and learned beyond the medical field. Just because you are a physician does not mean that you have had extensive training on everything. This is why physicians work with nutritionists and dieticians hand in hand. In fact we had a retired physician in our Masters program and he was there because he said he always wanted to know more about it but never got the chance while he was in practice.
Both my children had less colic when starting on solid foods. They ate 6 ounces of formula every 2-3 hours after the age of 3 months and this is not healthy. Too much formula is not good either. I had to add in rice cereal starting at 2 weeks old. Only small amounts like 1 tsp at a time 1-2 times a day so they were still getting their nutrition from formula. When the feedings were getting too close together again I would up the formula a little along with the cereal. At 4 months both children started on oatmeal. At about 4 ½ months started vegetable stage 1 baby food or made my own. I did not introduce fruit at all until 6 months and NO fruit juice until a year and never out of a bottle.
Both my kids are healthy, at normal weight, and happy. Neither of my kids have fat rolls nor do they not stuff themselves. Overeating is a learned behavior; children are not born with it and will only eat until they are satisfied at young ages. Adding solids when their hunger increases will help them feel satisfied for longer periods and not teach them to engorge themselves every 2-3 hours.
Another thing to consider is that most of the studies done about bottle feeding solely for the first year are done by formula companies, go figure. They use to say that you only had to bottle or breast feed for 6 months and then it went to a year. Infants grow so fast and need more nutrition when they are going through their growth spurts.
This is just my opinion but it bothers me that I have to lie to my pediatrician about what I feed my kids for that first year because the first time I told them the truth I got the 3rd degree. I have never told my pediatrician that I have a masters in Nutrition because I figure “what is the point.” I know that I am not hurting my kids; in fact my son went from colicky to pleasant in about a half a day from starting him on rice cereal. He is now almost 8 months old and eats all baby food. He should not even be starting baby food until now according to the medical field. As of last week he was perfectly in line with all the statistical charts.
Again this is my own opinion and if anyone has a question about when to start their infant on any type of solid food that is something that needs to be addressed by each individual separately.