How often and what to feed a 10 month old?

[Calliope84]

DD has only two bottom teeth. I haven't introduced her to soy or wheat yet.  She had or has a dairy allergy and I suspect soy, too, but honestly I can't tell anymore. If soy is a problem, it doesn't affect her as badly as dairy does. I basically haven't given her ANYTHING on the allergen list yet.

Anyway, we are doing baby led weaning so we started out with softish foods at 6 months. I probably only fed her once a week at first.  She is through the gagging stage.

I've been feeding her every day now usually once or twice. Chunks of apples or pears, chunks of bananas, watermelon, whatever we have.  While I cook she chews on raw onion and green pepper or whatever else I have. She loves them. I keep getting rashes on my nipples, so I have to be careful. I think bananas might be to blame. If I give her a lot I end up with a rash and she ends up a little red.

I don't think she gets that much food down every day, but one day she did eat almost a whole banana. I know if I mushed or blended things she would eat a lot more food...but I was holding out for more teeth lol.

I try to reserve stuff out of dinner or breakfast if I make it. I reserved some brown rice, mushrooms, onion, green pepper and green beans yesterday for her. I take stuff out of soup (like she had lentils or beans with chard, peas, cauliflower and whatever else was in there.) She likes sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. 

She's had indian spices, mild mexican flavored things, and italian spices. We use a lot of spices since we don't have the cheese. She likes it all. I try not to give her stuff that has sugar in it or salt, but that is always in my tomato sauce.

She's tried chicken and sausage  (free range from our local farm.) She basically likes everything and wants what I eat. I can't always give it to her though. 

When did you introduce the allergen foods? She had a piece of corn pasta and was fine. 

She loves water but I don't think she can get the sippy cup angled right yet to get a lot of water.

So am I feeding her enough? Should I be doing more mushy stuff? I just got my FIRST ever really yucky poopy diaper yesterday after the banana.  So maybe I'm not feeding her enough.

I know my pediatrician would probably say I should be feeding way more but I think DD is doing great. Most of my friends don't have babies who enjoy noshing on raw onion and eating lentils and beans. 

She tries everything now... will this stop when she gets older?

[tankgirl73]

Sounds like she's doing fine, BLW is all about letting them follow their own instincts.  She's getting a good variety of foods and flavours.  She'll ingest what she needs, when she needs it -- I'm assuming you're still nursing, so she gets all the nutrition she needs from that.  Before 1, solid foods are 'just for fun' -- exploration and learning.  No need whatsoever to worry about nutrition from solid foods.  

At 10mo, my daughter was ingesting quite a bit, but every kid has their own timetable.  There are lots who don't eat any solids at all until even well after 12mo!

Don't mush stuff up.  She doesn't need solids.  Breastmilk is *more* nutritious, more calorie-dense, etc.  No need to replace BM with 'emptier' solids by forcing it (with mush and spoon feeding) before it happens naturally on its own. 

As for the water -- have you tried just giving her a cup?  Not a sippy, just a regular, small cup.  My daughter drank with just a little assistance from us at 6mo, and by 10mo was completely proficient on her own.  We did use sippies sometimes when we were in the car, for instance, but for the most part we just used regular cups.  Kids are getting far too dependent on sippies these days IMO... it's the equivalent of spoon-feeding mushy food, in a sense.  :)

As for allergens... that's a tougher call.  We don't "do" soy (at least, not in terms of soy-based foods or drinks... we have soy sauce, etc) so I never had to "introduce" that to her.  We pretty much just went straight ahead with any kind of food from the get go, with the exception of raw honey (botulism in babies isn't pretty) and salt (she got some salt in our food, but only tiny amounts) until after a year old.  But we don't have any family allergies to speak of, and I'm tending towards the theory that allergies are more due to a LACK of contact with an allergen as opposed to TOO EARLY.  But it's all only theories right now, so it's something you have to research and decide on your own.

As for whether they'll continue to try everything... No.  Heh.  My daughter is now pushing 5 and wants her crusts cut off, and won't eat various things, etc etc.  But I think she is FAR better in terms of 'food fussiness' than the average 5yo.  There's an interesting hypothesis that it's normal for a toddler/preschooler to go through a 'food aversion' phase because in the wild, they're getting more independent but aren't able to fully discern between 'healthy food' and 'poison death' yet.  So they prefer to stick with what's familiar and well-known, and don't venture out much beside that.

Despite her fussy spots, she loves carrots and broccoli and cucumber, apples with peanut butter, could eat a whole bunch of bananas if you let her, melons of all types, yogurt and granola is a big favourite, she still eats curries though she's not as enthusiastic about 'spicy' as she used to be.  I was surprised at a recent church potluck that she did NOT want a hot dog, whereas every other kid there was pretty much ONLY eating hot dogs.  

And she will usually try something new, to see if she does like it -- though with a bit of reminding first about 'sam i am' heh.  :)

[SundayCrepes]

Just feed her what you're eating and it'll all work out. When she's ready to ingest more solids, she will. Just offer what you eat, when you eat.

They used to say to hold off on allergenic foods. I think that's gone by the wayside. Studies showed kids in countries where they introduced peanuts early had less peanut allergies than when they're delayed. Possible exception would be gluten. Some question whether delaying gluten until after a year can hold off celiacs in susceptible kids. Here's info on introducing allergenic foods. Scroll down the page: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/allergy.htm

[Odddlycrunchy]

1)  I don't understand the taboo on mushy foods.  Our foremothers certainly chewed up foods for their babies. Maybe that's the origin of kissing.  Maybe that's why babies have an instinct to dig into our mouths with their little fingers.  Chewed up food probably also helped the babies' digestion, since the mother's saliva is full of enzymes.  Traveling in Africa, I shared a calabash of beer whose making involves the women chewing starchy roots and spitting out the mush, adding water and allowing to ferment!  And this is drunk by the whole village.  So chewing for your own baby? natch.

2)  Given what we know about sugar, I wouldn't give babies cereals.  When digested, starches turn into sugar!  Would you be feeding spoonful after spoonful of sugar to your baby?   Rice, wheat, oats, bread, pasta, etc. all turn into sugars in the digestive system.  When digested.  Some can't be digested, and they feed the bad bacteria and yeasts (Candida, C. difficile, etc) that have been identified by some researchers as co-factors for autism, Crohn's disease, IBS, asthma, etc. 

As the mother of a special needs DD now grown up and severely schizophrenic, who now has a 16-month-old (my DGD) and another on the way, I wish I had known when she was small what is now known about sugar, cereals, gut dysbiosis and their horrific effects on the immune system, the brain, and development.  I remember DD had "a sensitive digestion" as a child. I remember how she always craved sweets.  It didn't seem that important then.  We were pretty health-conscious for our time but the knowledge about the sugar/starch/dysbiosis just wasn't there and she had sugar every day.  Plus rice, bread, potatoes, etc.  I can't turn back the clock, but our household is now following the SCD/GAPS diet (easy to search online).  It's a huge effort, but we're hoping this will bring some improvement to her condition and PREVENT her children from following the same path. Conventional medicine gives the offspring of schizophrenics a tenfold chance of being sz compared to the rest of the population.  They think it's a genetic predisposition - maybe it's (also?) a learned food preference, compounded by the passing on of the wrong gut bacteria from mother to baby. 

BOTTOM LINE?  Emphasize fruits, veggies, nut butters and milks (esp. coconut milk), homemade yogurt (one survey discovered that 2 out of 10 brands chosen randomly on supermarket shelves contained NO live bacteria, and another significant number only had 10% of what was stated on the labels), broths, fish, etc. both for your consumption (some of the toxins created by the "bad" bacteria pass into breast milk, which explains why autism can start very early, even in a breastfed baby) and the baby's, and you won't need to worry about the other co-factors like antibiotics and immunizations.  For more details, look at the SCD and GAPS diet.  You don't have to follow it 100% like we now do - which is not easy - but being aware will help you make the right food choices for the whole family, to prevent autism, allergies, and hosts of chronic inflammatory diseases. 

Check out my recipe for coconut yogurt (casein-free, lactose-free, and DELICIOUS!) on Odddlycrunchy.blogspot.com

[Calliope84]

I will say I've been doing loads of research and I'm becoming more and more convinced that raising DD vegan is the way to go. I am going to feed her whole grains, starchy veggies and fruit - all of which turn to sugar. I'm also on the fence about coconut milk, since some studies showed it affected the body in the same negative way as dairy milk when ingested because of the saturated fat.

[Odddlycrunchy]

@Calliope: I haven't seen those studies about coconut oil/milk, do you have any links? 

[Calliope84]

Originally Posted by Odddlycrunchy 

@Calliope: I haven't seen those studies about coconut oil/milk, do you have any links? 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11603133

I'm a little on the fence about this one, though. I got the original news from http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-coconut-milk-good-for-you/

but I wonder if the meal they used to test the saturated fat in coconut milk contained anything besides coconut milk and rice... 

I'm still using coconut milk, but I'm not sure what milk I want to eventually give DD. I can get fortified soymilk with D, b12, calcium and DHA for DD, so I feel like I should use soy for her. The problem is when she was little, I gave up dairy and her rash and colic went away... but started coming back when I ate a lot of soy to replace the dairy. Now I can eat dairy and soy and she has no reaction.

Oh, and I have read all kinds of things online about the supposed "dangers" of soy, but I am extremely skeptical of the information. All the medical doctors and researchers I respect maintan that soy seems to be a healthy food in all the studies we've done. Even the phytates are not necessarily a problem. (I like his answer to this: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400758/Are-Phytates-Bad-or-Good.html)

[flightgoddess]

Try allergen foods anytime now. My lil guy was already eating scrambled eggs and almond flour pancakes by then. Just introduce an 'allergen' food one at a time, with 2-4 days before trying another new one. And watch for reactions/changes. In all likelyhood, it will be fine. Until about 2-21/2 my lil guy would eat anything we gave him, then he got more selective, and now at 3, he goes in cycles. SOmetimes he'll eat fruits and veggies, sometimes not. I've started using some 'sneaky chef' type recipes when he is going through a refusal stage, and it works so far!

[flightgoddess]

Oh, I just read more of the posts. Accually, do more coconut research. It is a good saturated fat, and also contains other unique amino acids such as lauric acid. Lauric acid is also in breastmilk :) And for some people, soy may be fine. But if ANY autoimmune and/or thyroid problems run in your families, then reconsider the soy.  

[mamaemilie]

If you are going to eat or feed your child whole grains please read Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" book or visit the Weston Price foundation.  Also look at www.curetoothdecay.com

You don't have to agree with everything they say about meat and milk but it is important to note that whole grains contain enzyme inhibitors.  In nature these allow the grain/seed to sit over winter without rotting but in your stomach they keep you from digesting properly and block absorption of calcium and other minerals from your food.  You can solve this problem by carefully soaking all your grain and beans.  

Eating whole grains without careful preparation can cause cause tooth decay, weak bones, and other symptoms of calcium and mineral deficiencies.

My mom just discovered this after raising five children on a whole grain diet, and is desperate to get the word out to as many as possible.

[Calliope84]

Originally Posted by mamaemilie 

If you are going to eat or feed your child whole grains please read Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" book or visit the Weston Price foundation.  Also look at www.curetoothdecay.com

You don't have to agree with everything they say about meat and milk but it is important to note that whole grains contain enzyme inhibitors.  In nature these allow the grain/seed to sit over winter without rotting but in your stomach they keep you from digesting properly and block absorption of calcium and other minerals from your food.  You can solve this problem by carefully soaking all your grain and beans.  

Eating whole grains without careful preparation can cause cause tooth decay, weak bones, and other symptoms of calcium and mineral deficiencies.

My mom just discovered this after raising five children on a whole grain diet, and is desperate to get the word out to as many as possible.

I own Nourishing Traditions and the Weston Price book, too. I just don't buy most of what they are trying to say. All the current research we've done so far doesn't back up what they are promoting as a healthy diet. I know eating a diet based mostly on grain can lead to some mineral deficiencies, but eating some grains in addition to a diet full of veg,fruit, beans, lentils, seeds, etc. shouldn't.

I am a little worried about soy since we do have autoimmune thyroiditis in the family, but there are a whole list of other foods that might mess with thyroid function. I am not going to stop eating broccoli because of it..

[flightgoddess]

Originally Posted by Calliope84 

I own Nourishing Traditions and the Weston Price book, too. I just don't buy most of what they are trying to say. All the current research we've done so far doesn't back up what they are promoting as a healthy diet. I know eating a diet based mostly on grain can lead to some mineral deficiencies, but eating some grains in addition to a diet full of veg,fruit, beans, lentils, seeds, etc. shouldn't.

I am a little worried about soy since we do have autoimmune thyroiditis in the family, but there are a whole list of other foods that might mess with thyroid function. I am not going to stop eating broccoli because of it..

Ha! Neither will I! I like my cruciferous veggies. But since soy is in nearly every boxed/precessed food out there, I do try to avoid that as much as possible. Except the occasional tofu, edamame, miso or GF soy sauce/tamari. (so basically when I'm in the mood for japanese :) 

[Calliope84]

Originally Posted by flightgoddess 

Ha! Neither will I! I like my cruciferous veggies. But since soy is in nearly every boxed/precessed food out there, I do try to avoid that as much as possible. Except the occasional tofu, edamame, miso or GF soy sauce/tamari. (so basically when I'm in the mood for japanese :) 

I love them, too! I hear that some of these might block the absorption of thyroid hormone... but do I care? All I need to do is take a little more in my daily pill. When my thyroid is active and and making thyroid hormone my body attacks it. Taking thyroid hormone suppresses it. I guess if I was hypo and not being optimally treated I might care. I pretty much know as soon as I go either hypo or hyper and I try to fix it.

[MaJoie]

When my son was 10 mo he refused to let me feed him, brush his teeth, etc. So I cut things into little bites and made sure I could mash them with my fingers. I figured then he could chew them with his gums in back. He had lots of front teeth but no molars. At his 1 year check up the pediatrition said he had all the teeth he should have by the time he was 2. He ate everything I did although I started with yellow vegs and fruits, added green stuff and proceeded with only 1 new thing at a time. I have respiratory allergies something fierce but no known food allergies. When he was 2 our pediatrician said "Don't be surprised if he doesn't eat anything until he goes to school." The reason he gave is that between 2 and 6 their growth slows considerably from the early and later growth spurts. He did go through a very picky time, wouldn't eat anything green except celery and green beans and those only rarely-not every day. By high school he was vegetarian and now is sou-chef in a vegan restaurant. So I wouldn't worry too much about the pickiness of toddlers. Just keep giving them choices and try to get as much variety as possible within the things they will eat. Breast milk supplies all they need when they're babies. When their bodies need more they'll eat more. As long as they're not given a lot of junk food, instinct seems to take care of them.