Starting Solids in about a month, what do I do?

[paintedmamacita]

I looked around at other threads but couldn't seem to find the answer, maybe I'm in the wrong area. Anyway, my dd is 5 months old and I'm thinking about starting food at about 6 months. I've heard about starting with rice cereal and other people say start with pureed fruits, others say start with pureed veggies so they don't get accustomed to the sweet taste and not eat their veggies later.
Can someone made some recommendations and/or tell me where I can find some good info on how to go about starting her on food/how much/when/etc.
I was planning on making my own purees, seems easier than adding another aisle and store to the grocery shopping, and cheaper. I have more time than patience for most stores.
Thank you!

[Crafty]

I used Ruth Baron's book, Super Baby Foods. I made all my ds's baby food, and that book has everything mapped out month by month, what's recommended to introduce when, etc. The layout is a bit all over the place, and there are a lot of other things in there- craft projects and whatnot- but I really, really liked that.

I started my ds off on brown rice cereal when it came time for solids. I developed a taste for that stuff too! It's actually pretty good, and nothing like the pasty white stuff that you can buy in the store. We pretty much stuck to the schedule recommended in the book (no family history of food allergies here), and he absolutely loved his veggies. His favorite for breakfast was the brown rice cereal with broccoli mixed in.

Check out the book at the library or see if you can peek through it at a bookstore to see if it's something that will work for you. I absolutely adored it.

[alegna]

From my research, babies aren't ready for solids until they can self feed soft chunks.

I skip most "baby food" as a rule.

-Angela

[paintedmamacita]

Thanks for the great info so far, I'm definitely going to check out that book, thanks, crafty.
Question, Angela, "babies aren't read for solids until they can self feed soft chunks." okay. when is that? and what are the soft chunks made of? does that mean no pureed squash? or do you mean no baby food as in no baby food from a jar at the store? This is my first baby and the breast feeding is so awesome and convenient that I'm hesitant to have to start food. Seems daunting!
Again, Thank you!

[Chakra]

I don't think you have to wait until they can self feed. Baby food is agreat way to get the baby used to eating, swallow, textures etc. Then comes the self feed. But its a good idea to wait until at least 6 months to start foods.

I started my son on baby food around 7.5 months old. The first foods were avacado and bananna. Now hes 9 months and he eats everything (not meat or dairy) that we do. I still have to puree it though.

Anyways... bland foods, low sugars is a good rule.

[AlwaysByMySide]

I tried starting my DD on solids at 6 months, and she wanted nothing to do with them. I don't think she really started eating much until she was past 12 months.

My DS is now 14 months, and was exclusively breastfed until about 11 months. He simply wasn't interested in anything but breastmilk. And at that point, I would just cut up whatever I was making for DD and I into smaller pieces for DS.

I consistently make the joke that I breastfeed because I'm lazy. I don't have to get up to make a bottle at night, I don't have to wash bottles, and I don't have to deal with baby food.

[MayBaby2007]

That's not always true, chakra. I've read just the opposite as far as getting baby used to textures, swallowing, etc. If baby isn't ready for "solid" foods, he's not ready. Pushing purees too early can lead to gag intolerances and sensitivity to textures (I can't find an article right now and I'm tired, so forgive if I'm not remembering exactly).

I started with purees until I read about BLW and BLW made a ton of sense to me. I will do that with future babies.

Babies need breastmilk as their primary source of nutrition for at least the first year or better. Filling baby's tummy with puree'd green beans and squash is nothing like filling her belly with wholesome breastmilk.

I don't know of any other mammal that purees their baby's food. Dogs don't chew up dog food and spoon feed their pups. Cats don't chew up cat food and spoon feed their kittens, etc. Think about it.

And no matter what you believe--whether it's Jesus, the cavemen, the big bang theory, etc--at some point humans had the bare neccessities to live on. Did the cavemen puree food for their babies with a processor? Did Mary puree Jesus' food? I highly, highly doubt it. I'm sure they nursed until the babies had enough teeth to eat by themselves. That's the way I see it now, but I didn't see it like that until after I started purees with dd.

http://www.tribalbaby.org/babyLedEating.html Here's one link that talks about BLW and there are other links to follow from there.

As with any other parenting decision, there is no right or wrong answer. It's whatever you are comfortable with after you've looked at the information available GL with your research and decision, OP!

[paintedmamacita]

wow and i thought i had been up late! i guess midnight is the only available time to get anything done.
you mamas are awesome i hadn't thought of any of this. I'm so glad I asked. I'm going to check out that tribal babies website and the book recommendation. See how i feel/dd feels. It's still early, she's 5 months, so i just want to be prepared.
maybaby2007: i hadn't thought of any of that. awesome. totally makes sense.
alwaysbymyside: I love it. I agree. I'm too lazy to do anything but breastfeed. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to bring snacks along too. At the moment, I can throw a couple cloth diapers into the pocket on the sling, some wipes, add my cell phone, and of course dd and I'm off. footloose and fancy free.
Thanks again.

[mamadelbosque]

We started letting my DS pick at whatever we were eating around 7.5 monthish. I think his first taste of solid foods was the leavings from my tacos... We never did purees or 'baby food' of any sort. We just let DS eat little chunks of whatever we were eating. He didn't eat much till 9-12 monthsish when he started eating a good bit. And he ate just about everything we did up till about 18 months when he started getting picky-ish. But he still eats all sorts of stuff! And around 18 monthish we started giving him a spoon/fork pretty often and he masterd it pretty darn quick. At 26 months he's really, really good with them!

[alegna]

Originally Posted by paintedmamacita

Thanks for the great info so far, I'm definitely going to check out that book, thanks, crafty.
Question, Angela, "babies aren't read for solids until they can self feed soft chunks." okay. when is that? and what are the soft chunks made of? does that mean no pureed squash? or do you mean no baby food as in no baby food from a jar at the store? This is my first baby and the breast feeding is so awesome and convenient that I'm hesitant to have to start food. Seems daunting!
Again, Thank you!

Once they meet all readiness signs (both LLL and www.kellymom.com have great lists- both included sitting unassisted) then offer soft chunks. Good starter foods include steamed or baked sweet potato, ripe pear, banana, avocado, etc. It might be months still before baby is interested.

I generally avoid purees unless they are foods the family already eats (yogurt, applesauce, soup, etc) Babies are better able to regulate their own intake if they're feeding themselves rather than being spoon fed. AND spoon feeding purees teaches *some* babies bad habits for real solids (like slurping to the back of their throats instead of chewing motions)

-Angela

[sparkly]

we started letting ds try food around 6.5 mo, though he wasn't interested until 10.5 mo. I'd let him play with smashed up banana, hummus, and try feedng him smashed or pureed fruits and veggies, millet, and quinoa.

I never made "baby food"...though I did grate or food process food that we were having. I don't like to make different meals for different people, so I'll make something our son can have most of (e.g., whole grain pizza, and leave off the cheese for his piece).

Don't feed your baby because you think you're supposed to...feed her because he wants food (and don't worry about the amounts). If she's hungry for it, she'll eat it. If she's happy with a diet of just breastmilk, she'll let you know that too. Don't force it.

I like Cathe Olson's baby food book for once your daughter is eating more than single-ingredient foods. (Our whole family eats recipes from it!)

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by MayBaby2007

I don't know of any other mammal that purees their baby's food. Dogs don't chew up dog food and spoon feed their pups. Cats don't chew up cat food and spoon feed their kittens, etc. Think about it.

And no matter what you believe--whether it's Jesus, the cavemen, the big bang theory, etc--at some point humans had the bare neccessities to live on. Did the cavemen puree food for their babies with a processor? Did Mary puree Jesus' food? I highly, highly doubt it. I'm sure they nursed until the babies had enough teeth to eat by themselves. That's the way I see it now, but I didn't see it like that until after I started purees with dd.

I truly never thought of it that way. You are sooo right. How bizarre to even think that pureed foods were normal. Brainwashed by the media/marketing gurus as usual. I am actually dumbfounded. I am truly learning every day here.

[ashleyhaugh]

we did baby led weaning too. ds's first food was steamed sweet potato "fries" right at 6 months. he loved it. http://tristandavid.blogspot.com/200...-potatoes.html

it doesnt have to be bland either. ds has always loved well spiced foods- indian, chinese, mexican and other stuff too. we started out with single ingrediants at 6 months, and by 8 or so he was just eating whatever we ate

[healthymom01]

My ds is almost 2 1/2 years old already and I cannot remember specifically what age he was when he started eating solids but I can tell you this....our pedi wanted us to start him on solids at 4 months because he wasn't "sleeping through the night". We honestly thought that was too early and later found a new pedi whose thinking was more in line with our own. Anyway, we are strong believers in family meals so we had our ds join us at the dinner table whenever he was awake. When he began to express an interest in foods (I think he was about 7 months), we let him try whatever we were eating paying close attention to any potential allergies and staying away from the big no-no's. He was and still is an incredible eater. I think my biggest advice is to trust yourself as sometimes I think we question ourselves too much You will know what is right for your child - whether she is ready and what sorts of things she needs.

[mommy2two babes]

Originally Posted by alegna

From my research, babies aren't ready for solids until they can self feed soft chunks.

I skip most "baby food" as a rule.

-Angela

ITA DS didn't start to be really interested in self feeding until about 10 mos.
He loved avacado, cheese, banana, small pieces of chicken peach, pear.
Of course at 6 mos or so he was grabing food off my plate. We just allowed him acces to foods and followed his lead. I will do the same with this baby.

[Pinky Tuscadero]

I have never spoon fed my babies anything. They have all fed themselves when they were ready. Baby-bite-size peices of cheese, bits of meat, chunks of butter, a little fruit here and there. Not much in the way of veggies - most babies don't digest them well.

[Mere]

We did a lot of the 'baby led weaning' ideas for dc3...very easy! Good for us mamas with no time to make baby food. Ds3 was fine with whatever we gave him. We did start a little food around 6 months - avocados, smushed bananas, applesauce, that sort of thing. Around 7-8 months I started giving him the large chunks of soft foods - sweet potatoes, broccoli, etc. We then easily morphed into giving him bits of whatever we were eating; something we still do to this day!

I made a lot of baby food for dc1; she liked it all, but it was definitely not necessary.