Now that Anthony’s gotten a taste of solids, he is keenly interested in what I’m eating. Nestled in my arms at the dinner table last night, he complained angrily about not getting a bite of my DiGiorno’s Pizza.
It’s not that good, kid. Let it go.
Clearly my 6-month-old wants more solid food than he’s getting yet I’m afraid of overdoing it, especially with the processed stuff. So far he’s only had organic rice cereal and some pureed mango and banana. That’s it! You can tell that it’s been awhile since I’ve done the baby thing.
I know to introduce new foods gradually and keep away from such foods as peanut butter and honey. But what about bits of egg and bites of bread? He’s teething and wants to chew.
So I’m asking you for your opinion: Is six months too soon? At what age do you start giving your kids table food? In what order do you introduce things?
I have given both of my children nibbles of lots of different things. I know you need to be careful about allergies, and choking! but little pieces of bread are soft. If he doesn't choke, you might try mashed potatoes. They say to wait for the signals and it sounds as though he is giving them to you, loud and clear. You can always back up if something doesn't agree with him.
Soft egg yolk (no white) mixed with a little salt is an excellent food for babies – very good brain food. I mix it with banana and my kids chow down on it. Sounds gross but they like it. Also, I would watch the breads as such early exposure to wheat etc. can trigger a sensitivity later on.
Lots and lots of pureed veggies. They liked crackers, beans, and baby cereals, too. We had no allergies in our family, so other than peanut butter and honey, I didn't worry much about sensitive foods. With my first baby I was really picky and careful and organized about when I gave her foods and in what order. By the fourth, they ate whatever was handy. 🙂
Our kids eat whatever we're eating at the table, with the exception of honey, milk and a few other odds and ends, as young as about 5 to 6 months. We mash everything finely with a fork or our fingers and they chow down. All our kids are very good eaters and we think exposing them to lots of foods early on has helped. Our pediatrician, by the way, is all for this philosophy.
I just wanted to add that when my oldest was a baby, my doctor recommended giving veggies first since they aren't as sweet as fruit, so she would not reject them later. I don't know if that's the reason, but I have a veggie loving bunch of kids!
Age one year for egg whites and honey. If no older sibs have allergies, I've given peanut butter before a year.
I highly recommend avoiding jarred food. After my first two, the rest went straight to table food right off my plate. None of mine showed interest before 9 months, but if he wants it, go for it. A big favorite is sweet potatoes. I would steam them and mash.
Also, they say meat at 9 months. And my kids' tummies did not like cheese or yogurt until after the first birthday.
Frozen peas – straight from the freezer. My kids love them. And canned green beans, because they are soft.
Refried beans, baked beans.
Cheerios.
It's been too long for me as well to make specific recommendations, but I do remember letting the child lead the way as far as determining readiness. You've got to strike while the iron is hot and it sounds like he is hot to try some more solid foods.
I chop scrambled egg really tiny, add little dices of apple to the applesauce, some diced white meat chicken, graham crackers, cooked carrots, spaghetti, chopped up meatball.
Brendan is 10 months and has 4 teeth, I don't think he has had much babyfood other than the homemade applesauce and mashed sweet potatoes that I made when he was six months. Since then he just eats regular food chopped up small.
I went down the baby led weaning route with Cherub and gave her finger food from the beginning. If they can gum it, they can eat it. No need to mash or puree anything. Cherub's first food (just before 6 months) was rice cake. Whatever we were eating, some went to Cherub. Wheat is OK from 6 months, so long as there is no family history of allergies. If it was me, I would give him a fistful of that pizza ;).
here is a seven month old Cherub munching her way through a chicken sandwich.
I started giving my son cereal at three weeks (bad mom!), but I didn't have much success breast feeding and he wanted to eat all the time. But he cut teeth beginning at four months four at at time and had all but his two year molars by the time he was 10 months old, so baby food didn't last long.
I mixed pastina with his food at about five months to get him used to texture. Bread sticks were a favorite for teething since they turn to mush pretty quickly.
Another table food momma here. I don't bother with baby cereals anymore at all as all my kids rejected them. I tend to start with sweet potato and banana, then offer other single fruits and veggies until I am reasonably sure we have no intolerances or allergies and then we move on to table food. As soon as they can feed themselves I just put what we are eating on their tray and they have at it. Ever since I dropped 'baby' food and 'kid' food from their early repetoire I have much better eaters.
oh yeah, and avocado. Lots of good fats and just the right texture for beginning solid eaters.
it is a typical first food here in TX, maybe not so much in MN
Avacados are awesome for babies! My eager eaters at 6 months ate whatever we ate, only it was put through the baby mill first. I was sure to keep out honey and nuts but other than that since we don't have food allergies I let them eat whatever we ate and I can say with pride I only have 1 picky eater out of 9, and he is the only one I really went the whole baby food route with!
I would go through all the single fruits and veggies first to make sure you don't have any allergies to deal with. We always did veggies first, too. Orange ones, then green. Then bananas, applesauce, pears, peaches. No berries until he's one for allergies. Then onto multiple ingredient foods. Mashed potatoes — add some of the cooking liquid in to make them soft, but no milk yet. Sweet potatoes — same thing. You can leave them lumpy if he tolerates texture. Squash with a little chicken broth and I cooked pastini in chicken broth with tiny bites of carrot.If you cook for him, you can freeze the food in ice cube trays and then pop them out into a zipper bags so you have some in storage.
Margaret:
No eggs–please. It is one of the top food allergens in children. (Although most egg allergies are to the albumin (white) some children do react to the yolk). I have a severe egg/nut allergy child. Before him I wouldn't have thought much of giving egg to a 6 mo old.
Kelly
I second the 'no eggs'. It's one of my son's allergies as well and made him miserable for months before we found out.
I was always extremely careful about introducing foods to my kids. They never had milk, wheat, eggs or dairy until they were at least a year. In fact my second and third children never ate food till they were 11 months. Peanut butter? I think they might have been about 18 months. With the high incidence of peanut allergy I would be VERY cautious not to introduce too early. As far as what to introduce first, I would say organic fruits and veggies. I never really bought too much baby food, only when we were traveling. They loved sweet potatoes and bananas as first foods, and I did buy organic cereal for one of them I think. Lamb is good to introduce as a first meat, but down the road a bit I would say. SLow and steady was the way I went. High allergy parents here, could you tell???
I feed 'em whatever's on my plate when, like Anthony, they protest about not getting any. Relax. It's not rocket science. It's just dinner. 🙂
Before 9 months I usually give my babies:
yogurt
applesauce
cheerios
bread w/cheese:use rolling pin cut in strips
apple sticks: cut like really thin fries
for other food: put in baby strainer http://www.amazon.com/Sassy-TEETHING-Safe-FEEDER-feeding/dp/B000056JCY
Love these for introducing food and teething+++
***than table food at 9 months
+JMJ+
Margaret, For what it's worth…I think if he's interested…go for it. All of mine had scrambled eggs, cheerios, bananas, homemade applesauce at 6 months. All introduced slowly of course. Mine also had pasta (orzo or pastina) pretty early…just plain or with some butter and I cooked it longer for them so it was softer.
My son LOVED cooked carrots. He would mash them in his fingers and then eat it!
Go for it!
I can't remember. *sniff*
We don't do baby food here… we wait till 12 months for egg and honey, and two for nuts. But we don't have any allergies, we did pay more attention with number one. We started with vegies, just mashing them up at first, or giving nice big chunks to gnaw (only when under supervision).
With 8 kiddos, I've had a variety of experiences. Some didn't want anything to do with solids until almost a year (exclusive breastfeeding), but then went quickly to table foods. Others (boys) ate everything in sight! I had one who loved jarred baby foods for way too long and actually turned orange before I discovered the first ingredient in those #3 foods was always carrots! Then there were those that just leaned over and took a bite of the pizza I was holding way before I thought they were ready for it (did fine)! Must be highly individual… trust your instincts.
I say go with what feels right. Mine just ate off my plate pretty much as soon as they wanted to (I can't remember the exact ages but around 6 months sounds right). I didn't do baby-food really; just smooshed dinner.