The solid food thing is going pretty good. It is probably the most complicated part of having a baby so far. (Maybe because I forgot to ask my peeps about what on earth to do, and so its the only part of parenthood I've done almost on my own.) I haven't done a tonne of reading, but one book I've been looking at is the Super Baby Food Book. It is huge and bright purple, and has lots of good information but a tad excessive for our style. She is a huge advocate of making your own everything, cereal and baby food and adding all sorts of funny things to it (healthy extras) like wheat germ, dried liver powder, brewers yeast and all sorts of other funny things that I wouldn't know how to find even if I lived in Canada. She is also a huge advocate of using ONLY organic produce. Other produce has pesticides on it and and pesticides kill living things. And then she goes on, "LET ME REPEAT THAT; PESTICIDES KILL LIVING THINGS". And so on... What has been helpful from it is that it is divided into month by month chapters so you you know what foods to add each month with lots of options and serving ideas. For example, things like shredded cheese. I wouldn't have thought of that, or shredded apple. Or making mashed potatoes into little balls for her to pick up but will mash in her mouth. I also tried cutting the mango into little spears, which she liked. They slide in and she mashes them up with her gums but if she accidently swallows they will just slide down like little noodles. So that's been good. Gemma really enjoys table food and so we are trying to give her what we can from our meals. Her favorite so far has been rotisserie chicken. Not the saucy outside, but little piece of the yummy white breast meat. She at that up. My question to you all is when to introduce wheat, and when to introduce dairy.
p.s. I just read some more of that book, trying to learn about meat, and she says that if we knew what she knew and read the books she read none of us would ever eat meat again. She has like three pages about meat and thats it.:)
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Actually, the current guidelines in Canada say that meat should be the first thing you introduce. That's because it seems that lots of babies are short on iron (or something that meat has). It wasn't the first thing I introduced, but hey, whatever! Those things change so frequently, I'm sure it will be different for every child I have! As for wheat products, I think I personally introduced it fairly early on. I went from rice cereal to something else (oatmeal, I think) to mixed. And I think we gave Jared bread before that. I don't think it's a big deal. Dairy would be more of a concern, and even that doesn't have to be. I started giving him whole milk every once in a while at around 8 - 10 months. When he started learning how to use a sippy cup at around 6 months, we used soy milk, and then a couple of months later I just swapped for whole milk once a day or every two days. I think that started because if we were at Ryan's parents' and ran out of Soy, I just put regular milk in (2% - bad parent!!) because at that point I was down to only nursing before bed and once in the morning, and I would rather him have milk than start nursing more! I watched him carefully the first few times, to make sure he wasn't getting constipated or throwing up and he was fine, so we made the full switch just before he was a year. And he was eating cheese and yogurt long before he was a year. I think the main thing is to watch them closely the first few times you introduce things that could produce problems. Like peanut butter. "They" recommend that you only give that at 2 years! I gave it to him, thinnly spread on toast at about 8 or 9 months! I just watched him VERY closely as he ate it, nothing happened, so I knew he was fine and could have it. Same with strawberries. I personally thing that if allergies aren't a big issue with the parent's, they probably won't be with the kids either. You just have to be cautious and use common sense. Did that all make sense? I know the food thing can seem complicated, but then they stop with the cereal and baby food and just eat what you eat, and the funny stage is really quite short. I hardly remember it anymore!
Nevada,
I raised my boys differently. We never used any books. I am not saying that you are wrong to read books, or that my way is better than yours, we are just different.
I had both my boys completely on table food and homo cows milk at 10 months, because that is what worked for us. With Harrison, he was having things like icecream, chezwhiz, green onion, jam, what ever dad could get away with putting in his mouth by 3 months old.
If Gemma is getting teeth, and can chew a bite, then follow what you think. Most of the boy's food was cut into either rectangular pieces or small squares depending on what it was. If it could mush apart easily, like cheese sandwhiches, it was a rectangle so they could hold it and learn to bit, but things like steak that don't mush easy it was small squares so they slid down if they didn't chew.
As for wheat, the boys had wheat cerial (pablum) by the time they were five months old, and like I said they were on cows milk at 10 months.
I know some people will say that I am completely wrong for doing this, that it is the "old" way of thinking, new studies . . . bla bla bla, but it is what worked for us. I had the boys on pablum at 2 months old too because they were to hungry, like eating over 8 oz of milk at bedtime, which I didn't think was completely healthy either.
Out of everyone in this world, you and Chester know your baby the best, and you can kind of tell what she is ready for. Watch how she handles certain foods, if she does really good with chichen breast, you can try a tougher meat like pork or beef.
The first baby is always the hardest to figure out, but from what I saw, you two are doing a wonderful job.
I am so happy I got to see you when you were home.
They used to say introduce grains starting at six months. The order was: rice, then oatmeal, then barley, then wheat. (This is the order of least allergic reaction to more possible allergic reaction.) I heard recently the order doesn't matter any more, provided you don't have a family history of allergies to any of those.
As for diary, it used to be 10 months. (I'm not sure what the new guidelines are.) You can also give things like yogourt & cheese slightly earlier than regular milk, because there is less lactose in those, so they are easier to digest.
We didn't give our kids dairy until they were one year because we have a family history of milk allergies, and the longer you prolong exposure, the less chance of allergies -- if your child were going to be allergic to them.
On the other hand, they got peanut butter every night before bed as soon as they turned one -- no waiting 'til 3 years old! (We have no history of peanut allergies.)
Since everyone is giving their two cents, I'll give mine too. It doesn't really matter the order, and you don't have to wait the full 3 days to try a new food to see if they're allergic (one day is good), is what the current guidelines say.
Also, Gemma is old enough to handle most things by now, so don't worry. Her gut is getting more mature.
And, I have to say, I agree about the organic food thing, but I'm crazy.
Actually, that's probably why the author is against meat: meat & dairy are the worst non-organic foods you can eat if you live in the U.S. (ours is good in Canada). I won't give any essay why; it'd be too long.
But, good luck! Glad Gemma is enjoying her food!
Ok, now Baba's two cents.
Actually just family history since it seems to matter in the allergy perspective. Chris had trouble with citrus and tomatoes when he was starting with food. I am not sure when I introduced them but he would get rashy and ecxema around his mouth. So something to watch for in Gemma.
I think she is ready for some Drake farmer sausage and perogies!!!!
BABA
I just agree with everyone else - LOL!
Delaying the solids was probably the more important thing and you guys waited w/ Gemma, the rest now is more easy peasy once she starts learning how to eat.
We did cheese & yogurt oh boy - WAY before 1 year, probably 8 or 9 months old. We did the milk switch over not until 1 year though b/c my mother is lactose intol. and we were being careful.
Just keep offering her new tastes and textures. Some days she make love something and then hate it next week only to love it again 2 days later.
Gemma's on her way to becoming a toddler - that's when the REAL fun starts. HAHAHAHH!
I just wanted to let you know that organic is NOT synonomus with pesticide-free. That is a common misconception. They just use different pesticides, usually more nature-friendly and less-chemical-based stuff. BUT their fields are often located next to ordinary fields which do spray chemicals so the wind would send some onto them as well, not to mention the years of usage the dirt probably saw before the organic craze hit. We grew up fine on cemicalled veggies so I wouldn't worry about that!
Tegan
Tegan,
You are right that just because food is certified organic does not mean it is contaminant free. There are too many variables (ie. polluted rain, genetically modified seed unknowingly pollinating your crop, etc.) to guarantee that. However, any chemicals found in organic food is miniscule compared to normal food. Also, land must not have any chemicals used on it (or only those allowed by each country's organic certifying body -- of which there is a lot of push to get even stricter...) for 3 years before the food grown on it can be ceritified organic. So, usually a farmer will operate at a loss for 3 years before his food can be certified organic and he can start making a profit again.
Also, there are lots of reason to buy organic food and support organic farming besides the reduced amount of pesticides, such as equity for workers, humane treatment of animals, higher nutritive value of foods, supporting sustainable farming, and not supporting larger corporations.
To use the arguement "we did such and such and we turned out fine" is not a valid argument. If that were true, we might as well quit doing research in everything, because we're thought to be getting along fine. Research is done to improve quality of life. A lot of diseases previously unlinked to chemicals are now thought to be contributing factors (along with other factors, such as genetics, environment, etc.).
I am not trying to be preachy, and convince everyone to to switch to organic food. I realize organic supporters are a small segment of the population. I just wanted to clarify a few facts. If you would like references, I can give them to you.
Sorry to get into this on your blog, Nevada!
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