When did you start your baby on rice cereal from a spoon?? The sheet from my pedi's office says 3 1/2 to 4 months.
When did you start baby food?? The sheet from my pedi's office says 5 months.
Did you start with Veggies and go in a certain order?? Like, Carrots, Squash, Green Beans, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes.
When did you start giving your baby fruit?? and is there an order for that??
What are the benefits of making your own baby food vs. buying jars at the store?? You know besides the obvious cost savings!!
I am getting a bit anxious to start feeding Maci from a spoon because I have just heard so many different ways that you HAVE to do it. It's all a bit confusing. I do need to start thinking about it though, my sweet baby is getting to be a big girl and will be 3 months old next week {Tear}!
I would really value your opinions!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Opinions Needed Please
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2 COMMENTS:
When we had Peanut we had a really awesome pediatrician. He ACTUALLY had kids of his own, and really seemed like a good dad. His recommendation was 6 months to start rice cereal. Yeah, SIX months. He said that most doctors are trending towards holding off until 6 months to avoid any food allergies. Allergies don't run in our family, but he said that the more foods a child is exposed to at a really young age the more likely they are to develop allergies later on. I was totally fine with that because honestly I didn't want one more thing to try to keep up with when Peanut was 3-4 months old. That and trying to spoon feed a baby who still has minimal head control and definitely can't sit up wasn't an appealing option to me. So we went on his advice and it worked out GREAT.
He also highly suggested avoiding all processed baby foods. Now I never was an "organic, baby wearing, food making, breastfeed for years and years" type of person. But his reasoning behind avoiding baby foods really made sense to me. He explained how the texture and taste of baby food (due to lots of water being added) is SO different from real foods that by the time you switch over to "table" food they're likely to have many aversions to normal eating habits. His recommendation? Feed them whatever you're eating! Seriously, he said to just take a fork, mash up whatever you're having (within reason of course, I mean still avoid egg whites, seafood, peanuts, spicy things etc) and feed it to them.
We started Peanut on rice cereal mixed with breastmilk at 6 months. Then introduced new foods every few days. Our pedi said you don't need to go a week in between because if they're allergic, you'll know within a day. So we started bananas after rice cereal, then applesauce I think. Then I did things like green beans and broccoli. After she was used to the textures of those (which I only mashed with a fork, or a hand crank baby food masher) she just started eating what we were having. Now she is the BEST eater and she's a 2 and a half year old! We always avoided the typical "kid" foods like chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, and quite frankly her favorite foods are enchiladas and chinese food.
We continued all the same methods for Donut and she's a great eater too. Neither of them are picky eaters which is great because I am a VERY picky eater and I'm glad that they are not. And I never had to worry about packing a million baby foods when we went out places.
Anyhow these are all my opinions, and the opinion of our old doctor, but it really worked well for us. Oh, I did buy a few of the jarred baby foods, but only fruits because they DO taste the same and they're easy to throw in a diaper bag for snacks and such.
If you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me. I hope you're able to find a solution that works well for you, and that you are comfortable with. Never let your doctor pressure you into something you don't feel is right.
With my first, we went by the standard suggestion for starting rice cereal. She was holding her head up pretty well and could sit upright supported in her high chair pretty good. We started with rice cereal at about 4-4 1/2 months. Then around 6 months we tried the gerber stage 1 baby food. I compared the cost and time required to make my own baby food and decided that the jarred baby food wasn't any more expensive once you purchased a food grinder, storage containers, and things like that.
We started with the green veggies. Example, we would give her 1/2 jar of green beans one night and then finish it off the next night. We would try each food for 4 days before moving on to another food. This way if she got a rash (allergy), we would know that it was from that particular food.
After we went through peas and green beans, we went to the yellows/oranges. It took a few weeks to get through all the veggies and then we started on the fruits. By this time, she was around 8 months old and was able to eat a little bit of table food like mashed potatos and things like that.
With the second baby, we tried cereal around 5-6 months because she couldn't sit real well. She HATED the rice cereal but liked the oatmeal. She never really liked any baby food and would always reach for the food on our plates. I started feeding her table food at about 6 months. If I made green beans, I would squish them up and put no seasonings on them. The same with any other veggies. She loved carrots and peas. She learned how to eat table food VERY well before she was 1.
I will say that if there is a family history of a certain food allergy, try to avoid that food until she gets a little older. We have no food allergies in either of mine or my husband's families so we really weren't TOO concerned as far as what we fed them.
Our pediatricain was super supportive about our decisions. I know some are more by the book as far as feeding goes, but he is a little older than I am and realizes that what works for some doesn't work for others.
I have done it both ways, by the book and not so much by the book.
My oldest is 5 and is a pretty good eater. She is a little picky when it comes to things a typical kid wouldn't like such as saurkraut. The youngest is a pretty picky eater. She really likes cheese and that is the one thing she will eat consitantly.
Either way works. You just have to be comfortable with what you decide to do and keep in mind that she will be learning a new thing at the same time that you are. It can be very frustrating and fun at the same time. Keep in mind that this is kind of like a developmental milestone, she just might not be ready at 4 months. Try it one day and if she doesn't take to it, wait a week and try again. Try not to get frustrated and make sure to have your camera out for those first pics. They are hilarious.
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