Baby Food. Which one next?

[Friendlee]

My LO is loving breastmilk, avocado, sweet potatoes and banana. I'd like to introduce about 1 or two more foods, but I'm not sure which ones.

Yogurt sounds easy and the organic YoBaby yogurts are intriguing. But I hate how they add all the flavor and stuff. I could do without that. And adding YoBaby yogurt to her diet sounds expensive.

Should I re-introduce the iron fortified cereal? Is it really that important? (It constipted her before so I haven't been giving it to her).

Should I try cooked pears? Are prunes a little too harsh for a baby?

*The Super Baby Food book suggests these things next (yogurt, pears, prunes, etc.) that's why I'm asking about them specifically. But that book also says to wait on carrots while Dr. Sears says carrots are a great first food. I don't have time to read about things like nitrates and stuff...seems like there all this stuff you MUST know or you'll ruin your baby!!!

[Hannah'sMommy]

How old is your LO? How about peas, green beans, winter squash? Are you doing purees or finger foods? I've always heard to wait on yogurt until 12 months, but I also know a lot of people give their LOs whole milk yogurt earlier than that. Prunes are fine in moderation, probably not more than a couple times a week. We're having to give our LO (8 months) prunes, probably because of the cereal, apples, and bananas. Check out http://wholesomebabyfood.com There is a lot of good information, along with a quick reference chart for foods you can introduce to baby by age group (6-8 months, 8-10 months, etc).

[Chamomile Girl]

Yo Baby yogurts have quite a bit of sugar, so I vote no there (they are marketed to kids because theyare whole milk and do not contain honey as a sweetner). I mix plain yogurt with fruit instead.

Prunes are a great addition to the baby's diet (via my Ped). Soak them in boiling water to reconstute first though. Heck you can put them in the yogurt. My babe looooves prunes. I usually only give one or two though.

Breastmilk has iron so the cereal is not necessary imo. Other good sources of iron are peaches and beans. My kid loves hummus and black beans.

[amydiane]

I like the wholesomebabyfood.com site, too. As far as the yogurt, I remember getting plain YoBaby for DS (though he didn't like it very much....he loves the fruit ones, though). I'm not sure if they still make it because I haven't looked for it recently, but I have bought plain organic whole milk yogurt in the bigger tubs at the grocery store and added fruit to it for him.

[Friendlee]

She's 6.5 months.

Yeah, I kinda thought you were supposed to wait til 12 months for dairy which is why I was surprised to see it in the Super Baby Food book. I hadn't looked at the ingredients of yoBaby - definitely not giving those to her if there is sugar in them! So that settles that...no yoBaby.

My gut was saying peas next, but they say to wait until 7 months (I'm talking pureed peas here - I know the whole pea would be a choking hazard). I guess your baby might deconstruct if you give them peas before 7 months?
I just know that sometimes there are dangers associated with certain things and that I've only happened upon information that NEVER would have occurred to me. So I read stuff and assume they know what they're talking about and that there is a reason.

I wasn't doing winter squash...I guess I just kind of felt like it was so similar to sweet potato. Of course I should try squash! Okay, I'll check out the baby food site too.

[Llyra]

There is a YoBaby now that is plain, unsweetened yogurt. You can get plain, unsweetened, full-fat organic yogurt in big quart tubs, though, and save a bundle of money in the process. Those little cups of yogurt are way overpriced.

I never fed my babies anything in any certain order. Once they're genuinely old enough to eat solid foods, they're really old enough to eat anything we eat, with a few exceptions. Have you looked up the concept of baby-led weaning? The books like super baby food and all that talk about these "mandatory" orders to introduce foods, and minimum ages you're "supposed" to adhere to, but most of it is just culturally biased opinion. In other cultures, babies eat tiny bites or pieces of what their parents eat, and they certainly don't self-destruct. There's even some fairly compelling research coming out suggesting that our practice of delaying allergenic foods may be unnecessary or even harmful.

A baby should not have honey, nor should a baby be given anything that is a choking hazard-- but I don't think I'd call well-cooked sweet peas a choking hazard. You can just mash them lightly with a fork if you're concerned.

I would recommend googling around and checking out the idea of baby-led weaning.

As far as the cereal, all it really is is empty processed starch with synthetic vitamins and minerals added in. Taste it-- it tastes awful. I wouldn't eat it unless it was the only calories left on earth, so I don't think I'd feed it to my kids. Meat, including liver, and egg yolk are much better sources of iron anyway-- the iron in those cereals is not in a form that's very easy for the body to absorb. I'd stick to whole foods like fruits, vegetables, egg yolks, yogurt, cheese, meats, fish, poultry, beans, and healthy sources of fat like extra-virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, avocado, and coconut.

[CherryBombMama]

green beans and peas were our first food, although carrots were the favorite once he tasted that ... i dont know what youre following but i just gave my ds simple versions of whatever we were eating at 6.5 months ... any veggie that we eat, any fruit, lots of mashed beans ... beans are a biggie in this house

[Abraisme]

I start with a few "safe foods" and then very quickly just feed my babies what ever I'm eating. My 8mo DD eats whatever we're eating at any given meal. Today she had whole-wheat english muffin for breakfast and scrambled eggs and beans for lunch. My opinion is that most people over think this way too much. If your baby is interested in eating and enthusiastic, you can feed them any whole, healthy food. Fruits, veggies, grains, cheese, plain yogurt, meat, anything healthy really.

[Carhootel]

I would suggest sticking with fruits and veggies (a good mix of each) for a while longer. Give whatever veggie you are having for dinner. If you are interested in trying yogurt I would recommend doing a plain greek yogurt - no sugar, tons of protein and all the goodness of yogurt (probiotics, calcium, etc)

[tzs]

i think even if you are following an order to food introduction most of those people say yogurt and cottage cheese are ok earlier than one year and before regular cheeses. that people with lactose intolerence are often still ok with them.

i think the pea thing may just be b/c it's a legume and could be gassy for a babe and according to the people that are following an order you might wait until they can "process" it better. i've heard the same thing about beans, broccoli, cabbage, etc....

i even read in Parents magazine of all places that egg whites are ok at 7 months if no family history of allergies. wow. didn;t expect that from them.

some "gentle" foods i've seen listed were pears, melon, green beans, squash, carrots, potatoes, maybe beets???

[tzs]

oh, i just saw that someone posted "avocado." of course! that's the best one of all. gentle but packed with good stuff.

[mommy212]

Pears are a good first food, they are easy to digest. Also apple sauce is tasty, just make sure you buy the unsweetened kind (I reccomend investing the extra cents in a decent brand- the store brand always tastes nasty to me!) or making your own. Also you can try making your own cereal out of more interesting grains, like quinoa or milet, and cooking them in stock, unsweetened juice or milk to make them even healthier instead of using nasty rice cereal. also bluberries pureed in yogurt or cereal or mixed with other fruits is really yummy and very very healthy!

[cristeen]

Our next food is egg yolks.

We've tried avocado, sweet potato, butternut, mandarin, asparagus