First Foods

[Mawood]

Hi -
I wanted to start a thread about first foods that don't come out of a box. I read the recent thread about strong allergic reactions to avocado and banana (which I had thought of offering my daughter) and was wondering what kind of foods you offered/offer first. My husband actually has a lot of allergies - not only food related ones(e.g. seafood) but I don't have any. Do you have any book recommendations as well? I heard "Feeding the whole Family" is a good book to have. Thanks so much, Maren

[cocoanib]

Hmmm, DD is 4 months, so I'll be checking back in here to see what other Mama's have to say.
Good post Mawood!

[nola79]

I offered things we were eating with meals, such as squash, potato, egg yolk. Neither me or DH have allergies, though. I did offer avacado but dd wouldn't have anything to do with it.

[Knitting Mama]

I'm thinking zucchini or sweet potato will be Cecilia's first food. But she's not even 4 months yet so that's quite a ways off!

[MamieCole]

With DS1 we started solids at 7.5 months. His first foods were bananas and avocado, followed by sweet potatoes, broccoli and apples. After the first week I just gave him pretty much whatever we were eating. Waited til 1 year to introduce eggs, nut, honey. He's never cared much for any meat other than fish.

DS2 is 8 months and we just started solids this week. He's had bananas, avocados, applesauce, pears, pluots and strawberries so far.

[flower01]

I think more and more research is showing that delaying certain foods does not prevent or cause allergies. With my 1st DC, I completely avoided dairy for the first year because we didn't want her to get her dad's allergies...and guess what, she has it bad. Now with our son, we give him everything except straight up milk.

You just can't know what your child might have a reaction to so I don't think you should worry about which foods have caused some kids allergic reactions...unless it is the obvious ones like peanuts.

Just take it slow...introduce foods one at a time until you feel confident. My 10 month old literally eats everything off our plates...unless we deem it a choking hazard or too spicy. We started introducing food at 6 month...because we couldn't keep it away from him.

[cristeen]

Our first food was avocado. Followed by sweet potato. Banana came along shortly. He didn't care for any of them at the time, but loved asparagus, broccoli and mandarins. Mommy figured out that he wants to be able to chew something, so avocado and banana that's slightly firm still is good for him, and sweet potato that's roasted or fried so that it's firm instead of mush he'll eat happily.

But now at almost 10 mos, he eats almost everything we do, with a few exceptions (grains, nuts, honey). I just intro'd them slowly and kept an eye out for symptoms, like the flushed cheeks with blueberries, the red bottom with green bell peppers, the diarrhea and red bottom with oranges. So we wait a couple weeks and try again (except the oranges - we'll wait a few months on that one).

[heatheresc]

knowing what symptoms to look for?

Cristeen, thanks for the helpful post. I just let my little one suck on a stick of green bell pepper yesterday, since I was eating it myself. I did not know to look for a red rash or anything. Where did you learn about the potential reactions? I don't want to do boxed baby food either, but now I'm worried that I don't know enough of what to be cautious about.

[Mawood]

Dr. Sears has a whole chapter in his baby book I just read (after posting) and has recommendations for certain age groups starting at 6 months. He also says that rice cereal and banana are constipating and that is a problem for most babies but a traditional rec. as a first food. His starter foods are: bananas, rice cereal, pears and apple sauce. Then from 7-9 months he recommends parents offer avocados, peaches, carrots, squash, prunes, sweet potatoes or yams, mashed potatoes, barley cereal, teething biscuits, pear and apple juice diluted.
I think I read that carrots have high nitrate levels and aren't good to be self prepared for babies??? I kind of like the approach to offer tastes of the table food if it is not to exotic and spicy. I am really looking forward to have Olivia try some tastes and see how she likes it. So far she has been interested in the spoon and eating utensils. She isn't sitting up by herself yet and doesn't have any teeth (but is showing all signs of teething for a while now) so I wait for that.

Thanks so much for all responses, Maren

[Friendlee]

Originally Posted by flower01

I think more and more research is showing that delaying certain foods does not prevent or cause allergies. With my 1st DC, I completely avoided dairy for the first year because we didn't want her to get her dad's allergies...and guess what, she has it bad.

Just take it slow...introduce foods one at a time until you feel confident.

I think flower01 makes a good point.

I have 4 different baby food books and I also consult wholesomebabyfood.com. Each of these sources contradict each other at every turn as far as what is safe and when. I came to the conclusion that all I can do is introduce foods slowly (new food in the am and wait about 4 days) and watch for reactions.

Our first foods, in this order, were:
Avocado
Banana
Sweet potatoes
Pears (I would have started with pears had I known that they tend to be nice and easy on the tummy and they help her poop!)

[aerobrandi]

Originally Posted by Mawood

I think I read that carrots have high nitrate levels and aren't good to be self prepared for babies???

I read recently, but don't remember where, that while that is true it's really more of a concern if you're introducting them before 6 months. At 6 months the baby's system is more able to handle them. Wish I could remember where I saw that.

Our guy's first foods were bananas and avocados. He never took to rice cereal, can't blame him . We followed all the food rules at first and then eventually threw them out the window and took more of a baby led weaning and eating appropriate foods from my plate approach. Last night he had homemade guacamole and loved it. He's had berries and other "no no's" and has done just fine. I think it's really more about your family history of allergies and just being observant when introducting foods.

[mommy212]

i offered sweet potatoe first, then pear, and soon to follow were brown rice, banana and avocado that I would consider his 'first' foods. I feed him a lot more now! I have heard peaches are very, very gentle on the tummy.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by heatheresc

Cristeen, thanks for the helpful post. I just let my little one suck on a stick of green bell pepper yesterday, since I was eating it myself. I did not know to look for a red rash or anything. Where did you learn about the potential reactions? I don't want to do boxed baby food either, but now I'm worried that I don't know enough of what to be cautious about.

YOu can read about what to look for in just about any book that covers introducing new foods.

We follow the plan of introducing foods one at a time, and watching for a reaction before moving on to the next food. Usually it's supposed to be 4 days between introductions, but I think mostly we've just done 2 days. The more common reactions will be butt turning red or flushed cheeks. The more severe reactions could include hives, increased respirations, swelling, severe vomiting (all of which probably require a trip to the ER). With the milder reactions, you wait a few weeks/months and try that food again. Rinse, repeat, depending on the severity of the reaction. With my little guy, the blueberries was a mild reaction and 2 weeks later that reaction was gone. Bell peppers was a pretty mild reaction, but I haven't tried them again just because we don't eat many bell peppers here. Oranges was a more severe reaction (diarrhea and red butt together), and therefore I'll wait a bit longer to try again (probably until after 1 yr). But, food sensitivities/allergies are not very common in our family. I have a few mild ones, and DH has none, so the slow intro is just me being cautious. For someone with a family history of allergies, you'd probably go the full 4 days between.

[tzs]

in theory our first foods were single-ingredient...pear sauce, steamed sweet potato, mashed banana, chunky poached apples....

but in reality, one of the first things to go in her mouth was meatloaf, but that was all her doing.

we evolved to a blw approach pretty quickly.
i get jars through wic and use them to make her muffins, pancakes, pasta sauce, popsicles, etc..
also, i actually do buy the earth's best oatmeal because even though she's never eaten it straight i sometimes use it to thicken things like a runnier applesauce or yogurt....easier to stay on a spoon and i figure it adds iron so go for it. i even added it to a carrot soup once and it tasted pretty good...like polenta!

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by tzs

in theory our first foods were single-ingredient...pear sauce, steamed sweet potato, mashed banana, chunky poached apples....

but in reality, one of the first things to go in her mouth was meatloaf, but that was all her doing.

I love this! I was going to ask if anyone gave meat as a first food. Great source of iron and zinc, and I have heard a standard first food in Australia. Anyone from down under want to comment?

We still have at least 3 months to go, so I'm taking notes...

[neverdoingitagain]

My first child got rice cereal as her first food. My second had buffalo meat as her first.
Oddly enough, my first prefers to eat breads/grains and my second prefers meat. In our case, the old wives tale was true

[tzs]

i actually made the effort to introduce meats pretty soon after we started. i think some source had recommended it at 6 months after mentioning the need for iron. but this was still when i was actually "introducing foods" instead of just giving her from our meals.

ground meats are great. we don't have it very often because for us (kosher thing again) it's hard to get and very expensive but when i get my hands on some meatballas, hamburger, chicken soup meat, chili...it goes straight to the babe. i'd do it daily if i could.

[november]

My daughter's first food was sweet potato. She still really likes it! A few others were carrot, apple, and pear...she loves those as well. She used to love banana but is kind of reverting on that one now. And I keep trying to get her to like avocado but it's just not happening--it's the only food that actually makes her gag!

[laughingfox]

DD1's first food was very garlicky hummus (by her own doing).

At first I was scared of giving her anything spicy, but then one time when I was babywearing and cooking, she grabbed a spoonful of curry paste out of my hand and started eating the curry paste off of the spoon. After she did that without complaint or gastrointestinal distress, I figured it would be hard to make anything too spicy for her.
We eat a lot of brown rice, veggies and beans, and she loved them every way we had them, cajun red beans and rice, channa masala and/or saag on rice, refried beans with salsa and Spanish rice, etc.
She also loved cold peas, pears, peaches, berries, and oatmeal pumpkin bread.
She wasn't really picky- as long as it was something fresh or homecooked. She wanted nothing to do with jarred foods.