Baby food: From breastfeeding to solid food - here's how!

Breast milk is incredibly versatile. It is not only practical because you always have it with you and can feed it to your baby at any time at the perfect temperature. Did you know, for example, that it also adapts precisely to your child's nutritional needs according to their age and their current life situation? Mother's milk ideally supports the child in developing their own immune system and protects them in the first months of life through special defensive and protective substances that prevent illnesses such as diarrhea or middle ear infections. Since your baby grows so quickly in the first months after birth and is constantly creating new cells, they have a particularly high need for fat. With a fat content of 4.4%, breast milk is not only quite high in fat, it is also particularly rich in good omega-3 fatty acids, which enable your baby to develop healthy nerves and good cell walls. But not only that, breast milk actually contains all the important nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, trace elements, and vitamins in suitable quality and quantity. At the same time, your breast milk is easily digestible for your baby and always available in exactly the right amount. This also prevents you from overfeeding your baby.

Breastfeeding is also a wonderful thing emotionally. The close physical proximity strengthens the mother-child bond, and your baby feels safe and secure at the breast, wherever you may be. Have you, for example, ever heard of non-nutritive sucking? Scientists Foster, Psaila, and Patterson from Western Sydney University in Australia even studied in 2016 how non-nutritive sucking contributes to increasing physiological stability and improving nutritional behavior in preterm infants.

But it’s not just your child who feels loved and completely at ease through breastfeeding; breastfeeding also triggers feelings of happiness in mothers, which help to cope more easily with the demanding everyday life with a toddler. The mother’s body prepared for this new task during pregnancy and can, in the vast majority of cases, nourish the baby exactly as needed. Hormones such as prolactin, which increases milk production, and oxytocin, the wonderful cuddle hormone, also contribute to this. But what do you need to look out for when breastfeeding, and how does the transition to solid food succeed? We would like to describe this for you below.

Breastfeeding isn't working, what now?

Many women do not find breastfeeding easy, especially at the beginning. Sore nipples, engorgement, or the let-down reflex at the wrong moment can make everyday life a real challenge in the beginning. Of course, your baby isn't used to it yet either, and together you have to practice breastfeeding a little bit. You will likely be a well-rehearsed team soon, and breastfeeding will become completely normal for you. Your midwife is happy to assist you with any questions and uncertainties, but the new grandmother surely has some good tips for you as well.

While nipple shields cannot prevent inflamed nipples, they can sometimes help if the baby cannot yet latch onto the nipples correctly. Sometimes a different breastfeeding position can provide an easier and more comfortable breastfeeding experience. To make things less complicated when you want to feed your child, you can get yourself comfortable breastfeeding clothing or even a nursing pajama or nursing nightgown for breastfeeding at night. Incidentally, raspberry leaf tea is a popular home remedy during the breastfeeding period. In addition to its relaxing and antispasmodic properties, it is said that raspberry leaf tea can stimulate milk flow during the breastfeeding period.

Should you not be able or willing to breastfeed despite all of this, you are faced with the agony of choice among baby milk products in stores. Different brands differ in their design and recipes, but in principle, they can be distinguished into pre-milk, stage 1 milk or infant formula, and stage 2 milk or follow-on formula. Infant formula is suitable from the child’s first day of life and differs in its starch content—and thus in its thickness—from pre-milk, which is somewhat thinner and lower in calories. It is advisable to start with pre-milk and only switch to the thicker follow-on formula if you have the feeling that your baby is not getting full properly. If your child tolerates it well and is satisfied by it, no change, including to stage 2 or follow-on formula, is necessary. Because only pre-milk is a real alternative to breast milk and is modeled after it in its composition.

If your baby is no longer getting full from it, you can switch to stage 2 or follow-on formula from approx. the 6th month. Before that, its high protein content represents an overload for the child’s kidneys. This milk no longer corresponds to breast milk but contains many other nutrients and therefore satiates well. For babies who are prone to allergies, experts urgently recommend 6 months of breastfeeding with natural breast milk; should that not be possible, HA-milk (hypoallergenic formula) should be given until at least the fourth month of life.

Even for children who are fed with a baby bottle, intensive skin-to-skin contact with the parents and the feeling of security and familiarity during feeding is extremely important. Especially on the go, it can be difficult to find an intimate, protected space for this. Therefore, here are a few tips from our side.

Where are you allowed to breastfeed a baby when you are on the go?

Some mothers find it very easy to be out and about with their child and quite naturally breastfeed wherever the child is hungry. Other women prefer a quiet, more intimate setting and fear that their bared breast in public, even if only for breastfeeding, could provoke unwanted reactions or make other people feel uncomfortable. However, surveys show that most people in Germany have absolutely nothing against breastfeeding in public, and the more naturally breastfeeding mothers offer their child the breast in public, the more naturally it is perceived and accepted by those around them.

My mom always liked going into empty churches, but you can also breastfeed quite relaxed in parks or child-friendly cafés. Some museums prohibit not only eating inside but also breastfeeding. In any case, you can always find a quiet spot for both of you in the foyer or museum café. If you feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public places like on a train or at the train station, a light nursing scarf, which you place over your shoulder to cover your breast and offer your baby a protected space, can be pleasant. Especially in winter, a nursing cover also protects you both from the cold outside air.

If it does not feel natural to you to breastfeed in the presence of strangers, you can practice, for example with friends who are experienced breastfeeding mothers or with familiar people such as the grandmother, in a nursing café, or in parent-child groups. It can also help to recognize the signs of the child’s hunger early and to breastfeed before your baby cries and thus draws even more attention to themselves. Comfortable and practical clothing such as a blouse that can be unbuttoned from the top or a nursing bra can continue to make your life easier.

Always with you for breastfeeding on the go:

• Nursing pads to catch leaking milk, preferably with some spares to change
• Nursing scarf or wrap for discretion and in cold weather
• possibly a light, compact nursing pillow
• Muslin cloth / burp cloth
• possibly breast pump and baby bottle

Am I allowed to drink alcohol while breastfeeding?

Previous generations in particular like to portray alcohol during the breastfeeding period as a minor offense that is certainly not good but definitely forgivable. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In general, alcohol, just like during pregnancy, should be avoided during the breastfeeding period, as alcohol is passed on to the child through breast milk and the child’s liver does not yet have the necessary enzymes to break down alcohol. Thus, it is broken down in the infant's body only considerably more slowly and therefore has a significantly longer effect on the small organism.

Alcohol can have a negative effect on the baby in various ways. For instance, it negatively influences the sleep behavior of infants; they wake up more frequently and stay awake longer, and their sleep is lighter overall. Regular alcohol consumption can also lead to problems with breastfeeding, such as sore nipples, reduced milk production, or engorgement. This is because alcohol strongly influences the mother’s hormonal balance. Despite these possible negative consequences of alcohol consumption during the breastfeeding period, continuing to breastfeed is preferable to premature weaning, even in rare exceptions of a glass of wine or a beer for the mother.

Although, as mentioned, it is safest to completely abstain from alcohol consumption during the breastfeeding period, a small glass of wine or beer for special occasions can be okay if certain rules are followed. In such an exceptional case, breastfeeding and alcohol consumption should be well planned. The mother should breastfeed the baby before she consumes alcohol and afterwards plan for several hours before the next breastfeeding session so that the alcohol in her body can be broken down again. To bridge this time, the mother can pump milk beforehand and store it in a cool place and give it to the child warmed up in a bottle when needed. Under no circumstances should you breastfeed during the time after alcohol consumption. The alcohol level in the breast milk rises simultaneously with the level in the mother’s blood and reaches its peak after 30 minutes. From then on, it is slowly broken down.

Those who have not yet looked into non-alcoholic beverage alternatives during pregnancy or even before have a great opportunity here. Non-alcoholic sparkling wine really doesn't taste bad, and there are many healthy, tasty juices that can be mixed with a little sparkling water to make great sodas. All major beer manufacturers now also offer non-alcoholic alternatives that make the stress of alcohol during the breastfeeding period unnecessary.

When should you wean and switch to baby food?

According to the National Breastfeeding Committee, mothers should ideally exclusively breastfeed for at least six months and then, depending on the child’s development and their needs, slowly begin to introduce solid food. For many children, this coincides exactly with the moment in the child’s life when they begin to sit upright independently. Many parents also notice from the sixth month that their child is no longer properly satiated by breastfeeding and that the intervals between breastfeeding sessions are increasingly shortening.

As soon as you notice your child has an interest in real food, you can also begin to familiarize them with it. Clear signs of this are, for example, that the child grabs food from the parents' plate and explores it with their mouth or begins to drool when they see food. Even when they see their parents eating, they now begin to move their mouth in chewing-like motions and make smacking sounds. Another indication that it is time to start with solid food in addition to breastfeeding is that the tongue-thrust reflex, with which young children automatically push everything that comes into their mouth outwards, has disappeared.

However, from the moment you begin to introduce solid food until weaning, there is still a long way to go, because the National Breastfeeding Committee continues to advise supplementing solid food with breast milk until at least the child’s first birthday. The perfect time for weaning depends entirely on mother and child and is to be found individually in each case. When the time comes, popular home remedies for weaning that help to slowly reduce milk production are peppermint or sage tea and cooling cold packs on the mammary glands. If the baby drinks less, an unpleasant feeling of tension can arise in the mother’s breast. It helps to pump off a little milk or hand-express it. However, you should definitely be careful not to pump off too much and thus further stimulate milk production.

Photo © Paul & Lori: Nutrition plan for the 1st year of life according to the Research Institute for Child Nutrition (Dortmund)

When should you use which baby food?

To allow the child to participate in meals, you can put a plate at their place and put some softly cooked or (even better) steamed vegetables on it. Especially at the beginning, the child will not eat very much this way, but during this time they will learn a lot about food and the dish presented to them. During this time, it is important to offer them plenty of space for their discoveries and not to associate eating with the pressure to finish everything. Through their participation in meals with suitable baby food, the child feels more and more like part of the family. However, to ensure that the child actually gets enough nutrients during this time, baby porridge is helpful. To give the child particularly good but often unpopular vegetables like spinach, you can simply mix the green leaves into a smoothie. Just make sure to make a double portion so that you also get some of the delicious drink!

Finger food is now the motto. Of course, unhealthy snacks do not belong to infant nutrition, but rather good food such as avocado or banana pieces, easy-to-hold cooked pasta, steamed vegetable pieces, or peeled fruit—basically everything that your child can already grasp well with their little fingers and bring to their mouth themselves.

Alongside puree, little ones can practice grabbing and eating soft fruit, or pieces of softly cooked vegetables or potatoes. Experts are critical of feeding babies entirely puree-free. The idea behind so-called "baby-led weaning" (BLW) is that infants determine the transition from breastfeeding to family meals themselves: apart from breast milk, they only consume finger food instead of puree. However, the foods suitable for this usually have a low energy density. This concept therefore relies on breast milk as the primary energy source until the first birthday. According to Dr. Ute Alexy from the Research Institute of Child Nutrition in Dortmund / University of Bonn, as well as general recommendations for infant nutrition, adequate nutrient intake is not always guaranteed with this approach. If you want to play it safe, combine puree and finger food.

Eating is not for playing, but for discovering, and it should be a lot of fun for your child! It should also involve a varied diet that they can explore. However, some things are not yet suitable for the plates and fingers of toddlers. For example, you should not give your child nuts due to the risk of choking, and you should also avoid sweets, especially anything containing artificial sweeteners. Honey is also off-limits at this age because it can sometimes contain harmful bacteria that can lead to poisoning (infant botulism).

Salty or heavily spiced foods are just as difficult for your child to digest right now as some gas-inducing foods. You should therefore introduce vegetables like cabbage, lentils, and beans only slowly and carefully observe your child's reactions to them. If they tolerate them well, they can become part of the meal plan. If you notice severe gas, it is better to avoid these types of vegetables for the time being. In acute cases, fennel tea, which the baby can drink or receive through breast milk, can also help. An oil compress with a little warm olive oil and a few drops of fennel oil is also great!

Sources:

“Non‐nutritive sucking for increasing physiologic stability and nutrition in preterm infants" - Foster, Psaila and Patterson (Western Sydney University, Australia, 2016)

"Die Ernährung des gesunden Säuglings" - Dr. Ute Alexy (Research Institute of Child Nutrition in Dortmund, 2007)

Institute for Nutritional and Food Sciences, University of Bonn

European Institute for Breastfeeding and Lactation

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