How to get cool in EMR: child-led diversification

Posted September 12, 2021

The big trend in baby feeding in recent years has been child-led diversification (DME), but often when you delve into the subject, you’ll come across a list of tips and tricks as long as your arm of things to do or rather NOT TO BE DONE WITH ANY PRETTY, OTHERWISE YOUR CHILD WILL SUFFER WITH A COQUILLETTE AND DEVELOP EATING BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS. I’m just exaggerating.

And as we are a little tired of giving new injunctions to parents at the end of the road, we decided to write this article to help you see things more clearly and make your life easier (yes, after all, this is what DME allows). .

Why is child-led diversification popular?

DME is about offering your child portions of food suited to their abilities, and promoting autonomy as much as possible during meals. The child will dig into his plate and bring foods of various tastes and textures into his mouth from an early age (we’ll come back to this).

If it is also in fashion it is because it has several advantages for the development of children, as explained by Manon, speech therapist in Marseille, creator of the Instagram account @Daroniefoodclub and author of the book “Broccoli, sardines & spaghetti … EMR becomes flexible and accessible! »on autonomous power supply.

“DME develops fine motor skills and stimulates taste. It comes to highlight the motor and oral-motor skills of the child, following its rhythm. By practicing it, we realize that a six-month-old baby can handle the pieces. “

Manon, speech therapist in Marseille

When can the DME be started?

Contrary to what your pediatrician or grandmother might think, there is no physiological reason to feed a baby puree and compotes only until he is 18 months or two years old.

You can start self-powered whenever you want, as long as three simple conditions are met:

• the child can sit with minimal assistance
• he or she brings objects to his or her mouth
• he or she seems interested in food (and especially the content of your dishes)

In general, these conditions are met at around six months, but this can vary according to the children. And best of all, if you lose your boat, there’s no problem embarking on child-led diversification later … even if you’ve already started spinning purees or jars.

Are there any rules to follow for the DME?

I’m talking about this mash story, because it is one of the false precepts circulating on social media. DME ayatollahs tell frightened young parents that if they start diversifying their babies with purees from the age of 4 months, then switching to DME will be dangerous, because eating puree will have made the gag reflex (or gag reflex) disappear. ).

However, this idea is completely scientifically invalidated, as explained by Anna, a speech therapist in the United Kingdom, creator of the Instagram account @Seedsandcarry and organizer of “DME but not only” workshops for parents.

“In my workshops I show why DME can be interesting to support the motor development of children, but I also qualify it by explaining the excesses and dogmatic ideas that surround it.

Saying “if you give puree the gag reflex disappears” is completely false at an anatomical and physiological level. The gag reflex doesn’t go away, it retreats to the back of the mouth, that’s a good thing and it’s normal. “

Anna, speech therapist in England

This false idea about the gag reflex is also opposed by Manon, a speech therapist from Marseille who also regularly organizes workshops on the subject.

It warns of another dogma that circulates regarding the DME: that of NEVER helping your child to eat, under any pretext, with the risk of “weakening” or “feeding” him, unworthy parents that you are! “The parent proposes, the child disposes. “ Yes, and when the baby gets punctured and / or the pieces are too slippery? Do we let him wear out and go to bed on an empty stomach?

“The important thing is to follow your child: if he is tired, he needs help, we accompany him, we bring him the spoon. “

Manon, speech therapist in Marseille and creator of the Instagram account @daroniefoodclub

DME: What can you feed a baby?

Well OK, well noted: you can lend a helping hand to your child in need and mix diversification techniques throughout the day. No problem, for example, if your child eats purees at the nursery or the nanny and embarks on the great adventure of chopping up with you in the evening or on the weekend (when you are not too lazy to cut everything into pieces) .

But doesn’t all of this tell us what we can feed them in the DME? What foods? In what form and how fast?

If you have an old school GP or pediatrician, they may have handed you a list of diversification guidelines on hand, with specific weights of what your child should eat and an introductory program for different, complex food groups such as an Ikea manual (unless, of course, you are a goddess of plywood dresser assembly).

In fact, an opinion of the High Council of Public Health of June 2020 simplified the official recommendations in France, aligning themselves with what is already practiced in the United Kingdom or Canada: discover all foods at the same time. , varying the consistencies, from 4-6 months.

It is therefore an open bar for your children and you can let them discover everything that is edible and surrounds you, respecting some food safety rules:

• no raw animal products (meat, fish, eggs, cured meats) (oh no, too bad, I’ll have to eat this tartare myself!)
• without honey before 12 months (risk of botulism)
• no raw milk and soft cheeses before age 5 (province: OK, raw milk camembert: okay)
• limit sugary products

“To make your child successful, it starts with what he can do, so it’s not bad to start by offering melting, soft foods that can be easily squeezed between the tongue and the palate.

For safety reasons it is also better to avoid foods as large as the baby’s larynx, small, round and hard, such as peanuts, walnuts, carrots or raw apples … “

Manon, speech therapist in Marseille

How to make your life easier by doing the DME?

We told you at the beginning of the article, the DME shouldn’t be something that complicates life even more (we already have enough nocturnal awakenings to manage, thanks).

So, the best way to do the DME is to start with your own meals, adjusting them slightly so that they are understandable by the child. This is how we discovered, to our surprise, that our one year old daughter loves vegetable curry.

That way you only cook once and for lazy days it’s nice to have a few things ready in the cupboard or freezer.

Be careful with the DME not to add the injunction to feed your baby only fresh, homemade food. Small jars are subject to strict specifications, and just like canned vegetables and frozen foods, they can be of great help.

Anna, speech therapist in England

Also, with this organization there, you can all eat at the same time, and it’s pretty cool to get the kids used to sharing a meal with the family, although of course the time constraints mean this isn’t possible in every family, and that not everyone they want to have dinner at 7pm (I like it, because then we have a whole evening off).

How to prepare for child-led diversification?

In terms of equipment, you don’t need anything except maybe a good (upgradeable) high chair, possibly so that the bacon head is well installed and secure. To save you some housework, there are also large trays with integrated bibs that rest on the high chair, a bit like a flying saucer. But you can tinker with what you have on hand (we rolled out a small construction tarp over the area). Even a good dog for picking up fallen pieces can do the trick.

Well, it’s time to recognize that letting your baby eat in (relative) autonomy is messy. And when you’re a little manic, you need to breathe through your stomach and let go when your child starts spreading avocado in their hair.

The first few months the baby uses only his hands for feeding, but little by little it can be a lot to introduce cutlery.

“The ideal cutlery has a wide handle that is easy to grasp, but a thin tip so that the child doesn’t have to open his mouth too much. And in the case of spoons, better to have a flat tip, easier for the child to empty.

To drink, I recommend directly introducing a small glass suitable for the size of the children’s hand (plastic cup type). The sooner you go to the glass, the better. And if the child does not understand the concept at first, it is better to prefer cups or flasks with straws rather than spouted or 360 cups that require you to drink with your head backwards in a not very physiological position. “

Manon, speech therapist in Marseille

You have all the cards in hand to embark on the adventure of autonomous feeding. Trust yourself, observe your baby and follow his rhythm, you will see, everything will be fine!

And I guarantee you’ll have fun times with your child, from handfuls of cheese stuffed into a gaping mouth and spaghetti drunk as a remake of The Lady and the Tramp.

Photo credit: Vanessa Loring / Pexels