Baby's first "solid"?

[ASB]

I'm gearing up to start my LO on solids and I want to hear about others' experiences with first solids -- what was the first food you introduced and how did it go? What first food have you found that's most nutritionally complete, safest, etc?

I know about wholesomebabyfoods.com, but I would like to hear about moms' real experiences.

Thanks!!

[JamieCatheryn]

My boys both start solids when they were sitting up and grabbing at foods, 5.5months. Both were big fans of pumpkin, and apples at the beginning. DS1 liked pears and plums too, DS2 likes avocado and likes broth. I don't specially puree anything, just give whole and peeled if it's soft fruit, cooked if it's hard, and pureed or mashed if I'd do that anyway for us. No choking sized pieces, I give stuff larger than fits in the mouth or small as a pea, and supervise carefully. I hold off on grains, dairy, nuts, berries, and shellfish til after 1 year for allergens and ease of digestion.

[kiwiva]

We did avocado, which DD loved, tho at 3 she won't touch it. Second food was bananas and we moved on to lots of veggies from there. We waited until almost 10 months and she has always self fed. I really didn't put much thought into what was most nutritionally complete since she got plenty of breastmilk. I didn't offer any bread, cheerios, etc until after 16 mos; I stuck to real food.

[sewchris2642]

Cherrios, mashed potatoes, bananas, avocados, yams/sweet potatoes, oatmeal. Not necessarily in that order. While I did do some puree foods; mostly mine were all self feeding. If they could pick it up and put it in their mouth, spit it out if they gagged, they ate it.

[buckeye_bebe]

Grapefruit. Ours are bigger than anyone's head, so she just stuck her face right in. I figured it was the right first food because it came from the trees she helped harvest every day.

[mysticmomma]

isn't your baby only 5 months?

[Ahappymel]

Avocado, well-mashed, introduced at 7 months.
Pureed melon is a good one too...easily disgestible.

[calebsmommy25]

We started on avocado at around 6.5 months, but it was barely any. He had a few bites here and there of sweet potato, butternut squash, and bananas. DS really didn't actually start really eating solids until 12 months. He was pleasantly content with milk. He is 19 months now, and still drinks lots of bm, but eats very well. We never really went out of our way to puree. Mostly just mash with a fork, or cut up into small pieces. When I introduced him to some brown rice, I pureed it with butternut squash and bm. He has always fed himself basically everything we eat. He has a fantastic palate, and I love that!

[InMediasRes]

I think it was probably paper.

First consciously fed solid....a huge slice of apple that she could gnaw on. I think we did the same with carrot and cucumber and just did that for a while. Then some mashed avocado, and by then she was ready for finger foods, so...

[LiLStar]

Originally Posted by SactoMommy

I think it was probably paper.

hahaha!! us too!!

But for real solids, ds is 6 months old and showing signs of readiness, but we're waiting until Thanksgiving so its "special" lol. Kind of frivolous to wait for such an arbitrary date, but whatever he'll be having mashed sweet potato, and his portion will be set aside so it doesn't have anything added to it. I might squirt some breastmilk into it to thin it down, not sure. I plan on just plopping a pile onto his high chair tray and letting him have at it! squish his fingers in it, smear it around, and see how much ends up in his mouth. I can't wait

[medicmama]

Sweet potato and butternut squash. I think they were about 7.5 to 8 mos old.

[katelove]

Originally Posted by LiLStar

hahaha!! us too!!

But for real solids, ds is 6 months old and showing signs of readiness, but we're waiting until Thanksgiving so its "special" lol.

I think that is a really cool idea

[velochic]

Originally Posted by ASB

I'm gearing up to start my LO on solids and I want to hear about others' experiences with first solids -- what was the first food you introduced and how did it go? What first food have you found that's most nutritionally complete, safest, etc?

I know about wholesomebabyfoods.com, but I would like to hear about moms' real experiences.

Thanks!!

Why are you "gearing up"? Just let your baby sit on your lap when you're eating and she/he will tell you when she/he is ready and what they want.

TBH, dd didn't start on solids really until she was close to a year. We totally skipped the messy, pureed, tasteless stuff and let dd have small bits when she really started showing an interest/had the motor skills to feed herself.

So, my answer is that we didn't "introduce" anything, we let dd introduce solid food to herself. She had a little chair that attached to our kitchen table, so she sat right at the table with us from about 6 or 7 months and discovered food on her own.

[BetsyS]

I used to scrapbook, so for first foods, I did avocado, bananas, and carrots. They made for a cute "A, B, C" page , and they are easy, mashable finger foods to eat.

[busymama77]

Bananas, sweet potatoes, avocado, yogurt, and oatmeal - DS was around 6 months when we started him on these.

[Llyra]

My kids all had ripe banana as their first food. Other foods they ate early on were sweet potatoes, carrots, applesauce, pear puree, peach puree, and avocado (although none of my kids really liked that-- they still don't.)

[KristyDi]

Originally Posted by ASB

I'm gearing up to start my LO on solids and I want to hear about others' experiences with first solids -- what was the first food you introduced and how did it go? What first food have you found that's most nutritionally complete, safest, etc?

I know about wholesomebabyfoods.com, but I would like to hear about moms' real experiences.

Thanks!!

Just wanted to point out that whatever food you choose your LO really won't be getting a ton of nutrition out of it yet. For the first year breastmilk (or formula) provides the majority of the nutrition. Solids are for exploration and learning tastes and textures.

My dd's first solid was sweet potato fries. She hates to be spoon fed so I gave up on the mush and offered soft foods cut into fry shapes that she could gum in herself.

[elmh23]

Dd wouldn't eat anything until she was like 10mo and I think it was banana? I can't remember 100%

Ds's first food was pureed pear. We were dealing with LOTS of allergens in him and my daughter and it is said to be the least allergenic food. He eventually moved on to pureed carrots, sweet potato and peaches along with pieces of banana. By 9 months, I'd stopped the purees and was just giving him pieces of cut of fruit and bits of meat.

[mamadelbosque]

DS1's first food was bits of my left over tacos ~7.5 months. From then on we just gave him bits of whatever we were eating and let him try and stuff them in his mouth