starting solids 2: what is best as baby's first food?

ok, crj started a very useful thread earlier about starting solids.

http://singapore.asiaxpat.com/forums/momsdads/threads/85714.asp


we gave our little one (exactly 5 months old on the 10th) his first teaspoon of baby rice today. it went pretty well - he looked very excited as i stirred the cereal in front of him but had a funny look on his face when he actually tasted it...hahaha!


i have gina ford's weaning book and ruth yaron's super baby foods. there seems to be some disparity about when to introduce certain foods. ford recommends carrots, pears, sweet potatoes, baby rice, courgettes, apples for the early weaning. however yaron's book advises that carrots be introduced when bub is at least 7 months! and pears and apples - aren't they sweet stuff and i thought we are supposed to introduce fruits later to avoid our bubs from developing a sweet tooth?


questions:

1) can anyone advise on the above disparity

2) what were your babies' first foods?

3) before you progressed to 2 meals per day, do you just give 1 type of food per day? e.g day 1-3 baby rice, day 4-6 avocados, day 7-9 sweet potatoes, etc?

4) when did you progress to 2 meals a day?


thanks!

I think the easiest answer is for starting solids - is it is all personal preference and opinion. (and the advice from a good pediatrician.)


I have both books too - but I used SuperBabyFood because I was interested in the claim that it the food combinations in there could raise a baby's immunity and make them more resistant to colds and whatnot. I also liked the month by month recommendation and it seemed to me that my baby did not have any problems taking the foods if I introduced them in the month that was recommended. Some of my friends had told me that there baby wasn't taking certain foods in certain months, and when I would consult my superbabyfood recommendation a lot of them were offering some things too early. SO when I told them my theory they would wait and then reoffer later and their child would take it. (this is only my anecdotal theory by the way - nothing tested in a scientific laboratory.)


Every culture introduces certain foods, certain ways, at different times and we seem to have a world where people eat all right. And so although being cautious is good, I think that we stress too much about what is "perfect" - you're going to get a lot of different opinions and no one person is going to give you the absolute right answer.


I was worried about the "sweet" tooth aspect as well - so I didn't do any juices. But I thought that whole fruits steamed and pureed, or just regular were an important source of vitamins and another part of learning to eat. (some fruits are tart, acidic, another important taste development.)


First few days was only rice, and as my daughter got used to it, I switched to another food. by two weeks she was having two things in a single meal - a bit of rice and whatever I was introducing at that particular time. I think by three weeks I had her at two meals a day.


I like Superbabyfood with the idea of raising a child vegetarian for the first year. (you'll get lots of different opinions on this option.) My daughter didn't have any meat - but got lots of protein from her beans and rice mixture, soy products, and her iron from her vitamin drops. My daughter was NEVER sick for the first 15 months of her life.

cara: thanks for sharing!


hkcc: yes, different families/cultures have different takes on solids. my aunt (3 kids), fed hers mostly baby cereal and porridge for the 1st year, "real food" like vegetables and meat only featured when they were about 1 year. one mom at the playgym (with twins) feeds her bubs completely out of jars and cereal with honey (not worried about botulism there). a friend (7 month old bub) feeds mostly homecooked but does a couple of jars a week to get her bub used to it just in case there isn't time for homecooked sometimes.


so realising that everyone does it differently, i guess i just have to be confident and as long as i take time to ensure there is no allergy reaction, that he enjoys his food and i introduce "safe" foods to him, things should be ok....(i hope).


my intention is just do one food per day for his 5th month (want to keep it easy as we are going to be in UK for 2.5 weeks), keeping in mind that it's more to introduce him to new foods than to replace a milk feed. then in his 6th month, we'll try to introduce 1 or 2 regular meals and then 7th month, brekkie too and meat. but of course, bub will take the lead for the time being. he seems to really enjoy eating off the spoon. for his 11am feed, he usually struggles with 120ml. so today he drank 80ml and then the remainder i mixed it with baby rice and he almost ate it all! he seemed to really enjoy it so we will see how it goes...this weekend we'll try sweet potatoes.

Wheelymate

When you gave your bud the rest of your milk in the baby rice did it impact the next feed? ie did he take less at the next feed because he had the extra rice?


My LO is 21 weeks and is a fussy feeder - shell only BF for max 15 mins (if Im lucky - usually in 5 min intervals, and it takes me about 45 mins to get her to take that!)


I am thinking about starting her on baby rice. That way she still gets my milk but in a different way. I am just worried that she will end up taking less milk during the day because I will be giving the rice and filling her up that way. I know that my milk is by far the highest fat provider so I dont want to jeopardise that.


Grateful if you (or anyone else) could share their experences.


BTW she still isnt sleeping through. She goes to bed at around 730pm and wakes around 2 or 3. It takes me about 40-1hr to get her to go back to sleep - only for her to wake between 5 and 6 ready to start the day!


Wondering whether introducing some solids will help on that front too?!

Thanks

I know that cara but my LO is only in the 9percentile so I am sure you can sympathise with me that I dont want her to go any lower!

I hope not Cara. To be honest I am at my wits end. Every feed time I start to feel tense because its like an ongoing battle to try and get her to eat more than 5 mins at a time.

I try to relax but its hard. Plus being at home on my own all day I sometime feel very depressed.

Im in a catch 22 situation - if we go out she doesnt feed or sleep very well and even though its a welcome break to be out of the house I wonder sometimes whether its worth the stress. If I stay at home she sleeps well and I at least have the time and the privacy to try and get her to feed. The downside to this is that I dont get a break from it or have any other adult contact!

Shes feeding now every 4 hrs but never seems hungry or looks for food. I am always the one who initiates it.

hi asking,


you pm me before about bottles right? let me tell you, my bub went on his bottle strike a few days after drinking well on the pigeon ones so hold your wallet if you think that's going to solve all your problems.


my bub now: 5 months old

since 2-3 months: refused to drink his milk, taking forever (40-1 hour) just to drink 60-120ml??!!!! feeds only 5 times a day you know and sleeps through the night so intake only about 600-700ml per day?

at 4 months: based on the calculation of weight x 150= amt bub should drink, he was drinking about 60-70% of his milk! if 80-90%, fine but 60-70% (with huge struggles, tears, tantrums, etc) was just BAD. PD recommended solids to ensure bub was getting enough nutrients. note though that he had good weight gain - 7.2kg, a BIG jump from his birth weight of 2.75kg. and because of the good weight gain, thought i should hold on til at least 5 months before solids, who knows he might like milk after all?

back to 5 months now: HAD ENOUGH OF THE MILK STRUGGLES!!!! so on monday, he had 1st taste of baby rice. he LOVED the spoon. 3rd and 4th day, he finished 1 tablespoon of rice mixed with 50ml of his milk (since he can't drink all his milk, i actually managed to get him to take more via the cereal, yay). today we tried pear puree, not too bad. tuesday we will try sweet potatoes (mixed with milk).


the funny thing is he is already drinking the min. amt of milk that a bub needs when solids are introduced so i can't actually reduce milk intake as that is still a main source of food. so i am trying to introduce food that i can add milk to, sort of like mums hiding vegetables in dishes for their kids who hate eating greens with a passion.


hope my sharing helps...the never hungry, etc behaviour i totally understand. but you know what, after starting him on solids this week, i think he IS hungry, just hates milk! and no, it didn't affect his next feed (we feed solids at 11am and then he has a bottle at 2.30pm). he feeds 3.5-4hours in a day.


going out: i totally understand. i avoid going out to meet other mums before 3pm because if i feed him outside, he'll drink almost nothing from distraction and it's just impossible for me to talk while trying to feed him. he is on a bottle by the way....

yes, i drove myself (and hubby, mum, etc) mad with the low milk intake but you know, when he is hungry he will scream for milk i realised. he feeds so weirdly, 120ml max during the day (from his 7am feed onwards) but come 6pm, he will take a 8-9oz bottle, perhaps he had enough of mucking about with his food. i try not to sweat it anymore...still working on that!!

Hay Cara

Yes I do live in DB!!

It would be nice to meet up. Hope your hospital stay is nothing serious. When do you think you will be back home?


BTW dont you think that there is a severe shortage of Mum and Baby things over here?

I have signed up for Kindermusik but thats not until Sep. Was going to take the LO swimming but the indoor pool is closed for refurbishments.


Unfortunately we have some visitors this weekend, would have loved to meet up otherwise. Lets try and arrange something when you are back home.


And thanks for your support x

Im in Crestmont Maybe you can PM me when you are home. Looking forward to it.