Welcome Newbies! Good to see you all in here!

Joey - First foods can be anything you want. The idea of vegies before fruit for the sweet tooth thing is really a kind of false economy. Babies naturally have a sweet tooth, BM is sweet, so yes they will prefer fruit, but denying them fruit first is not going to help them not develop a sweet tooth. So the important thing at this stage is a variety of tastes and textures and let your baby choose what they want to eat. They just might surprise you!! We started with steamed carrot sticks and very quickly moved to whatever we were having for dinner!

CAH - Sounds like you are doing a great job - and yes there is definitely hope for you!! Mess is all part of the fun, just enjoy it. It has to happen at some stage or another, so the earlier they get to experiment the quicker they will learn about the effects of force and velocity and gravity on food! We didn't get too concerned about the foods containing nut products. The only thing I wouldn't give (and still don't) is actually nuts themselves. Smooth peanut butter is such a treat around here!! But in saying that it does depend on what school of thought you come from - do you think that the introduction of these foods too early is the cause of allergy or do you think the introduction of these foods earlier may prevent these allergies? Only you know what you are comfortable with... but it is school for thought.

On that note a friend told me the other day that she heard on the radio that the research is now showing that the later introduction of all these allergy trigger foods is not actually preventing any allergies, and so the recommendation is now changing again back to introducing the allergy triggers from 6 months.

EK - Nope not too early for weetbix..... just some MCHN are not familiar with BLS so therefore it is 'wrong'! I am lucky, the nurses in my area are quite forward thinking and up with the latest research, but I know the one 2 suburbs over is very old school and her instructions are strict and firm "Follow the rules or you will harm your baby" more or less anyway! Don't worry about it, stick in here and get lots of advice and support from everyone in here and offer no extra information at your next appointment!