“Food before one is just for fun” is a parenting saying that has been printed on many images. This theory holds that a baby can’t be expected to eat solid food before age one; the food is put before the baby just for “fun,” so the child can get used to the tastes and textures of it.
 
Authorship of the saying is unknown. “Well food before one is just for fun, they really don’t get much nutrition from food at her age, milk is more important” was posted on Twitter by Tracy Hayden on June 18, 2009.
   
Not everyone subscribes to the “food before one is just for fun” maxim. An article in Parents. stated on May 6, 2016:
 
“Fiction. Starting solids by 6 months helps with oral-motor development and is also important to provide your baby with all the nutrition needed to ensure proper growth, including sufficient amounts of iron and zinc.”
   
   
Twitter 
Tracy Hayden
@moogyboobles
Replying to @misscherrypie
@misscherrypie well food before one is just for fun, they really don’t get much nutrition from food at her age, milk is more important.
8:13 AM - 18 Jun 2009
     
Twitter
Karin
@Wonderkarin
RT @treacydw: In a breastfed baby; food before 1 is just for fun. Give milk before solids. #breastfeeding #solids
6:53 PM - 21 Aug 2009
       
babycentre 
Baby refusing solid food?
Sazindie
Last edited 22/04/2010
(...)
I know it’s difficult not to worry when most of the advice seems to say your baby needs to be properly settled on solids around six months, but so long as he’s having plenty of milk and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies then he will be fine. I always remember the saying ‘food before one is just for fun!’
 
Twitter
Emily Dickey
@emilyrdickey
Replying to @KatiesPickles
@KatiesPickles say “food before one is just for fun!”
7:57 PM - 1 Aug 2010
           
Google Books
Growing Up Gourmet:
125 Healthy Meals for Everybody and Every Baby
By Jennifer Carlson
New York, NY: Atria Books
2016
Pg. 14:
You may have heard the saying, “Food before one is just for fun.” And to a large extent, that’s true and takes pressure off parents who have “small eaters.” Food is not just for nutrition, and first solids also allow baby to explore different tastes and textures.
       
Parents.
Fact or Fiction? 10 Things You Need to Know About Starting Solids
There are a lot of myths around transitioning babies to solid food. Pediatrician parents and the authors of The Pediatrician’s Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers separate fact from fiction.
By Dina DiMaggio and Anthony F. Porto May 06, 2016
(...)
2. Food before 1 is just for fun.
Fiction. Starting solids by 6 months helps with oral-motor development and is also important to provide your baby with all the nutrition needed to ensure proper growth, including sufficient amounts of iron and zinc.
 
Google Books
Baby Food Universe:
Raise Adventurous Eaters with a Whole World of Flavorful Purees and Toddler Foods
By Kawn Al-jabbouri
Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press
2017
Pg. 20:
Remember the saying “food before one is just for fun!” Let your baby feel the food—yes, it gets messy, but understanding first with touch and sight enables her to familiarize herself with different food colors and textures.
 
HuffPost
Food Before One Is Just For Fun ... Fun For Who?
By Angela Corpe, Contributor
Living in Kent, surviving, winging it!https://wdnotmdotcom.wordpress.com/blog
14/11/2016 08:47am GMT | Updated November 11, 2017
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Certainly not for mums like me who have spent hours shopping, chopping, cooking, blending and now face a kitchen wall that resembles a Jackson Pollock and a dog trying to work out how to get food off the back of her head. I spent 3 hours peeling, dicing and mashing a dozen different recipes to fill the freezer with enough food to feed a whole nursery for a week, yet I’ve run out of options for my kids within 10 minutes.
 
Not fun for for my little ones either, who look at me like I’ve given them a lemon to suck no matter what tasty treats I’ve whipped up for them.
 
Smart Nutrition
Food Before One is Just for Fun (and other LIES that rhyme)
Jessica Penner, RD April 24, 2017 Babies & Kids, Nutrition
(...)
You’ve probably heard the saying, “food before one is just for fun.”
 
But have you heard similarly catchy and untrue phrases that rhyme?
 
Food before one is just for fun
Food before two is bad for you
Food before three should come from a tree
Food before four just ends up on the floor
Food before five is technically unnecessary for your human offspring to thrive
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#1) Food before one is for iron
#2) Food before one is also for zinc
#3) Food before one teaches babies about food textures
   
Twitter
April baby
@CallMeADior
Replying to @meowrachelx
I don’t make it priority at all but sometimes I’ll give my daughter some of what I’m having or give her some banana but she’s still 90% breastfed/formula! I go by that saying “Food before 1 is just for fun”
11:25 AM - 9 Jul 2019