Food before one is not just for fun

I think some people saying “food before one is just for fun” way too far. Food before one is most definitely not just for fun. It’s for exposure to allergens, sometimes it’s for additional weight gain, for learning various textures, for additional nutrients and etc etc. I’m so sick of seeing moms post on due date groups asking for recommendations for starting solids and sooooo many comments just giving a blanket statement of “food before one is just for fun.”

Unfortunately it sounds catchier than “Food before 1 is for babies to transition and learn how to eat, but don’t stress if they don’t eat a lot because they need to primarily have formula or breast milk.”

@Arden
Great tattoo idea

Dustin said:
@Arden
Great tattoo idea

I want it in a mixture of papyrus and comic sans around my neck.

Wilkie said:

Dustin said:
@Arden
Great tattoo idea

I want it in a mixture of papyrus and comic sans around my neck.

Design is my passion.

It’s so frustrating that every catchy phrase that’s meant to be helpful to one group of people ends up getting taken so far out of context that it’s harmful. The phrase originated to emphasize that babies still need breast milk/formula before 1 and that it’s okay if your baby isn’t a great eater till then as long as you keep trying. But somehow it’s morphed into babies not needing any solids.

@Nova
Yea it’s kinda nuts. A helpful catch phrase meant to be short and simple to help parents understand about how to approach solids in the first year and people take it literally. Or they forget to try to figure out what it actually means.

I think food should always be fun!!!

Poe said:
I think food should always be fun!!!

Agreed! I actually have fun coming up with all kinds of things to make my son hahaha

I think that phrase was coined because of the people anxious that kiddo wasn’t really eating anything but just playing with it

Yeah I saw a tiktok of a woman who wanted to breastfeed and not do any solids until the kid was 2. Someone in the comments said something like that. Drives me nuts. Your baby needs iron! That’s why we start solids at 6 months!

@Teal
Yes! And the comments are always “great job mama!!”

@Teal
Jesus. How to give your child nutritional deficiencies and lifelong feeding issues.

Chen said:
@Teal
Jesus. How to give your child nutritional deficiencies and lifelong feeding issues.

Not to mention, really fuck their baby teeth up

@Teal
Tbh it’s also not even realistic for your milk supply to stay high enough for that long that you’d be able to keep exclusively breastfeeding even if you really really ignored the fact that it’s a bad idea. Plus you really want your kid biting your nipple once they have almost a full set of teeth? Feels like one of those things someone who hasn’t even had a baby yet says and then reality hits them in the face.

I found the phrase helpful in taking the pressure off. And “fun” for me meant exposure to new textures and taste - without worrying about how much was consumed, if I missed a meal some days, or if I was doing a good enough job of providing nutrients and a balanced plate. Maybe it also helped that I have a formula-fed baby so I didn’t have worry too much about iron supplementation from food since formula was iron-fortified.

I agree it’s unhelpful if taken so far as to not feed a baby solids at all, but I’m gonna argue that’s not at all what the phrase says so I’m in favor of it! Maybe “just” is the issue, because I still think it is true solids should be “mainly” for fun, but not “only” for fun.

@Milan
Same. Honestly, repeating that phrase to myself when I started to get too anxious about it saved my sanity. I also listen to my ped and not tik tok for developmental advice though so maybe that helped.

@Milan
Yes I agree with you!!

I agree. Babies have additional nutritional needs after 6 months that breast milk/formula can’t provide. Plus it’s so much more than just nutrition. They get the opportunity to work on their fine motor skills. Social interaction, especially if baby is eating at the dinner table.

I used to work at a daycare, and I had a one year old in my room who was still exclusively breastfed. Mom was extremely into the crunchy mama community, and would tell me breast is best, and the pediatrician doesn’t know anything. I was 19 then so I didn’t know much and couldn’t argue with her, but it certainly didn’t sound right. Long story short, the baby was not meeting milestones, and became dangerously anemic and had to spend time in the children’s hospital. It always stuck with me, watching that boy deteriorate. So I always speak up when I hear “food before 1 is just for fun” and “eating solids isn’t important before 1”.

@Mica
That is so sad :(( I’ve been EBF since my son was born (almost exclusively nursing) and I know I have a good supply, but between his 2 month and 4 month appointment he dropped a few percentiles. Still gaining weight and the ped wasn’t concerned, but suggested I go ahead and slowly start to introduce some solids to help with weight gain. Solids are so necessary!!