In what order are solids introduced?

[littleberlin]

Is there a general consensus on this? I've spend the past day reading a million different websites and am now thoroughly confused as to the best order to introduce solids after the initial stages of fruits and vegetables. Our 6 1/2 month old daughter has been on those for a month now (we're doing BLS), and I'm not sure what is next. Meat? Rice? Rice pasta? Yoghurt? Bread? Argh! The MCHN gave us a handout that isn't specific at all, and all I want to know is what sorts of things I can introduce next that won't be too jarring for our baby's developing digestive system. Anyone? I'm suffering from information overload, I think!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

With BLS, the idea is to give them what ever you are having. The only thing i didnt give M straight away was fruit. as they say because of the sweetness and its high in natural sugar, they can get a taste for this and not eat their veg etc or anything that its sweet. It worked for us. Try her on all of them things u mentioned and let her lead the way.

[littleberlin]

What about the traditional recommendations to hold off on certain foods due to the allergy risk, though? Some things I've read say to wait until nine months or so to introduce wheat, others say waiting any longer than seven could mean an increased risk of gluten intolerance later in life. I suppose I'm just uncertain as to what would be the most gentle/appropriate things for an infant's stomach at around 6 1/2 to 7 months, if you know what I mean?

[Olive]

DD2 eats what DD1 has for tea, mainly steamed vegies and meat, fruit after if she wants a little, porriage for brekky, toast or bread for lunch etc..

[MantaRay]

littleberlin, the guidelines have recently been updated and now say that allergy risk foods should not be delayed (except in very high risk families). All foods should be introduced early on (after the 6 month mark). Meat particularly is considered important as an early food, so I would introduce that now.

[Winter]

I'm giving my DD whatever I am eating. She had a piece of chicken out of my Tikka Masala curry (quite mild, don't worry!) and seemed to like it! I've been craving curry lately so she is probably used to the taste in the breast milk She doesn't seem to eat much of anything but everything gets chewed and sucked on, so I'm guessing that BLS is working?

MantaRay - does this mean that I can give DD peanut butter on toast? I wasn't sure...

[littleberlin]

I thought I read something about updated guidelines...MantaRay, do you know where on the web I can find the new guidelines? I'm assuming they're national, and not state?

It's funny the way people suggest that it's best to start babies out with bland food, isn't it? My daughter is obsessed with fresh kafir lime leaves at the moment...it's such an intense flavour, too! She went for a handful of my Bangladeshi curry one night a while ago and ended up with some sauce, which she seemed to adore that, too! Isn't it gorgeous?

[kelebek]

Sounds like you are suffering from information overload and when there are soo many choices it is hard to know where to go sometimes. We also did BLS and from all the reading I did the thing that stuck in my mind the most is that our tastes and babies taster are different. We like variety and spices etc.... but to a baby the fact they are eating solids is very different to them so they don't care if they have the same thing for a week and don't care if their food is bland.

Do you have a family history of allergies? does your LO seem to be sensitive to food or perfumes etc...? I do believe there is ages that you introduce wheat (9mnths from memory) etc... but we just followed DS lead, he mostly had what we were eating but we are very boring, cereal for brekkie, sandwhich for lunch and meat and vege for tea. I didn't feed him meat until 9 mnths, he was still bf and getting enough iron from me.

dp fed DS weetbix from about 8 mnths... some people say not to give them weetbix because of the salt content and the iron can bind them so a gentler option would be oats. My DS never liked rice cereal. We were giving DS bread at 7 mnths. Eggs are another food that should be avoided until 12 mnths I believe. I did give DS eggs in a quiche so knew the egg was cooked properly and watched him carefully the first few times that he didn't react.

HTH

[beckoes]

DD ate basically what ever she could manage of our plates, if we had chicken with potatoe and veg she ate the potato and veg to begin with, then as she could actually manage to eat chicken i would give her some shredded up. thats just an example. she ate pasta with all sorts of sauces, basically, what ever she could actually manage to gum or eventually chew, she ate!! I didnt really hold off on the typical allergy things, just went really slowly, had egg early on. luckily she has no allergies (that i know of) so wasnt a problem. the only thing i dont give her is spicy stuff as it can harm the taste buds apparently , although she likes spices like cumin and pepper. but she is now 14 months.
so glad i followed BLS now, although it was hard at times, when you think they arnt getting everything they need cause at times it seems like they are eating nothing. Now she eats ANYTHING or atleast tries it no problem!! good luck!!!

[MantaRay]

lb, that is gorgeous. My boys have always loved more intense tastes too - DS1 was eating curries very early on and DS2 eats everything - absolutely everything!!

lb, I have had a quick look online and haven't found it as yet. There should be something on the WHO and NHMRC sites, but unfortunately they also have a lot of publications which were prior to the changes so it is hard to find the updated info. Perhaps you could call them the NHMRC and see if they could send you something? The states should also have adopted the national policy, but you'll find that some will take a long time to do so.

The most valuable guide to starting solids IMO is the ABA booklet - Introducing Solids. It's $5 (less 10% for members) from Mothers Direct and I love it. It was the most useful thing for me when I was going through this. It was updated a couple of months ago to reflect the latest guidelines.

[Olive]

i second the ABA solids booklet!!

[littleberlin]

Thank you so much for all your replies ladies! The ABA booklet sounds like a good idea, as does the NHMRC. Does anyone else get lost on the WHO website, though? It's a labyrinth!

I'm probably being a bit of a stickler unnecessarily; I just thought it would be good to know of the recommendations now that we are moving beyond vegetables and fruits. Now I'm dreaming of making meat-based stews and breads and things - so exciting! The handout our MCHN gave us suggested waiting until 9-10 months to start on bread, but I wonder if this has less to do with digestive readiness and more to do with the fact that traditionally self-feeding doesn't happen until around that time. Maybe I will do some bread-baking, too! Has anyone tried spelt rather than wheat bread? I wonder if that might be more easily digested (and healthier, too)?

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

I just marvel at how complicated we make solids. I don't think the WHO guidelines have changed. The funny thing is, since the guideline has been to introcuce solids at 6 mnths, much of the locally produced info has not changed. The reason for delaying solids until 6mnths was b/c prior to that the baby's system could not really deal with normal foods. At 6 mnths they can - so they can really have any normal family food. This includes meat, cereal, vegies etc. Most cultures introduce a stew consisting of meat, legumes, vegetables and cereals - and babies do great! As Manta says, there is no benefit in delaying any solid unless your family has a history of food allergies and intolerances.

[Ozziehoffy]

As Manta says, there is no benefit in delaying any solid unless your family has a history of food allergies and intolerances.

Barb, does that mean it doesn't matter about doing the egg white/yolk separation to start with?? I know I gave Oskar whichever one it was first but he just doesn't particularly like the texture of egg at all so he doesn't really eat it. He had peanut butter before the "recommended" age. I think it's just more I know he's going to try to feed Elijah once he knows Elijah is allowed to eat food lol and I don't want to have to worry about it all and just let him share his food.

[Barb Glare]

egg is fine (proviso - no egg allergy in the family!)- just try a little at a time.
BTW, great Baby Led solids article, by the woman who coined the phrase, Gill Rapley, coming up in the next Australian Breastfeeding Association mag - Essence. Common sense, cuts right through all the stress and other guff- it's worth joining ABA just for the article. I think the next Essence comes out in November.

[MantaRay]

Cass, yes as Barb said both egg white and egg yolk are now considered fine for babies without a family allergy history, from 6 months. Even peanuts - but not whole nuts due to the chokng risk - again it's different if there is a family history of allergy.

I know what you mean too - DS2 had everything earlier than DS1 because he just grabbed things from his brother's plate (or hand!) and ate them!!

[Ozziehoffy]

Oh sounds good Barb, thanks.

MR... I know Oskar is just hanging out for Elijah to "eat" lol. He keeps telling me that he is going to help feed Elijah. We have no allergies that we know of - only one is I think gluten or wheat intolerance and that's Andy's grandmother. Oskar has been fine with everything though.

[MantaRay]

Thanks so cute Cass. Big brothers love helping out!!