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Bahrain resident Malvika Rawtani has a slightly different view, writes ANASUYA KESAVAN.
She believes that every child is unique. From her experience of bringing up her two children, 10-year old Simran, and 10-month old Chahat Vinod Rawtani, she is of the opinion that it is not practically possible to follow every piece of Gill Rapley's advice.
Malvika, 33, from Hoora, began weaning her baby when she was seven-months old just as Rapley counsels. She began with rice cereal and has now started introducing her baby to 'khichidi', a mish mash of rice and pulses. However, giving solid finger food is not always the best of all ideas, she believes.
"I prefer giving her semi-solid food. Initially, I used to give her glucose biscuits towards the end of her seventh month. Then I realised that giving her such foods is not very safe," Malvika added.
"What happens is that even when she was not teething her gums were very strong. So she may bite into a large piece that may prove dangerous. So I only let her indulge in such kinds of foods when I am around her.
"Chahat is now endowed with four teeth but even at this stage I would advise mothers to give solid foods only under supervision."
Another crucial issue this mum points out is the danger of children accidentally sticking salty or oily hands into their eyes and hair especially when they are given crunchy finger foods like cheese sticks that tend to crumble even in tiny hands.
Offering food and not pushing food is a contentious issue according to this mother. She said that children are not always ready to experiment and it is only by giving babies a variety of foods and in the right quantity that parents can look after their baby's nutritional needs.
