Best new food that is gluten and dairy free?

[babygirlie]

I am told the most perfect food to start a baby on is cheerios. It has the right shape and texture where it won't ever hurt a baby even if swallowed. Well we don't eat gluten and she's allergic to dairy. Gluten free items are notoriously DRY and hard for an adult to swallow. There is the new chex gf cereal but it has sharp edges.

Currently she eats (9 months, 7.5 adjusted) pureed carrots, rice cereal with formula and pear puree. We've tried a few other purees but she also has bad excema and I'm having trouble figuring it out if those made it worse so went back to carrots.

What would be ok foods for her to try. Things I eat are inappropriate for her. Like right now hubby made nachos which have cheese.

Also they keep hinting at she can probably have milk at a year old. Would she just grow out of milk intolerance that fast? I know I am milk intolerant but I'm an adult and can choose to make myself sick :P When I asked about the gluten (I am celiac) to the ped he said keep her gluten free as long as you can and don't worry about it. (??)

[evening start]

Are you looking specifically for finger foods? I wouldn't think Cheerios a great starter food in general, but maybe a good starter finger food? Some gluten free possibilities for early finger foods include banana or avocado cut into small pieces, cooked frozen peas, cooked black beans, puffed rice cereal or broken up rice cake, freeze dried fruit pieces, small pieces of well cooked sweet potatoes or carrots or really any other vegetable that gets pretty mushy. Also, Happy Baby makes an organic, minimally processed baby "puffs," they do contain a small amount of wheat, but don't have most other allergens and no processed sugar. They are currently DS's favorite finger food, and his first exposure to wheat, which he seems to be doing okay with so far. I hope that helps answer your question.

[Comtessa]

I've seen quite a few recipes for easy homemade teething biscuits online - I imagine some of them might be gluten-free. Do oats have gluten? Lots of the recipes are built on an oatmeal base. Some use baby rice cereal as a base too. You could bake those and give them to your LO whole or cut into tiny pieces for her to pick up and chew.

Some other good first foods you could try that don't tend to cause reactions (IME):
- pureed apricots (soak dried apricots in hot water for 1/2 hour then puree) - very high in iron and very sweet
- applesauce
- acorn or butternut squash (roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until soft, scoop out flesh and puree - I add a bit of cinnamon to the mix too)
- avocados, bananas, peaches - cut in chunks or smashed
- steamed carrots cut in small pieces

Lots of babies grow out of dairy intolerance between 1 and 2 years. Not all, but many.

[babygirlie]

I am so scared she will choke. I have joked about keeping her on puree until she is 80 so the elderly food will be an easy transition :P I just don't want her to get hurt!

I have IC so we haven't had bananas in the house in years but I can definately do that and avocados!

Oats can come in a gluten free form but there is still a protien in it that can be painful. I can't tolerate oats. I was in excruciating pain as a child/young adult and missed a lot on life and don't want her to do the same. So I've stayed away from oatmeal for now.

I'm a huge noob so sorry if I sound like one!

[hakeber]

ds used to love tempura veggie batons at that age, like eggplant, and zucchini and carrots and even broccoli, and sweet potatoes...

Basically it's rice flour, water, baking soda, and ice, made into a batter and then it's deep fried. There are lots of recipes online, and most Asian supermarkets, or good grocery stores have mixes. Benjamin loved this and so did DH and I.

What about polenta? Baked and sliced into sticks...perfect finger food and you can even add grated veggies to the mix to make it tastier and more colorful.

DS also loved mango and papaya at that age, and steamed or baked pumpkin/winter squash. He liked being able to feed himself. It was well messy, but so much fun.

Ice pops were a big hit too, especially when the teeth were coming through...just pop those purees into an ice pop mold and you're set.

The good thing about cheerios though are that they travel well, so you can pop a tupperware of them in the diaper bag and have snacks for babe while you enjoy a meal out, or on a long drive or whenever...Maybe a gluten free teething cookie recipe would be a good substitute.

[nukuspot]

When you say IC do you mean Intersitial Cysitis? I have IC too!

Avocado, sweet potato, cooked and mashed blueberries, pears (puree or mashed), bananas, applesauce, mashed broccoli, mashed egg yolks, quinoa...There are so many good options for first baby foods. A fave here is kale pureed with pears. We call them "kale-pears." DD loves them.

A great idea for something your whole family can share: Make a big pot of homemade chicken soup. Take some soft chicken and carrots from the soup and mash for baby! You can mix it with the rice you are already giving your LO.

And I totally felt the same way about choking. I was so scared. But your LO will get better and more capable about eating over time. That's not to say that I don't cut peas in half and take the skin off blueberries....But I do give all or most non-pureed foods now finally and am not as worried.

[DevaMajka]

I just got some puffed rice for ds. The only ingredient is rice They dissolve super fast once they hit saliva.
Not necessarily nutritious, but something fun to eat, kwim? We're trying to figure out if we have food causes of eczema, so rice seemed like a good start (we tried purees before he got the eczema). Plus, he really wants to feed himself, and these seem easier than slippery chunks of fruit (which we will be adding, one at a time).

[jocelyndale]

We used Gorilla Munch. It turns to mush with the slightest bit of moisture. As he got slightly older, we also gave him Just Blueberries (freeze dried blueberries).

At that age, he'd happily pick up bits of meat from our soup/plate or cooked pasta (brown rice pasta).

[MissRubyandKen]

As first foods dd loved baked sweet potato, avocado cubed, both raw and heated, with or without coconut oil and garlic powder, and black beans with or without salsa.

[kdtmom2be]

Yup, my kids both love beans. I sometimes rinse them before feeding because I buy canned and they are high in sodium and the "sludge" they are in is messy. Black beans, Romano beans (these are nice and soft), kidney beans. When they are older garbanzo beans and lima beans are ok too.

DD was dairy intolerant as a baby. I thought that she had outgrown it around age 2. We just went on vacation with my parents and she was drinking milk when we were out at restaurants, probably once or twice daily which is about 10 times more than she drinks at home. Sure enough, after 9+ months of being rash free she broke out in an allergic eczema rash all over her face. Removed the dairy and the rash was gone in a few days. So, she is MORE tolerant of it now, but still not great. I read somewhere that 90% of kids will outgrow a milk allergy by the time they are 2yrs.

[maryeb]

Originally Posted by nukuspot

When you say IC do you mean Intersitial Cysitis? I have IC too!

Avocado, sweet potato, cooked and mashed blueberries, pears (puree or mashed), bananas, applesauce, mashed broccoli, mashed egg yolks, quinoa...There are so many good options for first baby foods. A fave here is kale pureed with pears. We call them "kale-pears." DD loves them.

A great idea for something your whole family can share: Make a big pot of homemade chicken soup. Take some soft chicken and carrots from the soup and mash for baby! You can mix it with the rice you are already giving your LO.

And I totally felt the same way about choking. I was so scared. But your LO will get better and more capable about eating over time. That's not to say that I don't cut peas in half and take the skin off blueberries....But I do give all or most non-pureed foods now finally and am not as worried.

Yes to all this! And beans, lentils, etc. We always started our kids on avocados and seasonal fruit. If you really feel like giving your child animal milk at some point, try goat. My milk intolerant ds1 will eat a bit of raw goat cheese here and there and he is fine. Also, when I was a baby I had lots of excema...my mom stopped feeding me eggs and it went away. I still cannot eat eggs to this day. Good luck.

[mkksmom]

My LO is only 4 mo, but with my older dd, I used to cut cooked carrots or bits of fruit and then shake them in a bag of cheerio powder to make them less slippery. I'll bet puffed rice smashed up would be another good way to make little bits of food less slippery.

[Comtessa]

Originally Posted by mkksmom

My LO is only 4 mo, but with my older dd, I used to cut cooked carrots or bits of fruit and then shake them in a bag of cheerio powder to make them less slippery. I'll bet puffed rice smashed up would be another good way to make little bits of food less slippery.

That is a great idea!!!!
I'm off to smash some Cheerios right now...