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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
I just took my baby for her four-month pediatrician visit, and we were
given some reading material on what to expect in the upcoming period. Among other things, a schedule on introducing solids that was printed off the Gerber website. Listing all sorts of Gerber products, naturally. Is there not a natural alternative to commercial rice powder etc? And a schedule that isn't provided by a major baby food manufacturer??? Thanks! |
#2
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
In article .com,
"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote: I just took my baby for her four-month pediatrician visit, and we were given some reading material on what to expect in the upcoming period. Among other things, a schedule on introducing solids that was printed off the Gerber website. Listing all sorts of Gerber products, naturally. Is there not a natural alternative to commercial rice powder etc? And a schedule that isn't provided by a major baby food manufacturer??? Thanks! With my twins, I ignored it all. They were exclusively nursed until 8 months, then ate whatever they could feed themselves, starting with stuff like cheerios ond pieces of banana. (This wasn't just laziness on my part: my son refused to eat from a spoon that someone else put in his mouth -- really hated it -- and my daughter wasn't all that interested, so I just stopped trying until they could feed themselves.) Even with my older child, the vast majority of what she ate was the same food her dad and I were eating, just mashed up. Babies survived for many, many years without commercial baby food: there really is no need for it at all. Cook food (overcook -- cook until it's easy to mash) then mash it up, or puree it) and feed it to the baby. -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#3
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:
I just took my baby for her four-month pediatrician visit, and we were given some reading material on what to expect in the upcoming period. Among other things, a schedule on introducing solids that was printed off the Gerber website. Listing all sorts of Gerber products, naturally. Is there not a natural alternative to commercial rice powder etc? And a schedule that isn't provided by a major baby food manufacturer??? The general recommendation is to wait until 6 months to introduce solids. As far as what you introduce, aside from allergens it really doesn't matter much. Breastmilk or formula will still be the mainstay of nutrition for quite some time after introducing solids, so the beginning solids are just for experimentation. There is no magic about starting with cereal (of any sort). It's easy, in that you can make up as much or as little as you want and it's easy to mix with the familiar flavor of breastmilk or formula, but you could just as easily start with fruits or veggies. You want to keep to single foods in the beginning so that if there's a reaction, you have some chance of figuring out what caused it. You can make your own babyfood easily, but on the other hand, as long as you're reading the ingredients, there's nothing wrong with jarred foods either. Goodness knows most of them have less crap in them than many of the foods we eat ;-) And if you wait until 6 months, you likely won't need to spend much time with pureed foods of any sort anyway. By that time, they're usually darned close to finger foods. So, in my opinion anyway, you don't really need much of a schedule, commercial or not. Wait a couple more months and then feed her whatever you please that isn't a likely allergen or a choking risk, introducing foods one at a time in the beginning. Start with cereals or fruits or veggies (probably not meat, but jarred meats are vile anyway), as you please. If you feel like pureeing your own foods, go for it, or just look for jarred foods without anything you disapprove of in them. For myself, after the first baby we didn't do much of either. Maybe a little cereal for practice, and then I'd just mash up a little banana or avocado or put something suitable we were having through a baby food mill (I'd fish whatever out before adding spices or sauces or whatever for the rest of the family). Aside from the first, mine didn't really like being fed by someone else and didn't like pureed foods much anyway, so it was a very short transition period before moving on to finger foods. Best wishes, Ericka |
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
Ericka Kammerer wrote: Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote: I just took my baby for her four-month pediatrician visit, and we were given some reading material on what to expect in the upcoming period. Among other things, a schedule on introducing solids that was printed off the Gerber website. Listing all sorts of Gerber products, naturally. Is there not a natural alternative to commercial rice powder etc? And a schedule that isn't provided by a major baby food manufacturer??? The general recommendation is to wait until 6 months to introduce solids. As far as what you introduce, aside from allergens it really doesn't matter much. Breastmilk or formula will still be the mainstay of nutrition for quite some time after introducing solids, so the beginning solids are just for experimentation. There is no magic about starting with cereal (of any sort). It's easy, in that you can make up as much or as little as you want and it's easy to mix with the familiar flavor of breastmilk or formula, but you could just as easily start with fruits or veggies. You want to keep to single foods in the beginning so that if there's a reaction, you have some chance of figuring out what caused it. You can make your own babyfood easily, but on the other hand, as long as you're reading the ingredients, there's nothing wrong with jarred foods either. Goodness knows most of them have less crap in them than many of the foods we eat ;-) And if you wait until 6 months, you likely won't need to spend much time with pureed foods of any sort anyway. By that time, they're usually darned close to finger foods. So, in my opinion anyway, you don't really need much of a schedule, commercial or not. Wait a couple more months and then feed her whatever you please that isn't a likely allergen or a choking risk, introducing foods one at a time in the beginning. Start with cereals or fruits or veggies (probably not meat, but jarred meats are vile anyway), as you please. If you feel like pureeing your own foods, go for it, or just look for jarred foods without anything you disapprove of in them. For myself, after the first baby we didn't do much of either. Maybe a little cereal for practice, and then I'd just mash up a little banana or avocado or put something suitable we were having through a baby food mill (I'd fish whatever out before adding spices or sauces or whatever for the rest of the family). Aside from the first, mine didn't really like being fed by someone else and didn't like pureed foods much anyway, so it was a very short transition period before moving on to finger foods. Best wishes, Ericka Thank you very much for that. I view introducing solids as the most daunting task in my career as a new mum, and of course there's no reason it should be. I guess the thing is that I don't feel secure about knowing what foods contain allergens. And of course I don't plan to give her anything before six months unless she really seems ready. |
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
The most common allergens are gluten (found in wheat products such as bread
and cereals), milk (milk proteins and lactose), eggs (particualrly egg whites) and peanuts and other nuts. Generally, bread and cereals and milk products such as yoghurt are recommended to be delayed until after 8 months old. Eggs (start with yolk, then, after no reaction for a few days in a row, give the white) after 10 months or even 1 year old. Peanuts, being the most dangerous, are generally recommended to be delayed until 1 year old. If your daughter has atopic eczema then you might want to delay the eggs and particularly peanuts quite a bit. Matt has eczema but I tried him with egg at almost 11 months old because I wanted to see if he could have birthday cake - unfortunately the answer was "no". If you buy any ready-made products, just read the labels. In Australia, most products have common allergens listed in bold in the ingredient list as well as containing warnings about possibly containing traces of egg or nuts if the product was made on the same equipment as egg or nut containing products. I find these fact sheets useful in that if you find that your daughter reacts to something, these fact sheets contain a list of keywords to look out for when shopping for ingredients: http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/Allergy...infosheets.cfm I know they are Australian and the statistics wouldn't apply to your situation but it's the keywords and lists of products to avoid that are the really useful bit. "Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message oups.com... Thank you very much for that. I view introducing solids as the most daunting task in my career as a new mum, and of course there's no reason it should be. I guess the thing is that I don't feel secure about knowing what foods contain allergens. And of course I don't plan to give her anything before six months unless she really seems ready. |
#6
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
In article .com,
"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote: I view introducing solids as the most daunting task in my career as a new mum, and of course there's no reason it should be. I guess the thing is that I don't feel secure about knowing what foods contain allergens. Some people have listed common allergens for you, but I'll add -- no strawberries or shellfish until 1 year (allergens) -- no raw root vegetables or honey until one year (botulism risk) -- nothing they could choke on -- corn chips, crisp vegetables, raw apple etc -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled." Kerry Cue |
#7
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
Chookie wrote:
In article .com, "Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote: I view introducing solids as the most daunting task in my career as a new mum, and of course there's no reason it should be. I guess the thing is that I don't feel secure about knowing what foods contain allergens. Some people have listed common allergens for you, but I'll add -- no strawberries or shellfish until 1 year (allergens) -- no raw root vegetables or honey until one year (botulism risk) -- nothing they could choke on -- corn chips, crisp vegetables, raw apple etc And don't rely on jarred baby foods not to have any of these things. Wheat and strawberries in particular aren't uncommon in jarred baby foods, once you get past the earliest foods. Some would also put citrus fruits, tomatoes, and fish on the list of fairly common allergens. If you have a history of atopic disease (asthma, allergies, eczema, etc.) in the family, you want to be more cautious about possible allergens, as one does not inherit specific allergies but rather a tendency towards atopic diseases in general. If you don't have any history, you can likely get away with being a little looser. If you look it up, you'll see that age ranges for potential allergens are all over the map. Some don't mention wheat at all, some say wait until a year, and some say wait until two or three years! (Yikes, that's a long time to go gluten-free!) Same with most of the other potential allergens. So, just pick where you want to be on that spectrum from very conservative to pretty liberal depending on your family history. Best wishes, Ericka |
#8
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
Chookie wrote: In article .com, "Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote: I view introducing solids as the most daunting task in my career as a new mum, and of course there's no reason it should be. I guess the thing is that I don't feel secure about knowing what foods contain allergens. Some people have listed common allergens for you, but I'll add -- no strawberries or shellfish until 1 year (allergens) -- no raw root vegetables or honey until one year (botulism risk) -- nothing they could choke on -- corn chips, crisp vegetables, raw apple etc One thing that I don't think many people are aware of is that you should never make your own pureed or mashed cooked carrots. It isn't botulism - it has something to do with some chemical in commercial carrots that becomes toxic to babies under a certain age once you cook the carrot. This is the only food you should always buy in a jar. I think it's important information to know, considering pureed carrots are typically one of the first items the food manufacturers suggest you introduce. I don't know if this applies to organic carrots, but if it were me, I would stick with jarred carrots just in case, because "organic" today can mean all sorts of things and you just can't be sure. It's been a long time since I faced this daunting task, but I also seem to remember that there was a way you were supposed to introduce food - it's not quite as simple as just giving them a taste here and there of whatever the family is eating, particularly if food allergies run in your family. I remember introducing one item at a time, waiting a week or so before introducing the next new item. This allows you to more easily identify any food the child might be allergic or sensitive to. Lady Penelope, if you don't want to go the Gerber route, look around for a book on making your own baby food. I had one - it's been years so I don't have it anymore otherwise I'd look up the title for you. This book had schedules to follow and detailed directions about how to make the food, advice about food mills and food processors etc, and tips on how to freeze batches into ice cube trays for later (which is highly convenient - just plop a frozen cube into a container, and take it with you wherever you are, same as a jar). It also had recipes for soups that could be sipped through a cup, and suggestions on finger foods. The "how to make the food" part is really very obvious and simple: just cook, and then mash with a fork, or puree with a food mill to the right consistency. Advantage of doing it yourself is that you can gradually increase the lumpiness over time. You don't need such a book to tell you all that. But I found the book helpful anyway, because it made me think far beyond the usual veggie-selection-in-a-jar stuff of carrots, peas, green beans. I think the jars only offer something like 4 or 5 veggie choices, which is silly. I introduced veggies first before fruits (with the exception of banana) because the acidity in fruit gave my kids a sensitive butt. I introduced quite a range of veggies. Both my kids ended up loving broccoli - they'd sip finely pureed broccoli soup through a cup - and still love it today, yes, even my picky eater. She'll eat most veggies - it's the other stuff she's picky about. I often think that it's because I made the food from scratch, because as others point out, the stuff in jars is really gnarly tasting, cooked and overheated until there's no taste left. No wonder so many people grow up to hate veggies as adults! jen jen |
#9
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
Engram wrote: Peanuts, being the most dangerous, are generally recommended to be delayed until 1 year old. Probably best to hold off on any and all nuts. My DD13 developed an allergy to pistachios after eating too much of them over the years. I think mango and papaya are also more apt to produce allergic reaction. Something about a chemical under the skin that is similar to poison ivy. DD13 has to steer clear of those, because she has a severe allergic reaction to poison ivy (more severe than what other people get). jen |
#10
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Pediatrician recommends introducing solids per Gerber website?!
"shinypenny" wrote in message oups.com... One thing that I don't think many people are aware of is that you should never make your own pureed or mashed cooked carrots. It isn't botulism - it has something to do with some chemical in commercial carrots that becomes toxic to babies under a certain age once you cook the carrot. This is the only food you should always buy in a jar. I think it's important information to know, considering pureed carrots are typically one of the first items the food manufacturers suggest you introduce. I don't know if this applies to organic carrots, but if it were me, I would stick with jarred carrots just in case, because "organic" today can mean all sorts of things and you just can't be sure. I'd never heard of this, so I just had to look it up : http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm |
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