6 months. And she didn't really start eating the food until closer to 9 months, IIRC. She was around a year before non-breastmilk was consumed in enough quantity that one could say she was eating.
I waited until 6 months because of the recommendations, and the research that indicates early intro to solids can increase health problems. With Mike's history of asthma, I'm a mite paranoid about allergies and such. Additionally, by waiting it's just easier. We didn't have to really do mashed foods, we were basically able to skip the cereal phase, etc.
Oh, wait, when she was 5 months old we offered her mashed sweet potato. It was thanksgiving, and Mike Really wanted to let her have some, and my mom was here, and ... she was Not interested. Tongue thrust ahoy! :)
We just gave her what we were eating. We mooshed it down with a fork, and let her try it if she wanted. If it wasn't mooshable (like chicken) we'd just make a teeny tiny pea sized bite for her, and offer it to her. We waited to give her eggs, milk, strawberries, honey, nut-based items, stuff like that, but everything else she was allowed to eat.
Cheerios were (and are) a staple. She loved yogurt. Banana, applesauce, frozen peas (good for teething!), frozen blueberries (same), green beans...
We'd serve her meals based on what we were eating -- we still do this when we go out to eat, as she's unlikely to eat an entire "child's meal" by herself, and portions are typically large enough to share. This has a bonus of encouraging us to eat healthy foods since what we eat is what she eats. It also meant we wasted less food if she declined to eat a food, or only ate a nibble when we expected her to eat more (basically, I'd have a plate of what I expected to eat, feed her from that (she generally ate on my lap), and then if she happened to eat a lot, I'd just get seconds).
You could start putting some peas in front of him and letting him grab them and mush them. I believe that letting the child take the lead makes a lot of sense here, and if a kid's picking up a food, shovelling it in, and actually EATING it, then just maybe the kid's ready for it. If the kid's squishing it, rubbing it around, picking it up, playing with it, not so ready (but still, doing a developmentally appropriate thing). Whereas if you do a lot of spoon feeding, it's easier to "coerce" a child into consuming things he's not quite ready for. That might be completely idiotic, but it makes sense to me. *grin*
We're definitely planning on the smooshed food method versus the spooning. By my mind, if you have to keep spooning something in it means they're not ready to be eating it.
I was thinking about offering a little something at Thanksgiving for much the same reason - all my family is going to be here - grandparents from both sides, all the aunts and uncles, and it seems like it would be neat for them all to be there for that "first".
I'm hoping he has little to no interest, honestly. :o) I just don't want to feel like I'm depriving him because of that hope, if that makes sense. I'm just kind of of muddling over when I should think about offering.
Peas are gross, and my two year old gets that peas are gross. But when she was 1? Man, I could give her 1/4 cup of peas and she'd eat them like they were *yummy*. Freaky kid. :) (Peas are easy because they require no prep whatsoever. Keep a bag of frozen in the freezer, and you're good to go.)
IMO, offering him something at Thanksgiving would not put you in the running for bad parent of the year award. Esp. if you just, I dunno, put a blob in front of him so he can keep himself (and the grandparents :) ) occupied while you get some yummy food in yourself.
He probably will be interested in the food, but more as an experience -- touching it, smearing it, squishing it -- than as a consumable. It's common for babies to take awhile to ramp up their intake. And it can go in waves. One day they'll eat a *ton* and the next day, nope, nothing but boob will do!
(Bananas are often recommended as a first food for breastfeeding babies since evidentally their level of sweetness is similar to that of breastmilk. We did mashed sweet potato because of thanksgiving, and because it's a healthy food and unlikely to be an allergen.)
I really had to be on my toes around relatives because they were used to 6 mos olds (she was 6 mos at christmas) eating All Manner of Food, and preventing them from slipping her cookie crumbs and the like while maintaining "of course you can hold the baby!" happiness was ... fun. :)
if my niece (six weeks shy of 2) won't eat anything else, we give her a bowl of peas with a little butter/salt and she'll go to town. without supervision, she'd probably eat half her body weight in peas. it's appalling. :-P
the "rule" i've used with "my" kids is to offer them mushed versions of anything with soluble fiber whenever they started showing interest in table food; peas, carrots, bananas, mangoes, cream of wheat, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, yams, applesauce, those horrible Gerber cookies, etc. that's usually around 6 months (with my niece, it was 4 months; with my actual child, it was closer to 8). they mostly just mouthed it and spit it out, but they got familiar with the texture and flavor and started swallowing bits at a time after 1-2 months.
I thought about those Gerber cookies (zweibacks?) actually, for the teething, only I was concerned about the dairy content (I haven't checked the ingredient list yet but I assume it's got some dairy in it?). With two parents who are VERY lactose intolerant, I want to delay his introduction to cow milk proteins as long as is humanely possible.
What is it with kids and peas, I wonder? :o) Heck though, I guess I would do the same with edamame... peas just have a very unpleasant texture to me usually (though I actually really like them raw).
Gerber's Zwieback toast has butter in it, but no other milk derivatives, and butter doesn't have much lactose. wouldn't blame you for skipping them anyway, though. you can get vegan versions of zwieback toast at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and My Organic Market.
the thing with kids and peas is that kids don't have sense enough to know how gross they are. that's why they have parents, to teach them about these things. :)
I waited until 6 months because of the recommendations, and the research that indicates early intro to solids can increase health problems. With Mike's history of asthma, I'm a mite paranoid about allergies and such. Additionally, by waiting it's just easier. We didn't have to really do mashed foods, we were basically able to skip the cereal phase, etc.
Oh, wait, when she was 5 months old we offered her mashed sweet potato. It was thanksgiving, and Mike Really wanted to let her have some, and my mom was here, and ... she was Not interested. Tongue thrust ahoy! :)
We just gave her what we were eating. We mooshed it down with a fork, and let her try it if she wanted. If it wasn't mooshable (like chicken) we'd just make a teeny tiny pea sized bite for her, and offer it to her. We waited to give her eggs, milk, strawberries, honey, nut-based items, stuff like that, but everything else she was allowed to eat.
Cheerios were (and are) a staple. She loved yogurt. Banana, applesauce, frozen peas (good for teething!), frozen blueberries (same), green beans...
We'd serve her meals based on what we were eating -- we still do this when we go out to eat, as she's unlikely to eat an entire "child's meal" by herself, and portions are typically large enough to share. This has a bonus of encouraging us to eat healthy foods since what we eat is what she eats. It also meant we wasted less food if she declined to eat a food, or only ate a nibble when we expected her to eat more (basically, I'd have a plate of what I expected to eat, feed her from that (she generally ate on my lap), and then if she happened to eat a lot, I'd just get seconds).
You could start putting some peas in front of him and letting him grab them and mush them. I believe that letting the child take the lead makes a lot of sense here, and if a kid's picking up a food, shovelling it in, and actually EATING it, then just maybe the kid's ready for it. If the kid's squishing it, rubbing it around, picking it up, playing with it, not so ready (but still, doing a developmentally appropriate thing). Whereas if you do a lot of spoon feeding, it's easier to "coerce" a child into consuming things he's not quite ready for. That might be completely idiotic, but it makes sense to me. *grin*
Cheerios, I love cheerios!
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We're definitely planning on the smooshed food method versus the spooning. By my mind, if you have to keep spooning something in it means they're not ready to be eating it.
I was thinking about offering a little something at Thanksgiving for much the same reason - all my family is going to be here - grandparents from both sides, all the aunts and uncles, and it seems like it would be neat for them all to be there for that "first".
I'm hoping he has little to no interest, honestly. :o) I just don't want to feel like I'm depriving him because of that hope, if that makes sense. I'm just kind of of muddling over when I should think about offering.
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IMO, offering him something at Thanksgiving would not put you in the running for bad parent of the year award. Esp. if you just, I dunno, put a blob in front of him so he can keep himself (and the grandparents :) ) occupied while you get some yummy food in yourself.
He probably will be interested in the food, but more as an experience -- touching it, smearing it, squishing it -- than as a consumable. It's common for babies to take awhile to ramp up their intake. And it can go in waves. One day they'll eat a *ton* and the next day, nope, nothing but boob will do!
(Bananas are often recommended as a first food for breastfeeding babies since evidentally their level of sweetness is similar to that of breastmilk. We did mashed sweet potato because of thanksgiving, and because it's a healthy food and unlikely to be an allergen.)
I really had to be on my toes around relatives because they were used to 6 mos olds (she was 6 mos at christmas) eating All Manner of Food, and preventing them from slipping her cookie crumbs and the like while maintaining "of course you can hold the baby!" happiness was ... fun. :)
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Thanks for the brain dump, I really appreciate it!
(And I won't TELL Evan that peas are gross...)
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if my niece (six weeks shy of 2) won't eat anything else, we give her a bowl of peas with a little butter/salt and she'll go to town. without supervision, she'd probably eat half her body weight in peas. it's appalling. :-P
the "rule" i've used with "my" kids is to offer them mushed versions of anything with soluble fiber whenever they started showing interest in table food; peas, carrots, bananas, mangoes, cream of wheat, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, yams, applesauce, those horrible Gerber cookies, etc. that's usually around 6 months (with my niece, it was 4 months; with my actual child, it was closer to 8). they mostly just mouthed it and spit it out, but they got familiar with the texture and flavor and started swallowing bits at a time after 1-2 months.
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What is it with kids and peas, I wonder? :o) Heck though, I guess I would do the same with edamame... peas just have a very unpleasant texture to me usually (though I actually really like them raw).
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the thing with kids and peas is that kids don't have sense enough to know how gross they are. that's why they have parents, to teach them about these things. :)
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