I have so much anxiety about this, I can not even tell you. It seems so stupid that something like FOOD would stress me out, but holy moley. Let me try to put it into words for you.
I had decided that I would wait until 7 months to start introducing foods, simply because I didn’t think that Kinsey was ready for it. We would sit at the table and eat and she paid no attention to us. She isn’t sitting up fully yet, and since she clearly didn’t care about what we were putting in our mouths, I thought, we’ll wait. Well, for the last week, suddenly, Kinsey is REALLY interested in what we are eating. She was staring at us the other night as we put dinner into our mouths. I will even go as far to say as she is licking her lips a bit. I feel like a pretty big asshole every time I eat a meal in front of her. It’s like when you are hanging around a friend who is on a diet, and you are stuffing your face with cake and they are just staring at you with defeat. (FYI, I am NOT the kind of friend who would do this. If my friend was on a diet, I would be a little bit more considerate….just wanted to put that out there).
So, this morning, I was eating my granola/yogurt with berries, and Kinsey had her eyes locked on me. I knew better than to give her some of what I was eating, because you aren’t supposed to introduce dairy yet, so I thought, let’s give some bananas a shot. I cut up a banana and put it into the mesh feeder and handed it to her. Faces of total disgust. Curious? Definitely. But ultimately, disgust. It made me laugh hysterically, but all of that built up anxiety turned out to be just fine because she didn’t like it and it didn’t kill her.
However, here are the things that I am now stressed about…
Serving sizes?
What if she hates all foods? Will I be breast feeding for life?
How many times do I introduce the same food before I try another?
What if I feed her too much food and then my supply goes to crap?
I don’t want to give her rice cereal because I’ve read it isn’t necessary, and often times, upsets their stomachs. But, I bought organic baby oatmeal and it says “for babies who are ready to move on from rice cereal.” What the shit?! What does that mean?
Is it ok to just let her try foods from time to time, or if I start on this thing, am I fully committed?
I know that it isn’t about nutrition at this point, but I don’t want to delay to the point that I have a picky eater. Which brings me to the question, how do I prevent a picky eater in general?
Here I thought that breast feeding would be the hardest thing that I would ever do. But, the truth is, once I got it down, it is the easiest thing that I have ever done. Giving her real food? Something that I put into my body on a daily basis, well, that is stressful. Which really, how retarded, because I EAT FOOD EVERY SINGLE DAY AND I DO NOT DIE. I don’t even know. I went to Target this morning to pick up a few other items, and while I was there, I bought a bunch of Plum Organics foodies. Purchasing them, it got me kind of excited, but then once I put them into my pantry I actually thought to myself “I am not ready for this.” I’ve been reading Kelly Mom and trying to memorize her tips, but I feel like my questions are more paranoia related than actual serious fears. It seems so silly that I am this worked up about food. I mean really…this is just ridiculous.
I tried rice cereal myself and thought it tasted like crap, so I basically started with oatmeal. My doc said anything is fine even at first, so I’d say go for it. Also, Logan made those faces at first and still went back for more. It could just be a curious face.
Keep trying, she’ll get used to it!
Thank you Becky. This helps. I think I just need to let her try things and try not to freak out about it. Maybe she’ll like bananas eventually. Did you introduce a food a week for allergy reasons? Or were you pretty loose about it? Happy Baby said to just let them try a bunch of things and allergies are a concern, but letting babies experiment and taste is more beneficial (and allergies are super uncommon). But I just don’t know.
YES! YOU WILL BE BREASTFEEDING FOREVER!!!
Just giving you trouble.
As far as serving sizes, I think that what you’ve said before about wanting to be a responsive mom who is in tune with Kinsey’s needs is exactly the way to go. Watch her cues, see if she wants more, if she’s pushing it away, etc. There’s no mathematical formula or right answer to it; it’s more of an organic, relationship thing.
If she’s over 6 months old, it’s fine to try the oatmeal. The general recommendation is to wait 3-4 days between introducing new foods but the world will not end if you fudge/cheat on this. Worst case, she has an allergic reaction and you aren’t totally sure what it was.
She might respond to first tastes of a lot of foods with crazy faces but that’s OK– keep offering.
Keep in mind that some babies absolutely do not want to be fed by a parent from a spoon; some want to do it themselves. If that looks like it’s happening to you, check out “baby led solids” or “baby led weaning”. (Weaning in this case means starting food, not stopping BFing.)
Thank you Julia. I’d really like it if she fed herself. I think that’s a really great way for her to experiment. Messy, but I want her to be able to decide instead of me shoving food down her throat. What I’ve read, it is about skipping purees though…which I want her to try to taste and get used to the flavors. So, maybe I can do both.
Someone told me that babies tend to be less picky if they feed themselves. We’ve been doing both (baby led solids and purees). I think it’s important for her to learn how to use a spoon, so I wouldn’t outright skip it. But yes, self feeding is wonderful.
I agree with Julia on the 3-4 day thing. We did it most of the time at first but after a month or two, we doubled and tripled up. Like she said, worst case you’ll have to rule out 2 or 3 foods for allergies instead of just one.
Hey Katie. Food has been a huge source of stress with my boys so I feel you. they had a lot of prematurity and developmental delay stuff so that made it a lot tougher, but textures still are an issue for them. We waited until our boys were about 7.5 months because they weren’t showing any signs of interest and they were premature. When we started, we were advised by our naturapathic pediatrician to start with orange and yellow vegetables because they are easier on the digestive system. I think we skipped over rice cereal too and went straight to oatmeal. oatmeal with mashed banana was a staple breakfast for us for quite a while. I did decide to make my own baby food because it was cheaper for twins and I did want my kids to get the taste for real food. it backfired on me once when we took a trip and they wouldn’t eat anything I had bought from the store (jarred baby food). It just didn’t taste like the real stuff to them, LOL. If you are thinking of skipping purees though, making your own baby food may not work for you. It sounds hard, but it’s actually really easy and I would be happy to talk to you more about it if you want. I have some great suggestions when you get to finger foods. Freeze-dried fruit and veggies was something that was a god-send for my boys. they had trouble with anything soft or mushy but I was tired of just feeding them grain-based crackers of puffs all the time. the freeze dried stuff doesn’t have anything added (no sugars or anything) and it’s crunchy and melts away in the mouth after a little bit. Also, when she’s old enough to eat lots of finger foods, take her to Sweet Tomatoes (or one of those salad bar places). She eats for free and you can put a million different foods in front of her to see what she likes. you aren’t wasting money on buying and trying a bunch of things at home only to find that she won’t eat them. At the salad bar, she can dip veggies in salad dressing or even ketchup if she wants. dipping things in a sauce is sometimes a really good way for kids to try different veggies. I remember my boys dipping raisins into ketchup at the salad bar and loving that. whatever. they were trying something new and that was HUGE for them. Also, you don’t have to clean up the mess at the salad bar place. huge bonus! they still love going to Sweet Tomatoes and at the age of 6.5 we still have a rule that they have to try 1 new thing each time we go. Also (for what it’s worth) my boys were never very good at trying new things at home so taking them to Coscto to try samples or to the salad bar was great for us. they seemed to be much more adventurous if we weren’t home for some reason. I’ll never forget the day that Noah tried spam on a cracker at Coscto and he LOVED it. LOL.
Thanks Beth! I’m still trying to decide which route I go. I think I’m going to let her taste for the next month and not really worry about feedings or anything. Just let her experiment. And then, I’m really thinking I want to do the baby-led feeding. If I decide to go with purees, I’ll probably make a lot of my own. I have a friend that makes her own too, and it really does seem doable for me. She makes them at the beginning of the week and freezes it in ice trays. I have some time to really decide which way to go, but the idea of letting her guide her own food experience just seems like a better route for us.
Thank you for the tips! Will keep them in mind as we start to dabble in this whole food process
As far as quantities, we just started with a couple tablespoons of oatmeal +milk and an ice cube of fruit once a day. I just increased it over time. When he seemed to be done, I stopped. We don’t insist on him ‘clearing his plate’ just yet. At about 8 months or so, we started trying to feed him during every meal time when we eat (again read her cues on the amount). He’s not a fan of my home cooked veggie options, so we’ve been doing half a baby food jar for lunch. Often we just give him what we’re eating for dinner. I was scared at first to give him solids. In my case, that’s what daddy was for, to take me out of my comfort zone and give him the chunk of food.
Wow
I am soooo there right now. My Olivia is 7mo old today and has shown an interest in food since a little before 6mo. I started trying baby led weaning around 6mo and at first it was fine. She was playing but in about a day I deemed she was almost too good at it. EVERYTHING made it to her mouth and she was gumming off chunks. I was definitely NOT ready for this. So she enjoyed yogurt and some purees which I had made so I gradually let her switch. She was feeding herself the entire time so I was still happy. Then one day about 3 weeks in I tried avocado and suddlenly everything went to hell! All of a sudden her stool went from pasty to logs that she was majorly struggling to get out and it broke my heart to watch her scream while pooping. I think my supply went down a lil and she wasn’t drinking enough…..start panicking here! So I stopped everything for a lil over a week. I was waiting for normal breast milk stool. Never got it cause I don’t think she was gettin enough. More panicking. So last night I gave in and gave her some oatmeal and one of those apple yogurt smoothie things and she of course is acting like she’s starving. So I decides to feed her twice a day and if she sleeps thru dinner than just once. I am dying to do BLW but I feel I am just a bit to anxious. I also feel like if I don’t do it from the start I’m failing. I am sooo with you on how stressful this is! I am also nervous that my purees are what gave her the hard time before. Seeing this post and your toddler foodie have def made me feel better to kno I am not the only one out there!
Introducing food is stressful! But, to encourage you, it gets better. The poop issues are normal when introducing solids. Don’t let that scare you. Their little body’s have to adjust to more solid foods. Ive learned if shes stopped up, stay away from apples/bananas. They are the biggest constipation culprits. Keep doing what you are doing. Hang in there!! it really does get so much better/easier. Purées are fine too! I would give some solids to start and offer a purée to make sure she was full. So, cut up chicken, avocado, berries, then, a Plum pack to make sure she was full. Trust your instincts! You are doing a great job!
I follow a really awesome LC, Baby Nurse & Parenting Resource on Twitter (@nancyholtzman) and she always says its the parents job to offer a variety of healthy foods, baby’s job to determine how much. I always remember that & it takes the pressure off.