First food?

[Taowensf]

Oh, yeah, or try a cold teether to help cool down too

[DakotasMommy]

I read a lot about ebf for the first year... has anyone exclusively formula fed for a year? I couldnt breast feed dakota, and he only drinks formula currently... just wondering if I could do the same as you ebf'ers but w/formula? kwim?

[bfoster2000]

Originally Posted by DakotasMommy I read a lot about ebf for the first year... has anyone exclusively formula fed for a year? I couldnt breast feed dakota, and he only drinks formula currently... just wondering if I could do the same as you ebf'ers but w/formula? kwim?

I have no idea but I did want to point out that I read something very interesting on Kathy Dettwiler's site a while back. She's an anthropologist that studies lactation around the world and throughout history. She is VERY pro-extended breastfeeding but even she admits that it's difficult to do much research on extended *exclusive* breastfeeding because it means different things to different people. She explained that in many cultures she's observed, the mothers claim to exclusively breastfeed for 2 years or more...but during that time, the children are eating fruits and dates and things that the rest of us would consider food. They just don't think about it until the baby is sitting down and eating all meals with the family.

As I said before, I don't have any problem with delaying the introduction of solids, but for me, I prefer to follow the baby's lead and do what comes naturally without watching the calendar. I have a cousin with a baby the same age as mine who was determined to exclusively breastfeed for the first year. She made it to about 7 months before she wound up giving in and letting him have other foods. I don't think that it hurt him to wait that long and maybe it wouldn't have hurt him to wait even longer, but by the time he was 6 or 7 months old and she still wasn't letting him even experiment with anything else, it wasn't following his lead, it was a fight to keep things away from him. If nothing else, she was way more miserable than I was because she was constantly watching him (and everyone else around him...we all understand that, right?) to make sure that no one slipped him a "treat" and she felt awful every time she ate in front of him because she wouldn't let him even try. And she freaked out when one of his cousins (a 4 year old) dropped a cracker on the floor one day and he picked it up and snuck a bite. I had to keep an eye on the dumb relatives that wanted to give DJ a taste of coffee or beer or jellybeans or something but otherwise, I didn't worry a whole lot. He ate whatever was on my plate within reason, and if he reached for my cup, I'd give him a taste of that too (within reason). It just made sense to me and felt a lot more natural. Oh yeah, and I know that every baby is different so it's hard to know but both of these babies are almost two now...DJ eats a very well balanced diet and loves to eat, her baby is very picky and has to be coaxed into eating just about anything.

[IsaMama]

My DS is turning 6 months ans so far we`ve already had :
Sweet potatoes, buttercup and butternut squash, carrots (never keep the cooking water for carrots), zuchinnies,sweet peas, green beans, bananas, prunes, pears, peaches, apples, rice cereal, barley cereal with and without the formula in it. Next will be oatmeal . I wait on wheat and soy for a while as those are known to be allergens.

[CMamma]

Originally Posted by IsaMama My DS is turning 6 months ans so far we`ve already had : Sweet potatoes, buttercup and butternut squash, carrots (never keep the cooking water for carrots), zuchinnies,sweet peas, green beans, bananas, prunes, pears, peaches, apples, rice cereal, barley cereal with and without the formula in it. Next will be oatmeal . I wait on wheat and soy for a while as those are known to be allergens.

Why don't you keep the cooking water for classifieds?

[Luv2bemommy]

We always start with rice cereal but soon skipped it cause it left meghan with horrible constipation! Then we went on to carrots, sweet potatoes then peas, green beans, etc..

[IsaMama]

Originally Posted by CottonMamma Why don't you keep the cooking water for classifieds?

Carrots have lots of nitrates or nitrites (spelling) and the baby`s body is not mature enough to process that element. As strange as it can sound... carrots in the baby jar is actually a good choice if not better choice when it comes to the nitrates content

[wbkt8]

Originally Posted by IsaMama Carrots have lots of nitrates or nitrites (spelling) and the baby`s body is not mature enough to process that element. As strange as it can sound... carrots in the baby jar is actually a good choice if not better choice when it comes to the nitrates content

i have heard this as well. nitrates i believe (i think nitrites are the nasty things in sausage & other cured meats that pg women are supposed to avoid) are naturally occuring in the soil and exacerbated by fertilizers i think. anyway, i have read that nitrate concentration varies greatly from place to place.

here's a good article on it: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm

eta - the carrots have nitrates which can become nitrites when digested....

[ltelly00]

We tried the rice cereal with DD (didn't know better). It didn't go well for her little system at all. We did pears first, then applesauce, then squash. I don't remember waht next. To this day, she actually prefers most vegies over fruits (except mandarin oranges). I don't buy into the sugary thing with fruits.

[CMamma]

Originally Posted by wbkt8 i have heard this as well. nitrates i believe (i think nitrites are the nasty things in sausage & other cured meats that pg women are supposed to avoid) are naturally occuring in the soil and exacerbated by fertilizers i think. anyway, i have read that nitrate concentration varies greatly from place to place. here's a good article on it: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm eta - the carrots have nitrates which can become nitrites when digested....

So is this only true if you don't buy organic carrots? I buy organic when I don't have any in my garden, but otherwise I grow all my own veggies organically.