It’s been a number of months since I last wrote for the newsletter (8.5 months, to be exact!). As most of you know, Jonah and I became parents last June to a wonderful baby girl named Lorelai. I’ll be honest, the first few months with Lorelai were a blur of diapers, bottles, and swaddles, but once she reached about six months old, things started to settle down a bit. Around this time, on the advice of her pediatrician, we started introducing solid foods. It has been such an eye-opening experience to watch her begin to navigate food, and it has given me a front row seat to what purely intuitive eating really looks like.
Of course, Lorelai was an intuitive eater from the day she was born. When she was hungry, she would cry and would eat until she was satiated. Some days she was seemingly ravenous, and other days she was not so hungry, but she steadily gained weight and thrived. Since she only had one source of food (first breastmilk and then formula), there was no real choice about what she was eating. That’s what happens when there is only one food on the menu! But introducing solid foods increased her options, and that’s when things got interesting.
Lorelai’s first solid food was baby rice meal mixed with formula. When we initially tried to feed it to her, she pursed her lips and seemed truly offended by the spoon. We didn’t want to force anything on her, so we waited before trying again, and eventually she allowed the spoon into her mouth. Her puzzled face spoke volumes as she could not fathom what was in her mouth, never mind how to eat it! She opened and closed her mouth and then proceeded to push the food out with her tongue, causing the food to land on her bib. She didn’t cry or seem upset, just genuinely perplexed about this new development. None of this food made it past her mouth. We were assured by our pediatrician that this was totally okay and normal, as the introduction of solids for the baby is mainly about teaching her food comes in forms other than just liquids. The baby learns to taste and manipulate the food in her mouth and may or may not swallow it. During this time, her formula continued to be her main source of fuel.
As the weeks went by, we continued to try introducing new solids, moving next to baby oats and then adding things like mashed banana and pureed pear. With each feeding, Lorelai became more and more interested in food and started not only to mouth and gum it, but swallow it, too. Her food preferences started emerging at this time as well. From the get-go, she was not a fan of white potato, which she made evident by promptly vomiting it up after a few reluctant bites. Similarly, she votes “no” on pureed peas. Pretty much all fruits are her favorite foods, especially pureed blackberries.
But even in this short time, some of her preferences have changed. When we first tried to give her avocado, she looked at us like we had three heads. She pursed her lips and pushed it away and was not having it at all. We wondered if maybe she could try feeding herself avocado, she might like it better. And that is exactly what happened! Instead of giving her mashed avocado and spoon-feeding it to her as we had done previously, we gave her avocado slices with the peel on so she could hold it herself. To our surprise, one day she picked up an avocado slice and joyfully started chewing on it. It is now one of her staples, and she loves it. The same thing happened when we introduced her to Bambas, crunchy peanut butter snacks that are very popular in Israel. At first, Lorelai was not at all interested in them, but at some point, she began to pick them up and hold them and put them in her mouth, and now she eats them every day and loves them.
Even with her ever-growing repertoire of foods, Lorelai has maintained her ability as an intuitive eater. If we present her with food, even if it’s one of her favorites, and she is not hungry, she won’t eat. And if she is hungry, she will eat until she is satiated and then stop eating, even if there are a few bites left. I have always spoken with my patients about how we are born intuitive eaters, and as we get older, we often lose that ability for numerous reasons (dieting, being told to clean our plate or that some foods are bad for us and aren’t allowed). Much of my work with these patients is around rediscovering their inner intuitive eater and getting back to the time when they explored and enjoyed their food and made choices based on whether they were hungry or not and whether they liked what they were eating. It has been such an amazing experience to watch Lorelai’s intuitive eating up close, and I truly hope she will maintain this ability throughout her lifetime. Of course, I know that I won’t be able to shield her completely from diet culture and its toxic messages around “good/bad” foods, weight, and appearance, but I hope to foster her intuitive eater and help her develop a joyful relationship with food and her body.
Have you seen the BBC documentary “Why are thin people not fat?” They argue that part of the issue of whether and when you feel hungry is related to the FTO gene. The documentary shows a representation of a study they did with pre-schoolers, where children with one variant of the FTO gene usually snacked after being fed a meal, while children with another variant usually didn’t touch the offered snack.
To be that kinda “But My Experience” jerk: For me, even after years, intuitive eating is sometimes an uphill battle. I’ve wondered how much is still not being past dieting BS and how much is biochemistry being a pain in the brain!
No, I have not seen that yet, and to be honest, I know exactly zero about the FTO gene and its implications. Thanks so much for mentioning this!