[UUMamaVeg]

I'm trying to let my 2nd DD self-feed and I'm not sure I'm exactly succeeding. My oldest is 8 and we just did things the old-fashioned way with her. I've given the baby avocadoes and bananas(we started a few days before she turned 6 months), through giving her soft chunks, through the mesh feeder, and through the spoon once in desperation. I'm thinking about giving her some ground oatmeal mixed with breastmilk next, but is that wrong? We're out of money for a few days and I don't have anything more appropriate to feed her, except more bananas! Perhaps I should just stick with bananas until I can go and buy sweet potatoes or squash.

Or am I being too careful about this? Do some of you just let your kids go at lots of different foods, except the high-allergic ones, w/o worrying about it like I am? I'd love to hear from you!

I've read so much and it's all so contradictory! No one seems to have the one perfect method. I'd love to get a sense of what others on this board are doing/have done. But please remember, AP parenting can look very different from family to family. Don't flame someone for their feeding choices lest they chastise you for not CDing or cosleeping or because you vaxed! I don't want this thread to be like that!

Also, one other question: Please don't flame me for this one--I'm tired and I'd love to get longer stretches of sleep at night! Is there some food I could feed her late in the day that might encourage longer sleeping? Please understand, I'm not wanting her to sleep through the night--I'd just like a couple of 4 hour stretches!

 

[eclipse]

My bgabies pretty much just eat what I eat. FTR, I'm not a fan of the mesh feeders. I know a lot of people like them, but I really can't figure out why. I think if a child can't handle the texture of a food, they shouldn't be eating it. I just can't imagine eating through mesh. It seems like it would feel really creepy, and could be numbing to the tounge.

 

[lizabird]

ds1:
Started with things like avocado, banana, peach... little mashed up puree bits at a time, he didn't eat much for the first few months of feeding but I remember mostly feeding him with a spoon. As he got older I'd let him self feed little bits he could pick up. He didn't get any teeth until 10 months. I did buy several jars of baby food as he got older because he often wouldn't eat the stuff I cooked and pureed myself but he loved things in jars.

ds2:
is now 9 months old (almost). He has had little tastes of banana, avocado, peas, beans, watermelon, and probably a few other things. He won't let me put things in his mouth with a spoon, so I give him a dab of something pureed on his spoon and let him play with it. mostly he just likes to play with the utensils and the spoon and very little ever goes into his mouth. I plan to try not buying any jars of baby food and just offering things we have on hand which means I have to plan my meals with this in mind (e.g. if we have pizza for dinner, I need to make sure there's something for the baby too).

I have a nasty family history of food allergies, so I'm being pretty cautious about what I offer and when.

 

[alison_in_oh]

Generally speaking, I buy some produce specially for the baby. I cut some chunks for easy self-feeding, then I puree the rest for easy storage.

I also have taken to planning our meals and choices at restaurants around baby-friendly foods. I am not too eager to give him gluten, so I make gluten-free pasta and waffles that I can share. I give him chunks of root vegetables, and pieces of tomato and cucumber and avocado from tossed salads.

I think it makes a lot of sense to wait 4-7 days between introducing new foods, both so you can see if there are any obvious reactions in that time frame, and so that your baby's immune system can assimilate that one food without potentially cross-reacting with other new foods that might be more problematic.

However, it's not always easy and I don't beat myself up if he tastes my turnip in the evening after I just introduced fresh peach that morning.

I think that it's been proven that food can't hasten sleeping through the night. However, you might want to look into some of the AP-friendly sleep books out there to see if you can get some tips to encourage your DC to sleep more soundly. One 4 hour stretch should definitely be doable, but it might take some effort on your part to encourage it gently.

 

[spedel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizabird ds2: is now 9 months old (almost). He has had little tastes of banana, avocado, peas, beans, watermelon, and probably a few other things. He won't let me put things in his mouth with a spoon, so I give him a dab of something pureed on his spoon and let him play with it. mostly he just likes to play with the utensils and the spoon and very little ever goes into his mouth. I plan to try not buying any jars of baby food and just offering things we have on hand which means I have to plan my meals with this in mind (e.g. if we have pizza for dinner, I need to make sure there's something for the baby too). )

My 8 mo DD is the same way. I was excited when she ate 1.5 cheerios last week. She just doesn't really seem interested in eating food yet and REFUSES to let me put a spoon anywhere near her mouth. (She did let me put a cheerio in there though). I try not to let it bother me... but I'm really glad to see someone else is going through this too.

 

[PapayaVagina]

Just wanted to sub. Dd is 8 months old. We have a nasty family history of allergies and she is sensitive to something that I eat (she finally grew out of wheat and dairy - I think) plus has leaky gut syndrome. I gave her just a few little bites of avacado last weekend and they came out whole in her poo so I want to wait a little while longer before I give her more.

 

[MommytoHHH]

I didn't really fit in your categories, or at least I felt like I didn't.

We allow DD to self-feed. She's never been spoon fed. I am however, conscious about allergies (or I think I am). If I can get it organic, that's what we use - but we live in a town without a health food store, so I don't always have access to all things organic.

Her first food was avocado. Next was banana. Then sweet potatoe. After that she's had cantaloupe, watermelon, green beans, chicken (free-range, antibiotic/growth hormone etc. free), fresh alaskan cod, organic rolled oats, we've let her gnaw on apple slices for teething, and she just tried carrots tonight.

I give those foods to her in hand sized slices that she can easily pick up. Except for the oats and chicken. The chicken I shred up a bit. She has a nice pincer grasp and can even pick up the individual rolled oats. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but does quite well chewing her food up with just her gums. In 2 months of self-feeding, she's only gagged twice. No problems with choking here.

 

[katheek77]

I chose strict self-feeding AND the baby eats what we eat....we intro'd fruits/veggies, but she mostly eats what we eat. We did try some baby cereal for the iron, but, she hates it (all kinds), so we just use regular dry cereal (sugar free alpha-bits/cheerios/etc), which is fortified anyway.

We did self-feeding, and tossed the recommendations on allergies out the window. I started with the whole "wait three days" before introducing a new food, but we found it to be impractical when baby was wanting what was on our plates. So, around six months I tossed that out the window as well (she started self-feeding around four months...has always been ahead on physical milestones).

She did fruits/veggies first, but only because that happened to be the easiest as far as "soft chunks". She had cheese and yogurt around six months, wheat around the same time, berries around seven months, tomatoes around seven months, eggs around seven (at first just the yolks, but, by ten months the whites, and she'd had foods with the whites before that), soy around seven, fish around seven/eight months, peanuts (in the form of peanut butter) around nine months, etc. I don't remember when she had chocolate first, but I'm thinking it was nine/ten months?

The only food she eats off a spoon is yogurt, although she thinks it's a thrill and a half to eat off of MY spoon or fork.

 

[angelcat]

I almost picked the first one, but I introduced fruits before vegetables, and that's not really how you're supposed to do it.

My plan was to hold out til 6 months, and start with rice. I ended up following my child's cues, and altho I started with rice, we quickly moved on to fruit then veggies.

I also didn't plan to give her solid food every day at first, but she insisted. If she wanted solid food, she'd refuse her bottle, and refuse solids when she wanted the bottle. I did watch her formula intake, and make sure she was getting enough. She was, so I let her eat as much as she wanted. I spoon fed til she wanted to finger feed, (believe me there was no feeding her if she didn't want to eat.) and I fed her baby food til she wanted my food.

 

[AbbieB]

I never did baby food/pureed food.

When DD showed definite signs of wanting food I offered her Cheerios, banana, scrambled eggs, yogurt and sweet potato.

I did do the one a week thing just to be sure she was going to do alright but quickly stopped worrying.

I am of the mind that if she can pick it up, put it in her mouth, gum it/chew it and swallow she's ready. I never feed her.

It took her about a month (at 7 months) to really be ready to eat. She just played with her food, gummed it, spit it out, occasionally swallowed it and look very surprised. But then she was ready and went for it. After we got past the initial going slow introducing foods she was free to eat what ever she wanted to from out plates on top of being offered whole single foods. (So I would offer apples slices as a "meal" but she was OK to grab the Thai chicken from my plate if she wanted it-which she did!)

I loved the mesh feeder. i offered it to her with frozen sweet potato when she was teething and it was a favorite. I did not offer it to her as a way to be able to eat.

 

[MsElle07]

I chose other because I don't think kids should be eating solids until they can totally self feed, closer to one year old.

 

[TypingMJ]

We've done a mixture of everything, really. When my son was 6 months old he was extremely eager to eat, but he gagged on everything we gave him so we compromised for a short time with tiny bits of regular jarred purees. He started showing interest in self feeding almost right away after trying the purees, and now he just self feeds whatever we eat. He's just 8 months old now, so the transition from jar to self feeding was in a very short time frame.

 

[crunchymamatobe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alison_in_oh I think that it's been proven that food can't hasten sleeping through the night. However, you might want to look into some of the AP-friendly sleep books out there to see if you can get some tips to encourage your DC to sleep more soundly. One 4 hour stretch should definitely be doable, but it might take some effort on your part to encourage it gently.

Solids will not help baby sleep. See the kellymom info on this. We have had a really rough time with our sleep since about the time we started offering DS solid foods, but that also coincided with his learning to crawl and cutting his first teeth. We read The No Cry Sleep Solution and are slowly putting some of the ideas into practice... DS had two five hour stretches of sleep last night! Woot!

We offer pureed or mashed or milled versions of what we're eating sometimes, but DS isn't keen on being spoon fed. He likes to wack the spoon on the table. He prefers to chew on foods he puts in his own mouth - vegetables roasted in olive oil are his favorites. And rice cakes and mangoes. Really the whole thing is more about experimenting for him and the social experience of eating at the table with us - he's probably getting 95% or more of his calories from me still, so the solid foods are just for tasting and smooshing.

 

[treqi]

I feed dd whatever I eat except for milk products, pineapple and things that just don't seem like a good idea.

 

[utahfeminist]

So I've been trying self feeding, but all the easy things seem really slippery. My boy finds it hard to hold avacado, banana etc and get them in his mouth.

Does it jsut get easier?

 

[2 in August]

We do whatever works for us. I started ds on avocado at 6mo. He was small so I wanted something that would give him as much nutrition as possible. He'd eat a few mushed up bites from my fingers. I did spoon feed him applesauce and mushed sweet potatoes. We never did baby cereal and we've never done jarred foods. (Well, I did feed him one jar of sweet potatoes because somebody gave it to us and it was so liquidy compared to what he was used to that I gave away the rest of the food that was given to us.)

Now ds is 10mo, he eats almost everything we do. I did have to stop wheat because he had this little rash that kept coming and going and after I stopped wheat it mostly went away. He loves to self feed. He will let me help with yogurt, bites of avocado, and bites off my plate. He usually wants something that he can pick up on his tray at the same time.

 

[LaughingHyena]

We fall somewhere in between. DS has lots of opportunities to feed himself but I also offer him mashed foods (as in mashed with a fork so not as mushy as jars).

I am quite careful introducing things for the first few months and defiantly avoid things high in the allergy list. We do have quite a family history though.

DD had oats about 9 months I think, I used to grind them up a bit before cooking, mostly so they would cook faster

we added pureed fruit for a bit more flavor sometimes. It was probably the only thing she was spoomfed more than once.

Personally I think I'd be happy just offering bannas for a couple of days since its all about the experience at this stage.

There is a list of sleep inducing foods here
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T042400.asp

I'm not sure they help you sleep longer though, just get to sleep.

 

[mclisa]

#3 is very allergic to foods so #4 will start with turkey and lamb. Then we'll add pears. Nothing until 6 months, but definitely solids before 9 months. No grains at all. None of those gerber fruit puffs.

 

[Selesai]

First, OP, I understand your confusion. I felt that way too when my baby hit six months. But I also think you should do both of you a favor and relax. The self-feeding approach allows a child to accept food at their own pace. It also means that the child likely won't really be *eating* food for at least a few months. Right now she is experimenting with it, feeling different textures, etc. YOu shouldn't feel like you have to get some food in her. You don't. Just offer healthy foods and let it be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapayaVagina Just wanted to sub. Dd is 8 months old. We have a nasty family history of allergies and she is sensitive to something that I eat (she finally grew out of wheat and dairy - I think) plus has leaky gut syndrome. I gave her just a few little bites of avacado last weekend and they came out whole in her poo so I want to wait a little while longer before I give her more.

PV, I think this is normal (the whole foods coming out in the poo). At least for a while, and at least that is what I was told. The same thing happened to DS. Now things are a little bet less identifiable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsElle07 I chose other because I don't think kids should be eating solids until they can totally self feed, closer to one year old.

I think this is a good point.

I offered solids to my son around 6 mos but then backed off for I believe a few months because his pincer grasp needed to be fully developed. I don't feed him with a spoon things like oatmeal or yogurt or applesauce-- he won't let me. Instead I will put something on his spoon and he may eat it, or he may throw it around the room or smear it on his face. My ped suggests that once the child can feed themselves with a spoon (around 15 mos) you don't ever do it yourself again. I think that's a good approach.
As it is, Philip gets some of what we eat, as long as I find it suitable. He loves bananas and sweet potato and peas and Os. I just keep trying to offer him a variety of good, typically organic food and hope for the best. I think that's all you can do.
Oh, and like I said before-- relax.

 

[BetsyS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsElle07 I chose other because I don't think kids should be eating solids until they can totally self feed, closer to one year old.

Statements like this crack me up. My 9.5 month old likes to eat. Like, really, really likes to eat. He started with a few bites here and there about 5.5 months. Around 8 months old, he took off with his appetite, though.

Yesterday, he had 1/2 piece of toast, 1/2 a scrambled egg, and 1/4 apple for breakfast. The other meals were similar, plus a few snacks. If he wants food, he'll refuse the breast, and by this age, he knows what he wants and is able to tell us pretty clearly.

We mostly have done self feeding, with a few exceptions. Sometimes mama is impatient and feeds yogurt to him. I let my mom feed him a jar of carrots 2 weeks ago (she was thrilled, ds loved it, and there you go. Shoot me) But, basically, self fed. At first I cut stuff into itty bitty pieces, but he was shoveling food in his mouth as fast as he could. After he threw up one night from being overstuffed, I took it as a sign to give him bigger pieces.

He eats less with bigger pieces, but no more vomit.