What foods are you withholding from your LO- why and how long?

[Buzzer Beater]

The thread about giving meat to babies got me thinking about what we don't give and why. With DD1 I had a laundry list of things I wouldn't let her eat for a year or more. With DD2 I have broken a lot of my "rules" just trying to find something she will be motivated to get down. No luck, really. At ten months she is still basically EBF aside from accidental ingestions of banana and sweet potato. Everything else comes right back out. I have no desire to feed her any meat, although we tried eggs.

What do you keep from your babe before, say a year or so? Any advice from vegetarians concerning the first year or two (I am not veg tho DH is, and we eat primarily veg in the house- very little dairy also)?

[osker]

The only ones we're really serious about are tomatoes and berries.. other than that we're giving her just about everything. We are holding off on meat though. H is veg and we eat mostly veg at home.

Have you tried lentils? E LOVES them! She likes to try to pick them up because they're so tiny. Also, sugar snap peas because she can hold them and gnaw on them.. I don't think she's realized that they're food rather than toys!

[organicmom3]

Gosh, we've held off on a lot.  DS is 11 and a half months now and still has not had tomatoes, oranges, nuts, corn, soy, lentils,dairy, meats etc. all due to the high allergy foods and that some of these are really hard on the digestive system.... We have only recently introduced egg yolk and  chicken. Our naturopath does not reccommed much at this age.(Much less than what we have actually given in to which is mostly fruits and veggies)  While I believe that most foods aren't really necessary as he believes and that they can be harder on the digestive system than most people realize, I also know it's just plain hard.  So while I've stayed away from the big allergy foods and haven't offered much in quantity with the chicken or wheat which we just introduced a month ago....there's still a part of me that just wants him to be able to eat what we eat to make life a little more simple.

It seems that everyone has different reasons for many things.  Someone mentioned berries and yet blackberries were one of the first things recommended by our naturopath for easy digestion.  And blueberries at 9 months.....but the rest we are to hold off on.  It is interesting.  Obviously everyone on here is looking for the best thing for their babe yet we all have different ideas.....it's interesting and yet frustrating sometimes because it gets so confusing!!!

[Knitting Mama]

Glutenous grains and honey are about all we've held off on (almost a year old). However, she is not a big eater, so the amount she's actually ingested of a lot things is very little.

[MJB]

My 8 mo. old has probably had everything except honey. She has definitely had all kinds of grains, corn, soy, dairy, meat, fish, shellfish, berries, tomato sauce, eggs, peanut butter, and all kinds of other stuff. She has not shown any signs of allergies. 

[Sorin]

Originally Posted by MJB 

My 8 mo. old has probably had everything except honey. She has definitely had all kinds of grains, corn, soy, dairy, meat, fish, shellfish, berries, tomato sauce, eggs, peanut butter, and all kinds of other stuff. She has not shown any signs of allergies. 

Same here, except that we haven't given her any peanut products.  Everything else is fair game.  She's 11 months now, and when we started introducting foods, our ped said that since we don't have a history of allergies in the family, feed her what we are eating (minus honey and peanuts).  She loves to eat and will try everything.  Getting her to take the second bite, however, is sometimes a problem! 

[Hannah32]

I haven't fed my son honey or cow's milk, but he's had pretty much anything and everything else. He just had chicken pie for dinner, for example. 

[P.J.]

No cow's milk, although he LOVES yogurt and we do give him cheese about once a week or so. Also no peanut products and very little salt and no sugar or honey. Oh and no juice, just water and breastmilk! Other than that he's had foods other people think are dangerous, like beans (everyone asks "Doesn't that give him gas?! Beans are so hard to digest!"...but he has no problem with them!) and tomatoes.

I am vegetarian and so I haven't given him any meat, nor eggs (which I eat from time to time, just haven't had them lately). I know he'll be getting some meat, though, at his daycare which he starts in a couple months. I have also held off on grains, and save for the odd bite of toast he had never had any until recently. But in the last couple weeks have given him one dish with cooked spelt, some rice cakes, and some spelt zwieback toast. To be frank, he has a stomach infection at the moment and I can't help wondering if it has to do with the fact that I recently introduced these grains. I know some folks believe a baby's digestive system is too immature to digest grains until about a year or so (DS is 9mo). Hmph. I doubt it was caused by the grains, but I will be holding off on giving him any more rice cakes, etc, for a while...

[McGucks]

Our LO is almost a year...ditto on no juice...also no honey, strawberries, peanuts/peanut butter.  DH is allergic to pinenuts, so our babe won't have any of those, but that's no biggie.  I did give him a half slice of an orange at 11 months, thinking "Eh, what's another month?" (I've read to hold back on citrus until a year).  And he got an awful rash on his tummy later that night...so obviously, no more citrus for a couple years or two (I guess).  Also, we nix white bread/white flour products and anything that doesn't have good nutritional value, especially since he doesn't eat much in the way of solids.  He has very low iron, so what food does get into him is often one that has iron.  That's our story.

[Knitting Mama]

I guess now that I think about it, we've withheld a little more than just honey and glutenous grains! For example, we don't do cow's milk beyond in my husband's cereal, and I probably won't be giving her any at all. She doesn't like most cheese, so that's not a problem, and yogurt is a rarity (though she LOVES coconut milk yogurt!) around here. I haven't tried peanut products mainly because we don't use them a lot at home anyway, but we don't have any history of allergies, so I'm not too worried about that. She's had very little sugar, mostly in a bite of gelato here and there-- I admit, I'm addicted! And definitely no juice, again we don't keep it around and I don't think it's particularly good for kids.

[jpietryka]

Originally Posted by MJB 

My 8 mo. old has probably had everything except honey. She has definitely had all kinds of grains, corn, soy, dairy, meat, fish, shellfish, berries, tomato sauce, eggs, peanut butter, and all kinds of other stuff. She has not shown any signs of allergies. 

Us too, our ped told us no holds bar at our 6 month check up.  That the sooner he tried foods the less likely he would react.  Haven't really given him any non-mommy dairy yet though and we do stick to 100% organic for baby.  It's funny because I thought we would hold several foods back but our ped did a great job of explalining the different schools of thought and research so we could make a choice we felt good about.  We are also very fortunate that LO is a good eater.  He loves everything so far and gets mad if you aren't shoveling it in fast enough!

[Friday13th]

We have no family history of allergies (and a 3 year old who LOVES to share) so I think the only things DS2 hasn't had yet at 9 months are citrus, shellfish and straight milk.  Citrus gave DS1 and I a contact rash when we were little so I was waiting until he's a little neater with handling food and he doesn't have any teeth so I don't think he'd be able to chew any of the shellfish we eat normally.  He's had whole eggs, cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, berries, grains and pretty much everything else we eat with no issue.  Oh and no whole nuts but again, lack of teeth, not allergy concerns.

[Disco Infiltrator]

isn't the AAP now recommending not holding off on introducing high allergen foods like peanuts unless you have a history of allergies in the family? There's some evidence that earlier introduction can actually reduce allergies.

We were pretty casual with DS but we're being a little more careful with DD, although I'm not entirely clear why - maybe just straight-up laziness. We didn't give cow's milk until a year with DS but he was eating yogurt and cheese earlier. We did hold off on peanuts and chocolate with him as well.

[isabchi]

Perce, the only food that is a No-No in my book for infants is Honey, we like raw. BUT, we don't drinks cows milk as a regular thing, plus we keep our diet very low in grains and sugars.We don't eat almost nothing that is processed so not colorants an preservatives is also a must No, but for all the family not juyst for babies.

[P.J.]

Just wondering: why would you not give berries? Max seems to really like strawberries, but hasn't had any other berries. Is it somehow like citrus, whereby the acidity would just be too much? He's also had pineapple without incident.

[osker]

Yep! Acidity is our thought on berries, citrus, and tomatoes!

[LaydieBugs]

We are using this schedule, because there are food sensitivities in the family:  http://www.allergynutrition.com/resources/FAQ/29/Pediatric%20Adding%20solids.pdf.  The only alteration is that we will not introduce the foods his Dad is sensitive to, until he is older.

While breastfeeding, he has gotten colicky when I eat the foods his Dad is sensitive to, so I'm glad we're using a hypoallergenic schedule.  Since starting solids, but avoiding common allergens, his tolerance to my having a little whey or egg has improved. 

[whozeyermamma]

To answer your q on vegetarian foods - I'm veg, so is DD (age 7 - never had meat) and this DS will be too. DH does eat meat. I'll make baby lentils, beans, chickpeas, quinoa, tofu. I'm holding off on proteins for a little while longer b/c he seems to have a bit of a sensitive tummy. I'll start with like a puree version of those proteins (or combinations of those proteins and veggies) and then make them thicker - or give, say, a few whole cooked beans on the tray, that sort of thing. That's what I did with DD.

I remember with her I steamed tofu and broccoli and then put it in a baby mill until it was just like a mash. I plopped it on the tray and she ate it by the fistful.

My rule of thumb is that I try a food until I see how it comes out the other end. About 3 mo ago  I let him gnaw on pizza crust and he LOVED it, but it really gave him bad belly cramps that night. He had a similar response to baby oatmeal so I stopped that - but just re-introduced it this week with no problems. So, I'll hold off on protein and other grain, for a while but otherwise he's had: peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, apples, pears, bananas and yes - strawberries! Next up will be mango, papaya, broccoli. He likes purees, but he does some BLW.

I totally forgot about not giving berries - he LOVES them and has had no problems at all. He would suck on it like crazy but then make this sour face, then go back to sucking:

[corban's mum]

bless him! he's like "BERRYYYYY!!!!! YEAHHHH!!!!"

[SilverFish]

wow, i am too lazy for all that. dd has had everything. well, no meat because we're veg, and no regular dairy or egg (my mom thinks dairy is like the most healthy food ever for babies, so she kept shoving chunks of cheese down her throat at christmas). eggs she's only had in things like muffins or whatever. other than that, she's had everything i've eaten in the past 4-5 months. peanuts, citrus, probably honey, sugar, chocolate, nuts and seeds of all kinds. she shrieks like a banshee if i withhold any food i'm eating from her, so unless i want to confine my meals to the hours between 9pm-6am, meh, she's getting a taste. she does get a bit of a rash from some kinds of fruits (citrus, etc) so we don't specifically prepare them for her, but we certainly won't withhold them either. we have a history of allergies in my family, but not from childhood and to very unusual things, so i figure there is absolutely no point in trying to predict when and to what foods she may some day have a reaction to.