COMMERCIAL baby foods are being pushed on to babies at an age when babies should be exclusively breast fed.

Australian and UK baby foods are being promoted for babies aged four months when the World Health Organisation says babies should be breast fed until they are aged six months.

Commercial baby foods are also too sweet and don't meet weaning needs - a survey of 462 baby foods in the United Kingdom published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood has found.

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A similar claim is made on many Australian commercial baby foods.

Labelling on commercial foods which promotes the foods as suitable for use from age four months "seems likely to offer encouragement to introduce complimentary foods before 6 months," the authors say.

The researchers also found that around two thirds of the commercial baby foods were sweet.

There was a risk that repeated exposure to these foods during infancy would set up a preference for sweet foods and lead to dental decay, the paper says.

The inclusion of fruit sugars rather than refined sugars in these foods won't make any difference in terms of tooth decay, the study says.

The nutritional content of commercial foods was compared to typical homemade foods in the study.

The comparison showed commercial foods generally had half the nutrients of typical home made foods with the exception of iron content.

A 50g service of homemade food would supply the same amount of energy and protein as 100g of a similar commercial product, say the authors.

The reason for introducing solid foods is to increase the energy content of a baby's diet and provide more nutrients.

"Yet the most commonly used commercial foods considered in this study supply no more energy than breast or formula milk," the study says.

"While it is understandable that parents may choose to use these products early in the weaning process, health professionals should be aware that such food will not add to the nutrient density of a milk diet," the authors say.

Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council updated its infant feeding guidelines in February and said solid foods should be introduced at age six months.

Delaying the introduction of food after this time may increase the chance the child may develop food allergies, the council warned.

As long as iron-rich foods are included in first foods, foods can be introduced in any order and at a rate that suits the infant, NHMRC experts say.

But a national obesity conference in 2012 was told a baby's first solid food should be mashed vegetables - not the traditional baby rice cereal.

Endocrinologist and Obesity Australia chief Professor John Funder says the first four years of a child's life is crucial in determining whether they will develop eating habits that lead to obesity.

Starting a child off on a diet of rice cereal was like giving them "an oral glucose tolerance test''.

Children fed high carbohydrate, high salt and high fat diets as toddlers will have their brains wired to desire these foods for the rest of their lives, Professor Funder said.

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Breast is beast for baby

SARAH Dean, pictured above, said she followed her baby daughter's lead when it came to introducing solid foods into the little one's diet.

The 26-year-old mum said as well as using the World Health Organisation's recommendations as a guide, she waited for her daughter, eight-month-old Ava Richards, to show an interest in solid foods.

"My instincts told me Ava wasn't ready (to eat solids) when she was four months old, she couldn't even sit up yet," she said.

"By the time I was ready to introduce solids (when she was six months old) she was sitting up, she was trying to steal food off our plates," she said.

Ms Dean said the advice that solid food "before one was just for fun" had really helped her.

She said research had shown all the major nutrients babies need until their 12 months old comes from breast milk or formula.

"(Eating solid foods) should be about experiencing different textures and tastes and joining in at family meal times."

She said her breastfeeding experience had been pretty smooth but there was not enough support and information about for new mums or those who were struggling with it.

"Society tells young mothers their breast milk isn't good enough but it is," she said.

"I definitely believe there isn't enough support for women who are struggling with breast feeding."

- Ellen-Marie Elliot

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Originally published as Commercial baby food lacks nutrition