Baby Nutrition

Question
Dear Evelyn,

I am not an expert in anthroposophy or nutrition but i really enjoyed reading your smart and inspiring insights on this forum. Thank you.
I am 32, from Israel, a mother of 8 month old baby girl. Intuitively I feel that anthroposophy holds the most valuable approach to life in general and to me personally in the process of child caring. The thing is that it's really not easy to find a reliable sources of information here in Israel or on the web in general ( took your recommendations on books from previous posts, thanks). My baby eats solids since she is 4 month old (weaned from breastfeeding around 6 month) and now still gets formula 2 times a day. Right now her main meals are based on oatmeal or millet with vegetables, and the rest of the meals are fruits and vegetables mainly: apples, carrots, squash and zucchini with whole Tahini or almond butter. My first question: is there anything important that i miss, perhaps protein, soy products, etc? 2. I know it's a lot to ask but it would be so helpful if you could write a few words about the theory behind baby's first year nutrition. 3. I would really like to stop with the formula, everybody here tells to keep with it until she is one year old, is there any alternative? 4. All the babies here and probably in Europe and US  are supposed to get Iron supplement every day, I am not sure she actually needs it in such a mechanical way, what do you think about it?  

Wishing you all the best! and waiting for your answer.

Answer
This is Part 2 of the response with additional, more specific information on feeding babies from 8 months up in accord with specifically Anthroposophical guidelines. Please read part 1 posted hereafter for more background details.


Dear Ines,

Lo and behold! The cosmos provides!
Something prompted me to clear out my attic today ?not because this is my favorite Sunday passtime! ?and just when I was wondering why I ever embarked upon this onerous chore,  I was overjoyed to recover my copy of Bom and Huber in the Baby-memory box!

Please let me quote for you what this book says on weaning and supplements.

As I suggested, breastfeeding is the most supreme food available for your child, the colostrum, the lady authors agree, is inimitable. The bonding between mother and child is enhanced through this method of feeding. It remains therefore interesting to the spiritual researcher (me) when this is not available to either mother or child - or extended excessively (beyond a year). There can very well be a cosmic energy at play here, which needs further investigaion. But this aside.

Anthroposophically seen, breastfeeding supplies the infant with all it could ever want for at least up to 5 or 6 months. I add here the adverb Anthroposophically, because we believe the nutritous value of anything you ingest requires a holistic context for it to function optimally. Some mothers who have nihil spiritual interest (cannot provide enough love or enough of a soulful environment, like those under extreme emotional stress or social depravity), but also those spiritually inclined, devotional mothers with children limited in their spiritual capacity (perhaps, refusing to incarnate fully) may therefore find different needs a priority. All we need to do then, is observe the child and adapt! Then we ADD nutritional elements. Otherwise we concentrate on feeding. Feeding is a mix of food and love.

To go back to the book let me sum up their guidelines for you.
At 6 months you may start to supplement breast feeding with two bottle feeds. They give you two options:  formula or milk. More recipes below.

By 7 months you could be on milk and grains (liquidised for a bottle feed) and will have to close off the intimate phase of breastfeeding. Perhaps, lamentably, or otherwise to regain at bit more of your own freedom! But from the newcomer抯 perspective a great new stage begins.  At 9 months the baby should really be giving you new signals which are no longer just (passively) happy to receive all you give, but ought to be more explorative. If they become demanding (of the breast) it is not wise to give into this. It is great that the child is up for a new level of a more independent give and take: meals! Its face must also be able to turn away from your heart and face the world with its own heart. You will be there for it every step of the way: in many ways, including lovingly prepared meals (Nature抯 stores). Feeding becomes more about eating and this is also about communicating, learning,respecting.

If you cannot breast feed but go totally bio-dynamic-Anthroposophic (recipes will follow) from the start you may need to consider supplementary feeds as of 2-3 months to meet with full nutritional needs. These will all have to be liquid, too, to fulfill the infants desire to suckle. This is not relevant to you, but it may give you more confidence to find an all-natural way suggested from such an early age.

This Anthroposophic start DOES seeem possible in modern times (my edition of the book is 1996). The etheric benefits I have already exposed to you in the previous response.
Allergies or very dissatisfied reactions to this solution seem to be the main reason to reject this more traditional or holistic approach. Again intuition prevails! Unfortunately, few mums are left alone with this god given resource, and "official" expertise can bully them into all sorts of trends.

The bottle feeding on bio-dynamic, non-homogonised cow抯 milk does assume it is available fairly locally and as freshly as possible. The following dilution is recommended:
0-4 months: 1 x milk + 2 x water
4-6 months: 1 x milk  + 1 x water
6-8 months: 2 x milk  + 1 x water
8 months up: undiluted

Add almond paste (as you did)up untill about 7 months. I think the almond (as a nut) carries very special (cosmic) properties. It抯 blossom and furry bolsters alone indicate this to a casual passer-by.

I would have to say that one might want to be concerned about the quality of the added water. It would have to be very pure (maybe even dynamised). Perhaps carbon filtered and boiled, or else a very weak mineral water (low in calcium, magnesium, sodium etc)could be safest. It takes some research to fully know all the ins and outs of our water, I must confess.There are clear environmental issues with bottled or packaged water, and not all of it is as genuine as you may have been lead to believe. But even highly regulated, safe, drinking water can have (other) drawbacks (hormones, chemical residues from the very filtering etc). We can only trust our babies progressively become hardened to our impure world, and know any neurosis is a waste of time.

It is recommended to try to introduce some of the world as of 4-5 months with an occasional spoonful of fruit or vegetable puree (use the same product consecutively for a number of days). The spoon is a really weird experience for the baby! Watch to see how they go for it or not. This informs you a lot about the little person抯 inner impulse.

In the case of weaning off the breast at 6 months we must begin to supplement for real to meet nutritional demands.

The authors stress to use fresh, seasonal produce, and your link and I have already gone to lenghts to explain why.

I forgot to mention the issue with sodium nitrate, which is found in leafy veg. Infants are sensitive to this and find it harder to process. Then it becomes nitrite.(More on this at http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/seasoningflavoring/a/nitrates.htm)  

Bom and Huber agree with me that it helps to use bio-dynamic products; and don抰 over-feed nitrate rich veg to under one year olds (twice a week).  Do NOT use the water you cooked such veg in. Leaching (through steaming or boiling) helps minimise nitrate intake. Never reheat (spinach we all know about). Cook all vegetables ?no raw vegetables until age 3.Ripe fruits do not need to be cooked for 6 months+.   I also already adverted to the issue of  bringing milk to the boil: don抰! However, do not feed cold meals, and bring to room temperature, always, preferably naturally. I advise against microwaves at all times. Frozen foods do not belong in an Anthroposophic diet.


a list of suitable vegetables as of 6 months but nitrate rich are:  spinach, beetroot, fennel, lettuce leaf, chard, andives, purslane etc. (in short the leafy stuff, but note the beets)
Nitrate poor: cauliflower, brocoli, pumpkin, parsnip, carrot, jerusalem artichoke. (in short the flower and root stuff)

We can use (freshly ground flakes for) flour of rice, barley, wheat, and oats in bottles to thicken up and make the milky feed more nutritous as of 3 months (in the case of exclusive natural bottle feeding). Coarser flakes are used from 6-7 months,introducing texture and added  to the fruit and veg already happily introduced. They are put through a moule or use a ricer (blenders are not ideal ?too homogenous, not natural at all and may affect flavour). At 9 months try using just a fork to make finer. You would want to try ricecrackers or (crusts of) bread, too, for the child to get used to the sensation of feeding itself and chewing.

It is important to prepare these grains intensively (a kind of pre-digestion): dried grains are soaked, boiled, left to rest in a hot-hamper; flakes must be bought in small quantities as freshly as possible. They are easy to prepare, since they have been prepared for you half already: steamed, rolled etc.

The upshot on potatoes, pulses, meat and eggs convene with what I already told you. They are not recommended for children under age one. I add soy to this.

It sort of goes without saying, I hope: do not add salt. Herbs are only used to aid digestion not as flavour ?we do not to offer any "cuisine" to our infants.

Sweeten (porridge) milk-feeds with lactose at first, and then malts later on (month 3). This taste helps baby抯 find earth, but there should be no calorific intention. Consider what I said previously about the different qualities of sugar.


Specific tips for 8 months:
Try to stick to "conventional" meal times by now. (not too early before 7 am, not too late after 7,8pm depending on where you live and the season perhaps).

You can stop adding almond paste to bottles of milk. Just milk, water, rice (and buckwheat) flour, 1 tsp  max. sweetner (rice malt, maple syrup or  rapadura sugar containing the minerals of molasse), corn or sunflower oil.
Oil helps loosen bowel movements: constipation is common with bottle feeds (the rice flour causes it).
A puree of 2/3 vegetables + 1/3 flakes, 1 tsp oil (to make a serving of 150-200 ml)
Use carrots, fennel, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin. Introduce leaf ?in moderation.

Begin using yoghurt and acidophilus milk or kefir.
Mid morning-lunch is best for a vegetable-grain meal and a 100 ml bottle feed or yoghurt (or 40 ml curds diluted to make up 100 ml ?very rich in protein so for very active babies). You could sweeten with fruit juice concentrate (apple or pear).
Tea time is best for a fruit meal with bottle feed or another dairy product. Grains optional with fruit depending on baby抯 appetite. Use apple, pear, tangerine, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, orange. Peach seems ok, apricot only in moderation, the same goes for strawberry, banana and plum, I guess for the reasons I already touched upon. (Why peach is ok for Bom/Huber I have yet to figure out.)
Evening and morning you would give a bottle feed or porridge depending on the baby抯 appetite.

As I already indicated previously, try to boil up flour or flakes in water, adding milk afterwards. Bottle feed the extra milk to reach an average quantity of around half a litre ?or supplement with yoghurt etc.

For porridge of flakes for 8 months up, we use rice, buckwheat, millet, oat or barley flakes, althought the latter can be a bit too heavy and give diaper rash.

The recipe is as follows:
Soak flakes 30 mins in just enough water to soften.
Simmer 20-30 mins on very low heat.  Or use a hot-hamper (cook for only 5, leave to rest for 20).
Add warmed up milk (60 degrees max). Leave au bain marie or in a hot-hamper in this moderate heat for about 15 mins to thoroughly become absorbed.
Sweeten, add oil.

It is time and energy efficient to prepare for a couple of days at a time.

The next three months (9-12) the aim is to get off the bottle altogether. The child should indicate an interest in partaking meals with the family by then and like to use a spoon and a double handle sippy beaker.
We can start to think in three main meals-
for breakfast: porridge,a bit of bread, a drink of juice or herb tea
Midmorning snack optional: ricecracker, rusks, toast, slice of crusty bise (80% wholemeal) bread, breadsticks and a drink (not milk)
Lunch (not too late, before a nap) vegetables and grains and a serving of dairy. You can use butter or cream instead of oil at times. You may try some wholemeal macaroni, spaghetti (if you are serving that for the reast of the family anyway). The baby cannot be fed rice and millet, however soft and small the grains may seem: they require proper chewing! Use these in porridges only.
Tea-time: fruit and grains or yoghurt optionally, depending on the child抯 appetite.
Dinner: porridge, maybe a slice of bread, a drink if so required.

Do not offer too many fluids to your child. These too need processing and make demands on the organs, even if only water. Modern man tends to run about with bottled water the live-long day, with some neurosis about dehydration, which is nonsensical. It is more reminiscent of a baby抯 security blanket than a sensible health choice!

I hope to have added some useful details on the typically Anthroposophical way to feed your baby.

I remain available for any more questions (or quotes from the book, including the toddler one I found, too, much to my surprise). For example, have you given the use of fluoride any thought yet....They address that too, but it抯 early days for you yet.

Love,
Evelyn

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