I am based in US but am in India currently with my 6 1/2 month old daughter. I took her to the pediatrician in Bangalore since she had a cold. I started asking a few questions about her diet and was surprised with the response of the pediatrician. My daughter is mainly on breast milk except for one solid feeding of rice cereal mixed with steamed and mashed apple per day. She is 19.8 lbs (9 kgs) and is sitting, crawling and pulling herself to stand with support. I am slowly planning to introduce ragi, rice-dhal etc. But here' s the diet suggested by the ped:
6 AM: Formula or breast milk
9 AM: Breakfast (idli/dosa/kichadi/chapathi - all mashed and given with sugar)
11 AM: Fruit
12 noon: Take a 100 ml measuring cup. Give 50 ml Rasam rice and 50 ml Sambhar rice mixed with veges.
5 PM: Breast milk/formula with Biscuits or corn flakes
Dinner: Same as lunch.

He asked me to right away give the same level of spice as the rest of the family. He gave as an example the same level of spice as in an Udipi restaurant. But to mash the food either by hand or blender. He asked me to add 20 ml curd rice from the seventh month. Also to add rava, egg yolk by month 7. He asked me not to use baby cereal since baby' s will never get used to adult foods.

My questions:

- Although I do plan to slowly increase the solid food in her diet, isn' t breast milk/formula still the main part of a baby' s diet until age 1?
- Is it safe to introduce adult level spice in baby' s food?

I will appreciate any advice or experience in this matter. I am very tempted to blindly follow his advice since my 4 yr old son has been very reluctant to take spicy food. I used to give him bland food until age 1 and after that he refused to accept any addition of spice.

Thank you very much in advance dear friends.
Teja jinal replied. i agree wid al of you. if baby enjoys eating spices one should give. our spices are very good for health if you give according to your baby liking.

about indian and American doctors, for me both the doctors were sometimes wrong and sometimes right. so for me itz all same. Minka replied. Hi ,

I agree that you should go with whatever works for your child' s weight and liking. But I really think that some spices are ok to give a child - we have been giving my son jeera,hing, haldi and sometimes pepper and dry ginger powder since he was 6-7 months old. Now he' s close to two years and eats adult food ( slightly less spiced - I cook his rice, dal and veggies separately and add a dash of rasam and curd and he loves it )

when he has a cold or cough , I know the haldi , pepper , honey and milk combination really helps soothe him.

Best of luck,
Minka

neelima replied. Hey Teja,
regarding your doubts about feeding only the breast milk for upto 1 year is not that recommended because by the time your baby is 6 months old the iron level in your milk drastiucally falls down and the baby could bea ta risk at anemia.
so you need to go for othe sources.
2) regarding the spicy ones avoid till atleast 2 years .Go for foods that are light on the baby tummy.
3) as for indian pediatricians...well there are knowledgeable...if you ask an indian ped he will give his views..so as an ameican ped who giveds his...so its upto your choices..
bye neetu replied. i understand what you are saying. even my ped in jaipur told to give chilli powder in my baby diet when i wanted to introduce solids. but i din do dat. i new it my baby is having reflux and i also told dat my ped dat my baby had reflux problem. he said itz okay give him some chilli powder in his diet and he will be okay !huh, can you believe.

i am rightnow in jaipur but basically from US and my US doctor told me very strictly dat dun give him chilli powder until he is 1 year.i am happy dat i din follow my indian ped advice.

you know what i think ped don have knowledge about food and nutrition much. they are taught only medicines etc. my brother is pharmacist and he tells me dat sometimes he has to tell the docs dat this medicine cun' t b given wid other medicine.can you believe it.
if you want you can follow what your ped said. my son has reflux so i was low on spice with his foods.
but now after homeopathy treatment of reflux he eats easily all medium spice foods.