Monday, June 18, 2012

Baby Food!

I am getting ready to start feeding Simeon baby food!!
I usually start with Rice cereal and then gradually add
veggies....then fruit.
I don't do the dessert fruits.
I don't make my own either.
With Jedi, I started at 4 months.
With the others, I waited til they were 6 months.


 When do you start?
What do you do?
and
Why?

Just curious, because everyone does something different!
Simeon's doctor just told me to do what I'm comfortable with, what I usually do.

48 comments:

  1. I used to start at 4 months also, but found that my baby wasn't ready so early. I know technically their stomaches should be able to handle it, but I think every baby's body matures at different times, and, well it just wasn't worth it. I would give them cereal and then they would get constipated and scream so I would go back to the bottle for a few weeks.

    I actually just started Henry on his cereal today, so we are together on this! He is 5 and a half months now, and so far, he's handled it wonderfully. Normally by now, he should be screaming if he was like my other kids. I watered the cereal waaay down, which I should have done for my other kids (hence, part of the constipation issues).

    My sister doesn't start feeding them until 7 months which surprised me. I'm not sure she still does it this way but we had talked about it once and that's what she told me. Anyway, she never had a problems with tummy aches, so in my opinion, waiting longer is better. As long as your baby doesn't seem too hungry, that is.

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    1. Becky--Yeah, usually my babies start showing signs of being ready...or I am excited for them to start, I don't know...but starting foods means more time, and a change in routine. They get used to the more food than just milk and want it!!

      How exciting that Henry started already!! We haven't done it yet....I'm always nervous to start...

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  2. Little Sim- growing up so fast! I started mine at 4- 5 months and did the same as you with the cereal progression. I'm sure he will let you know what works with him. How much does he weigh now? It just seems like yesterday you had him!

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    1. Hmmmmm...trying out this new "reply" feature....liking it!! Now I need time to reply to everyone!!

      Shelly-- love how you call him little Sim...we call him Sims, Little Red, Simi, baby!! He is now 12 lbs 3 oz, as of Monday!

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  3. I am currently debating the exact same things!

    I started Mikey at 6 months and although I tried Dominic at 4 months I was very inconsistent and didn't really start until 6 months. I tried Joey the other day and he did fine, but I'm not sure that he really needs it.

    I start with rice too, and then do some veggies but avoid peas because I have an allergy to them so none of my boys have them! I pretty go to anything yellow or orange, then green but they usually hate it, then sweeter things like bananas and apples after that.

    My ped just told me to pretty much do whatever I want with any food, as long as we feed him the same thing 3 days in a row, or wait three days, to make sure he's not allergic before introducing another new food.

    I know many mommmas don't feed any food until much later, even up to 1 year, so I've been contemplating that too. I don't think there's much nutritionally in these baby foods, but I do think it's good practice to work on eating from a spoon and swallowing thicker foods and drinking from a cup. I guess. I don't really think there's a right or wrong.

    Sounds like Simeon is doing great!!!

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    1. Second Chances--Funny you say that about peas, because my babies --none of them have liked peas!!! (and I hate them too) OK, I like Pea pods and Edamame, but not regular peas, unless they are in something, but not plain.

      You are right, my doctor told me the same thing, no nutritional value really, just to get them used to the textures...

      I haven't started yet on him...

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  4. My babies nursed a lot. They usually skipped the baby food. But I loved giving them that Gerber Rice stuff cause I would eat half of it myself.

    I love that stuff!
    I know...weird-o that I am.

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    1. That rice cereal has NO flavor does it? My babies love it....I switch to the oatmeal later.....You remind me of my mom, I still remember her feeding my sister Dutch Apple Dessert and Fruit Delight and eating more than she was!! hahah!

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  5. We tried around 5.5 months with cereal but Annamarie wasn't ready. She didn't know what to do with it. At 6 months I did bananas, it was a huge hit! From what I have read, bananas are similar in sweetness to breast milk, so many babies transition to them well. And they're easy to digest.

    I dunno, I would never start solids before at least 5 months, because I think breast milk (or formula) is best for them. And for us, solids didn't help anything anyways, she didn't sleep for longer periods of time. So hurrying the solids doesn't really seem to be beneficial.

    I'm more of a baby follower, we tend to do things with Annamarie when she shows she's ready.

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    1. Allison--wow, never heard breastmilk tasted like bananas...hmmmmm, maybe Christine had something there to use my frozen breastmilk to make bread---banana bread---mwa haha haha!! (just kidding)

      I've never found solids to make my babies sleep better or longer, I've thought it a old wives tale...til todays' comments anyway!! I agree, that the babies show us signs of readiness for every step, even potty training!

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  6. I start at six months, make my own, and usually rotate orange veggie - green veggie - fruit, repeat. I do cereals a lot later, more like 9 months (and yet I still ended up with a Celiac kid, lol)

    I have always made my own- the stuff in jars just looks so yucky to me! I know that nutritionally it's all the same, but I just prefer to make my own.

    I introduce meats early, since breastfed babies usually need iron- either from meat or fortified baby cereal, and I don't like baby cereal because I feel it's really processed.

    One thing I do though is that I only give small quantities- like probably one of those short baby food jars (is that 4oz?) for a long, long time, even if they seem to be handling it fine. I don't want to displace too much breast milk, which is the nutrient super star for the first year or two of life! I probably move to something more like 8oz by 10-11 months.

    But Roslyn might change that all up, as she seems to love solids, just from her little taste yesterday. This time around, I'm doing a more "traditional foods" approach, and will probably give her weird things like liver and saurkraut.

    I think of my children as science experiments. :-)

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    1. Monica--I knew you'd be the homemade maker, I SO want to make my own baby food, but my husband is like...."when are you going to find the time to do that inbetween pumping and everything else?" I think homemade is probably much more nutritious, right?

      I do the smaller quantities too, but always give that cereal too, twice a day if I remember right....I agree, I know they say that food should not replace breastmilk, but it does to some extent, because they are not as hungry.

      Saurkraut and liver and Science experiments made me laugh!!

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    2. Nutritionally, the jarred stuff is measured as being just as good as homemade. I do question whether or not we are measuring everything that matters. I just don't see how jarred food can be as nutritious as fresh, so I wonder if maybe there are compounds we don't even know about that are lost through canning. Anyway...

      For Eliot, I made batches and froze- that didn't take up too much time, really. It was more like two hours up front for a month of food cubes. For Ivy (and probably also for Roslyn) I just made a bit extra of our evening food and pulled hers out before salting, etc. Then I fork mashed. I'm giving Roslyn fork mashed as well. It takes longer for them to get the hang of it, but they adjust to eating real food faster that way. Not sure if that would work with Simeon, or if he needs his foods truly pureed.

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  7. Every baby has been different for me. With out oldest we started way too soon at 4.5 months and did cereals first. We waited until 5 months with my second and did cereals again.

    By the tine my 3rd was old enough, my boys had celiac so I tried waiting until at least 6 months (she also reacted to a lot of food in my breastmilk), but she was ready at 5.5 months. I started off with veggies for her and kept her gluten-free for the first year.

    Now, with Zoe, she just started. She likes bananas but closed her mouth on the rice cereal. I plan on keeping her GF as well for the first year, and I will introduce meats much earlier than the others for the iron.

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  8. Very interesting! This is a fun topic! Fun to see the differences and similarities....Some I went wow! Like Christine--NO baby food? (haha)

    Sim's doctor said the purpose of baby food is to get them used to textures....

    Sim's Chiropractor said she waits til her babies have teeth and then feeds them avocado and egg yolks, (you know runny sunny side up ones)Is there iron in those things? My babies never liked avocados or mashed bananas....just baby food.


    See? I tried to do some homemade baby food....

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  9. RE: homemade baby food. Your comment made me think. I tried to do a little but I had better luck with the jars (and it was easier for me). BUT, with my third, I was definitely more adventurous and quicker to feed her food off my plate in tiny pieces than I was with the boys. So in a way, isn't that "baby" food? ;)

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    1. Nicole--kind of, I know with my last baby, I tried to feed her more table food, thought it would be easier, then I always worried if she ate enough...That baby food is so darn expensive.

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  10. I usually don't do baby food. It freaked me out a few years ago when poison was found in a batch. So I just nurse and nurse and nurse. usually at about 8 months they can handle finger foods. I will occasionally chew things and feed them to my babies, too.
    Also if I waited till me babies had teeth some of them would not have eaten till they were well past a year old!! Sweet Pea is almost two and only has a few teeth!
    I did try to give Tiger some yogurt the other day. Doc said I could try since he was on antibiotics. That was a mistake, lol. Yeah, he wasn't ready yet!

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    1. Amy--so why yogurt because of the antibiotics? Simeon had to be on antibiotics twice so far, first because of his kidneys at birth and then after his surgery. what age is ok to start yogurt? I think I've waited til 10 mos in the past....

      poisoned baby food? Oh, my gosh, that's terrible.

      the chewing food reminds me of a mother bird--cute.

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  11. Oh and being GF now, will also effect all that. But I will still wait till he is about 8 months to try finger foods. But no Cheerios this go around!

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    1. Yeah, is there any replacement for cheerios? Chex has several GF cereals, but they don't dissolve like cheerios, and those baby puffs, have gluten in them too....

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  12. I usually try finger foods around 9 mos, yogurt, cheese, etc...cheerios...not sure how that will all work with Simeon not having a roof to his mouth....I think it will mostly have to be pretty pureed food.

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  13. OH, yeah--does anyone else have a mom who says "you kids were sleeping through the night as soon as I brought you home from the hospital" (because they cereal fed right away, with the goal of getting the baby to sleep through the night)?

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  14. I get to be the odd ball. My other babies, current twins excluded, were all big babies. The majority of them were over 10 pounds within 2 months of life. They were all great sleepers. 6 or 7 hours the first few weeks and then by month two they would go 8 hours at least over night. I was so blessed I know.

    I didn't offer cereal to make them sleep through the night. They were just not satisfied without cereal after about 3 months. I would do just rice for awhile.

    All that being said preemies change the stage a little. They are now just eating enough to sleep for about 4 or 5 hours. This is so new to me. They wake up and I worry that I am not feeding them enough and they don't wake up and I worry that they will not wake up to eat. The twins are making me question everything. I know God is laughing.

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    1. OK Neen--you deserve to have a couple out of 11 kiddos to be up in the night--haha--just kidding!! I feel that way with Simeon, I worry more because he's been through so much. Your sweet babies will do fine....go with your gut instinct!!

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  15. I got the advice to feed my child cereal so they would sleep through the night. As for me, it was bad advice! We did it once, it hugely regretted it. The poor baby was screaming because of the constipation.

    I know it seems to work for some, I'm not sure how, but it didn't work for me. I usually stick to the doctors advice on that one and don't do the cereal until 4-6 months. Until then, we tough it out and get up with the baby at night because that's what baby's do in the first 3 months (or longer)--they wake up to eat and snuggle!

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    1. That sleeping through the night thing, never worked for me....my babies love to nurse at night. --Simeon does sleep for about 3-5 hours now--there's at least one time of a 5 hour span, and then a 3 or vice versa...I don't think food will make a difference.

      With all the gluten probs he had earlier, I'm worried he'll not tolerate food...might have to wait a little longer.

      I always treasure the night feedings, still do, that time goes fast.

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  16. My babies always did better with mashed banana, avocado, and egg yolk (NOT WHITE) and this was much tastier too. If they need iron, pureed chicken, later, when they are ready. Happy feeding - be sure to post some high chair pics!

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    1. Tracy--would love to hear how you puree chicken? do you think Simeon will be able to eat it, will it be smooth enough with no roof to his mouth? How did you make your egg yolks and what age did you do it?

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  17. I totally fed Liam something at 4 months, but I doubt I'll do the same for Kolbe. Frankly, I think I was just bored with Liam. Now K is creeping up on 3 months old in a few days and time has flown so quickly I haven't had a minute to be bored!

    ...I think I'll insist on smashed avocado this time around, though. It's so healthy...and no one else in my family likes it, so I'm gonna have at least one who will. :)

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    1. Laura--I think I did the same thing with Jedi, for the same reason, he was the first and I just hurried those steps...good thing he was ready and did fine!

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    2. Oh, Laura, my girls love avocados now, we fight for them, I barely get them cut up and they are gone before I even get a bite!! haha!

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  18. Hi Jamie! I started my last two kiddos around 4 months. I would prefer 6 months, but they just seemed "ready" (even though I'm sure many would argue with that...however, given that they were babies #4 and #5, I don't care LOL). They did great, and slept longer! Good luck! Simeon is beautiful!

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    1. Hi Jen!! I think the babies really show signs of readiness or not...with my 3rd, she was so gaggy, that I tried several times, she just didn't like the texture of food in her mouth. Simeon is starting to grab at our food and really watch us eat...sign of readiness...it's just taking that first step, because once we start, it takes a lot of extra time to do!

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  19. Hi, I am your newest follower. I am not Catholic but sure admire how you are raising your children in the faith. You have a very sweet family. My baby just turned 16 years old yesterday, so it has been a long time since I fed rice cereal to anyone, but I do remember starting my kids at about 4 months. I usually mixed the rice cereal with breast milk for several months, then added it to fruit as they got older. I remember that adding rice cereal to the diet did help them sleep better through the night. I have five grandchildren and my oldest daughter didn't do anything but breastfeed until about nine months. Different mothers do things differently. I believe that mothers can pray and get answers about what to do that will be best for individual children...even what to feed them and when. Thanks for your lovely blog. I look forward to following.

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    1. Jones Family--Welcome!! ANd nice to "meet" you! I hope this brought some good memories back for you. You've made me remember to really treasure this time...it will soon be gone.

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  20. wow, all the comments!! this must be a hot topic. alas, my baby was still many miles away from my arms when she started on food. but I remember at 10 months, we packed baby food on our trip, and she would have nothing to do with it!! she was already eating normal people food, scrambled eggs, beans, cantalope, cheese. etc.

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    1. Oh, Gardenia--what a fun memory!! How different, huh? I tried with my last to feed her more table food, but it just doesn't always work out!

      With Simeon, he'll need his food pretty liquidfied like baby food til his palate surgery.

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  21. Always great to see one of your post pop up Sweet Thang. Just saying hi as the topic went right over my head. Glad you got a lot of comments.
    Hugs,
    Odie

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    1. Odie--didn't think you'd know the answers to this post!! Always great to see that smile though!

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  22. We had to go really slow with Leo and make everything very liquid. He had trouble with his cleft and sneezing food out his nose. It was pretty stressful for awhile. We had a feeding specialist start coming once a week when he was around 9 months. He really had about one meal a day starting then and we worked our way up. He had mostly breastmilk til about a year... Yet he was by far my biggest chunkiest baby!

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    1. Beth!! so glad you commented....I called the cleft palate specialist and she said start him now and that I won't need to do anything different....not even more runny food...I'm nervous to start! She did warn me of the food through his nose though--he already spits up through there, so kind of used to it although, I'm sure orange or green coming through will be kind of odd to see!!

      Simeon is definately NOT my chunkiest baby!!

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  23. That's exciting news Jamie! Simeon is growing so fast!! It's been years since I gave my son baby food so I don't recall the process but I remember loving his expressions as he tried each new food! Precious moments!

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    1. Noreen--yes, those expressions are exciting arent' they?

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  24. Here's my 2 cents worth. I used to start rice cereal at 4 or 5 months and it seemed like it got later with each baby (too many other things to do, I guess).After about Baby #4, I pretty much just breastfed to around a year and then they started eating finger foods. I always fed cereal to baby at times other than regular meals, then I would forget. I just never stuck with it! Maybe if you just fed Simeon a little something at your meal times when he seems most interested? Of course, if he really likes it, you won't get time to eat!

    PS My mom was pushy about baby food and potty training. Now she doesn't say a word.

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    1. Kim--I barely get time to eat now!!!
      It is hard to remember to feed the baby after months of only breastfeeding, that's for sure!! Life alwyas gets a little harder and busier when adding food for baby!

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  25. http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/nourishing-a-growing-baby

    I like the advice coming out of Weston Price.
    no reply neede-just move on and know that I'm thinking about you and praying for you every time I read your blog!
    Hugs,
    Lisa K

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    1. I'm replying anyway!! Marked that site as a "favorite" lots of good info--thanks!

      I"m praying for you too Lisa!!

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Thank you so much for stopping and commenting!