What foods are you withholding from your LO- why and how long? - Page 2

[sk8boarder15]

Why the tomatoes? DS got ahold of a tomato, wasn't planing on giving it to him... just shy of 6 mo and LOVED IT. So we give him chunks of tomato all the time now! Its too funny! We are doing a modified BLW (all real whole foods) decided to only do fruits and veg for the first month or so, then add meat/protein then grains/dairy. Not sure when we'll add each group, just basing it on how much and how well he eats! I'm not doing any cows milk or honey for sure for at least a year! And will probably keep diary products in general to a minimum for quite a while! 

Here is M with a tomato and the remnants of a potato! 

[Friday13th]

DS1 (and I as a child) got awful contact rashes from tomatoes.  So I initially intended to wait a little while for DS2 but he got ahold of some doesn't seem to be bothered , and LOVES them.  DS1 outgrew it pretty quickly and eats enormous amounts of fresh and cooked tomatoes, my sensitivity lasted into kindegarten, as I remember but they don't bother me now.

[ProtoLawyer]

No honey or fluid milk other than breastmilk.

Other than that, we're not really withholding anything--I gave up on that 4-day-wait thing once my son grabbed a handful of the pulled pork on my plate and went to town.

He grabbed a lemon wedge from my tea the other day, and instead of puckering, he ate it right up. He had a diaper rash later that day, so I think citrus might not make another appearance for awhile.

[Adaline'sMama]

DD has had just about everything except for meat and fish. She has had honey cooked in foods, but never just raw. I am just now starting to eat meat after almost 10 years of being veg, so I dont plan on introducing meat any time soon. All of the meat we buy is local/organic/hormone free/happy animals, so its expensive. I really only want her to eat good healthy meat if she is going to eat it at all, and i feel like once I break the strict vegetarian diet she has, relatives will all be trying to take her to McDonalds. We have done dairy, but it is always either raw local milk or 100% organic. She LOVES cheese and yogurt, and is now occasionally drinking a little cow milk if I leave her with DH. She loves berries and nut butters of all sorts.

[Knitting Mama]

Just curious, ProtoLawyer, why no water? While I know that babies don't need a lot of water, I was taught that it was a good idea to offer water in a cup (sippy or otherwise) with solids, both to help wash the food down and so that they accept things other than breastmilk to drink later on. I do restrict how much she has, since she doesn't need a lot, but I like that she likes water!

[katelove]

J is 10 months. We are not giving honey but other than that nothing is off limits.

We don't give her milk to drink as such but she had a sip of Daddy's smoothie which had milk in it. I wouldn't give her more than sips though because I am jealously guarding my position as Provider Of The Milk.

She hasn't had peanuts yet but not because we're am specifically withholding them, it just hasn't come up.

We had planned to hold off on grains until after she turned one but I gave up on that  She was picking up the crumbs of rice cake dropped by other babies at play group so I made some rusks *just for play group* and that was the top of a slippery slope. Now she's had bread in various forms, rice, pasta and couscous.

[ProtoLawyer]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

Just curious, ProtoLawyer, why no water? While I know that babies don't need a lot of water, I was taught that it was a good idea to offer water in a cup (sippy or otherwise) with solids, both to help wash the food down and so that they accept things other than breastmilk to drink later on. I do restrict how much she has, since she doesn't need a lot, but I like that she likes water!

Sorry, I was unclear: No MILK in liquid form other than breastmilk. He's had whole-milk yogurt and some cheese. I didn't mean no fluids other than breastmilk, just no fluid milk. We offer water but he's not interested.

[Knitting Mama]

Oh, ok, that makes sense. Yeah, we don't do drinks other than milkies or water here, and I am also pretty sure we won't be doing cow's milk until she's at the cereal eating stage of childhood-- and even then, if I have my druthers, she'll be having an alternative to cow's milk!

[farrah skye]

hey mama! whats wrong w juice at 8 months? not hating just asking...

[farrah skye]

yeah someone wrote that starting foods is confusing...yes it is.. my oldest gurls i started when they were 6 months and i mostly made my own..afterwords i found out you are suppose to cook the veggies 1st than mush and give to baby. i didn't. i just heated it than give it to them. i also waited till they were 6 months old. you hear of babies who r so hungry their nursing moms cant keep up. so they give cereal. or change to store brought milk.. i know it is rough to nurse and nurse your baby especially when your alone all day and have older kids who need your attention. but i think it is worth it. i started giving my baby some juice. but it was the wrong type and she got the runs. so no more of that...

gonna look in to more infor..lol. but everyone has thoughts on when to start each.... 

[HBmom]

Here's my understanding of the whole juice issue. Basically, juice has very little nutritional value and a high sugar content. (Fresh squeezed/juiced juice has a little more and few added sugars if you do it on your own.) It's better for kiddos just to eat the fruit than have the extra sugar that goes along with the juices. Also, juice makes our blood sugar spike more quickly where with fruit it's a more gradual elevation which is better for insulin production.

Another issue is tooth decay and cavities. The sugars from the juice sit on the teeth and wear away at the teeth which leads to kiddos getting cavities. I am a nurse and work at a family practice clinic with dental services and we always recommend just water. If parents want to give juice we usually suggest watering it down, no juice at night/at bedtime and to have kids rinse out their mouths to get the sugars off their teeth.

My son (18 months) doesn't get juice for these reasons. On occasion, his grandparents will give him juice but it's like once every 4 months (much to their dismay). Hope this helps! :)

[hasya]

Farrah Skye, It crowds out nutritious foods. Whole fruit is better than juice, which loses nutritional content very rapidly after extraction.

DD - no wheat, oatmeal, barley, eggplant (I recently developed skin irritation when I cut it but eat it anyway :-)), okra, egg white, milk as a drink, berries other than blueberries (blueberries are not true berries), straight up citrus, no juice for as long as I can prevent her. She does eat whole milk yogurt, she's had lemon in foods and loves it, tomatoes, likewise. She has eaten all lentils, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, mung beans (all soaked), with no problems.

We're vegetarian, so absolutely no meat or seafood or poultry ever. It isn't acceptable to me that she even get it in daycare. She hasn't started going yet, but when she will, I will strongly tell them that no meat nor meat products are to get into my daughter.

[heathernj]

I wasn't serious about anything.  By the way, babies digestive systems can handle meat and eggs BEFORE anything else...and they develop the enzymes to digest grains LAST.  My kids didn't get much cow dairy before a year, but mostly because they were getting their "dairy" from me.  I have learned that nuts are rather pointless before about 18 months.  The kids will eat them, but, well, I cloth diaper, and I would find lots of nice, clean, bits of nuts in my washing machine after I washed dipes. LOL!

[whozeyermamma]

heathernj - do you have any links to info about that and grains - I'm curious - b/c it seems that DS has had some problems with grains and I'm wanting to learn more about it.

I'm torn about the whole milk thing. THe last few times that the sitter has tried to give DS a bottle he's refused - it's getting really annoying to pump - I do it so infrequently and I need him to take a bottle so infrequently. But I would like him to take one every now and then - I'm wondering if it would be ok (better?) to just give whole milk in a bottle vs. formula if I give up pumping?? Formula just squicks me out so much ... (not to be rude to FF moms! Just my personal bias ..) thoughts ???

[Hannah32]

The AAP says no juice prior to 6 months. I admit, we do give my son juice, but only in a very watered form (1 part juice to 2 parts water). He's awfully active and I was worried about 8oz of breastmilk not being enough hydration while I was at work. So, he drinks to wash down the tons of food he eats. He didn't want plain water. 

Oh and he's nine months. 

[Janeen]

My little one is 8 months old and so far has had bananas, apple sauce, sweet potatoes, avocado, and peas (which I won't be doing again for awhile because she ended up with a yucky mucousy diaper after eating them). Oh and I sometimes put in some coconut oil with the sweet potatoes to try and get some fat into her since she's so skinny. She's also gnawed on a few apple slices in her time and in fact that's what had me really starting to give her solids was when she grabbed an apple slice from her sister and put it in her mouth. She still doesn't have any teeth though so haven't introduced too much which I get the impression she seems to think is absolutely unfair considering the looks she gives us whenever we eat food she's not given. She is very much into eating food, MUCH MORE than her older sister was at that age (which is why I haven't pushed solids too much with this baby). She was sensitive to dairy when she was younger (she had colic) and her sister was and still kind of is sensitive to citrus foods though not as much as she used to be so those I wait on and I'm still torn about grains. I have read in the book Nourishing Traditions to wait on grains until 2. I'm not sure I want to go that long though but I'm thinking at least 1. I don't know. I'm just kind of taking it slow and we're giving her things that we eat around the house normally (bananas especially we have in the house all the time because my older daughter eats them like crazy). I figure though in the summer I'll start to introduce her to more berries and things like that since all the summer fruits will be in season then.

Janeen

[zenmumajen]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's 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.

Oh my gosh! We just introduced some organic yogurt tonight but I would prefer giving him coconut milk yogurt! Where do you buy this!? Trader Joes/ Whole Foods?!! I'm excited to try this!! 

[zenmumajen]

I'm not sure about the whole milk thing but my DS won't take a bottle either. We tried a few weeks ago and that was his first time trying to take one in 2 months so maybe no wonder! I was thinking trying to just give him milk through a sippy cup? I hate pumping so much but would rather not use formula! I am interested in  what people will say!

Originally Posted by whozeyermamma 

heathernj - do you have any links to info about that and grains - I'm curious - b/c it seems that DS has had some problems with grains and I'm wanting to learn more about it.

I'm torn about the whole milk thing. THe last few times that the sitter has tried to give DS a bottle he's refused - it's getting really annoying to pump - I do it so infrequently and I need him to take a bottle so infrequently. But I would like him to take one every now and then - I'm wondering if it would be ok (better?) to just give whole milk in a bottle vs. formula if I give up pumping?? Formula just squicks me out so much ... (not to be rude to FF moms! Just my personal bias ..) thoughts ???

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by zenmumajen 

Oh my gosh! We just introduced some organic yogurt tonight but I would prefer giving him coconut milk yogurt! Where do you buy this!? Trader Joes/ Whole Foods?!! I'm excited to try this!! 

We have a chain of natural foods stores where I live called Sunflower Markets (I think they're in Texas and New Mexico too), and I got it there. But I think a regular natural foods store would either carry it or be amenable to ordering it. I have the So Delicious brand. It's seriously freaking delicious!!

This is the next step, maybe someday I will have the time...

http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/2009/04/25/homemade-coconut-milk-yogurt/

[ocelotmom]

The AAP's flip-flop on timing of introduction of solids in order to reduce allergies has me all confuzzled. My gut instinct says the current version (delaying introduction contributing to allergies) is closer to correct... but it was easier just to avoid potential allergens!

DD (5 mo) has a sensitive belly, and has shown some sort of reaction (crying fits, hives, gas, mucousy and/or green poop) to several of the Top 8 allergens (and a few other things) through breastmilk. So it seems sensible to hold off on those for a while.

Where I get mixed up is whether I should be introducing foods our family doesn't eat regularly. Peanuts and wheat, for example. She's sensitive to them now, and our family doesn't eat them as a rule. But they're ubiquitous in the standard American diet, to the extent that many people can't conceive of how they'll feed their kids if they can't make a peanut butter sandwich. It's fairly safe to assume she'll eat them at some point, so I'd prefer her be able to handle them without serious problems.

I realize I'm probably overthinking this, as most people don't go on to develop life-threatening allergies to things they aren't introduced to as babies regardless. If she was a less sensitive baby, I probably wouldn't give it a second thought and just introduce her to what our family eats.