self-feeding/baby-led weaning support thread... - Page 6

[katie9143]

i dont personally butter veggies or pasta (although my mom did last night and i didnt really care and i dont think dd noticed) i do butter toast as its so dry otherwise either that or i put some all fruit spread on it and she loves it. if its something like potato then usually i do add butter or oil the same as i would for dh and i. i dont really think too much about giving her what we eat as we generally eat organic and whold foods so no artificial sweetners or trans/damaged fats etc - but hey no ones perfect. she grabbed my moms cup of crystal light the other day and took a big sip b4 i got to her and as much as a cringed i figured that one sip wouldnt kill her....

i think for her bday im going to make the cake myself and maybe do a banana or vanilla flavored cake using whole wheat flour and raw cane sugar - that is how i did all m holiday baking and no one complained and gobbled up all the goodies i made. im still thinking of something for frosting....maybe a creaam cheese frosting with minimal sugar or some whipping cream would be good. im trying not to be too anal about what she eats but im certainly not ordering the cake from the supermarket! i know kids eventually will be exposed to all that crap, atleast i know at home and when im around that she is getting the best she can.

[popbaby]

Thanks Katie! Those were the ideas for cakes I was looking for!

[ChelseaG]

DS will be 6 months old next week, and we just recently started offering food at mealtimes...
He has 2 teeth, sits up well, can easily grab things and bring to his mouth - no pincer grasp yet though...
We have tried steamed baby carrots, raw apple chunks, banana, teething biscuits, and just today cantaloupe. I just bought some avocado and sweet potato to try those in the next couple days.

I don't think he has actually ingested anything yet - he has bitten off a couple chunks with his sharp little teeth, but he ends up gagging and spitting it out.

Everybody always thinks it is odd when I mention baby lead feeding and how we are introducing foods -but when you read about it - it makes perfect sense!

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by Magali

When do you start giving meat? He basically is eating whatever we are...he had spicy garlicky huumus yesterday and loved it, but I don't want to overload his system..he's only just 8 months.

Naked Baby went NUTS at Thanksgiving (he was about 8 months?) he wanted my turkey so bad. So I let him chew on the thigh bone I was eating, and he LOVED it. Spent a very happy 15 minutes chewing on first the meat (gagged on a piece pretty bad, but other than that did fine) then (even more happily) the end of the bone. He's not loved the chicken we've offered him since, but he's probably had a piece or two. He just ate an entire spicy meatball with apricot sauce from our local deli, and seemed to really like that.

I dunno. I hadn't been planning on giving him meat, but he had other ideas.

Originally Posted by acp

(well, maybe a close runner-up to the Chipotle's guacamole).

I swear my kid can't be related to me, because he doesn't seem to like avocado, including their guac (which is THE BEST).

Originally Posted by acp

Also curious when people started giving their LOs meat, and also wheat (in the form of toast). My mom mentioned that toast was one of my favorite things from pretty early on, and it seems like it could be a good thing to spread some of the more slippery foods, like avocado and banana on (she can pick them up ok, but sometimes they just become a squishy slippery mess). I'm not really worried about food allergies, but I know a lot of people hold off on wheat for a while... Would doing something like toasted oatmeal bread be better?

We gave wheat a little before 9mo, if I remember correctly. We held off for a bit because it's a high allergen, but mostly because it's hard on the gut, and all my alternative health care providers have told me I should be avoiding it. : But he gets a fair amount of wheat now, simply because we eat it a lot. Although we haven't actually "done" toast yet. Pasta, yes, rolls, yes, but no toast.

Originally Posted by popbaby

What does everyone here do? Do you ever put a smidge of butter on the broccoli? On toast? On the mashed potatoes? Thoughts?

Naked Baby has had traces of butter in mashed potatos (traces of cheese in other things, too), but we're not in a rush to get him consuming large amounts of cow's milk products. We do add coconut and olive oils where appropriate, though. We make our sweet potato fries with coconut, and often put olive on green beans. If I weren't wary of cow dairy in general, I'd be fine using butter; babies' brains NEED fat and cholesterol. Those are vital nutrients, not things to limit. But they get enough from us, too, and don't need supplemental sources while they're still nursing lots..

[wombatclay]

We've "done" meat. DD2 grabbed a slice of steak and growled when we tried to take it away. It's kind of funny since we have red meat maybe twice a year and we were actually vegetarian for about 4 years. So she probably wont get steak again for a year or two, but she really enjoyed it.

Wheat- we don't have a history of allergies but dd1 has a wheat sensitivity. She had mild eczema but wheat products caused a flare up every time. It took a while to figure it out actually, but we wound up restricting wheat for a while. So with any food/any child just keep your eyes open.

[babyluvr]

we offer meat to our 9 mo and he loved a mostly clean drumstick at Christmas, but mostly he likes to shred it (such a different texture than other foods!) and drop the fibers from fingers to tray. i don't think he's had butter other than on a bagel once. we don't do toast yet because he gets wheat in other foods.

steamed veggies cold are a great car food! our 5.5 yo loved offering a bean or carrot to little brother on our recent trip.

i cracked up because our babe does not like avocado, but LOVEs guacamole (and homemade salsa, especially the onions). loved how he smelled like a little burrito after that meal with the beans too

one funny story: ds was 'helping' cook lunch (Indian food), which really means crawling around the kitchen and snitching pieces of veggies and such, and then he was ready to go to sleep so i gathered him up to wash his litle hands and face and i couldn't believe how he smelled. he had garlic breath!! the little champ had been EATING raw garlic. so funny

[Ubelle]

DD has had turkey and beef

Turkey started at thanksgiving (so she was 7 moths old) and then a few weeks later she had chili beef - I sucked most of the sauce off since it was tomato based and there was salt from the beans (I try to avoid added salts and sugars) she loved the beef! :

DD is now 8 mo and we haven't tried wheat yet, and I was thinking of waiting until after she was 9 mo - just in case. But we have a family trip scheduled for the middle of Jan which includes flying and I am having a hard time comming up with neat finger foods - I have been imagining avacado and banana (2 of her favorites) on the plane smeared eveywhere. ANyone with ideas od easy to tote clean finger foods?

Aside from the chili beef, we have been following the whole 1 new food every 3-5 days (or longer depending on circumstances) How long did you all wait till you were offering complex foods that had more than 1 new ingrediant? Any that you made sure you waited on? (ie cheese, tomato, citrus, etc)

Thanks

[acp]

Originally Posted by Ubelle

I sucked most of the sauce off since it was tomato based and there was salt from the beans

Are tomatoes something you're supposed to wait on? I hadn't heard that.

Also, I'd also love ideas for good finger foods, especially to help DD work on her pincer grip. She's started to get more interested in picking up small things, but I'm not so into the idea of Cheerios, which seems to be the classic finger food parents like. Peas? tiny pieces of steamed carrot? bits of ground beef? bits of cheese (we haven't given her dairy yet, but I've heard other mothers say cheese is generally ok)? She doesn't have any teeth yet, and I want to make sure I don't give her something she could choke on - I don't actually know what size is small enough to swallow whole and what size she might choke on. I'm assuming peas and that sort of shape can just go down whole, though?

We actually haven't been great about the one ingredient then wait a few days thing - i sort of wish we'd been better because then maybe I'd have a sense if her crazy poopiness/semi-diarrhea is at all connected to solids. I don't think so, since it's kept up even after we put solids on hold for a couple weeks, but we still probably should have been a bit better. I've also given her a few complex foods when she's been interested. in addition to the afore-mentioned guacamole, she had roasted red pepper hummus yesterday (I was eating it at a friend's house and she reached over and stuck her fingers in) and loved it.

[ShyDaisi]

Warning: Poop-y question...

I have been offering solids to Micah for a couple of months now, and I don't think he is really ingesting all that much. But, I have found a few "pieces" in his diaper. When does the poop become more solid? I am looking forward to the more formed poops that are easier to clean, but so far they are just more odiferous.

[ShyDaisi]

As far as pincer grasp practice goes....I have been offering beans and smaller pieces of soft fruit. He does pretty well, but I have also seen him utilize the "Hoover" move when he gets frustrated -- just leans over, puts his mouth on the table, and sucks

[ShyDaisi]

So is there no approximate time as to when the body is developmentally read to digest meat?

[Mommy2Haley]

Can I just say that I love you all and this thread? I've been looking for this information so I can stop spoon feeding. Darn those mainstream ideas. I wish I had known all this earlier.

DD is currently spoon fed (no flames, please) abd I'm in the process of transitioning her to self feeding. I give her pieces of banana or beans or piecces of rice cake to "eat" while DH and I eat our meals. I've been hesitant to switch b/c she doesn't have teeth yet (9months). THANK YOU for this info. I'm so tired of spoon feeding!! She loves to spread the pureed food around her tray and then try to eat it off her fingers

I'll have to do it slowly. DH is accepting of my parenting ideas but I keep springing changes on him.

We're going to try some chicken tonight.

It's ok to give DD YoBaby yogurt, right? My ped said no to yogurt today (but also told me she should be eating three full meals and to let her CIO). ??

[jackalope2006]

4.5 month old REALLY interested in food

My 4.5 mo DS is extremely interested in our food. He is reaching (and sometimes successfully grabbing) and lunging for our plates when we eat. He has food intolerance issues in my BM so I am not in any hurry to introduce solids but he seems to have different plans. He is starting to get frustrated that he can't eat what we are eating.

Is he far to young? Maybe we can start at 5.5 months? Does anyone have any experience with a baby wanting solids this early. He holds his head up well and can sit unassisted a bit. We are planning to BLW when the time comes. Any suggestions mamas?

[Twinklefae]

Originally Posted by jackalope2006

My 4.5 mo DS is extremely interested in our food. He is reaching (and sometimes successfully grabbing) and lunging for our plates when we eat. He has food intolerance issues in my BM so I am not in any hurry to introduce solids but he seems to have different plans. He is starting to get frustrated that he can't eat what we are eating.

Is he far to young? Maybe we can start at 5.5 months? Does anyone have any experience with a baby wanting solids this early. He holds his head up well and can sit unassisted a bit. We are planning to BLW when the time comes. Any suggestions mamas?

Are you sure he's interested in the food? My four month old also lunges at things and tries to stick them in his mouth, but that includes the computer parts, a pen, toys, and anything else I happen to be holding. Mine has just realized that people eat, and watches intently as though he's not sure where the food is going.

Oh, I just stopped in to sub so that I can study up before we hit 6 months.

Question though, for those parents who don't eat "perfectly". What do you do when you are eating something that you wouldn't want your LO to eat? (So many people who can say that they don't eat anything they wouldn't want their LO to eat, I think I'm jealous.)

[acp]

Originally Posted by Twinklefae

Question though, for those parents who don't eat "perfectly". What do you do when you are eating something that you wouldn't want your LO to eat? (So many people who can say that they don't eat anything they wouldn't want their LO to eat, I think I'm jealous.)

It's hard for me to believe that many people really don't eat ANYthing they wouldn't want their LO to eat. I mostly sit DD at the table with us in her booster seat (attached to a dining room chair) so she can imitate us and eat some stuff, but not grab things off our plate. So if I'm eating something I don't want her to have, I just don't put it within her reach and don't let her have it. She sometimes tries to grab potato chips, coffee, etc from my hands if I'm holding her and eating or drinking them, and I just give her something else she can put in her mouth (not necessarily food - she's generally happy with anything from a film canister to a spoon to an actual toy).

As for when to start - DD was a super early sitter (she sat unassisted at 4 months) and showed interest in what we were eating from an early age, but I still waited until just under 5.5 months to give her actual food. I'm sure I could have done it sooner, it just didn't seem necessary, and there were plenty of other things she was happy exploring. That's not to say that a baby can't be ready early (I originally thought I'd wait until at least 6 months), but I don't think there's any reason to push it. I'd certainly wait until a LO sits really well unassisted, though, and shows some of the other readiness signs.

[jackalope2006]

Originally Posted by Twinklefae

Are you sure he's interested in the food? My four month old also lunges at things and tries to stick them in his mouth, but that includes the computer parts, a pen, toys, and anything else I happen to be holding. Mine has just realized that people eat, and watches intently as though he's not sure where the food is going.

He does want to touch everything but not in the same way he lunges at and is mesmerized by the food we eat. He even mimics us chewing when we take bites of food. I'm not really sure he would know what to do with it if we let him have it....I guess we will find out soon enough .

[SparklingGemini]

Hi! I am new here but wanted to post quickly to subscribe to this thread! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for when I found this forum!

My DD just turned six months yesterday and against pressure from my IL's and others, I have held off on solids. I love the idea of BLW because it seems natural to me! At first I was going to just make all our babyfood but after careful consideration and some research, I am pretty certain this is the way we are going to go! I haven't completely read the entire thread, yet, but I certainly will!

I am glad to have someone to bounce my ideas, concerns and triumphs off of!!!

Question, did y'all start AT six months or did you wait until the end of the sixth month or longer?

Thanks for letting me join!

~Rhiann

[spmamma]

Originally Posted by SparklingGemini

Question, did y'all start AT six months or did you wait until the end of the sixth month or longer?

We started at 6 MO, but decided to hold off a bit and try again in a few more weeks since DD has been gagging on everything, even tiny smidgens of banana and avocado.

[wombatclay]

With dd1 we started letting her grab food around 6.5 months, dd2 was about the same... she is 7mo this week and samples solids maybe 2-3 times a week. Basically we just stopped distracting the girls from solids after about 6mo, but we don't necessarily offer solids to them (if that makes sense?).

YoBaby- well, your ped sounds a bit off but on that one he may have a point. YoBaby is still a cow dairy product so if you're avoiding cow dairy then that would be on the list of things to avoid as well. And if you're not avoiding cow dairy then perhaps offer a yogurt product that isn't full of sugar? I'm not saying YoBaby (and other flavored yogurt products) is bad, but for yogurt we generally use plain (unflavored) yogurt and add fruits and spices to taste. It's a lot better for you and ou know eactly what's in it. We actually make our own yogurt when we have the time... we like it "tangy".

Meat- hmmmm, good question about digestion. I know meat is listed as a good "first food" by a variety of organizations (like LLL) but I'm not sure what the research is.

[Arwyn]

they're hardly digesting ANYTHING at this point (if the whole bits in the toilet are any indication, anyway ), meat isn't different in that respect

NB was "ready" at 5mo, including watching us and "chewing", but I think it's important to have a sterile gut for as long as reasonably possible. the digestive tract of an infant changes as soon as other foods (incl formula) are introduced in ways that reduce the absorbtion of the nutrients in mama's milk. we started a little after 7mo in the end, although i was preparecd to wait longer if he'd cooperated.

yogurt is a great food if you're going to start cow dairy (lots of probiotics, easilu digestible), but I think it's really important to go with an unsweetened organic whole milk yogurt. yogurt is plenty sweet enough, and the pestisides etc cows ingest get excretyed straight into the fat in their milk (read Having Faith for more info on pollutants and lactation). and buying foods not marketed to babies is always going to be cheaper, anyway...

peas, small bits of apple (we do slices of apple, actually), dried berries, beans, corn, etc, are all good, relatively clean finger foods. a french bread crust is popular around here, if crummy (but less messy than avo or banana)