introducing solids TF style - at what age? and what foods?

[bluebell]

ds is now coming up to 6 months having been exclusively breastfed, so now i'm getting lots of comments about him having his first real food. but i'm really scared about it, because he has had very bad colic which was helped when i cut out various foods mainly dairy. i have a strong suspicion that he has the same gut problems that myself and dd have. he seems to be struggling and straining to do his poo's (this is a recent thing and i'm wondering why this has started to happen now) and i'm terrified that once i introduce any food he will start to get the dreadful constipation that my poor dd suffered and still suffers. i did do gaps/scd with her for 2 years but she refused the theraputic foods (ferments, yogurt etc) and so she was ok while grainfree but since having grains back in her bowel movements are not very regular - i'd love to get her back on gaps again but she will not do it willingly and i can't fight her over food any more as it was becoming a big problem.
so i'm determined to get off to the best start possible with ds i will certainly keep him grainfree probably dairy free too. he didn't seem to tolerate eggs when i ate them so will not have them.
so whats best to introduce for him?
and do i really have to start him at 6months? he is grabbing everything and when we are at the table he reaches out for my food but i pull him away - much to his annoyance!
can i continue to exclusivly breastfeed for a year? or does he really need to be introduced to real foods?
when i do start him with solids i will not be making any puree's or spoon feeding him it will just be him picking up finger foods as and when he wants from my plate.
so whats the best thing to do?

[almadianna]

6 months is a minimum but some kids arent into it until later, even then at that age it is for play and experimentation.. not for real nutrition.

that said, i started my kids with avocadoes. i never did the "mashed up" foods and let them sort of self feed. i gave them stuff from my plate (which was TF already) and went from there.

I have never believes that we have to do anything "special" for babies, just make sure that you dont start off too spicy and that you introduce one type of food at a time if your family has a history of allergies.

[Koalamom]

My kids have allergies so even though we are TF eaters, we go slow with it and many of the recommended TF baby foods are big known allergies. I am going slow feeding my baby as he is 7 months. He has had yams, steamed mashed swiss chard, carrots, green beans, lentil soup, refried beans, and a tiny bit of rice. I find that lentils are a great first food for him. A mama from this site said that it is traditional in Greece where she was writing from to feed lentil first at 7 months, so that is what we are doing. My baby gets very colicy and get rashes really bad from allergies and after starting on lentils, his rashes are going away. And he sleeps better at night. I am not feeding him grains yet except for a taste of rice, and for sure no eggs. We are avoiding dairy except for ghee which we put on all of his food. He is finally gaining weight and is so content.

And for our colic, I avoid onions collard, broccoli, but I can have leeks as an onion replacement. And I take digestive enzymes and that really helps keep him calm. And I have given the homeopathic remedy called chamomilla up to a 200c potency and that works wonders. And drink fennel tea really helps.

And we are dealing with deeper issues since he has lyme and his colic is linked to that. We are seeing so many changes from dealing with lyme.

[aarias]

If you start the fermented foods early on they grow a taste for it. I used sauerkraut juice as the first food and then sauerkraut (great finger food.) Maybe seeing the baby eat ferments would help your dd eat them.

Babies don't need solid foods that early but I don't know about a baby who is really interested. Maybe you can try putting other interesting things on the table and see if it is about food or just something new and interesting.

GAPS has a good protocol for introducing food to babies - http://www.gaps.me/preview/?page_id=34

[mbravebird]

I say follow the baby, not the books, even the TF books. You can use the TF guideline of focusing on good fats and nutrient-dense foods and fresh, whole foods. If he reacts to something, stop. If he reacts to lots of things, stop alltogether for a while.

My eight-month-old, unlike my first son, is very interested in food. He has been looking and following and reaching for food since about six months. We've tried curried bone broth, medium-rare steak, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana, garbanzo beans (soaked), lamb, blueberries, cod liver oil, butter oil, raw butter, and salmon roe. He reacted to the avocadoes and the butter oil, it seems (spitting up or odd poop or constipation). We haven't tried too much dairy or eggs, other than dairy fat, because I've been reacting to dairy and eggs recently. He LOVES fish roe, which is of course super good for him, so I'm glad about that.

I say since he is so much wanting to try food, try some things in isolation that are fat-focused and nutrient dense, or that are good for the gut (like bone broth). Maybe you'll find something that works for him. Just be willing to stop if necessary.

[meandk0610]

how about ground meat broken into little pieces (and not cooked so long that it's hard)? i use pastured meat that's individually processed so i don't worry so much about bacteria. if you have to use store-bought meat, i guess you could cook it longer and just go with something softer like chicken or turkey.

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by aarias

If you start the fermented foods early on they grow a taste for it. I used sauerkraut juice as the first food and then sauerkraut (great finger food.) Maybe seeing the baby eat ferments would help your dd eat them.

Babies don't need solid foods that early but I don't know about a baby who is really interested. Maybe you can try putting other interesting things on the table and see if it is about food or just something new and interesting.

GAPS has a good protocol for introducing food to babies - http://www.gaps.me/preview/?page_id=34

Just be careful. Both my children are allergic to most cultured foods, and they can only have a little of water kefir, but too much causes rashes. I am all for cultures, but start slowly.

Originally Posted by mbravebird

I say follow the baby, not the books, even the TF books. You can use the TF guideline of focusing on good fats and nutrient-dense foods and fresh, whole foods. If he reacts to something, stop. If he reacts to lots of things, stop alltogether for a while.

My eight-month-old, unlike my first son, is very interested in food. He has been looking and following and reaching for food since about six months. We've tried curried bone broth, medium-rare steak, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana, garbanzo beans (soaked), lamb, blueberries, cod liver oil, butter oil, raw butter, and salmon roe. He reacted to the avocadoes and the butter oil, it seems (spitting up or odd poop or constipation). We haven't tried too much dairy or eggs, other than dairy fat, because I've been reacting to dairy and eggs recently. He LOVES fish roe, which is of course super good for him, so I'm glad about that.

Where do you find roe?

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

Where do you find roe?

We got ours frozen from Vital Choice. They seem like an amazing company. Building-Health also has some dried salmon roe in stock right now for a little less money. It's a pricey food in general, though. I got the price down on our fresh-frozen roe by ordering three.

On an interesting note, Vital Choice also produces their own salmon oil, which costs less than fermented cod liver oil, but has as much vitamin D. It also has some A in it, just not as much as CLO. It also has iodine in it, because they make it from the fish heads, not the body. It's also low-heat processed, purity tested, and the salmon are pretty pure to begin with. We eat a lot of liver, so are getting A and K2 there, and salmon roe also has K2 in it. So I was thinking that maybe we could see if liver and salmon oil would provide some similar nutrients as CLO and butter oil, for less money. My little guy also reacts to butter oil, so this seems like a good alternative for him in particular.

[JMJ]

For being "not TF" at the time that I introduced solids, I was remarkably TF. I know that some TFers think that babies should be spoon-fed nutrient rich foods from a very young age, but I would point out that the most nutrient rich food your baby is going to get is your breast milk, especially if you are on a TF diet.

Especially if you are planning on doing baby-led weaning (chunks of food), you need to wait until he can sit on his own well so that he doesn't get into a position that he chokes. I know he may be grabbing at your food now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's interested in eating it. I'm sure he'd enthusiastically grab at anything you were doing at this point. I would at least wait until all the "readiness" signs are there.

I began giving DD food when she was a little over 7 months old. We started with steamed vegetables and sometimes fruits. I poured CLO on her vegetables to get some into her, but I'm not sure how much she actually got. I offered her proteins, but she was not interested until after 9 months irregularly and after 10 months regularly. At 11 months now, she's eating 3 meals a day of mostly meat/eggs (mostly yolks) and vegetables with a little bit of fruit. We've been officially TF for just a couple weeks when we added in her third meal.

She got a cavity due to damage to a tooth and probably due to my diet with excessive unsoaked grains and soy products. We were so close to TF, already only eating "real" foods, that this really took me by surprise. This is what led us the rest of the way to TF. Since then, the only thing we've really changed in her diet was that I'm now spoonfeeding her the CLO. I really want to make sure that she's getting it. She's also totally grain free instead of mostly grain free now. We're bringing in more of the traditional recipes into her diet as we bring them into our diets. I'm considering starting to spoon-feed her broth so that she'll get the nutrients, but I don't like the idea of spoon-feeding her instead of letting her feed herself.

As far as having to introduce solids, if you established your milk supply well and are continuing to cosleep and stay with your baby for frequent and unrestricted nursings and are getting enough food and water yourself, you should still be able to make enough milk to exclusively breastfeed your baby for much longer than 6 months. I know one mother who never tried introducing solids to any of her children until after 9 months, and I've heard of some babies going until a year. I personally think that babies are individuals on when they're ready for solids, and you'll know when your baby is ready.

[bluebell]

i have to be quick because my computer battery is about to die. but i just wanted to say thanks for all the replies you've all given me some things to think about. will repliy again when i've got some battery charged!
thanks so much!

[organicmidwestmama]

well-cooked meats, grass-finished if possible, either mushed up in a food processor, pre-chewed by mama, or ground meat in some kind of sauce or stock. red meats are fab and full of iron and other minerals.

egg yolk with a sprinkling of sea salt.

plain whole milk yogurt with a drop of maple syrup or instead of sweetener, a mashed blueberry or two.

a big chicken drumstick bone to chew on for fun is great!

butter or ghee.

cooked marrow.