Organically grown foods appear regularly in health food stores and most supermarkets, and since the USDA passed new federal standards regulating them and establishing clear labeling criteria, it’s easier to spot them on the shelves. But for many shoppers, it still isn’t possible to fill their shopping carts with only the purest organic foods. Not enough of them are being produced, and what is available is often expensive.
As demand grows, so will supply. And as supply grows, the prices will continue to drop.
Fortunately for young children and their parents, more and more jarred organic baby foods are already available. Everything a fledgling eater can desire can be found in an organic line, from beginner cereals and strained fruits, vegetables, and meats, to combination main courses.
Even organic formula is now available.
Buying organic, when you can find what you need and can afford the often higher prices, serves a couple of purposes. One, of course, is protecting your family from unwanted
chemicals. The second purpose is to encourage markets to stock organic products—from dairy products to meat to baked goods to produce. If organic foods are not available in your
neighborhood, ask your supermarket or produce store to carry them; consumer interest will help bring the supply up and the prices down. And, again, don’t worry if you can’t find or can’t afford organic produce—just wash thoroughly and peel when possible.
Once they have been introduced into baby’s diet, feed foods that are believed to have protective effects against environmental toxins. These include cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage), cooked dried peas and beans, foods rich in beta carotene (carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe), and those high in fiber (whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables).
In taking your precautions, don’t forget to keep your perspective. Even by the gloomiest estimates, only a small percentage of cancers are caused by chemical contamination of foods. The risks to your child’s health from tobacco, alcohol, poor diet, lack of immunization, or ignoring safety precautions in the car are considerably greater.
See, keeping your baby safe isn’t so tough after all.
1. Babies who spend little time on their stomachs during playtime may reach this milestone later, and that’s not cause for concern (see page 210).
2. Occasionally, breastfed babies can have an allergic reaction to nuts, egg, or cow’s milk protein from their mothers’ diet that has been passed through the breast milk (see pages 97 and 177).
CHAPTER 10 The Sixth Month
Baby is personality plus these days—and it’s a personality all his or her own. Socializing with mom, dad, and just about anyone who passes by the stroller or carrier is still high on baby’s list of favorite activities, and you’ll find the long sentences of babble, punctuated by giggles and coos, more and more scintillating. Games of peekaboo delight, as does shaking a rattle (or anything else that makes noise). The passion for exploration continues, and extends to your face, which baby will pull at as if it were a favorite toy (your glasses, earrings, and hair aren’t safe for now). At some point this month it’ll be time to break out the bib and high chair (if you haven’t already) for a first encounter with solids. Bon appétit!
What Your Baby May Be Doing
All babies reach milestones on their own developmental time line. If your baby seems not to have reached one or more of these milestones, rest assured, he or she probably will very soon. Your baby’s rate of development is normal for your baby. Keep in mind, too, that skills babies perform from the tummy position can be mastered only if there’s an opportunity to practice. So make sure your baby spends supervised playtime on his or her belly. If you have concerns about your baby’s
development (because you’ve noticed a missed milestone or what you think might be a developmental delay), don’t hesitate to check it out with the doctor at the next well-baby visit—even if he or she doesn’t bring it up. Parents often notice nuances in a baby’s development that doctors don’t.
Premature infants generally reach milestones later than others of the same birth age, often achieving them closer to their adjusted age (the age they would be if they had been born at term), and sometimes later.
By six months, your baby … should be able to:
keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
say “ah-goo” or similar vowel-consonant combinations
Some babies can pick up small and possibly dangerous objects with their fists—so be careful not to leave such things within reach.
… will probably be able to:
bear some weight on legs when held upright sit without support
turn in the direction of a voice razz (make a wet razzing sound)
… may possibly be able to:
stand holding on to someone or something object if you try to take a toy away
work to get a toy that’s out of reach
pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other look for dropped object
rake with fingers a tiny object and pick it up in fist (keep all dangerous objects out of baby’s reach)
babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da feed self cracker or other finger food
… may even be able to:
creep or crawl1
pull up to standing position from sitting get into a sitting position from stomach
pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger (keep all dangerous objects out of baby’s reach)
say “mama” or “dada,” indiscriminately
What You Can Expect at This Month’s Checkup
Each practitioner will have a personal approach to well-baby checkups. The overall organization of the physical exam, as well as the number and type of assessment techniques used and procedures performed, will also vary with the individual needs of the child. But, in general, you can expect the following at a checkup when your baby is about six months old:
Questions about how you and baby and the rest of the family are doing at home, and about baby’s
eating, sleeping, and general progress, and about child care, if you are working.
Measurement of baby’s weight, length, and head circumference, and plotting of progress since birth.
Physical exam, including a recheck of any previous problems. Mouth will probably be checked now and at future visits for the arrival, or imminent arrival, of teeth.
Developmental assessment. The examiner may rely on observation plus your reports on what baby is doing, or may actually put baby through a series of evaluation “tests,” such as head control when pulled to sitting; vision; hearing; ability to reach for and grasp objects, to rake at tiny objects, to roll over and bear some weight on legs; and social interaction and vocalization.
Third round of immunizations, if baby is in good health and there are no other contraindications.
See page 231 for a recommended schedule, which may vary depending on the situation. Be sure to discuss any reactions to previous immunizations beforehand.
Possibly, a hemoglobin or hematocrit test to check for anemia (usually by means of a pinprick on the finger), particularly for low-birthweight babies.
Guidance about what to expect in the next month in relation to such topics as feeding, sleeping, development, and safety.
Questions you may want to ask, if the doctor hasn’t already answered them:
What reactions can you expect baby to have on the third round of immunizations? How should you treat them? Which reactions should you call about?
What foods can be introduced to baby now?
Also raise concerns that have come up over the past month. Jot down information and instructions from the doctor. Record all pertinent information (baby’s weight, length, head
circumference, immunizations, illnesses, medications given, foods that can now be introduced, and so on) in a permanent health record.
Feeding Your Baby: COMMERCIAL OR HOME-PREPARED BABY FOODS
Before commercial baby food found its way onto supermarket shelves, there was no other choice:
Feeding your baby meant making your own baby food. Today, parents can still opt to do it themselves (something that food processors and blenders have made about as easy as pushing a pulse button), or select from the now vast variety of ready-to-feed foods.
Will the spoon you’ll be piloting into baby’s mouth be filled with jarred or heaped with homemade?
The choice is yours.
COMMERCIAL BABY FOOD
Convenience may come with a nutritional compromise in other parts of the supermarket (where
ready-to-serve items are often overprocessed, oversugared, and oversalted), but not in the baby food
aisle. The convenience that was always a plus still is; foods come in ready-to-feed baby-portion jars, reclosable for refrigerated storage of leftovers. But today’s baby foods come with other pluses as well. Most varieties contain no added salt; sugar and fillers are rarely added to single-ingredient foods. Since the fruits and vegetables are cooked and packed soon after picking, they retain a reliably high proportion of their nutrients. The foods are consistent in texture and taste, and because they’re prepared under strictly sanitary conditions (conditions that would be difficult to duplicate in your home), you can trust their safety. They’re also relatively economical, particularly if the time you save by using them is valuable to you, and when you consider that less food is likely to be wasted than when you prepare large batches of food for baby.