- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
I was told to start with vegetables like green beans first and leave sweeter tasting foods like carrots, bananas and apples til later because if the baby gets used to the sweet foods first they may not want to try the not so sweet veggies.
With my first baby, I was into doing stuff by the book, and in a certain order. The last 2 babies didn't get the same attention to detail. I know! Bad Mommy! I usually started with cereal, and then added bananna that I scraped out of the peel with a spoon. They all LOVED this! I would do the same thing with avacado. I would take the veggie that we were eating that night and mash it really well and feed it to them with some cereal. I BF until my babies are about 16-18 mos, and it didn't change BF too much at first. Obviously, as they eat more, they will BF less, but not at this point.
You're right about the water and juice. Water, in particular is not needed at all at this age. It has no nutrition. Stick to the breastmilk.
Here's some info about starting solids.
http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile69c.stm
If Baby T loves cups, you could try giving her breastmilk in a cup instead of the bottle. Imo, the early you introdcue cups, the less likely you'll have a major battle on your hands later on when you have to eliminate bottles altogether. :) Also, she really can't have too much water at this age, and many people stay away from juice completely because it's so high in sugar.
As far as foods go, it sounds like you're kinda using baby-led weaning already. If it's an approach you like, you should read up on it and continue that way. Some great, easy first foods are avocados and bananas because they are so easy to prepare. Some doctors recommend introducing veggies before fruit, but our doctor said it didn't matter, and Addie's never had a problem eating her veggies. Maybe ask your doctor for more info on introducing first foods, as well. Personally, we did do baby cereal, and Idon't think it was necessary. Rice is an easy first food for babies to digest (and it's really unlikely to cause an allergic reaction) so that's why it's usually recommended first. For us, though, Addie never liked the taste of it, and she didn't figure out eating until we started introducing real foods.
If you're interested in making your own baby food, this is a great website which outlines a lot of the basics:
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
There's also a ton of posts on making homemade baby food on WB, if you're interested in digging those up.
I've been using this as reference:
http://www.earthsbest.com/resources/guides-tools/infant-feeding-
Also, I've always heard to start with the green icky stuff first (peas, green beans, broccoli) and then a month or so later go to fruit since if you start with sweet stuff some babies tend to prefer that (sounds logical, since who wants a green bean over melon).
Juice to me is a treat for babies and not something that I would use until my own is much older (10 months or so) since it's so full of calories and sugar.
She hasn't gotten any veggies yet so I probably start a bit of those, they just seem more complicated and our method so far has been a bit lazy with little tastes here and there. Can you just stick them in the microwave to soften them up before pureeing? I guess I could make big batches now but I feel like testing things out first.
I don't quite buy the don't give fruits before veggies because breastmilk is like white chocolate chip sugar milk but it is probably a good idea on how to give her veggies in addition to fruits.
@Mrs. Spring: Thanks for the link, just been looking at it, answers questions on all sorts of food prep!
@troubled: No prob!
Also, if you look on that website, they explain that giving veggies before fruits to curb a sweet tooth is a myth. Breastmilk is much sweeter than regular foods, and the American Academy of Pediatrics even published an explanation saying the whole thing is a myth, not fact.
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/order-of-introducing-solid-foods.htm
I think baby food such as apple sauce, bottled banana puree and even carrot puree are by far sweeter than breast milk or formula, and definitley nicer to eat than the pureed green beans, or peas. I think it just makes sense to hold off on the sweeter foods for a while. Breast milk doesnt have the same type of sweetness as fruits
@troubled: Dont microwave to soften the veggies first. Microwaving kills a significant amount of the nutrients in food. Stick with steaming then pureeing/blending. We have a BabyCook, but there are a ton of other brands. And steaming it on the stove and using a blender or hand blender will accomplish the same thing. Id just steer clear of mcrowaving anything
@KellyV: Thanks, that's a good point
@bells: I used to think the same thing, figured it tasted like store milk until I tried my breast milk. Seriously it tastes like a lot of white chocolate chips melted it milk, it's super sweet.
I steam the veggies and put it in the blender with the liquid. I really think if you cook your own veggies, you have a better chance of creating a veggie lover. We started with sweet potato and squash after a few test runs with cereal. We started at 5 months too, though we originally intended to start at 6. Our baby was too excited. Plus I was tired of getting dirty looks from her high chair while she sat there watching us eat.
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| kate02121 | 12 |
| rachgirl82 | 11 |
| ndreighton | 11 |
| louiseW | 9 |
| ozpeony | 7 |
| cbeyelia | 6 |
| rivierabridal | 6 |
| ladyartichoke | 5 |
| crazyinlove | 5 |
| takemyhand | 5 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
Baby girl loves spoons....and cups. I made the mistake? of giving her breastmilk on a baby spoon a couple weeks ago when she was being distractable and she freaking loved it. Now she gets super excited whenever she sees a spoon. My husband if he gives her some pumped milk doesn't use bottles anymore and just spoon feeds her because she's so much more enthusiastic. But that's also led us to giving her more and more tastes of usually fruits that we're eating. So I guess she's starting solids now slowly - she's 5 months, I was planning on waiting till 6 months but she just is really excited.
So....she loves cups but I don't want to overfill her with water or juice because I feel like her main nutrition should still come from breastmilk and not just water that doesn't have much nutrition - did anyone have a baby that loved cups but didn't change her feeding too much?
Any ideas on good first foods, I haven't gotten to the point of making any baby foods yet because she eats such a tiny amount.....like maybe half a teaspoon, so its usually just a piece of fruit we've mashed with her spoon on a plate but that means she hasn't tasted veggies yet, maybe it's time to start steaming stuff.
I'm still not convinced on baby cereals, for some reason it just seems like something that would fill her up without being very nutritious but I've never done this before so not sure...
I guess another worry is how it effects breastfeeding at this point.
Any solids advice for early feeding appreciated.