Can the timing of introducing lumpy foods to infants influence diet in later life?
The paediatric group of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) position paper on weaning infants onto solid foods was updated in March 2009. The BDA position statement refers to a study by Coulthard and colleagues based on the ALSPAC cohort (a large UK population based longitudinal study) which shows that infants not offered lumpy foods by nine months of age are more likely to be fussy eaters at an older age e.g. at seven years. Therefore, the introduction of lumpy foods is crucial to an infants subsequent acceptance of a wide variety of foods, and in this study, delayed introduction led to long term feeding problems and the reduced consumption of important food groups such as fruit and vegetables. The ALSPAC study had previously reported that delayed introduction of lumpy foods leads to feeding difficulties at 15 months, but this new research is showing these effects to be longer lasting and even observed at seven years of age. The WHO recommendation is for lumpy solid foods to be int
