When did you give your baby meat or fish?

[mom2happy]

I think I gave my last two meat/ fish at about 13 months.

I know a lot of people do it earlier. Any reasons why or why not?

[Terrilein]

Erm, never thought much about it. In my baby cook book from 10 years ago, fish was introduced along with chicken. DS is 8 months today and he's been eating salmon for . . . . 3 months now I think? I don't see any problems with it.

[lifeguard]

Within the first month of starting solids. I don't know why I would wait longer? FWIW - ds LOVES meat whereas many of the lo's who started with only purees will touch it. I think the work of chewing meat is harder for a lot of lo's to get used to whereas by starting with strips of meat from the beginning never created this situation. Does that make sense?

[mom2happy]

Originally Posted by Terrilein 

Erm, never thought much about it. In my baby cook book from 10 years ago, fish was introduced along with chicken. DS is 8 months today and he's been eating salmon for . . . . 3 months now I think? I don't see any problems with it.

Actually salmon is what we are having tonight! I'm going to give it a try.

[ProtoLawyer]

Chicken at around 7 months,  pulled pork (unintentionally--he grabbed some and practically inhaled it) a few nights ago.

No fish yet, but we really haven't been cooking much (I'm working full time and my husband is campaigning for office--once the election's over, whether he wins or loses, we'll actually have way more free time).

[asraidevin]

I was told by the health nurse in Camada that starting meats as a first food is fine, because the iron absorption is better. So it was his second food, becaus I always thought the baby cereal was disgusting. We dont eat fish because I cannot stand it, but he has had shrimp. I grind up chewier stuff like pork and steak, but I feed chicken and ground beef in baby size chunks.

[Knitting Mama]

She started eating fish around 7 months, after grabbing it from my plate! Chicken and beef started around 9 months. She loves her proteins!

[rachael07]

We're doing baby led weaning, and DS had his first meat at around 7 months. Since then (8 months), he's had chicken, fish, and pork. 

He LOVED (loved loved loved) gnawing on a mostly eaten chicken drumsticks. It was one of the funniest things I've seen him do

The idea of pureeing meat really grosses me out. He did just fine with shreds... shredded/pulled chicken or flaked fish are both easy for them to manage

[Knitting Mama]

Yeah, no pureed meat here, it squicks me out, too. Meat cooked until soft is what we do.

[Llyra]

My kids all had meat in some form as one of their first solid foods-- about 6 months for DD2, about 7 months for DD1, and about 8 months for DS-- he was a late eater, because he sat up late. Meat and fatty fish are more calorie-dense than the fruits and vegetables we typically introduce to infants in this culture. It is protein rich and contains lots of fats, and is rich in other trace minerals.

[arieltron]

my LO is approaching 7 mo. She gets tiny bits of salmon and grass fed beef whenever we eat it (maybe once a week). I think the high iron and omega 3 content is really valuable to her development. I'm not sure if that's early, but whenever were eating meat she makes a huge fuss unless we give her some. I think an easy soft first animal protein is scrambled eggs.

[Shannie77]

8 months. I just give her bits of what we are having. One night we had salmon and I figured it was fine. She grabbed a big piece of steak of my husbands plate a few weeks ago. She has no teeth but loves gumming it.

[isabchi]

We BLFing and my kiddos started meat at 6 months or so and fish right after. I came from a country that used to eat lots of fish and algaes was one the first food that families used to give to babies. We don't have any history of allergies, so my kiddos eats regulally fish, seafood and algaes at least once a week. Also, us a parents we're big sushi eaters so they started to eat sushi from very young ages, 10 months old or so.

Edited by isabchi - 3/18/11 at 6:32pm

[KempsMama]

DS1 was a baby food baby, I thought that was the only way, and I couldn't stomach those jarred meats with gravy, so he didn't get meat until he was almost a year old.  DS2 has FPIES, and developed an aversion to purees, so he's a self feeder.  He's had beef, I'm sure he'll have fish at some point soon.  I have to be careful with poultry because it's a common FPIES trigger, so I'm waiting.  Don't want to put him through a reaction if I can help it.

[MamaofLiam]

our ds started meat at 11 months, but thats because he didn't start solids until then. Now it is definitely one of his favorite foods...chicken, turkey, fish and especially chicken sausage. pretty funny to watch him go crazy for sausage. trying to balance out the diets with fruits and veggies. he has always hated purees..have anyone else's disliked purees? don't mean to thread jack, just curious.

[katelove]

First meat at 8 months - a chunk of roast lamb. First seafood - salt and pepper squid  at nearly 10 months. She's also had beef and chicken.

[bonjourmama]

This is funny, because I let my DD try our corned beef last night. Just a bit or two.  We were really unsure about when to introduce meat. 

 Probably not the best to start with a seasoned meat! But she LOVED it! It was the soft consistency of pulled pork. And it was fun!

I guess she get's meat now? Nice to see others suggestions.

[Knitting Mama]

I let Cecilia try the corned beef too, but she wasn't a fan. Actually, I'm glad she wasn't, since it's full of sodium and preservatives to keep the pink color.

[bonjourmama]

Not ours! I brined my own! I was mostly worried about the pepper and beer it was marinating in.

[mom2happy]

Originally Posted by MamaofLiam 

our ds started meat at 11 months, but thats because he didn't start solids until then. Now it is definitely one of his favorite foods...chicken, turkey, fish and especially chicken sausage. pretty funny to watch him go crazy for sausage. trying to balance out the diets with fruits and veggies. he has always hated purees..have anyone else's disliked purees? don't mean to thread jack, just curious.

Yes, my first two babies would not eat pureed foods. They didnt eat till 1 yr and went straight to real food.