They didn't have rice cereal in 500 AD?

Two recent recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatricians made the news last week while I was on holiday. This one I like, the one I'll comment on later has some good points, but the main message is (how do I say this nicely?) idiotic. But for today, just the good one!

New guidelines for introducing solid food have discovered that powdered rice cereal is not used in most of the world, was not available until recent times, and babies thrive on other foods! We have realized that adults should eat a wide variety of foods, and simple carbohydrates aren't high in nutrition. The same logic has finally come round for babies.

What I have to add in my recommendations for solid food are:

1. Breastmilk-only is still the best food until 6 months.
2. Despite what they say about throwing all the rules out the window, try to avoid foods on the most allergenic list in large quantities until after a year or later.
3. Experimenting is great - if your baby shows interest in a food on your plate, let them have a bite. BUT, try to limit the number of new foods introduced per day so if a problem does occur, it will be easier to figure out which item is to blame.

I wonder how long it will take Gerber to jump on the bandwagon: Anyone for pureed Artichoke and Summer Squash Lasagna?