Childrearing
Science Mom: What’s The Deal With When To Start Solid Foods?
So, What’s The Deal With When To Start Solid Foods? Â
I have eight-month-old twins, and I dearly understand the desire not only to have answers to questions about the business of bringing up baby, but to have them fast – via an e-consult with Dr. Google - and to turn them into solutions. But I’m also a scientist (or an ex-scientist, I suppose) and unfortunately, while the rumor that 90% of the Internet is porn isn’t true – I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that 90% of the Internet is pure, unadulterated crap. Sure, a lot of that crap has been artistically arranged and surrounded by scented candles in order to enhance the effect – but it’s crap nonetheless.
Don’t feel bad if you’ve found yourself buying into some of these things. I know smart women, women with years of education, women with PhDs in science and MDs and all kinds of other credential-flavored alphabet soup, who have been suckered into one Latest and Greatest Thing or another. Who can blame them? You can have all the training in the world on how to check sources, dig into journal articles, and evaluate bias, but chances are that all of that is going to fly out the window when your infant hasn’t slept for more than thirty-seven seconds at a time for a week running and she’s screaming bloody murder in your ear while you frantically Google every possible string of words related to sleep regression that you can think of.