Into the Mouths of Babes

Excerpt from the
Introduction

Good nutrition is a lifelong gift to our children. It can support and nourish them along a path of wonder and possibility. The purpose of this book is to offer information and supportive guidance to create the best start possible as you make wise choices for feeding your new baby or toddler.
This revised edition contains the latest science-based and mind-body research to support healthy feeding choices for your child. It is offered to you through the lens of my lifelong exploration of health, wellness, food, love, and sacred nourishment.
When I conceived the idea for the first edition, I was a young mother who delighted in planning, preparing, and discovering the healthiest ways to feed our children. At that time, books on how to feed babies a vegetarian diet were scarce. When I revised the second edition of Into the Mouths of Babes in the mid-90s, I was an assistant professor in the School of Medicine and the Director of Health Promotion at the University of Virginia. I had an inside view of what university women and men dealt with when it came to body image and food issues. That experience led me to expand my literature review as I updated the research on the topic of disordered eating and body dissatisfaction in both the second and third editions.
A 2004 study published in Health Education Research reported significant correlation between parents and their children in the areas of snacking, eating motivation, and body dissatisfaction. The study concluded that a positive parental role model was more effective in improving a child’s diet than attempts to control what their children ate. So I hope this next statement isn’t too shocking: Providing your child with the best nourishment possible may mean it’s not always about the food.
With this in mind, you will discover the heart of this edition to be the concept that nourishing a baby involves much more than the foods we select or our knowledge of nutrition. My addition of “Seven Sacred Nutrients” in chapter 6 provides an expanded framework for viewing infant nourishment. These particular nutrients can’t be purchased at the grocery store, and you won’t find them on food labels, but I believe they are essential to supporting the best possible nourishment for your child. These sacred nutrients include but are not limited to Joy, Wisdom, Respect, Quality, Safety, Pleasure and, of course, Love. They can be given in unlimited quantities at any age.
Over the years, I have often replaced the word nutrition with nourishment. Nourishment represents a broader and more holistic approach to thinking about food and eating. It involves the mind, body, spirit, and emotions rather than just scientific facts about the nutrient content of foods. It includes how we think and feel about food and eating. It includes your choice to make your own baby food too.
Mothers, fathers, and other caregivers can easily follow these recipes. Most books assume the mother prepares food for “her” baby. This book honors the fact that many partners take an active role in parenting. Gender-biased and stereotyped books on child rearing and feeding are unfair and do not acknowledge the diversity of family structures in today’s world. With this in mind, I often use the word parent or caregiver instead of mother. I also alternate using masculine and feminine pronouns when referring to babies throughout this book.
Many parents prefer opening a jar and feeding their babies with only seconds of preparation. Who can blame them, with only twenty-four hours in a day and a baby taking up twenty-three? Many of the nutritious recipes presented here are as quick and easy to prepare as store-bought products. There are also recipes for preparing large batches of food that can be frozen for later use. Whether working inside or outside the home, parents need timesaving ideas so they are not chained to the high chair.
You may choose to wait until after the first year to introduce meat, chicken, or fish; or you may decide to raise your child with vegetarian foods. The information in this book can be a guide for you regardless of your preference, although these recipes contain no meat. If you do choose to add meat, wait until your child has reached her first birthday, since meat will be more easily digested then. Be sure to check other resources to assist your choices in this area.
It is important to be comfortable with your choice and knowledgeable about whatever eating plan you may choose. If you feed your baby a vegan diet, know ahead of time that this book has many vegan recipes. However, it is targeted more to vegetarian choices, so you will want to also seek information from experts in the vegan community.
While scrutinizing pages of research on nutrition, nourishment, and infant feeding, I found amazing contradictions in numerous areas. “Nutrition is a funny science,” says Joshua Rosenthal, founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. “It’s the only field where people can scientifically prove opposing theories and still be right.” And Marc David, respected nutritional psychologist who is founder and director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating suggests, “The field of nutrition is frontier land. It’s the Wild West.”
You’ll be given a variety of whole food recipes that can be used instead of or along with prepared baby food. Though there is no single right way to feed your baby, Into the Mouths of Babes, is intended as a loving guide to feeding your infant, along with your own instincts and advice from your child’s pediatrician.
Where conflicting informed opinions exist regarding starting ages for a certain food, I have chosen the later starting date. Children have their entire lives to eat a variety of foods. I see no reason to rush the introduction of too many foods too early and thereby risk possible allergic reactions.
Before the recipe chapters, you will find information on how, what, and when to feed your baby, as well as what you may want to feed yourself. I have greatly expanded the chapter on prenatal nutrition, “Into the Mouths of Future Moms,” and it precedes the chapter on infant nutrition.
You’ll find the recipes divided into six chapters: “Beginner Recipes” (starting at age six months); “Intermediate Recipes” (for ages seven to nine months); “Advanced Recipes” (ages ten to twelve months); “Toddle Food” (for the toddling one- to two-year-olds); “Whole-Family Recipes,” which provides wholesome recipes for all ages so that a natural progression from infancy can be continued; and “Recipes for a Child With Allergies,” which includes suggestions for preparing food when milk, wheat, or gluten allergies, as well as hypersensitivities must be considered. With the increase in gluten sensitivities, I’ve added recipes and information on this topic in the “Coping with Food Allergies” chapter. You’ll also find excellent follow-up resources in the bibliography.
The “Closing Thoughts” include gentle suggestions on where to go after reading this book. You’ll also find “The Voice of Self-Care,” designed to lovingly support you as you create your own way of doing the most important job on the planet—caring for the children.