First Baby Food

[Elvie]

Hi, guys, it's been 5 months since I had my baby boy (once again tons of thanks to everyone who bothered to answer my pre-delivery questions)
I was wondering if there are any suggestions for first baby solids ?
At 6 months our pediatrician wants to start solids, gave us a scary food chart to acquaint with.
Thank you.
Elvie

 

[Amazoniac]

Babies know best...

 

[Elvie]

Babies know best...

Babies know best...

Thank you very much.

 

[tara]

I think if I were to do it again, I'd probably offer quite a bit of mushed, pureed and/or stewed fruits, milky mashed potatoes, maybe farmers cheese, maybe pureed mutton or beef and veges from time to time, occasional little liver, custards, maybe mushed rice pudding, milk to drink. But baby will probably have opinions of her/his own. :)

 

[CoolTweetPete]

We started with pureed fruits and potatoes. She has since moved on to mushed up beef with veggies (steamed, water dumped, then blended), small pieces of whole fruits, and Jello I prepare from unflavored gelatin. This is all in addition to her mother's breastmilk, but the doctor recently recommended mixing it with cow's milk since she's 9 months. We will probably start with 2% and adjust if she is gaining too much weight.

 

[schultz]

With my daughter we did a lot of ripe fruit like melon, cherimoya, mango etc. I think her first food may have been custard (egg, milk, gelatin, sugar, vanilla). We also gave her weekly oysters and liver (I would puree them). She was breast fed for 2 years and we started a bit of food around 10 months I think. She also liked ricotta pie (ricotta, egg, vanilla, sugar).

My son is 11 months old and starting to eat food a bit. We have been giving him egg, fruit, mashed potatoes, meat, greek yogurt with maple syrup, etc. Nothing complicated.

I wonder about peoples opinion on trying to get the baby to "sleep through the night"? It seems like everybody always asks "oh is he/she sleeping through the night yet?" and if you haven't got your kid to do this by like 2 months then it's tragic or something. I am of the opinion that it is healthy not to try and force this behaviour. Not having a growing infant eat for 10-12 hours seems less than ideal to me. It seems both of my kids naturally would wake up every 3-4 hours to get a "snack" and then go back to bed. I've been meaning to ask Peat about it.

Parents get very opinionated lol. Don't even get me started on ignoring your kid while they cry at night to try and train them... They're like 6 months old and scared/hungry and by themselves in the dark. I know adults who are scared to sleep alone lol. You think primitive cultures did this? "Oh lets put this baby in a different tent by itself and let it cry all night..."

I got a little carried away with this post... soapbox

 

[Elvie]

Tara, schultz, CoolTweetPete, thank you very much for all the valuable info. Custards and mashed potatoes sound much better than broccoli and avocado on the list of first solids I got from our pediatrician. Also, I am ignoring her advice of letting my baby cry at night instead of feeding him, as she claims at five months he should be fine without eating for 8 hrs sTraight..."let him cry"
As far as milk products: what is best full fat or reduced, how strict should PUFA limit be?
As per now, I am breastfeeding on demand. It would be great to know Peats view on frequency of feeding infants. My son gets cold, clammy extremities without eating for a while, as soon as he eats his hands and feet get warm again. He has been steadily gaining weight 2.5-3 lbs per month, and again Doc's advice to cut down sugar, coffee, fruit was ignored.
Thank you for this forum and your willingness to share the wisdom.

Elvie

I think if I were to do it again, I'd probably offer quite a bit of mushed, pureed and/or stewed fruits, milky mashed potatoes, maybe farmers cheese, maybe pureed mutton or beef and veges from time to time, occasional little liver, custards, maybe mushed rice pudding, milk to drink. But baby will probably have opinions of her/his own. :)

yoy

With my daughter we did a lot of ripe fruit like melon, cherimoya, mango etc. I think her first food may have been custard (egg, milk, gelatin, sugar, vanilla). We also gave her weekly oysters and liver (I would puree them). She was breast fed for 2 years and we started a bit of food around 10 months I think. She also liked ricotta pie (ricotta, egg, vanilla, sugar).

My son is 11 months old and starting to eat food a bit. We have been giving him egg, fruit, mashed potatoes, meat, greek yogurt with maple syrup, etc. Nothing complicated.

I wonder about peoples opinion on trying to get the baby to "sleep through the night"? It seems like everybody always asks "oh is he/she sleeping through the night yet?" and if you haven't got your kid to do this by like 2 months then it's tragic or something. I am of the opinion that it is healthy not to try and force this behaviour. Not having a growing infant eat for 10-12 hours seems less than ideal to me. It seems both of my kids naturally would wake up every 3-4 hours to get a "snack" and then go back to bed. I've been meaning to ask Peat about it.

Parents get very opinionated lol. Don't even get me started on ignoring your kid while they cry at night to try and train them... They're like 6 months old and scared/hungry and by themselves in the dark. I know adults who are scared to sleep alone lol. You think primitive cultures did this? "Oh lets put this baby in a different tent by itself and let it cry all night..."

I got a little carried away with this post... soapbox

With my daughter we did a lot of ripe fruit like melon, cherimoya, mango etc. I think her first food may have been custard (egg, milk, gelatin, sugar, vanilla). We also gave her weekly oysters and liver (I would puree them). She was breast fed for 2 years and we started a bit of food around 10 months I think. She also liked ricotta pie (ricotta, egg, vanilla, sugar).

My son is 11 months old and starting to eat food a bit. We have been giving him egg, fruit, mashed potatoes, meat, greek yogurt with maple syrup, etc. Nothing complicated.

I wonder about peoples opinion on trying to get the baby to "sleep through the night"? It seems like everybody always asks "oh is he/she sleeping through the night yet?" and if you haven't got your kid to do this by like 2 months then it's tragic or something. I am of the opinion that it is healthy not to try and force this behaviour. Not having a growing infant eat for 10-12 hours seems less than ideal to me. It seems both of my kids naturally would wake up every 3-4 hours to get a "snack" and then go back to bed. I've been meaning to ask Peat about it.

Parents get very opinionated lol. Don't even get me started on ignoring your kid while they cry at night to try and train them... They're like 6 months old and scared/hungry and by themselves in the dark. I know adults who are scared to sleep alone lol. You think primitive cultures did this? "Oh lets put this baby in a different tent by itself and let it cry all night..."

I got a little carried away with this post... soapbox

 

[SQu]

broccoli and avocado

Wow. And regarding breastfeeding, they seem to be hurrying that towards a close too. My honest opinion is, don't go to the paed unless there's a problem you think their model is going to make better not worse. I had small babies and I never went because a friend got flak when hers didn't fit into the range on the chart. I knew mine wouldn't either but they were doing well, so I just didn't go there. There are so many more examples I could give. Best of luck.

 

[tara]

I wonder about peoples opinion on trying to get the baby to "sleep through the night"?

I'm with you on not thinking it's ideal to leave a baby feeling scared and lonely too much.

There may well be other factors that can encourage good sleep, though. Nourishing milk, good fun and warm connection before sleep may be among the helpful factors.

Mine woke me up for a lot of night time feeds for the first year (up to four times a night). I suspect I was underfed and therefore my milk may have been a bit on the thin side for them. If I kept them nearby so I didn't have to disturb myself to much to feed them, I could often go straight back to sleep again after feeds.

Personally, I wouldn't be trying to control weight gain by using lower fat milk in the first year or two especially.
I know more than one person who was really round as babies, and grew lean and strong as they got older.

 

[Elvie]

what so you guys think of these developmental signs:
Is baby ready for solid foods? (Developmental signs of readiness) • KellyMom.com

 

[redlight]

What age would you introduce orange juice?

 

[Elvie]

With my daughter we did a lot of ripe fruit like melon, cherimoya, mango etc. I think her first food may have been custard (egg, milk, gelatin, sugar, vanilla). We also gave her weekly oysters and liver (I would puree them). She was breast fed for 2 years and we started a bit of food around 10 months I think. She also liked ricotta pie (ricotta, egg, vanilla, sugar).

My son is 11 months old and starting to eat food a bit. We have been giving him egg, fruit, mashed potatoes, meat, greek yogurt with maple syrup, etc. Nothing complicated.

I wonder about peoples opinion on trying to get the baby to "sleep through the night"? It seems like everybody always asks "oh is he/she sleeping through the night yet?" and if you haven't got your kid to do this by like 2 months then it's tragic or something. I am of the opinion that it is healthy not to try and force this behaviour. Not having a growing infant eat for 10-12 hours seems less than ideal to me. It seems both of my kids naturally would wake up every 3-4 hours to get a "snack" and then go back to bed. I've been meaning to ask Peat about it.

Parents get very opinionated lol. Don't even get me started on ignoring your kid while they cry at night to try and train them... They're like 6 months old and scared/hungry and by themselves in the dark. I know adults who are scared to sleep alone lol. You think primitive cultures did this? "Oh lets put this baby in a different tent by itself and let it cry all night..."

I got a little carried away with this post... soapbox

How did you start introducing liver? How much to start with? Gelatin with it?
Thank you.

 

[schultz]

How did you start introducing liver? How much to start with? Gelatin with it?
Thank you.

We pureed it with butter. No gelatin. Kids have more of a need for the amino acids in muscle meat since they are growing. You could do gelatin though. Once in a while my daughter wouldn't want to eat it so I'd mix icecream in with the liver and then she'd eat it.... liver flavoured ice cream.

 

[dd99]

what so you guys think of these developmental signs:
Is baby ready for solid foods? (Developmental signs of readiness) • KellyMom.com

For both our boys, we just waited until they could sit up reasonably well and showed an interest. Kept breast feeding as long as possible, though!

 

[dd99]

How did you start introducing liver? How much to start with? Gelatin with it?
Thank you.

Our first used to eat my homemade pate out of the jar (he still calls it 'patty'), from around a year old. Just fry an onion in coconut oil then add beef or chicken liver and salt, put the lid on and turn the heat right down. Cook for 10 minutes. Then heat off, let it rest in the pan with lid. Then blend in a food processor. Delicious.

 

[dd99]

What age would you introduce orange juice?

Once you can brush their teeth! Our 13 month old is desperate to drink the orange juice his 4 year old brother is drinking. But not until he lets us clean his teeth!

 

[Elvie]

We pureed it with butter. No gelatin. Kids have more of a need for the amino acids in muscle meat since they are growing. You could do gelatin though. Once in a while my daughter wouldn't want to eat it so I'd mix icecream in with the liver and then she'd eat it.... liver flavoured ice cream.

Thank you so much for your replies. How often would you serve liver?
Liver flavored ice cream!!! You gave me a nice ice cream tip before when I was pregnant! Grateful!

 

[Elvie]

Our first used to eat my homemade pate out of the jar (he still calls it 'patty'), from around a year old. Just fry an onion in coconut oil then add beef or chicken liver and salt, put the lid on and turn the heat right down. Cook for 10 minutes. Then heat off, let it rest in the pan with lid. Then blend in a food processor. Delicious.

Thank you. I will try. My son is going to be 8 mo on March 2.
So far, I'm exclusively breastfeeding, but getting a lot of pressure from husband's family: "that the boy needs more iron then my breast milk is providing ... and such"
I will try as much as I can to postpone solids but when I do start I'd like to do it right with your guys help!!!

I appreciate everyone's wisdom on this forum, helped me a lot in the past!!!

 

[dd99]

Thank you. I will try. My son is going to be 8 mo on March 2.
So far, I'm exclusively breastfeeding, but getting a lot of pressure from husband's family: "that the boy needs more iron then my breast milk is providing ... and such"
I will try as much as I can to postpone solids but when I do start I'd like to do it right with your guys help!!!

I appreciate everyone's wisdom on this forum, helped me a lot in the past!!!

I personally don't think you need to rush him. Let your baby tell you when he's ready to start solids. But starting solids doesn't mean giving up breast feeding. Do that for as long as you can handle it and he wants it. Our first wanted 11 months of breast milk, our second just 9 months.