The great food debate
25th August 2006
We’re all set to start Lucy on some solids on Sunday. I’ve pulled out her Bunnykins bowl, picked up some soft baby spoons, and am restocking our milk supply.
Now the question is: what do I feed her?
The answer my doctor and Durham Health Connection Line tell me is rice cereal. I’ve never been a big fan of this idea, since a) white rice holds little nutritional value, b) we rarely eat it for that reason, and c) it can be constipating for babies.
There’s a lot of interesting research on breastfed babies whose parents wait until their children are six months or older and the type of food to start them on.
Breastmilk is already full of carbohydrates, so some suggest skipping cereal all together and going straight to meats (for protein) or sweet foods such as banana, sweet potato or avacado, then on to whole grains. And the belief of starting veggies before fruits because you don’t want babies to develop a sweet tooth seems to not apply to breastfed babies because breastmilk is so sweet.
Sweet foods might be a good thing to try first because a baby’s palete is already used to the sweetness of mama milk.
Plus you can only introduce one food at a time because of allergies, you can’t give peanuts or milk products, you can’t you can you must you blah blah blah blah.
We’re starting Lucy on oat bran with breastmilk. It’s healthy, a single grain, and I love it. Despite the health nurse saying we must "take things slowly" and keep her on all the grain cereals for 1-2 months (!!!), we’ll move into sweet potato and pureed apples next week.
Parenting = do what you think is right for your baby. Too much information = head explosion.
What do you think? What foods did you start your baby on?
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We started Eirinn on rice cereal because of the recommendation from our doctor and both our mothers. Solids in the first year, according to the three sources above, are not nutritionally important, as they get all the nutrition they need from breast milk and formula, so I wasn’t worried about it not having the value we would normally want. We gave her just rice cereal for about a week, then for the past four days we have been mixing pure applesauce with the cereal, and I think next we’ll move to carrots or pears. Like you said – as mothers, we’re given too much information, all of which claims to be the ‘right’ and ‘only’ way things should be done. When it comes down to it, there are thousands of different theories and cultures that all do things differently and who are we to say one way is more superior to another. All we can do is choose what we feel is best for our own child, and hope we’ve made the right decision.
Rice for us as well – apparently it is also the easiest on the baby’s system. Don’t remember much else except we started Lex on cereal at 3 months (very, very liquidy) because she still hungry after formula. She only had mom’s juice for about a week because I got so sick after she was born that my husband and family members had to take over feeding her. After that I was on some pretty heavy duty medication and it was not safe to feed her. Once they get a taste of the solids though .. they want nothing else. When you move on to meats and combine veggie and meats in a meal I suggest you feed her what you’re having for dinner – put it in a blender. She won’t want the bottled stuff after that most likely … mmm flavour! Just watch the salt content in the portion you give her.
happy feeding – take lots of pictures (sometimes you also have to shovel it into their mouths – literally – or they scream until the next spoon is ready)
Oh and put the bunnykins bowl away until she’s older – little kids tend to throw their plates on the floor if they’re not happy (sometimes even if they are happy) .. get out the plastic bowls and save your china …
I started my kids on rice cereal because it’s mild and less likely to cause a reaction. I used it for a few weeks until the kids mastered the whole tounge, mouth, swallow thing and then moved on to real foods.
I disagree with the idea that because breast milk is sweet that starting with sweet foods is a good idea. I breastfed all 3 of my kids until they were 6-9 months of age but I started with the bland foods like peas. If you’ve never tried to get a baby to eat peas or chicken after they have already had peaches or something sweet then you have no idea the fight you’re in for! lol There is a definite preference for the sweet things.
All my kids survived and did quite well and today they eat a wide variety of foods so I guess I did something right. Then again I could have done it comepletely differently and they still may have turned out the same. Do what works for you, but I do suggest trying the bland before the sweet, just to save yourself being spit on. If you thought blowing raspberries was messy, imagine it with a mouth full of pureed peas!
Isn’t parenthood wondeful. I remember making the decisions when it came to solids. With my youngest we did the rice cereal and then went to oats. My youngest did not agree with the oats he had a diaper rash that would not go away so we switched him back to rice. In the end we skipped the oat cereal. Good luck. Hard to believe she is 6 months old where does the time go
I skipped the cereal with my daughter and started her on bananas first. Then I started her on a vegetable and then switched from a fruits to veggies. My daughter is almost 3 and she eats almost every type of vegetable out there (she loves brocolli and peas) as well as her fruits. Go with your gut on what to give Lucy.
My doctor recommended rice cereal also and that was 50 years ago…it is the least likely to have an allergy reaction and it just gets them used to the spoon….seems like it is the same thinking of doctors today………
just give her some wonderful “Beefaronie” you loved and survived it!
kidding aside, you are doing wonderful with Lucy, and whatever you decide, she will thrive and survive!
I honestly don’t think, beyond allergy considerations, that the food you start your baby on — be it bananas or some sort of veg or cereals — makes a big difference in whether you wind up with a picky eater. My kids eat practically everything, and one started on rice cereal, the other on bananas. I think they’re either going to be picky or they’re not (and it has more to do with offering an array during toddlerhood than anything you do at six months), and I think the theories on how to develop the palate are just that — theories. In practice, they don’t mean a whole lot.