TF for baby?

[onehope]

I have a 5 mo DD, and although i won't start her on any solids for at least another month, I am trying to reacquaint myself with the world of making babyfood. I know with my son we gave him rice and millet cereal after he was 6 or 7 mos old, but that was before we began our TF adventure. The cereal gruel recipe in NT says for 1 year and older. Is there a TF cereal recipe for younger babies or do you hold off completely until they are a year old and just intro them to fruits, veggies, etc. until then? Can I puree soaked/cooked rice and give it to her or is it unsafe/unhealthy for her before 1 year? Thanks!

[quietserena]

I believe SF says no grains until 2 years because kids don't produce enough amylase to digest them properly. DD got veggies and fruit and meat after a year and only now does she get some grains. If you really want to give grains, you can chew them for the baby - your saliva has enough amylase to start the digestion process.

I disagree with WAPF regarding starting solids though, I think it's way too early the way they recommend. IMO spoonfeeding any child is not a good idea.

But good foods to start with, after a year are things like baked (or fermented!) sweet potato, banana, avocado (which my DD abhors!), steamed carrots, bits of soft meat, liver (DD loooves liver!), soft boiled egg (I do help her with the yolk), things like that.

[velcromom]

I am not an expert, but we are leaning toward TF, learning more about infant nutrition all the time... We are having success with the self-feeding way. Our ten month old dd eats a few different things (fruit, avocados) and loves to pick fork-mashed stuff up off her tray.

I'm not giving her grains yet, I feel like I need to do more research as to whether she will get them after a year or later.

So for now, there's no need for recipes, as she only eats single foods and is still 90% bf. I don't intend to really make any baby food at all this time as far as purees and things like that. It's so fun to watch the expression on peoples faces when I say I haven't bought a single jar of baby food, lol.

[meggles]

We started with in-season, local veggies and fruits (also, banana) and then did some smaller pieces of meat. We started offering at 7-8 months or so when dd displayed all the readiness signs and then offered meat around 10 months. We offered grains after a year.

I would also recommend against pre-chewing your baby's food, as you can easily colonize their mouths with strep mutans bacteria which can lead to tooth decay.

[Ruthla]

I would just offer the baby tastes of stuff off my plate, and not worry about waiting for specific ages for specific foods, or making a habit of spoon feeding anything.

A bone to gnaw on, with a tiny bit of meat left on it, is probably a good first food.

[MMGerard]

I took the WAPF recommendations to heart and introduced egg yolk as a first food to ds when he was around 6 1/2 months old. He had horrible projectile vomiting in reaction to the egg yolk. Twice. I did not realize what it was until the second time. After that, I consulted the list of "least likely to be allergenic" foods from Dr. Sears' book, and compared that with the recommended baby foods from WAPF, and what overlapped is what I fed ds. So that's my biggest recommendation: select foods from the WAPF list that are least likely to be allergenic, and start with those.

We have had good luck with bananas, avocado, chicken, chicken broth, apples, apricots, broccoli, mango, peaches, salmon. We do go against WAPF advice and feed oatmeal that has been soaked overnight in yogurt and water. Ds eats a banana and then his oatmeal; maybe the banana provides enough amylase? We do like the idea of self-feeding here, too.

[spughy]

I just avoided grains until a year but other than that, she just got what we ate at dinner, run through a little hand-operated babyfood mill. I never paid much attention to the "correct" order in which to introduce food, I think her first food was actually a good pate from the local charcuterie. I DID emphasize meat over everything else, because I think it's crazy to give foods in any real amount that contain fewer calories than breastmilk, but she did get some veg and fruit and generally liked them. Now she is 2 1/2 and loves all kinds of food, and still nurses once in a while. Last night her grandpa commented on how completely healthy she looks.

[Rainbow2911]

Breastmilk also contains amylase (just try mixing it with ground rice to a thick paste and leaving it for a minute! Turns liquid very quickly) so you could just feed grains shortly after/before nursing to help.
My ds2 fed himself bananas, chicken, salmon and I gave him various soups and bits of what we were eating mashed a little. He just had the banana and fish to begin with as he started solids quite early. I did start grains at a year and he has no problems with them when properly prepared (not the same when he has bought bread and pasta at his Dads tho. . My other two were much the same except dd didn't start solids until 13 months so she just went straight onto little bits of whatever we were having.
I would stick with fruit, veg and meat to begin with and introduce other things after a year.

[Attached Mama]

The most TF for babies under a year is breast milk. They don't actually *need* anything else. I like what Peggy O'Mara says in her book about letting food be like condiments to the breast milk during the first year. So I'd just pick some TF things and let them be like condiments - a few bites per day. A bite or two at dinner of something off your plate too keep him occupied while you eat. Our dd didn't have solids every day til she was over 1 yr old. Even then, it was a very small amount for a long time. She's healthy as can be.

[Leilalu]

Originally Posted by Rainbow2911

Breastmilk also contains amylase (just try mixing it with ground rice to a thick paste and leaving it for a minute! Turns liquid very quickly) so you could just feed grains shortly after/before nursing to help.
My ds2 fed himself bananas, chicken, salmon and I gave him various soups and bits of what we were eating mashed a little. He just had the banana and fish to begin with as he started solids quite early. I did start grains at a year and he has no problems with them when properly prepared (not the same when he has bought bread and pasta at his Dads tho. . My other two were much the same except dd didn't start solids until 13 months so she just went straight onto little bits of whatever we were having.
I would stick with fruit, veg and meat to begin with and introduce other things after a year.

This is a good point! We have always had a "nurse first" rule.

I love starting solids as late as I can stave them off, but finger foods are great. Yet anything I make will have a better chance in my babes tummy due to nursing first.

[onehope]

Thanks for all of the advice! I am just learning to dig deeper than the mainstream "norm" in matters like childrearing and health, etc. Some people think it's strange that I'm not dying to start her on solids already, and honestly I thought I was doing well by waiting until 6 mos. After reading from your experiences, though, i think we might just stick with breastmilk for a while longer and wait until she is more ready to handle some finger foods and such.