Following the case of the couple who lost custody of their 10-month-old baby by arriving at the hospital with signs of anemia, malnutrition and dehydration, as commented in many media because of continuing to breastfeed on demand and not giving him anything else to eat, an intense debate has been ignited in relation to breastfeeding and how dangerous it can be (or not) to feed A baby without giving him anything else.
With the intention of explaining what is true about it (if by giving tit 10 months without the baby just eating you can have a malnourished, dehydrated and anemia baby), we are going to answer this question today: What if I should already be eating but still breastfeeding exclusively?
What the official recommendations say
The WHO, UNICEF, the AEP and in fact the majority of organizations that watch over the health of babies have been making it clear for many years that the official recommendation is that babies be breastfed with breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months, that from that moment begin to eat other things, but that breast milk remains the main food, and that it is at 12 months when breastfeeding is considered to be in the background, in the form of one more food within a diversified diet.
In Babies and more Supplementary feeding: complete guideThis means that between 6 and 12 months the logical and habitual diet of a baby is the one that includes milk frequently (and at the baby's demand), which is complemented by a lot of foods that are offered little by little So you know the textures, colors, flavors, smells, and eat them more and more, based on your hunger.
That is why it is called complementary feeding
Because at the beginning it is a complement which is the most important food for the baby: breast milk. That is, after six months, when the baby is ready, he begins to eat other foods other than milk, with the intention of, gradually, diversifying his diet, and ensuring the contribution of what breastfeeding It contributes in a small quantity (although in a very bioavailable way): the iron.
Breast milk has little iron, but it is absorbed very well, so the amount it provides is enough for babies between 6 and 12 months, depending on the iron reserves of each baby.
That is, there are babies who can be exclusively breastfeeding until 6 months and little more, because they have few iron stores, and there are babies that could be up to 10-12 months without significant damage to their health (although the recommendation, as we have said, is that after six months all babies begin to eat other things).
How to know which baby has more or less iron stores?
Everything depends on the weeks of gestation with which the baby was born (premature babies are more at risk of anemia), Birth weight (low weight babies are also more at risk of anemia) and how long the umbilical cord is beating once the baby is born (It is recommended that at least 2-3 minutes pass from the time the baby is born until the cord is clamped).
In Babies and more How to prevent the baby from ending anemia?This gives us a clue of how long an infant can be drinking exclusively breast milk, without the risk of anemia, but obviously it is not a reason to delay complementary feeding: it is a fact that serves to, in case the baby cost to eat, you can assess how long to wait for supplement with iron or do analytics.
There are many 10-month-old babies who hardly eat anything
The couple we talked about explains on the signature collection page that their son had a tit and had already tried some foods, such as fruits, vegetables and cereals.
While many couples say that their 10-month-old children have accepted the food very well, and are eating many different foods, several times a day, there are many couples who tell the opposite, which is the same as Jonah's parents: their babies are 9-10 months old and someday they get me to eat something, of some concrete food (today it seems that he has swallowed a piece of fruit, yesterday he ate two macaroni, the other day I think he ate some lentil because I found some in the poops ...), and they are babies that at first glance seem healthy, happy and well cared for.
Come on, if someone is thinking that a 10-month-old baby who only drinks breast milk on demand and some more food, will have a critical state of health, he is wrong.
And from when is it dangerous?
As I just said, it depends. Depends on what are the baby's iron stores. This is a bit at the discretion of each pediatrician, but it is usually recommended that babies who are going to eat a vegetarian diet receive an iron supplement from the age of six months, and this gives us a clue that one should not expect much in the case of babies who are not vegetarians but have a vegetarian diet (a baby who barely eats anything other than breast milk we could consider, in practice, vegetarian).
Thus, if the baby is at risk of anemia (because he was born small or premature and the cord was cut relatively quickly), it may be necessary to supplement with iron from the age of six months, (as recommended by the Nutrition Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics ), or not take long if in a matter of a few weeks you hardly eat anything.
If instead the baby has little risk, you can wait until 8-9 months, to leave room for him to know the food and learn to eat it. If by then the baby is eating something, and more and more, it may not be necessary to do anything.
To give a reference, let's say parents can be calm if their child eats a couple of meatballs a day, half a hamburger, half a chicken fillet, fish, an egg ... or what is the same, if it reaches the amounts maximums indicated in the supplementary feeding guides:
- 20-30 grams of meat in one day
- 30-40 grams of white or blue fish in one day
- A small egg in one day
If the baby comes to that, if that amount of meat is eaten, or that amount of fish, or the small egg, combined with other foods such as vegetables, legumes, bread ..., it is considered that the iron intake is correct.
If instead you just eat nothing but breast milk, or eat that one day yes and five no, and it seems that time will pass until the situation changes, you can supplement with iron to prevent anemia that may later cause problems (because it will be increasing if the situation does not change). And if it is suspected that this anemia already exists, the pediatrician will indicate to make an analytical to take the appropriate actions based on the data provided by the test.
And then, why was Jonah so bad?
We do not know, and that is why you can not blame that "they had decided to raise it skin to skin", which is a little less than absurd argument, but that has appeared even in the news, nor can it be blamed that "the mother had decided to give breast milk on demand, "because that has been done with 10 months millions of babies throughout history (and they continue to do it today).
I have the feeling that her parents had decided to be "a little anti-vaccine", because they say that they wanted to vaccinate their baby at two years, and be "a little vegetarian", because they had to consider that it was healthier to limit the contribution of animal food, and that's why only they ate "fish occasionally, and sometimes a little ham. "
This was not yet dangerous for the baby, because he was barely 10 months old and as I have just explained, many babies have a vegetarian diet even though their parents offer them meat and fish. But nevertheless yes it was through the mother's shortcomings, because a mother who receives very little vitamin B12 through the diet needs vitamin supplements, not only for her, but also so that your breast milk also contains it... and this is what must have happened, I imagine: that the baby did not receive the vitamin B12 that he needed so much since the first day of birth, and had to grow from that first day with deficiencies that caused him an increasingly important anemia.
And what symptoms does an anemia give? Well, lack of appetite, sleep disorders, weakness, tiredness, developmental problems ... all problems that create a vicious circle even worse: lack of appetite makes the baby eat less than he needs, and that makes him more anemia ; more anemia, less appetite, less food and more anemia ...
Perhaps this is why the baby arrived as he arrived at the hospital, although his mother considered that he was raising him, more or less, as many mothers today raise their babies, not knowing that in reality I was getting worse because I had a lack of iron and vitamin B12 more than evident (What is difficult to understand is how they did not realize that their baby was so bad).
But this is just what I think happened, making a deduction based on the contradictory data offered by the media and the child's parents.
I just want to make two things clear with this post: babies yes they need to start eating at six months to prevent possible deficiencies and deficits, but nothing usually happens if in the first 2-3 months the baby barely accepts more food than the tit, and if so, you can act by offering an iron supplement until the baby starts eating more and better.
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | The "calm, you will eat" can be dangerous, Diseases that can complicate pregnancy: anemia, What we should know about iron and folic acid supplements in pregnancy
