The Food (for babies) Thread

kendy20

@deanna1313‌ that looks like a good idea! Silly question but how long is it good for once you freeze it? Thinking maybe I should just go buy a book and do some reading on it all.

ns1

(You can also freeze in ice cube trays. Each cube is about 1 oz.)

deanna1313

@kendy20‌ I've been reading that it's good for about 4 mths in the freezer. There are a lot if recipes and stuff on Pinterest.

I didn't have ice cube trays at home so I had to buy an ice cube tray. Mine as silicone so they are much easier to twist and squeeze them out. Regular trays would work like PP said.

mommar13

So, as I'm reading through this thread, the only thing I can think is that DS must really take after me with his love for food. That boy will eat anything and everything. He's been gumming the crap out of all kinds of stuff for weeks. He's 25 weeks old today. Hell, we went to cracker barrel for lunch and i just ordered him a plain sweet potatoe and smushed it with my fork before feeding him. The lady at the bank accidently gave him a sucker yesterday because she had unwrapped it and was handing it to me for me to let him *maybe* try (wasn't exactly sold on the idea), and he yanked it out of her hand and shoved it in his mouth and screamed when i tried to take it away. He gummed up some pulled pork when we had BBQ. Basically, we eat it, he eats it. A lot of it. Don't get me wrong, he does eat pureed food too. Just normally the level 2 or even some level 3s on top of his 6oz bottles. He's all about some noms. All i normally have to do is pop him in his high chair and put a couple things on his tray for him to grab and eat and he's good to go.

giggler25

leahdipert said:

My pedi gave me a list of foods to not feed a baby if making my own food, FYI, carrots was on there. Something with the nitrates. Can't remember the rest off the top of my head.

Can you share this list? Thx!!

thefussybunch

FWIW I just got this book https://realsmartbabyfood.com. My SIL said a co-worker swore by it. I'm gonna give it a shot, but I worry that if DD hates a particular fruit or veggie, it will be wasted food and work. On the flip side, if this actually works it will be awesome!

THD7580

Ok so for mamas that are feeding LO purées how often are you feeding and how much? DS started eating like oatmeal in the morning like usual and then "lunch" which is like 2oz maybe 3 or dinner. This kid can polish off a jar like no other. And then down a 4-6oz bottle a half hour later. Sometimes I will skip oatmeal and he will have an 2 meals like lunch and dinner with about 24 oz a day.

THD7580

sstwinklinglites said:

THD7580 said:

Ok so for mamas that are feeding LO purées how often are you feeding and how much? DS started eating like oatmeal in the morning like usual and then "lunch" which is like 2oz maybe 3 or dinner. This kid can polish off a jar like no other. And then down a 4-6oz bottle a half hour later. Sometimes I will skip oatmeal and he will have an 2 meals like lunch and dinner with about 24 oz a day.

I just started DS on purees yesterday (he's just over five months), but the schedule I have is all bottles as per usual, and two meals a day, regardless if those meals are purees or oatmeal. So he has a puree for lunch about 30 min. to an hour before he would get his usual bottle, then he has oatmeal for dinner, again about an hour before his bedtime bottle. He'll be increased after his six month appointment.


Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking. DS will be 6 months on the 30th. I was planning on asking his pedi how much he should eat because he acts like he even wants more than that. He won't drink as many ounces but I think that's normal because obviously he's not as hungry so I was just curious.

deanna1313

@THD7580‌ yes! My LO eats like a piggy every meal. I am giving him two "meals" a day. Late Morning and dinner. He loves Avocado and sweet potato so far. He also chugs down a 6 oz bottle after like it's nothing.
The dr told me two times a day, but to start out with a a tablespoon size and move up from there. Well, he gets angry so I give him more. I'm just basing it off of how much he wants, but not over doing it.

bridetobe9132013

My DD cries after she is done with the bottle. She gets 5oz. I'd like to try 6oz but she spits up so I dont want to feed her more if she doesnt need it. Thoughts?

@zolten we did 3 days with one puree and then moved onto a new one. She has had all the foods recommended before 6 months (according to baby brezza guide) so now we are using up older stuff now. Your schedule is similiar to ours, except we do puree in the afternoon and cereal in morning and evening. I want to combine the evening cereal and puree but I feel like it may be too much for her. It wouldn't hurt to try it though!

Lild09

Haven't started yet bit new guidelines in Canada are to start with meat first then veggies, fruit and grains last. I keep thinking about what I want to start him on. Maybe I'll try a tiny bit of oat cereal just to see if he will eat then maybe some chicken? Ugh I dunno lol luckily he's not asking for it so I'm glad

deanna1313

@Cook251‌ I've always heard to wait until a year for eggs, but my dr just told me today(after going in with a banana reaction) not to be afraid to try other fruits. She said berries, apples and peaches are a good start and not usually an allergy problem, but no strawberries or kiwi.

deanna1313

Sounds like Canada's recommendations are very different from the US. Crazy! I guess different studies done in different countries.

gutsysneakers

@Cook251 - I agree with PPs - your pedi seems to be behind on recent research. My pedi explained that a study recently came out showing that introduction to foods where there could be allergic reactions (peanut butter) etc. should be done earlier rather than later ONLY if you or your DH don't have those same allergies. If you do, then talk to your pedi. 

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) says that these types of foods should be introduced 4-6 months. My pedi was pushing me to start solids in this time frame and was fine with me waiting until 6 months. Here is the link: https://www.aaaai.org/Aaaai/media/MediaLibrary/PDF Documents/Libraries/Preventing-Allergies-Baby-Nutrition.pdf

deanna1313

@Jcrewgirl85‌ I agree!!! I read an article while pregnant that said people were avoiding peanut butter while pregnant and that you shouldn't. It went in to say that you should consume normal amounts if it while pregnant to prevent an allergy.

I should also say that what my dr said I should avoid giving to LO is most likely because he just had the bananas reaction so she was probably playing it safe with other foods that often cause reactions in babies. Thought it could have been easily misconstrued that everyone should avoid them.

biscuitsgirl2007

For those whose babies have had reactions to food, how long did it take for symptoms to show and what were they? We fed LO avocado Sunday and Monday night and sweet potatoes on Wednesday night but he has some bumps that have shown up today that weren't there when I dropped him off at daycare this morning.

deanna1313

@biscuitsgirl2007‌ my son had a reaction only to bananas, but it showed up about 10 mins after eating. His face broke out in hives. Especially around his mouth. It was all red and blotchy.

bridetobe9132013

My DD started getting a rash an hour after eating pears.

deanna1313

@Cook251‌ my thought is that I would just put cool compresses on it again and make sure it doesn't get worse. If he needs Benadryl like he did this time I will give that.
I called my dr because I didn't know how much Benadryl I could give and if at all and I also panicked. They told me I had to come in, but it was really not needed. I probably should have called and told them it was gone, but it's okay. If it got worse we would have gone to the hospital. He was breathing fine and not even itchy.

@bridetobe9132013‌ a lot of children have some redness from fruits around the mouth. Normally that stuff goes away once they get used to it.

bridetobe9132013

@deanna1313‌ The redness was on her face and on her head.

biscuitsgirl2007

Well, just talked to our ped's nurse. It's probably hand, foot and mouth disease. Yay. (Just FYI, that's sarcasm.)

THD7580

DS had prunes today for the first time and loved them! Like I couldn't get them in there fast enough. He would scream like hurry the hell up woman! I hate them so I guess that's a good thing he likes them! So far the only thing he hasn't liked is peas..

springbeduk2

There are just way too many conflicting opinions (from docs/other "experts" out there and it's very aggravating. Though also leads me to believe it's probably OK to do almost anything so we're just going twitch what works for us and seems to work for DD. Which is in some ways like BLW but with a lot of serious cheating.

Other than no honey, no real choking hazards like whole nuts (or even globs of PB yet), and keep an eye on total salt/reasons to stay under daily limit is there anything else that's a consistent rule for real safety reasons? No true food allergies in close family.

Pedi said to start with avocado squash sweet potato so we did ... though dh had given her tastes of other stuff (mango, melons, lentils) before. We haven't made real purees though - just mushed it up in a bowl. Do you really have to puree? If so why? We are spoon feeding (so that along with having started before 6 months is against BLW rules) but she pretty much dives for the spoon and helps put it into her mouth. When she stops doing that or isn't seeming interested we stop. She demands other foods too though - like at lunch today we had avocado for her but I had bread and black beans and she clearly wanted both so we gave her a little (squished beans in fingers first). Yesterday we went out for Mexican and she was eying my refried beans. They were surprisingly non-salty so I gave her some on my finger and she loved them and ate a lot.

So far haven't bought any baby food, haven't milled or blendered anything, and am still only sending BM bottles to daycare. Maybe will send other food there in aweek or 2? DD will be 6 months in 2 weeks.

Like the idea of starting meats soon in theory but we basically never cook meat at home for various reasons. So that makes starting meats soon seem difficult. Is canned salmons (trader Joe's) OK to give babies bits of?

momo214

THD7580 said:

DS had prunes today for the first time and loved them! Like I couldn't get them in there fast enough. He would scream like hurry the hell up woman! I hate them so I guess that's a good thing he likes them! So far the only thing he hasn't liked is peas..

We had prunes last night and DD wasn't impressed. She made a disgusted face with evey bite and 95% dribbled out. It looked nasty everywhere. Such a gross color.

Emmagk

DH is not totally onboard with BLW so we've compromised on a mix of purees and finger foods. This week we started giving finger food for breakfast and puree at dinner. 

We also gave DS a piece of steak to munch on at lunch on sunday, he through an absolute fit when I took it away from him after he dropped it on the floor. 

gutsysneakers

For those of you who are doing BLW and have your LO in DC...what are you doing for DC? I've sent steamed baby carrots to DC the past two days. Today I brought in a strip of pork chop (she mostly just tastes and plays with that since she doesn't have any teeth), steamed broccoli floret, and a baked sweet potato fry. Last night at dinner, I think she was able to eat a little bit of brocooli and sweet potato, but minimal amounts. I go into DC today and let her teacher know what she has for lunch and NOT to cut it up - we are doing BLW, etc. Her teacher asked if she was eating it. I said she was mostly playing with it, experiencing new textures/tastes, etc., but she was getting a little bit. Her teacher then said she was hungry and then said she was very excited about the carrots the past two days. I quickly let her know we weren't doing purees and that I was happy to hear that DD was enjoying the carrots. Should I continue to send strips of food? I don't' want to do purees and from everything I've read, DD will continue to get the majority of her nutrition from BM. Advice? Experience with this?

gutsysneakers

springbeduk2 said:

There are just way too many conflicting opinions (from docs/other "experts" out there and it's very aggravating. Though also leads me to believe it's probably OK to do almost anything so we're just going twitch what works for us and seems to work for DD. Which is in some ways like BLW but with a lot of serious cheating. Other than no honey, no real choking hazards like whole nuts (or even globs of PB yet), and keep an eye on total salt/reasons to stay under daily limit is there anything else that's a consistent rule for real safety reasons? No true food allergies in close family. Pedi said to start with avocado squash sweet potato so we did ... though dh had given her tastes of other stuff (mango, melons, lentils) before. We haven't made real purees though - just mushed it up in a bowl. Do you really have to puree? If so why? We are spoon feeding (so that along with having started before 6 months is against BLW rules) but she pretty much dives for the spoon and helps put it into her mouth. When she stops doing that or isn't seeming interested we stop. She demands other foods too though - like at lunch today we had avocado for her but I had bread and black beans and she clearly wanted both so we gave her a little (squished beans in fingers first). Yesterday we went out for Mexican and she was eying my refried beans. They were surprisingly non-salty so I gave her some on my finger and she loved them and ate a lot. So far haven't bought any baby food, haven't milled or blendered anything, and am still only sending BM bottles to daycare. Maybe will send other food there in aweek or 2? DD will be 6 months in 2 weeks. Like the idea of starting meats soon in theory but we basically never cook meat at home for various reasons. So that makes starting meats soon seem difficult. Is canned salmons (trader Joe's) OK to give babies bits of?

I think you have to do what works for you and your family and your schedule. We started BLW a few days after DD turned 5 months. She was grabbing for food and sits up with assistance. I started trying solids when she screamed bloody murder because I wasn't letting her have my chili. She eats at the table with us and eats (plays with/tastes) what we eat (for the most part). If our dinner is too salty for her (chili), then I'll cut up an apple into slices or a bell pepper so she at least is "eating" with us. As far as meats are concerned, I've given DD salmon and pork chop. I would think that canned salmon is fine. I don't know about having to blend food - I think some chunks would be fine because BLW is essentially chunks of food (?). Not sure how helpful I was...

Emmagk

For those doing BLW what time do you do dinner? I love the concept of DS eating dinner with us but his bedtime routine starts at 6-6.30. Eating dinner before that seems way too early

gutsysneakers

@Emmagk - I get home with DD between 6 and 6:15 - we usually eat dinner around 6:45/7. After dinner, we do bedtime. She is asleep by 7:30pm.

letal316

Jcrewgirl85 said:

For those of you who are doing BLW and have your LO in DC...what are you doing for DC? I've sent steamed baby carrots to DC the past two days. Today I brought in a strip of pork chop (she mostly just tastes and plays with that since she doesn't have any teeth), steamed broccoli floret, and a baked sweet potato fry. Last night at dinner, I think she was able to eat a little bit of brocooli and sweet potato, but minimal amounts.

I go into DC today and let her teacher know what she has for lunch and NOT to cut it up - we are doing BLW, etc. Her teacher asked if she was eating it. I said she was mostly playing with it, experiencing new textures/tastes, etc., but she was getting a little bit. Her teacher then said she was hungry and then said she was very excited about the carrots the past two days. I quickly let her know we weren't doing purees and that I was happy to hear that DD was enjoying the carrots.

Should I continue to send strips of food? I don't' want to do purees and from everything I've read, DD will continue to get the majority of her nutrition from BM. Advice? Experience with this?

Not sure how helpful I'll be with your questions but we will be doing BLW and LO is starting DC on Monday. We started BLW last week but she's just not ready, she was just getting frustrated so we're waiting another week to try again. My plan for feeding her while at DC is basically to keep her on bottles while she's still in the experimental phase of BLW, so not sending any food until she is fully eating and able to eat the food provided by DC. We'll still encourage BLW at home for dinners and on weekends but otherwise, she'll still maintain her 4 to 5 bottles per day. I expect she'll start eating the DC food around 7 or 8 months.

letal316

Emmagk said:

For those doing BLW what time do you do dinner? I love the concept of DS eating dinner with us but his bedtime routine starts at 6-6.30. Eating dinner before that seems way too early

We started trying out BLW last week and the key for us in regards to dinner was to make sure she was already fed and not sleepy (we had a few fails not adhering to this and she would get very frustrated). We were eating around 6 because she typically goes down around 7:30pm.

Emmagk

Thanks @Jcrewgirl85‌ and @letal316‌. I've been doing finger foods for breakfast but just started puree for dinner since DH wasn't fully committed to BLW but once DS gets better with the breakfast finger foods I think I'll switch to no more purees for dinner. Sounds like we'll be having dinner around 6 from then on

gutsysneakers

@aimeefarrahfowler - well when I dropped her off at DC and told her teacher what we were doing and showed her the bag for lunch - she kind of looked at me like I was cray-cray. 

I received a phone call about an hour ago from the director of DC and she informed me that because of their license and regulations, they normally don't give solids like that to babies my DD's age; however, since we were doing this at home, she said she would do it as long as she has something in writing from me. 

I'm sending an email giving my permission to provide and supervise the foods ONLY that we send with her that day. I also explained that I'd be happy to provide more info on BLW, but in my email provided a quick synopsis of what is was and made sure they knew the following: 

Additionally, Emerson needs to pick up the food herself. We never put food in her mouth for her. This is important as she will learn to control the food as it moves backwards in her mouth. Emerson may gag and that is okay. There is a difference between choking and gagging. 

I ended it thanking them for partnering with us on this. 

deanna1313

I'm not doing BLW, but I was just curious if some of you were concerned about choking while doing BLW in DC?

I was an AD of a daycare and there for 12 years and never heard of BLW. I know how hard it is to be in an infant room taking care of multiple children by yourself and having to keep an eye on kids playing while kids are also eating. I did have to save a 10 month old from choking once and did back blows 3x before it dislodged and he started breathing. Traumatic!
I'm not for it or against it. Just curious on you thoughts.

letal316

deanna1313 said:

I'm not doing BLW, but I was just curious if some of you were concerned about choking while doing BLW in DC?

I was an AD of a daycare and there for 12 years and never heard of BLW. I know how hard it is to be in an infant room taking care of multiple children by yourself and having to keep an eye on kids playing while kids are also eating. I did have to save a 10 month old from choking once and did back blows 3x before it dislodged and he started breathing. Traumatic!
I'm not for it or against it. Just curious on you thoughts.

Yes, I'm concerned about choking at DC that's why I'm not sending food or having her eat there until she's figured it out. Which likely won't be until she's 7 or 8 months. I want to be able to monitor her myself.

gutsysneakers

I'm a little concerned, but I know they are CPR certified at DC. I don't take food every day and I make sure that its something she's had at home before I send to DC. I'm just happy that DC is wiling to work with me on BLW. 

THD7580

Cook251 said:

People that make their own baby food...when you are going to give stuff that you have frozen do you defrost it & then heat it or do you serve it cold/room temp? Or does it depend what kind it is?

I just put in the microwave til it's like warm. It only takes a few seconds to heat up. Or if I know that's what he's going to eat the next day I will take out a few cubes the previous day and let them thaw in the fridge

bridetobe9132013

@Cook251‌ I freeze her food in ice cube trays and put them into freezer bags. When I feed her, I microwave the cubes in a small glass cup.

springbeduk2

deanna1313 said:

Sounds like Canada's recommendations are very different from the US. Crazy! I guess different studies done in different countries.

Maybe I'm off base in this thinking, but ... with a single payer health care system it would seem that there is more incentive to find and publicize the best nutritional practices. So I'm thinking Canadian recs are probably better to go by than those here. But maybe I have an overly rosy view of the health care system (and its potential to be less influenced by big pharma and big food companies) up north. Anyway ... next internet-time-sink task is looking up the website with these recs to which you ladies keep referring.

Katzalia

springbeduk2 said:

deanna1313 said:

Sounds like Canada's recommendations are very different from the US. Crazy! I guess different studies done in different countries.

Maybe I'm off base in this thinking, but ... with a single payer health care system it would seem that there is more incentive to find and publicize the best nutritional practices. So I'm thinking Canadian recs are probably better to go by than those here. But maybe I have an overly rosy view of the health care system (and its potential to be less influenced by big pharma and big food companies) up north. Anyway ... next internet-time-sink task is looking up the website with these recs to which you ladies keep referring.

We're in the states but have family in Canada, too. I've read both the AAP and the Health Canada guidelines, and I have to say, Health Canada's are very solidly researched and detailed, and up-to-date. Worth checking out:

https://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/infant-nourisson/index-eng.php