[Yooper]

My 10 month old dd has had trouble with solid foods. She likes to eat but does not seem to like traditional baby foods. She will tolerate peas and squash but refuses fruits, sweet potato, cereal, etc.... I am beginning to think that it is the blandness that she is not happy with. A few weeks ago I gave her a few spoonfuls of VERY spicy spanish rice. She LOVED it. I thought it was a fluke. Then today I gave her some of my also VERY spicy indian rice which she also gobbled up. I would be happy to continue feeding her this kind of stuff but want her to get some veggies in because she has constipation problems. I was thinking of cooking up some nice diced sweet potato but adding some curry to the cooking water to spice it up. Is this a bad idea for a baby this young? I eat very spicy foods most days and I imagine that my bm tastes spicy too. My sweat smells spicy (TMI....sorry) so I am guessing the bm does too. I also ate my usual diet when pregnant. Could she have acquired a taste? And if so, does curry, red pepper, etc cause any digestion problems that I should be aware of?

Yooper

 

[kamilla626]

I think that babies do have different food preferences - just like adults. My 1 yr. old will eat almost anything but she definitely has a preference for garlic and Italian foods. She'd eat cardboard if it had Alfredo sauce on it!

You might want to find more info online about which spices could be harmful for babies, but as far as I can recall I don't think there are really any that are totally off limits.

My dd has eaten steak sauce, barbecue sauce, mustard, pasta sauce, alfredo sauce, garlic, cinnamon, chives, tacos.... We're a little daring when it comes to giving her new foods, but so far nothing has given her any trouble. We just try to avoid corn syrup and chemicals.

 

[polka hop]

*

 

[chrfath]

Our little one is the same way. She won't eat jarred baby food. But loves anything spicy or mashed from our plate.

 

[allgirls]

You are not nuts...in fact all 3 of my kids have liked what I like...

and funny thing is I noticed formula fed babies will invariably like jarred baby food better than bf babies do...that's just an observation but it makes me wonder...formula is so awful anything tastes better I guess..

 

[CTMOMOF2]

Spice it up baby!!!

 

[Ember]

My son is the same. I couldn't get him to eat the chicken and vegies I cooked rather blandly for him. One day I made myself some broccoli with garlic, lemon and pepper. He gobbled it up! I barely got any. He also loves when we have chicken tikka.
Now I pretty much cook things for him the same way I like it and he eats up a storm. I can barely keep up with this kid!
I think as long as it's not hot spicy (chili pepper etc) it should be ok.
The only thing he likes jarred is the pureed green beans. He loves those still.

 

[Alvenchrst]

Don't know what ethnicity you are, but in many countries the food you are feeding is totally normal! I think American ideas of what babies should and shouldn't have is very narrow and more steeped in tradition than anything! I know my MIL freaked out when I didn't feed ds the exact same foods that she feed her children 25 years ago. She told me he didn't like the avacodo I gave her to feed him while she was watching him. Funny how he loved it at home. Just another example how main stream what your ped would tell you type things aren't always right for you child. You go mama!

Follow baby's taste buds!!!!

 

[arcenciel]

Hi, my daughter is 7 months so it's a bit early to tell, but she doesn't like anything I feed her on a spoon. She loves anything she can feed herself, finger food or something she can empty out a bowl and pick up in her fist!

Her older brother has always preferred "interesting" foods though I didn't particularly give him spicy stuff.

My brother had an Indian girlfriend some years ago who ate a lot of chilli in everything. Her mother warned her not to put too much in the food my brother also ate because she thought it wouldn't be good for him. I think it can damage the lining of your stomach, I guess if it's introduced and built up gradually then you built up a protection or something like that.

Just think, your days of cooking separate meals may nearly be over!

 

[jacksmama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alvenchrst Don't know what ethnicity you are, but in many countries the food you are feeding is totally normal! I think American ideas of what babies should and shouldn't have is very narrow and more steeped in tradition than anything! Follow baby's taste buds!!!!

I agree with Alvenchrst! You're not nuts! DH and I love spicy. Cuban, Mexican and Indian are our favorites! I ate like that when I was pg and I never curtailed my eating because I bf. I was eating a homemade bean burrito a few weeks back (rice, beans, peps & onions, etc). Ds was grabbing at my food. I decided to give him a piece of tortilla and rice. I went out of my way to pick out the bean as I had made them pretty spicy. And you know what? Ds went out of his way to lick off any piece of burrito that had bean on it. I was shocked! My dh has told me all along ds likes spicy, but I wouldn't hear of it. This time, however, I gave ds more beans and he ate every bit and banged for more. No digestion problems at all, either. Like other poster said we don't give him jalapenos, of course, - but we don't hold back much either. Now, I can't get him to even sniff baby food!