Baby Food...where to start

[icats]

Payton is 5 months old (corrected age would be 3-1/2 months) and has been eating baby food for about 3 weeks. She is doing pretty good with it. First I gave her sweet potatoes, then squash, carrots, and now peas. She really seems to be enjoying eating. I guess I am just wondering if I started with the right foods. I read that starting with vegies is good because they are more bitter than fruits, If you start fruits first they will not want the veggies. Anyone have any tips. When is it safe to give them the mixed food, like peach cobbler, or vegi stew. What about the baby food meats, at what age do you typically start that???[?][?][?]

Icats
(Class I HELLP, PIH)
Mother of Payton Mary
33 weeks 5 days
http://www.preeclampsia.org/stories/story.asp?ID=657

[maxs mom]

Have you started rice cereal? That is usually the first food the pedi wants you to add to their diets. after a while on rice, you can switch to oatmeal. It's great you started veggies first, they always recommend that because they don't want baby to get a sweet tooth. I think you have done enough veggies, you can start adding fruits, like apples, bananas, pears, peaches, apricots, etc. You can't do mixed foods until your baby has had all the ingredients found in the mixed food in their diet, and then they are fine. The peach cobbler will take a while, because there is probably egg or milk in it, and those are big allergen fods, so you want to introduce egg yolk first, and then egg white. I think milk products can be added at 9 months or so, but drinking milk not until one year. It was recommended we wait until Max was 1 year old until we introduced meat, but he was really early, I think 9 months is normal.

The best book in the world for Baby food knowledge is called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It is really long and she is a bit of extremist when it comes to cleanliness and sterilizing, but it is an awesome book. It gives you different timetables for introducing foods and she has a ton of easy to do recipes. She even teaches you how to make your own baby food and save money (I wasn't motivated to do this, but my friend did and she loved it). And you can skip around in the book to find the info you need now, like when to introduce different foods.

I hope this info helps! good look to you and Payton!
Kara

Kara (34)
DH, John (36)
Max, 1/20/03, 25 wks, 534g. (IUGR), severe PE
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/m/mightymax/

[jenn]

Icats,
Payton is a cute T Pie! And 5 months?! Wow, sounds like she's doing very very well.
Okay the eatting, Kara has beat me to some of my questions and GREAT advice.
What's Payton's ped say?
And the cereals?

Kiddo's can have allergic reactions so it's always a good idea to take it slow and watch for any signs. But that doesn't seem to be an issue with Payton at all. (Your so lucky!)
But do keep it in mind as you are introducing new things to her diet.

I'd also hit the library, I've seen some great books there on babies first meals. This way you don't have to go buying anything, but get some great ideas for Payton.
I'm envious, Jaidyn has some serious food issues (therefore it's not my strongest point)... But the fact you have a great eatter to start here has me tickled pink for you. Way to go!
So my advice would be to check with her dr first and if you get the go ahead to continue on, hit the library or check online for some recipes and away you go.
Lots o' love.




Jennie (24)
Shad DH (29)

Jaidyn 1.24.01 (30 wkr)
Severe PE/HELLP
2lb. 12oz.

Heavenly Angel:
Blaze
12.6.03
(miscarriage)

Natalia Rosse
Due Thanksgiving day!
11.25.04

http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/jaid/

Natalia's web page
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/n/nataliarosse/

warning big pg belly photo :o)

[deerhart]

This is what my ped told me to do when we started normal baby food (not cereal)

first start off with whaever food you think the baby would like. If the baby was breastfed, start with something that is similiar to foods the mom eats a lot of (as breast milk is sort of flavored by what you eat). Introduce the food for 1 week, feeding the baby the same food every night. If no reactions are noted, which can range from change in bowl movements, rashes, fevers, mood changes etc.. then start with a new food the next week, alternating days between the new food and the old food. If after 1 week no reactions are seen then you can add a new food every 3 days for another 2-3 weeks, if no reactions noted then you can continue to add foods as you want, including the mixed kind.

We actually started both my boys on fruits because they did not like to eat the veggies, contrary to poular belief this DOES NOT necessarily mean you will have trouble getting them to eat veggies as they get older as mine eat everything from peas, corn, carrots, green beans to lima beans, artichokes, and spinach.
In fact, when we did start pushing the veggies fairly hard we would get the veggies on the spoon then dip the end of it in a fruit. This way the tip of the tounge (which picks up bitter VERY easily) is fooled by the sweat and they get the full flavor of the veggies more on the back of the tongue and learn to like it from there. For both my boys it was at first just too powerful a taste for them, but as they got older it went away and they gobbled them down like mad.
As for meats, well we never really used the baby food kind becuase they are kind of gross, we just cut up things like sliced ham to really small bites. Since both my boys spent about 2 months on actual #1 baby food and then jumped to #3 foods they were on table food by 10-11 months (simply because they had huge appitites and the baby food just wasn't enough) But then it was mostly the smae foods they had been eating in creamed form (peas, carrots, fruits, etc..). I think the easiest meat to give them is chicken because it breaks down very well into small pieces that they can feed themselves, unlike beef. Deli sliced meats are also good as well.

HTH!
Erin

Moderator - Parents of Preemies
Missouri State Coordinator
Mommy to Alex (4)and Mason (1 1/2)
Law Student - 1 year done, 2 to go

[aimeejane]

Yummy!

For the mixed foods, don't try them until they've successfully had all of the ingredients with no allergies. I don't even get things like Peach Cobbler, because I figure they get enough starches & sugars in things like cheerios & other snacks w/o introducing into their meals.

Trying new foods is always an adventure...have fun!

Aimee
Georgia State Coordinator
Moderator - Pregnant Again

Ds Nicky - 3/24/00 (28 wks - eclampsia)
Ds Kalen - 7/10/03 (36 weeks - preeclampsia)

[deerhart]

ohh one more thing, if you have an history of food alleriges in your (or the father's) family (or lactose problems etc..) you may want to delay introducing that particular food to her until she is a bit older and in very small quantities. I accidently let Mason get a hold of a piece of chocolate Alex had and he had an reaction to it, still not sure if its a true allergy or an intolerance, but since its a non leathal reaction we give small amounts every so often to see if it continues to reoccur. By the time he's 2 if its still occuring we may have to have an allergy test done to see if it is an allergy.

Antoher one to watch is peanut butter and the recomendations on when to introduce that range from 1 -2 years of age. We waited until Alex was 2 and Mason was 18 months when he started on it.

Erin

Moderator - Parents of Preemies
Missouri State Coordinator
Mommy to Alex (4)and Mason (1 1/2)
Law Student - 1 year done, 2 to go

[icats]

Thanks for the wonderful tips! Yes, Payton was introduced to cereal at 3 months becasue she has acid reflux and needs some help to keep her food down. We have been introducing one food every week so far. All you your tips will help a great deal. Thanks bunches.

[5thtymachrm]

HEy here's a good website i use for questions like this...

http://www.askdrsears.com/default.asp

Elizabeth

Indigo E. 11/20/03 csec,PE,IUGR,chronic HBP,hypothyroid,asthma,hyperemesis,33wks on BR.
4 prev. m/c's
ttc #2 is a go!