When to start solids?

[RawMomma]

My son will be 4 months on Sunday. I was just wondering when I should start raw foods. I know your suppose to wait til he is at least 6 months but I have also heard that you should wait til they are a year old. With my daughter I did not know about raw foods and was very by the book (vaccinations and everything). I started trying baby food when she was 4 months (did not go well). Long story short my daughter now is a very picky eater and will not touch most veggies and no nuts. She loves fruit! But also junk food, sweets and Mcdonalds! I want to my son to love the healthy foods. I have a constant fight with my daughter. I really worry about her diet. Please advise. :(

[rawpriestess]

Dear Rawmamma,

you are the adult, you buy the food, you prepare the food.

as far as solid foods for you baby, just go with your gut instincts, breast feed as long as he is happy, and when he starts to eat and eat and never get full, add a banana, just hand it to him, to play with and eat, he'll let you know if you are on the right track.

As far as your daughter, I don't mean to be harsh, but you are the ONLY one providing food for her, if she chooses to eat cooked food at other's home, or to take her allowance and buy cooked food, you can't change that, but you can ONLY provide delicious fresh ripe raw wonderful fresh foods for her at home.

It is your choice.

[truthseeker]

I agree with RP, don't offer anything you don't want your daughter to have, don't have it in your home and I also make it known to my children when we attend parties and the like, that I will be putting the food on their plates. This way I can see if there's a bowl of fruit for them to eat and fill up on instead of the pizza or whatever's there. I do allow them 1 piece of cake and maybe once in a while a small bit of ice cream. And I also let them know that if there's much fussing then we will decline our next party invite. That may seem harsh and when they're just coming out of the SAD cloud it is very hard to not be the enemy. When we're home I explain why I make the choices that I do for our family. I know your daughter is young which makes it hard for her to grasp, but don't underestimate her. This is a good time for you to be doing what it is you are doing for your children's health and it will be with them for the rest of their lives....even if later in life they do experience the SAD life style for a portion of their being.

I did not start any solids with my 1st child till 11 months and even then, like RP talked about it's all experimenting for a good while. My 2nd started showing interest at about 9-10 months. And my 3rd around 9 months. None of them really had any "meals" till after 12 months old, it was only snacking on food and playing with it before that. Even my last, he was really into playing with food. And I think that the difference in the ages may have had to do with the fact that they saw their older siblings eating foods.

I waited till my babies showed interest and a desire to partake, in whatever way, in solids.....first they watch your fork go from your plate to your mouth over, and over, and over. A little time went by they'd started to mimic the movement of my mouth moving when I would chew. The next thing was they would try and grab for my fork as it passed from my plate to my mouth. Then they would try to grab at the plate itself. That turned into verbalising with yells that they wanted to have some food in their hands, which I gave and they'd play with it. And of course they'd ultimately put it in their mouths, spit most of it out, more like thrust most of it out as the technique for suckling and swallowing is very different so swallowing is something learned.

I know the Ped.'s tell you to start solids at about 6 months. And coming from doing things by the book, that it may be hard for you to follow your instincts more than text book medical advice. But that is my advice.... follow your maternal instincts.

[Ginger]

My daughter didn't want solids until she was around 14 months I think. She would taste things out of curiosity but not hunger after 6 months.

[Goldenrod]

One thing I heard a few years ago always sticks in my head when this topic comes up. A baby's gut is permeable for about the first six months, so that means anything they eat can get through the stomach wall. Breastmilk is a body fluid and causes no problems when it gets in other areas of the body. The AAP does recommend waiting till at least the middle of the first year, but I've known kids who did really well on breastmilk until 15-18 months and then went on to eat a varied diet. Waiting till a year is especially important if you have known allergies in the family. Watching the baby to see when they are ready is the best thing to do. When they have one or two teeth, they can sit up, have plenty of saliva, can transfer food from the front to the back of the mouth, can refuse food, can reach and handle things and they really want the food. Babies often grab at spoons and want what they see those around them using. That doesn't necessarily mean they want the food, they may just want to play with the spoon.

[Ariannah]

RawMomma,

If your daughter loves fruit, you have a great head start!! Fruit is very nourishing and wonderful. Put lots of fruit around for her. Try green smoothies with blueberries to mask the "greenness" if your daughter doesn't like plain greens. My youngest daughter (age 3) doesn't like baby spinach, but she loves it in a banana and blueberry smoothie!

I concur with everyone else that solids are best introduced past 6 months. I think foods such as banana or ripe pear or a bit of avocado (they seem to "mush" better are good foods to start. I used to get all kinds of advice from SAD nutritionists to not start with those foods because "you don't want the baby to like the sweets too much" :eek: But I gather these nutritionists have never tasted what they tout as "the perfect food for babies" (and it IS) - breastmilk!

[RawMomma]

Thank you all for your comments. I realize what you tell me is the truth. I am a very insecure mother. With regards to only giving her the foods I want. I did try to switch her to raw. What happened was that she would eat only the fruit and nothing else and got very weak. Is that okay? Should I have continued? She is just now eating some avocado but only by dipping whole wheat tortillas into it. I can't get her to try any of the raw crackers or nuts that I make. I don't want to make this a war. She starts crying and making herself throw-up. She will be 4 in November. My husband is some help but also a hinderance. He does not want her eating sweets and junk. But then on the weekend he says she can have a treat. Which is usually ice cream, candy bars or whatever she wants. It tends to get out of hand. Do you think that the occasional treat is bad or are we reinforcing the junk food habit? I must admit that her love of junk comes from me and I am still fighting my own tendencies. Right now I feel like a complete failure. But that is my own fault. I got us here I have to be tough and get us out. Thank you again!

Ps. I totally agree about letting my son lead the way. He probably knows the way better then me. :p

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi RawMomma

My naturopathic doctor told us not to introduce solids until 6 teeth came in. My daughter would occasionally offer a taste of fruit to her son starting at the age of 5 months (first teeth came in at 4 months). It wasn't until he was 11 months old before he decided he was ready to eat solids. (whole raw fruits which we mashed up, i.e. bananas, avocados)

He's 25 months old now and has just started adding greens to his diet. He eats mostly fruits and some nuts, seeds and little greens. He is still nursing. He's very healthy and has only been sick once in his life.

I know you have read a lot of different approaches, so you can see there isn't one right answer but these will give you some ideas and you'll probably be able to figure out what will work out best for you and your baby :)

<>< Helen of Tennessee