Attachment Parenting
Emerald27
member
Solids: When did you start & what foods?
Emerald27
member
Hello!
DS is just over 7 months and we are starting solids this week. We bought a sweet potato and an avocado, and we'll give him about 1 tbsp per day...probably at dinner.
I've received a lot of criticism from other mom friends and from my mom about waiting this long, and about starting with veggies and fruits instead of rice cereal. DS is exclusively breastfed, we co-sleep, and I want him to nurse until he self-weans or until he's approximately 2 years old. BM is his main source of nutrition, and I understand solids to be just for fun and practice now anyway.
So, when did you start solids for your LO, and what foods did you start with? TIA!
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Re: Solids: When did you start & what foods?
We did BLW and DS showed signs of readiness right at 6 months (the earliest we would consider). His first food was a slice of apple, but we didn't introduce one at a time and wait so in his first week he had apple, pear, mango, pork, and water. Blog entry here if interested.
Kellymom.com has some great articles on why rice cereal is a non-optimal first food and while delaying solids until 6 months or later is a beneficial choice. There is at least one article that mentions how starting solids at 7 months ties to higher iron.
More Green For Less Green
DS1 started at 6 months. We did Avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes as first foods. I tried BLW, but just didn't feel comfortable with DS1 ability to handle foods. He seemed to gag a lot and I know they have very sensitive reflexes, but still. So I just made my own food, pureed them and gave it to him. I breastfed until about 19 months and he is a good eater. Doesn't love vegies alone, but will eat them in pasta or omlettes. I would just do what feels comfortable to you.
I used this website for ideas for food. GL!
https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
We're doing "baby-led weaning" or baby self-feeding, so my answers may or may not relevant for you.
When? We began approximately a week after my daughter made her first grab at my dinner and tried it eat by herself. She did this a bit earlier than the books say is normal: 4.5 months.
What did we begin with? We were at a BBQ & she was slamming the table, lunging for our food, and kinda yelling for her share. I gave in & handed her a hot dog bun, which she just gummed at the time but had a blast. 2 weeks later, we were at another BBQ, so more bread (whole wheat this time), salad greens without dressing, and a big chunk of watermelon. She loved the salad. Since then, we've given her: steamed broccoli, steamed carrots, a slice of baked yam, apple chunks in a "nibbler," beef roast, toast with chili, toast with lentils, quinoia (sp?). With BLW, we just give her some of whatever we're eating, so long as we've made it ourselves & we didn't add salt or sugar. She also loves drinking water out of a cup (with my help of course).
Re: your relatives thinking you need to start with rice cereal - that's absolutely no research to support that. Next time they give you a hard time about it, ask for a study suggesting that starting with a grain cereal gives you a better outcome. They won't find one and that's the end of it.
We don't use it much, but here's the nibbler: https://www.amazon.com/Nuby-2-Pack-Nibbler-Colors-Vary/dp/B000WMV0XW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339420418&sr=8-1
And here's the book I read on Baby Led Weaning, it's a great read: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Led-Weaning-Essential-Introducing-Confident/dp/161519021X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339420460&sr=1-1
Started offering him foods at 6months, he really didn't eat much or consistently until closer to 9months.
We initially mushed up food, like banana, sweet potato, avocado, etc. Not really pureed but still spoon fed. As he got bigger, and we got more comfortable, we started giving him bigger chunks to self-feed.
He loves solids and has eaten a lot of different things. I just give him the food we're eating and it works out easy for everyone. He has things he likes better than others, he prefers meats and fruits to veggies but he will eat some veggies. He seems to like things with flavor moreso than bland things.
It hasn't impacted his nursing, he will sit and nurse for 10-15mins after eating. And he has never had rice cereal, etc. In fact, I've tried offering him my oatmeal (I eat the plain steel cut oats) and he doesn't care for it at all.
This is also what we started with, as well as banana. We started at 6 months, but I don't think he really ate much until about 7 1/2 months. By then we were also trying steamed brocoli and carrots, squash, really anything that was reasonably soft and could be cut into french fry shapes.