Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Wondering Wednesday: First Food

with a spoon that is.

As Second Chances correctly pointed out one of the benefits which comes with the second child is greater confidence in what you are doing and the ability to ignore advice ~ yet here I am dreading 'starting solids' for fear of doing it all wrong.

Should I start soon at 5 months or wait for six? Start now ~ he may wean sooner, wait and he may become finicky about texture.

Do I start with cereal which Lisbeth fairly consistently hated and I was never sure I was making right but what his doctor ( and most books) advise as the first food ~ or avocado which I have read in some alternative literature is a great first choice and one I find intriguing.

Thoughts, suggestions, pep talks??



Wondering Wednesdays: inspired by Maggie of From the Heart

6 comments:

  1. Just commenting so I can come back and read whatever wisdom other people share! I was leaning towards avocado at a full 6 months, but obviously I don't know what I'm doing yet :)

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  2. I have been learning that little ones actually don't digest grains well until they are 2 years old. My sources recommend starting with a little runny egg yolk (that's what we did). Meat is also really good for infants. E has been having shredded roast beef, stew meat, etc. for several months now. She loves it!...and she cannot get enough vegetables. :)

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  3. I'm trying to remember whether we did cereal first or yellow fruits (bananas, etc.). Hm.

    As far as when...hm. I was sure J. was ready when we started, and then he wasn't. But then when he was, he really was. I'm thinking you'll know, ya know?

    Yours wafflingly,
    Krizzzz

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  4. I need to re-read Dr. Sears' Baby Book on beginning solids. We've started him on cereal and sweet potatoes, but don't do it everyday, and I'm all sorts of confused on if it takes the place of a breast-feeding session or what.. Plus, I don't know when to introduce liquids other than breast milk. I probably won't get too much into this solids business until he's 6 months old.. but that's just around the corner!

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  5. I recall not starting cow's milk until 1 year, if that helps. When we introduced solid "meals," he would nurse before or after.

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  6. So, I have no experience as a mother, but as another voice of reassurance, I'm sure whatever you do will be fine even if you ignore the doctor's suggestion and go with whatever instinct tells you is best.

    The industry was recently buzzing with news that rice cereal may be one of the worst foods to give babies and "predispose to childhood obesity" (a recent enough story that you can still Google news it) and I also read a related article about how introducing solids earlier in general makes kids fatter. But really, that seems hard to believe that either of those alone will tip the scales so to speak for your baby. But it *does* make me want to pull my hair out when I see mothers stressing to follow "doctors orders" that reflect the fact that doctors are going on what they learned in medical school X years ago, not current best knowledge (which may also be debunked in a few years).

    Which is all to say that I'm sure whatever you do will be fine. It isn't as if you're completely changing his diet all at once!

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