Recommendations on Complementary Food Introduction Among Pediatric Practitioners

[maddie8011]

Key Points

Question Is it appropriate for pediatric practitioners to recommend waiting several days between the introduction of new foods considering the current emphasis on incorporating a wide variety of foods during infancy to prevent food allergy development?

Findings In this survey study of 563 pediatric practitioners, 217 (39%) recommended waiting 3 days or longer before introducing new foods; however, for infants at risk for developing food allergy, 259 (66%) recommended waiting. Although 264 practitioners (47%) recommended that cereal be introduced first, 226 (40%) did not recommend any specific order during food introduction.

Meaning This study found that there was variability among pediatric practitioners’ recommendations on infant diet, suggesting that a reevaluation of published guidelines may be warranted.

Samady, W., Campbell, E., Aktas, O. N., Jiang, J., Bozen, A., Fierstein, J. L., Joyce, A. H., & Gupta, R. S. (2020). Recommendations on Complementary Food Introduction Among Pediatric Practitioners. JAMA Network Open, 3(8), e2013070. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.13070

 

[sbrodhagen]

@maddie8011 So...we learned there's variability in pediatricians' recommendations. Is there a more important conclusion I should be drawing?

 

[netwaxer]

@sbrodhagen I'm curious as well. My main takeaway so far is that you are likely to find doctors recommendations clashing with each other if you go for second opinion on weaning / foods introduction. Perhaps this suggests that there is no substantial benefit (or loss) from starting with some food (like cereals) over the others (like meat or fruits).

 

[transitory23]

@maddie8011 I'm trying to understand why the author’s natural conclusion is that

a reevaluation of published guidelines may be warranted.

My initial reaction is "Well... people are different, so variability is expected..." - is there something I'm missing out on other than scientific "Oh no, people do different things and I can't predict every step!" ?

 

[maddie8011]

@transitory23 Author's conclusions, not mine

I wanted to share as I thought y'all might find it interesting. It's pretty classic case "humans are weird. Let's study them more"

Humans are notoriously difficult. Like you said, yeah.. people are different!

 

[transitory23]

@maddie8011 Fair enough, will edit to reflect but still baffled.