So, what's the deal with dairy?

[Heaven]

Thanks FC, that makes sense. The only thing I was thinking of giving DD before 12mo was yoghurt. And I also want to avoid her having much sugar or any preservatives or anything for as long as possible too. We have the Jalna yoghurt here, but wasn't sure whether I should give her a taste or not.
It's just so confusing how the recommendations change so much and now they're saying after 6mo they can have basically anything.

[SamiH]

Heaven - can I just say - if you want to still introduce it, try it after you have done a range of vegies and fruit - you will find yourself (I mean your bub!) around 8 months anyway by the time you do that!

[sas85]

:yeahthat: If you're gong the traditional way it works out that way anyway by the time you introduce everything slowly. DD only was introduced to dairy earlier because she started solids early as her weight was dropping too much (started on individual medical advice and has thrived) That and I wanted to do some BLS as well a bit later and I use dairy in pretty much ALL my dinner dishes - cheesey italian and veggie bakes mmmmm . . (I guess a benefit is we all now eat less salt since had to take it out of our dishes for DD )
You'll be fine hun - trust your instincts and your baby, take it slow and don't do anything your uncomfortable with, have a plan of action in case bub does react to anything and take all our advice and the conflicting guidelines 'with a grain of salt'

[Heaven]

Well she is actually having a range of fruit and veg already, lol. We've only been doing it for 2 wks but we're doing BLS and we didn't introduce one thing at a time. We just give her a range of stuff and she eats what she wants. But she hasn't rejected anything yet.

[Sammiejane]

If you are following BLS - give dairy as soon as you feel like it.
We gave DD cheese early on.
yoghurt was introduced when she was able to feed herself... again in line with BLS you shouldnt be 'feeding' your baby.
i cant remember the exact age that MJ had yoghurt, but i gave her only plain youghurt and sweetened it with pureed fruit. that way i knew what she was getting in terms of sugars etc.

Go with your gut, there is so much arguement for and against this issue, i am from the school of thought that says that early introduction can stop allergies, but of couse i have no allergies with MJ, if she did that may be a different story... what i can say is that BLS says if there is no DIRECT allergy link(ie mother father sibling not uncle aunt cousin) then there is no need to delay.
I think i have said this in PP to you though, YOU have to be comfortable with the decission that you are making.

FWIW a lot of formulas are dairy based - something to think on!

ETA - we gave cheese as small sticks or grated cheese

[SamiH]

i am from the school of thought that says that early introduction can stop allergies, but of couse i have no allergies with MJ,

i dont agree with this at all, having an anaphylactic child who had early intro to a wide variety of foods. I think you still have to be careful and watch for reactions with every new intro.

[Inanna]

I second that! I had early intro and I am paying now... My DH sister had early intro and all four of her boys are allergic to something.

I think we need to step outside the circle. Australia is one of the few countries in this big wide world that is so obsessed with dairy products.

Making your own decision is hard - but we need to be factual that there are lots of foods beside cheese and milk that babies can eat that are known to be benign.

I think we live in a culture where gluten and dairy are consumed at scary proportions - we also live in a culture bereft from autoimmune disease and cancer....

It's worth thinking about.

[LimeSlice]

We did BLS here too for the most part. However, we did intorduce foods one at a time. She ate a new thing by itself for abotu 2 days - this is important to guage her reaction to them - you never know what she may have a reaction to, but if you are isolating foods for a short while as you first introduce them, you can accurately see what reaction she is having from what food.
There are no food allergies in my family, so we werent very strict with many things, but she doesnt have ot be allergic to something to have a reaction.
Charlotte has a topical reaction to eggplant that is quite severe - if I wasn't isolating foods I would have had no idea what caused that reation until I worked through an elimination diet (PITA)
HTH