babe led weaning, vegetarian

[AliceMay]

So dd is 6 months and according to what I read she is showing signs of readiness to try some food. So far she has had steamed turnip, carrots, sweet potato, banana, cantaloupe and apple. She grabs the pieces (mainly from my hand, not so much from the table......I hope that is ok) and takes them to her mouth pretty well.

I am vegetarian (dh is mainly, but we are always veg at home) and I know that there are many things I can give her for protein, iron but I'm not sure what would be good to start with since I still feel like we are really just starting. Can anybody suggest a first food other than fruit and veg?? I see people saying things like lentil patties or hummus on toast but do you think I should continue the simple fruit/veg things I've been offering before doing that? those things seem more "advanced" I also feel confused about introducing bread/wheat.....some people people say hold off?

I'll take any advice I can get! I've a good book and it was helpful, and I can see when she is further along how we will do perfectly well from a vegetarian angle, but it's just the beginning I'm not as sure about. thanks!

[AliceMay]

also - dd is not sitting by herself yet but does well with a little support. I have her in my lap when she eats. I was going to wait till she was sitting on her own but other signs (reaching for food very deliberately and taking it right to her mouth) made me think she was ready. Is this ok?

[IzzyTheTerrible]

Those are the signs we used when we started BLW with our little one.  He was a supported sitter.

[IzzyTheTerrible]

Sorry, I didn't reply to the first part. 

I'm vegan and my husband is so not, so I wanted to introduce vegetarian foods, he wanted to introduce meat, so we compromised.  I give him a little bit of typical gas making type things at a time (and have the baby gas-x handy!).  He loves hummus, lentils not so much.  He likes chickpeas (I overcook them and slip them out of their skins) and that'st he only bean I'll feed him whole because of the skins.  He also loves greek yogurt, tofu, etc... just remember that babies don't need nutrition from whole foods during this time, it's just getting them used to later years and letting them practice so they don't NEED protein like we do, they get it from formula.

Even peas and squash have a lot of protein.  My LO loves squash but you might as well try to feed him acid if you wanna give him smushy peas!

[Shaki]

If you are breastfeeding you really don't need to worry about this. I'm vegetarian and breastfed my first til she was 3. Did baby led eating (weaning sounds weird to me, since I'm not planning on weaning my current babe from nursing anytime soon so I say eating--because in my mind that's what they are learning to do...anyway I digress), with her and her primary source of nutrition was breastmilk for her whole first year and she thrived. I'm doing the same thing with DS who is about the same age as your DD. I would say really just think of food as an experimental exploratory thing at this point and breastmilk (or formula) will be the primary source of nutrition for a while to come. I would not give my 6 month old anything on toast I'd be too worried about choking (he still more sucks food than chews) but I would give him hummus just on a tray that he could mash around and suck off of his fingers. Hope that's of some help!

:)

[IzzyTheTerrible]

I give mine peanut butter on toast regularly, starting at 8 months.  It really depends on the child.   I feed him almost anything in strips.

[greenmulberry]

Do you do eggs?

Yesterday I was having some fried eggs and I offered my 8 month old some of the yolk (cooked until thick but not hard) on a spoon and she thought it was awesome!!! I guess it doesn't fit into baby led weaning since it was on a spoon, but I was thinking of hard boiling some eggs and giving her the yolks to pick pick up.

I am going to wait on the whites, because I think they might be too rubbery for someone with only half a tooth to eat safely.

[whozeyermamma]

Me and the kids are vegetarians. I did tofu, lentils (cooked till very mushy), mushed chickpeas and beans. Although I do remember that the mushed pinto beans gave him really bad gas in the beginning. I found that bread/wheat also made him painfully gassy until maybe 9 or 10 months. ? Maybe even close to a year.

ITA with the PP who said that it's more to give them an idea of food. By the time DS was maybe 9 mo or so he was just eating pretty much everything off my plate, except stuff that is really hard to chew or spicy.

[AliceMay]

THanks so much for the replies. I guess I will continue with just the fruit and veg for a little longer, until maybe I have her in a highchair (not sure I'd want to try hummus while she is sitting on my lap....though I suppose I could try some on a vegetable... Thanks for reminding me, of course, that she doesn't *need* anything, and that it is about experimenting. I guess I just wasn't sure what the next thing other than fruit and veg to introduce. But I think mushed chickpeas, beans and so on will be what I'll try, when she is a bit more capable.

thanks!

[Tails]

Sorry I can't give advice on the vegetarian side as I am a huge meat eater and love it. What I did want to say is please, please do more research on soy before eating it yourself or giving it to your baby. I was a soy baby and had huge boobs by 6th grade and a terrible immune system thanks to the phytoestrogens packed into it. It is a billion dollar a year industry and monsanto wants you to think it is safe. I am in no way judging I just want people to have information and be conscious about real products as opposed to poison that is marketed well.

[sassyfirechick]

I'm not Veg and neither is DH (although I'm far more capable and willing to skip meat in a meal than DH and I don't eat it in large doses) but DD is 7 mos and just becoming interested and capable of eating solids in the past 2-3wks (rather than pushing them out of her mouth).  She just had chicken for the first time mixed with spinach....LOVED the spinach, not so much the chicken, and it didn't seem to sit well witth her either.  DH has some gluten/wheat issues and DD already has a mild dairy intolerance so I pick and choose carefully what I give her (along with mo dairy for me!).  We tried gluten free oatmeal and se got a major rash on her face and everywhere it touched her so grains seem to be another issue although she did well with amaranth.  So I've decided for the time being that she will begin life veggie style and take it from there!

[trainingmommy]

I have a question for the successful BLW moms... hope you don't mind. We are all vegetarian too and my son has been nursing and experimenting with all types of food since 5.5 months old. He is now 9 months and anytime I try again to introduce solids (strips/cubes/chunky purees) he will either keep the pieces in his mouth or just mush them in his hand. He shows interest in spoon feeding himself and is learning how to get the spoon to his mouth, but I am wondering if he just isn't ready for BLW yet. Any ideas?

To the original poster, at six months we were feeding zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, apples, bananas, peaches, and oats. As far as feeding egg, I wouldn't yet as it is may be too early. Food while nursing should only serve to help develop a mature palette - as someone else already posted.