What to give to 11-month old as his first solid food?

[Jerlin]

My 11-month old baby has been exclusively breastfed. I think he's getting enough, as he's 30 inches and 22.5 pounds (at birth he was 20 inches and 7 pounds). I have a few questions:

1. Should I start him on solid food, even though he's doing very well on breastmilk alone?

2. If so, what do you recommend? I don't want to give him rice cereal , as I heard that it's just filler.

3. I bought Earth's Best organic oatmeal cereal. Is it ok to give him? Do you know if there's any gluten in oatmeal?

4. I've already given him a smidgeon amount of mashed up banana and I put it on his lips. He licked it and gave me the most cutest awful face. And then he kept gagging. The gagging isn't from the food but I think it's from the taste. And then a couple of minutes later, he threw up his breastmilk that I had fed him about 15 minutes earlier. And from then on, he won't take anything, not even breastmilk from a spoon. Do you think he's just not ready for solids?

5. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[cristeen]

Rice cereal is not a good choice, as you know, but oats aren't a whole lot better. He wont have the ability to digest grains until closer to 18 mos. Oats themselves do not contain gluten, but are usually cross-contaminated w it. If gluten is a concern, you have to look for oats labeled GF.

Is your DS mouthing his toys? Does he chew on things? I would just give him a spoon and let him play with it to deal w the fear. And then i'd just give him chunks of Soft food and let him feed himself... does he show any interest in what you eat?

And i'd avoid bananas until he gets better at self-feeding. He may not like them, or it may be that he's allergic. Either way, allowing him to choose whether to eat foods is a great way to not over-feed and to determine likes/dislikes.

We never spoonfed our DS, i put him in his highchair w some chunks of food for him to play with (2 or 3 chunks is plenty). The first half dozen times, the food wound up smashed and smeared everywhere, but i doubt any got into his mouth. Then the next ualf dozen times or so he got a bit in his mouth, and that's how he figured out how to feed himself. After a few months of that, i dont have to strip him down to his dipe to eat. And in fact we rarely use the high chair except for messy foods (like salmon). I do "spoon" feed him off my plate if he asks, or i put out a small metal bowl w foods he can feed himself.

HTH

[cristeen]

If he's not showing interest in your food and is not mouthing everything in sight, then he may not be ready for solids. Why have you waited this long (how have you waited this long)?

As for a good first, some people like sweet potatoes... I think that was our 2nd food. Avocado was our first. But you've already tried your first, so i'm not sure what it is you're asking there.

[Jerlin]

Thanks for your replies! The reason I asked about the 1st food is because I didn't think the smidgeon of banana counted. I mashed it up to where it was liquid and then I gave him literally a pin drop on his lips. I think he licked it by accident and just got a taste of it. Then he threw up, but I don't think it's actually from digesting the banana but from the smidgeon of flavor that he got. He hasn't had anymore, even though we offered. He just kept shaking his head no no no no.

The reason I've waited this long is because he seemed to be doing well on breastmilk alone. But both my mom and mother-in-law kept nagging at me to give him rice cereal. I didn't want to give him rice cereal, as I wanted to give him a more nutritious food.

I will try your advice regarding just letting him "play" first. Thank you!

[cristeen]

My question was more intended as how on earth have you managed to make it to 11 mos wo starting solids? My only experience being my DS who at 4 mos was grabbing for our food. Waiting until 6 mos was hard, he was so determined to get our food. But, i know not all kids are as stubborn as mine.

[catnip]

The foods she liked early on were soft fruits like bananas, ripe peaches, nectarines and pears, applesauce, avocado, and sweet potato.

[dogmom327]

DS was like that, no real interest in food until 10 or 11 mo. DD was closer to 7 mo. I agree with Cristeen that letting baby feed himself is the best way to go. Just offer very nutrient dense foods like avocado, maybe some ground meat (easy to chew), something like that.

ETA: I know of a little girl who didn't want any solid food until 14 mo. She was happy, healthy, developmentally-on-track little kid. Just preferred breast milk.

[JessicaS]

My daughter was like that, she wasn't really interested in solids until she was older (18 months!!!) My son was tearing stuff out of our hands at five months. *L

All babies really are very different on this issue.

We usually do sweet potatoes, squash and avocados at first. Rice cereal isn't very nutritionally dense, we skipped it.

[neptunemama]

I personally wouldn't worry about nutrition at first. Whether rice cereal or oats is "filler" isn't the point at this stage. When you first introduce solid food, it's all about getting your child used to something different from breast milk. Start small, and give what you like. Whether you make it yourself or buy prepared baby food. Most likely it will be a good while before solid food makes up any significant proportion of his diet. I wouldn't stress much about what you give at all. With my oldest, her first food was organic butternut squash. Then we added in cereal, and other veggies and fruits. My youngest had tiramisu for her first taste of solid food. She was crying watching us eat (we were in Italy) and trying desperately to get our spoons. So we gave in and let her have some. She was SO happy. And she's our big veggie eater at almost 9. Not that I'm recommending sweets (we went and found baby food after this experience) but my point is what you give first isn't critical. Give a little of a veggie, a fruit or a cereal, keep it up for a few days or more, then try giving something different. It's all about getting used to a new texture and taste. Oh, and I gave both my kids oatmeal b/c my oldest never liked rice cereal, so w/my second I skipped the rice altogether. I think the oatmeal is fine.

[elmh23]

Wow, my 7 month old completely freaks if we're eating and he doesn't have something (even if he can't get it in his mouth, he wants to play with it!)

Anyway, don't worry about nutrition. You know he's doing well, so just offer stuff you're eating, cut up in to appropriate size and let him play with it. Some might end up in his mouth, but it might not. My dd didn't really eat food until she was 18 months and I got pregnant and my supply dropped. She was a hefty baby (25lbs at 9 months) so we weren't worried about that.

I don't do the rice cereals or oatmeal, mostly because they're a pita when I have to make food for 2 other kids (and my older kids won't eat oatmeal.) Oatmeal does have gluten UNLESS it specifically says "Certified Gluten Free" on the package. That oatmeal usually costs more than the regular brands and not every store carries them, so what you have probably isn't GF.

[debrah.h48word]

Hello,

I have an 11 month old baby girl and she has been eating 3 solid meals a day for several months now. I do not feed her what my husband and I eat because most of what we eat is not appropriate for her age but I do make a lot of her food. I make sure she gets plenty of water and her formula and she gets a couple of snacks during the day as well. Here is a great guide that I have printed and keep in the kitchen.

[nukuspot]

Originally Posted by cristeen

My question was more intended as how on earth have you managed to make it to 11 mos wo starting solids? My only experience being my DS who at 4 mos was grabbing for our food. Waiting until 6 mos was hard, he was so determined to get our food. But, i know not all kids are as stubborn as mine.

I wondered the same thing!

[Jerlin]

My 11.5 month old never showed any interest in the foods that I was eating. He reached for the things in my plate, but she just wanted to feel the food and throw it on the floor. He hasn't made any motion of putting food in his mouth. And when I first tried to give him solid foods (mashed banana), he took one lick of the banana (literally a pin drop size) and then gagged. I think he didn't like the taste, as it was too small of an amount to get any texture tasting. And then he threw up. We waited until the next day to try again, and he just kept shaking his head no no no and would take the spoon and throw it down. I even tried giving him breastmilk in a spoon. Again, he wouldn't have any of that.

Then the following week, I tried to feed him some mashed up butternut squash (steamed). He didn't even want to try it! He kept shaking his head no no no and moved his head so much that I couldn't put a little smear on his lips for him to taste. And that's when we gave up. That was just a few days ago.

He poops every 10 days or so. He's always been a long pooper. And when he does, it's huge! I weighed it (I know, gross) and his poops are about 1/2 pound! BTW, he's potty-trained due to elimination communication.

I'm at a point that I don't want to push it anymore. Perhaps he's just not ready for solids???? Should I keep trying? I don't know what to do!

[sept04mama]

My son was about 11 or 12 mos. for his first solid. I gave him a pear that I had partially peeled (whole) He had a great time gnawing on it! I always hear avocado is a good first but I'm pretty allergic so I don't even buy them.

[elmh23]

My guy will not anything mashed. Sometimes I give him a slice of avocado and he'll mash it a little before eating, but thats it really. He's never liked anything on a spoon.

Have you tried just giving him half a banana? He might not touch it (which is fine), but he might surprise you.

[SollysMom]

I let both of my boys self-feed from the start, around 6.5 months for both of them. Both of their first foods were steamed broccoli florets. DS2 barfed it up right away, so we decided to hold off a little while. A few days later at playgroup, he grabbed a pita out of my hand and went to town on it so I figured he was ready.

Early foods that I like to do are steamed broccoli (as above), baked sweet potato wedges, any kind of fruit (with something like an apple, I'll take a bite to get him started), toast, baby carrots (steamed for the toothless crowd), hummus on toast or carrots... DS1 was never spoon-fed and will NOT allow anyone to feed him, so with DS2 I will occasionally offer him food off my own spoon (like yogurt) just so he's used to that too. Since your baby is older and likely has both his pincer grasp and some teeth, you've got a lot more freedom than someone who starts younger. Honestly, if it were me, I'd probably just start giving him a bit of whatever you're eating and let him self-feed. Another thing my boys LOVED over the summer was home-made popsicles. I would freeze a small amount of my own green smoothie in an ice cube tray using these as popsicle sticks, and the baby especially would go to town. Again, since your baby's a bit older, he'd probably be fine with regular popsicle molds/sticks. At 7 months my baby couldn't quite grab a regular popsicle stick.

ETA: I know bananas and avocados are supposed to be great for self-feeding, but I've found both were much too slippery for my babies to feed themselves. With avocado, I would mash it up and spread it on toast. With bananas, I would cut in half then stick one of those popsicle sticks in the cut end and freeze.