Hi moms! I have a 7 year old, a three year old, and a 6 month old. We've had our 6 month old on solids for a couple weeks, doing cereal and bananas, mostly. When my 7 year old was a baby, the thinking was veggies first (so they don't get too involved with "sweet" foods), introduce one food every 6 days, wait til a year for milk, and avoid strawberries, honey, wheat, and a couple other "allergens". When we had #2, it was introduce new foods every 2-3 days, doesn't matter so much if it's fruits as long as it's a variety, make-your-own food, avoid honey, beware of allergens if they run in the family. Now, I'm not sure what the "current" thinking is. My sister, whose babies are 5 months older than mine, says her ped. told them the only rule was no citrus, but I've never heard of that one. On babycenter.com, they recommended mandarin oranges as a good early food--obviously citrus. I KNOW honey is a no-no because of botulism, and I've heard varying arguments about allergies--now, I think, they're saying that when food is introduced has no bearing on allergies? I think I even read an article in a parenting mag about early recipes to try on children, and one even included peanuts (for a pre-1 year old). My doc with #1 recommended waiting on some of those things that potentially cause life-threatening allergic reactions, simply because the older a child is, the easier it is to SEE that reaction and respond to it in time, which made sense to me. We have a doc apt tomorrow for her, and obviously I'll ask her, but I'm curious to see what kind of responses I get here, too.
EDIT: Obviously, I know to avoid choking hazards--hot dogs, grapes, raisins, non-dissolvable things. My kids have EXCELLENT gag reflexes and good chewing ability, along with good fine motor in their hands, so those are mostly non-issues.
Thanks for the input! My doctor said we could pretty much try anything--nuts and strawberries included [She said strawberries just tend to give you a rash, and really, is that *that* big of a deal? just stop feeding them if they break out.], but to wait 2-3 days between introducing new foods. As for rice cereal having no value; I'm aware it's not the most wholesome option but it *is* iron fortified, and that's important to me. After 48 months of breastfeeding and 4 pregnancies, my breast milk is probably not the most iron rich here at 6 months post-partum (nor is it intended to be; iron reserves are only supposed to "last" 6 months, which is why iron is super-important in the last tri of pregnancy), so I give my babies rice cereal until I'm ready to start them on beans or meat or until they have enough variety in their diet to get iron through other avenues. My first two babies had low hemoglobin when they were tested at a year, so I shoot for iron when I can.
There have been a LOT of questions on this exact topic over the past few days - you should be able to find them in the data base.
I have an 8 mo DD. The DR said to start with rice cereal, then introduce the various veggies, then add oat meal cereal and fruit to the mix. She said to wait 3 days between introducing new foods. here is what I went with in order:
rice cereal
avacado
green bean
sweet potato
peas
carrot
oat meal cereal
yellow squash
those puffy organic rings (like cheerios)
banana
apricot
plum
nectarine
peaches
apples
Next I am going to start with a couple easy dairy products like soft cheese and cottage cheese. She said I can do meat (baby food or in the food processor) if I want but I don't see a need to. I'd rather continue on with the couple dairys and maybe some of the more exotic veggies like zucchini and spinach and kale. Perhaps then beans or hummus if I have time before the 9 mo appointment.
She did tell me that the following foods were a no-go at the 6 mo appointment. She said we would revisit them later once she saw how DD did with the food I listed above.
- honey
- nuts and nut butters
- cows milk
- yogurt and most cheeses
- eggs
- strawberries, other berries and citrus
Hope that helps!
When my daughter turned 6 months her dr advised us to wait 2-3 days between new foods to watch for sensitivities and allergies. But since there is no family history, once she got to 8 months I stopped worrying about it. Now she eats what I'm eating, I just cut it into little bits. Of course not with the big no-nos. But she pretty much eats everything. She got a little bit of a rash after strawberries so I'll wait until she's after 1 to try it again. I don't care what the rages and fads are, that's what works for me. :)
I didn't know there was anything "current" in feeding babies. Learn something new every day! With my son, we started feeding him at 6 months. I never made baby food. I just smashed up whatever fruits and veggies we were eating. I didn't start with veggies or fruit first, and I never gave him cereal. (Rice cereal has zero nutrition.) I did wait 3 days between foods. At around 10 months, he started eating whatever we did, cut the appropriate size. (Including meat.) We did not feed him any nuts or strawberries. At 12 months we started strawberries. He is 2 years now, and we still haven't fed him nuts. I am deathly allergic and can't have them in the house. He still eats whatever we do. We don't cut anything up, but grapes and meat. He doesn't eat hot dogs, because we don't. He eats whole pieces of fruit and uses a fork and spoon. I feel like avoiding babyfood made him like real food better. Gerber wasn't always around neither were food processors. People gave babies little bits of real food for generations, until gerber came around. In fact, most countries in the world don't use babyfood at all.
my sons were on the "old school" plan. They had different pediatricians (the boys are 9 years apart in age), & both drs placed my sons on cereal by 4 weeks, fruits & vegies by 3 months....which took a while to get thru the various choices.....& then meats during the 4th month. Both boys were adept at basic finger foods during the 6th month....both loved Cheerios, bits of cheese, & other table food. I withheld milk, honey, yogurt, nuts, & eggs until 12 months.
Neither of my sons had digestive issues. My older son had trouble with food dyes, but this ended by age 2. My younger son developed peanut allergy at age 4.....& still has issues with it to some extent ....even now at age 14.
As I said, this is considered old school now.....most of my daycare babies are on cereal at 3-4 months, followed by fruit for the 1st week & then both fruit/vegies from that point on. Usually by the end of the 5th month, they've tried it all!
I have a 5 yr old, 3 yr old and 10 month old. With our pediatrician it has always been first cereal, then veggies, fruits, then meats. About every 3-6 days to try something new. With my first two kids i started out at 4 months with the solid foods and with my 3rd baby i waited until almost 6 months. The mandrin oranges are a new one to me too that our pediatrician told us with #3. They were even recommended if baby is constipated. I have still heard to avoid peanut butter, strawberries, honey, and milk until 1st bday. Another new one with our youngest is allowing eggs before 1 yr. Luckily he loves them with cheese.
I loved this website as a resource: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/#url
I think that the best thing about having my youngest was knowing that the others survived whether or not I followed "the rules" LOL. I was very lazy with him and didn't start him on any food at all until he was almost 8 months old. As Bug mentioned below there is actually nothing of value in rice cereal, so I skipped that and cooked rolled oats that I had thrown in a blender. That was my base and I added pureed veggies and/or fruits to that. I introduced unsweetened, plain organic yogurt early on and mixed that with fruit too. I never ended up needing baby food for him because we started in late summer/fall and there was so much good, fresh stuff at the farmer's market. By the time he was 1 he was having what we had for dinner, just cut up. He's by far the best eater in the bunch.
I really liked wholesomebabyfood.com for a refresher on what to avoid (strawberries, honey) but other than the ones to avoid, anything goes!
