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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
clo1982
member
Meat for the LO
clo1982
member
At my DD's 6 month appt the pedi said to start introducing meat into her diet. I thought it was kinda early considering she currently eats like 3 foods outside of formula (prunes, sweet potatoes, squash) but I'm a FTM so I really have no idea what's normal. Anyway, how do I go about doing this? She has no teeth. Do I give her small pieces of normal meat like chicken/ham/etc or should it be pureed like her other 'food'?
Also he said I should start teaching her to drink from a cup. Any suggestions on this? I just kind of feel like I am going to be feeding this kid nonstop. She is eating formula every 3 hours when awake, and I give her the pureed food 3x per day, usually about 30 minutes before her scheduled feeding. If I then add in a cup, she will be eating every hour of the day! I know she isn't going to get much in her little belly at first while she is learning. Should I just offer it in between feedings so she can play with the cup but not necessarily where it will affect her total amount of food for the day?
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Re: Meat for the LO
Personally, I would not intro meats until you've made it through a lot of other fruits and vegetable. Perhaps your pedi is on a schedule where babies begin solids early. It sounds like you may have waited to begin, so you would be a little "behind," but current AAP reccommendations are to hold off on solids until 6 months.
I did starting giving my DD some pureed meats, but she is BF and I don't use bought cereal, so she may need the iron. Even so, I waited until 7 1/2 months for that. There is no reason (that I'm aware of) that a FF baby needs to be given meat. You know your DD best, so do what you feel is right.
As far as the cup goes, I give my LO a very small amount of water in a sippy to practice with. She rarely gets any out, but she is learning how to operate the cup. I believe the thinking there is that you want to wean your LO from the bottle by a year or so and introducing the cup early will help with that.
Our pedi also recommended meat first because of the high iron and zinc content. I pureed some beef. He didn't really get it - just sort of let it sit in his mouth. But he loves avocado - that's what we tried second - so I'm going to mix in some beef with that.
You can either puree some or give your daughter pieces to gnaw that are big enough so she doesn't choke.
I introduced ground chicken and beef at about 7 months. He is almost 9 months now and LOVES all meats. He even at a little prime rib on Christmas. We started with just ground meats and now we can just shred it or cut it up really small.
I buy a few pieces of baked chicken when i shop so that there is always cooked chicken available for lunch or dinner.
I started giving my LO the meat and veggie meals at 7 months. This is also when we introduced the sippy cup. We did notice that when we gave her apple juice in her sippy cup after 12noon then she wouldn't sleep well at night - weird correlation but thats what we found. So now we give her an 8 oz. bottle when she wakes up (8ish) and then at 9:30 we give her breakfast of stage 2 jar of fruits with baby oatmeal mixed in. After this we give her a sippy of apple juice. I hold it for her with the lid off to let her get some drinks and to know that there is stuff in it - then I put the lid on and hold it for her to know she has to suck on it - then I let her do it. She does well with this for a bit and then she starts to chew on the top. I don't really know how to break this other than she doesn't want anymore so she just chews on it. Who knows. She gets a 4-6oz bottle before her nap at 11:00. She wakes around 12:30 and at this time we give her 1 jar of veggies. She then gets another 4-6oz. bottle at 2:30 before she takes her second nap. At 5:30 she gets 2oz. of baby cereal and then half a jar of the meals (chicken and mixed veggies, etc.). She gets another 8oz. bottle before bed at 7:30.
But yes, it does feel like you are feeding all the time. Every baby is different and every parent parents differently too. There is no one right or wrong way. You try what is best for your baby. I was so stuck on her eating schedule that it worried me to death but I figure my baby is gaining an appropriate amount of weight, is happy, and is healthy...I guess I'm doing something right. But best wishes and GL!!!
We give meats and have since we started solids but we simply shred it and make sure its soft enough to gum in the mouth.
if you think about it BM is mostly protines, fats and other good things found in meat so your little one should be able to digest these easier that fruit and veg
DD looooooves shredded chicken!!! Like she will scream bloody murder when she's ate all of it and there's no more left. It's awful. I just cook the chicken however I'm fixing it for that meal and shred it up for her, and put it on her tray. She digs right in!