Saturday, January 22, 2011
So for everyone who has kids and reads my blog. Tell me your thoughts on starting solids. Amélie's doctors in Provo recommend anywhere between 4-6 months. I have been doing a lot of research and feel very conflicted as to when to start. So I would love to hear about when you guys started and how it went.I have already decided to make most of my baby food. My mom said it's easy and fast and cheaper so I thought I would try it. Anyone else makes their own baby food?
5 comments:
I started Abe on rice cereal (store bought) at 4 months and at first he hated it, but then grew to like it. Once we started veggies he hated plain rice cereal, but overall he loved being able to eat food (of course he has always loved to eat).
At first I didn't make my own food because Abe just wasn't eating a whole lot in the beginning. After he started going through 4 or 5 jars a day I started to make it and it is EASY. I used fresh and frozen fruits and veggies. I really like this website http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
Definitely be on the look out for allergies or intolerances...for the first year of his life Abe couldn't eat avocados or raw bananas because they both gave him a really bad rash on his bum and around his mouth. Good luck with everything!
P.S. I used our smoothie maker rather than our food processor because the smoothie maker made the food more smooth:)
Sorry for the book I wrote you:)
Great thoughts Manda ... love your book. Here's my novel ;o)
I would start by mixing in 1 TBSP of rice/otameal cereal in her bottle and increase it with her feedings. That will be a good introduction to the cereals without her noticing so you can see how she tolerates it. When my boys were in the NICU, the pediatric nutrition doctor would add rice cereal to the formula or breast milk (that was fed via bottle or ng tube) to the babies suffering with reflux. Safe for preemies and babies in the NICU - safe for her too.
I loved making my own baby food. I would cook it and blend it ... then freeze it in ice cube trays and then transfer into ziplock bags. Anyone want a carrotcube with their water?
When to start ... that's a hard one. Each baby is so different. Some are born starving ready for solids (so it seems). My boys started solids later - since they were preemies and slept most of their first year of life away to catch up with growth. Does she seem to want to eat more?
I would focus on making sure NOT to introduce the allergy risk foods too soon. Egg and latex are allergies with Kendall and Julia (Julia is more banana, avacado, latex - hers has shown up in the last couple of years. Kendall is growing out of his egg allergy).
I think I started with carrots and sweet potatoes with my kds. It has a sweeter taste.
This is a fun stage! Get the video camera out for the sour faces.
Everyone has even given me great ideas. Junior didn't start until late 5 months because of a wedding. I wanted to wait until it was over to start him on solids with a normal schedule. It really does depend on the baby. Some are ready by 4 months and some aren't. My doctor recommended not putting cereal in Junior's formual because he said that babies gain a ton of weight that way. I guess it depends on your doctor.
I actually use jars right now for other reasons, but I sometimes make him food and I found that a REALLY helpful book was Super Baby Food. I felt so lost until this book (I may have to buy it). Also, a friend of mine is a dietician and she recommended this lady's website that she said is AMAZING. I haven't gone through it yet, but it looks pretty good. http://www.ellynsatter.com/how-to-feed-i-24.html
Anyway, hope that helps. Oh, and I was going to recommend the book The Baby Whisperer because I was reading it and totally thought of you. She is really good at explaining how to use routine instead of a schedule and breaks things up by the baby's age.
Sorry, mine was long too!
Hm... I think I talked to you a bit about this over Christmas, but I don't remember what I said. So I guess I'm just going to say it again. :)
I started Isobel at about 5 and a half months on very watery rice cereal mixed with formula. She hated it and every other kind of food forever. Eventually she caught on to mashed up bananas mixed into rice cereal, but she never was (and still isn't) a great eater. Every meal was a big headache because she just didn't like to eat.
Contrast Jude: I started him on cereal mixed with water on his 6-month birthday and he caught on really quickly. He has loved everything. Now I usually give him yogurt for breakfast, and then some kind of veggie mixed with wheat, rice, or barley cereal and water for lunch and dinner, then some kind of fruit if he finishes the veggies. He loves everything and it is so much fun to feed him. Now he's starting to eat teeny tiny pieces of some table food, and that's fun too. Actually, the only thing he hasn't liked so far is avocado. Oh, and I've used the jarred baby food. It probably would be cheaper to make my own, but I'm too lazy. And really jarred baby food isn't as bad as it used to be- just keep an eye on the label if you do buy it. The meat-related meal ones look pretty nasty to me but the veggies and fruits are generally wholesome.
As far as timing goes, I don't think there's really any reason to start her on cereal early unless she needs to gain weight or she's not sleeping well. I liked the idea of my babies waiting, but I'm not sure why...
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