Power-packed first foods?

[newmamalizzy]

Argh. ARGH. I had to get that out of the way. We are in the midst of a complete, confusing, annoying baby-crisis, and it's driving me absolutely nuts. NUTS!

Okay. I'm back.

So, after a week of respite, DD is refusing her bottle again. She hadn't yet started solids when this all began, though we'd just started dabbling with rice cereal. She's not good enough at any other form of ingestion to determine if it's the sucking that's the problem or the eating itself. Not napping because she usually sucks to sleep. Waking up a gazillion times a night. Anyway, my biggest concern is that she get enough to eat. I want to try progressing with solids, but I know she'll start out eating very little so I want the most nutritious, calorie-rich foods out there. I'm starting her on avocado, and then I was thinking perhaps yogurt, and maybe egg yolks? Any opinions on these as starter foods? Any other suggestions? I'll take sympathy, too.

(P.S. I'm not really addicted to emoticons. Just going nuts.)

[RaeDyCo]

Here is some info on the various caloric contents of typical baby foods:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi...dcalories.html

Personally I wouldn't be comfortable offering egg yolks or yogurt until baby is closer to 9 months.
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...rst-foods.html

Beans or meats can also be very good first foods.

[chattyprincess]

I have no problem with giving egg yolks to a baby, thats just my own personal research and feelings on it. We follow a more traditional foods diet I cannot say enough that you should definetly cross post this question in the traditinal foods forum here on mothering.com.
Weston price is whos reccomendations (combined with others) that we tend to follow, he has some good information here
http://www.westonaprice.org/children...ng-babies.html
as well as all throughout his site.

[Knitting Mama]

I wanted to get a little more information from you, if you wouldn't mind. First, how old is your daughter? Second, is she breastfed, drinking expressed milk, or formula fed? And have you tried other methods besides the bottle, e.g. cup feeding, syringe feeding, etc.

My concern is that if she's under a year old, she really should be getting her calories from either breastmilk or formula or a mix of both. They are much higher calorie than early solids.

[angelachristin]

Originally Posted by chattyprincess

I have no problem with giving egg yolks to a baby, thats just my own personal research and feelings on it. We follow a more traditional foods diet I cannot say enough that you should definetly cross post this question in the traditinal foods forum here on mothering.com.
Weston price is whos reccomendations (combined with others) that we tend to follow, he has some good information here
http://www.westonaprice.org/children...ng-babies.html
as well as all throughout his site.

Just be aware if there is any family history of egg allergies. I gave my DD egg yolk as her very first solid due to the TF info on it and she now has an extremely severe allergy to eggs that she has had to be hospitalized for. My MIL informed me after the hospitalization that BIL was extremely allergic to eggs in childhood. Luckily, he grew out of it so hopefully my DD will, too.

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

I wanted to get a little more information from you, if you wouldn't mind. First, how old is your daughter? Second, is she breastfed, drinking expressed milk, or formula fed? And have you tried other methods besides the bottle, e.g. cup feeding, syringe feeding, etc.

My concern is that if she's under a year old, she really should be getting her calories from either breastmilk or formula or a mix of both. They are much higher calorie than early solids.

DD is almost 7 months, formula fed (for most of her life). We've tried regular cup, several different sippy cups, and spoon-feeding. She will drink the milk in all of these ways, but just isn't really good enough at any of these to get much into her. Not enough to make up for what she isn't drinking, anyway. (She's down to about 15 - 18 ounces a day.)

I really do want her to continue getting her nourishment almost solely from the formula up to a year, and we're working hard with her doctor to try to figure out why she's not drinking. Since she's just starting on solids, I was hoping to find something high-calorie to help make up the deficiency temporarily, and then proceed with some of the more typical, lower-cal options once we get her drinking well again. Her weight dropped in the percentiles from 4 to 6 months. I was concerned about that even before this problem started, and I really don't want it to continue dropping.

[Knitting Mama]

Try a shot glass, a lot of times it's easier for them to manage the smaller lip. Also, have you tried several different types of bottles? Sometimes babies prefer one over others.

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Try a shot glass, a lot of times it's easier for them to manage the smaller lip. Also, have you tried several different types of bottles? Sometimes babies prefer one over others.

We've been using the same bottle/nipple combo since she was 1 month old, never with any problems. I do plan to try some other nipples, though, in hopes that the problem is just sore gums. Perhaps a different nipple wouldn't be so irritating. As for the shot glass - I'll try that, too. Not sure it will make a difference, as it's really the amount she can swallow that's the limiting factor. She can maneuver her Tilty cup quite well, but tends to take bigger sips than she can swallow. She's learning fast, but...well, when you're baby's not eating, each day feels like an emergency, you know?

[chattyprincess]

would she eat a formula slush with a spoon?

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by chattyprincess

would she eat a formula slush with a spoon?

Do you mean frozen? She will "eat" her normal formula from a spoon, but it takes, like, eons. I've never tried frozen...

[Snapdragon]

I use a really small baby sized wooden spoon to feed ds- I actually don't like to use metal myself and eat with wood- and I wonder if some babies might eat better if they were fed with an appropriately sized (very small) wooden spoon. (as opposed to metal- most people have no prob. w- metal but I find it very strong- someone may not even consider that a baby might be adverse to the metal rather than the food)

As for food- in your situation I would agree that yogurt is a good option. And maybe if you can make some homemade soups.

[jecombs]

I don't know if this would even be possible... but it's an idea I thought I'd throw out there: if she likes yogurt, have you tried making "formula yogurt"? I make my own yogurt by combining commerically prepared greek yogurt with milk and letting the cultures go to town to turn the milk into more yogurt. Here is the method I followed to make the yogurt. GL!