Favorite first baby foods

[Moonhawk]

Time has gone way too fast and I now have a baby that is ready for solids. The past kids I've started always with that rice cereal. But now I've got this new one, and am wondering if there is another standard first baby food, or certain foods that you like to introduce first? 

[Epicurean]

We usually stick to fruit purees, like apple, banana and pear. Also, this year the new guidelines suggest introducing peanut butter at 4-6 months to lower the risk of allergies (pb also has a lot of good stuff in it). They're too young to be able to eat regular peanut butter at this age, so our pedi suggested using a product called PB2 that is powdered peanut butter (found next to regular in grocery stores). We mix in a couple teaspoons into the fruit purée at least once per day. Here's an article about it.

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/05/508348588/new-guidelines-tell-parents-when-to-introduce-babies-to-peanut-products

[AnnE-girl]

I've started with mashed banana or sweet potato (thinned with a little pumped breast milk at first) with my last two. DD hated being spoon-fed, so we quickly switched to tiny bites of food she could gum after picking up herself.

[PeachyDoodle]

We always started with rice cereal, then fruits. But no meats until they were ready to gum small pieces of the real thing -- those canned baby food meats make me gag! :ack2:

[wendyroo]

We have always done Baby Led Weaning, so we start them straight on manageable table foods between 5 and 6 months.  Audrey's first solid foods were meatloaf and roasted sweet potato fries.  My priority was always feeding them plenty of protein, fat, calcium, and iron, and exposing them to a wide variety of fruits and veggies.  I never bothered with baby cereals or purees.

 

Wendy

[Carrie12345]

Mine were spread over 12 years, so their firsts ran the gamut! 

 

I know #1 was rice cereal around 4 months. # 4 was avocado at 11 months.  #5's was probably yogurt around 9 months b/c we were doing food trials under doctor supervision.  With most of them, we stuck to actual "people food".  They loved those crazy mesh "chewer" thingies that were always a nightmare to clean, but allowed them to gnaw on just about anything without any major choking hazard. 

[ktgrok]

The others all started with mashed banana or sweet potato. We didn't do the baby cereal...it's so processed and not nutritionally useful other than the iron added in. 

 

This baby got her food solid food the other day. Part of a postcard. Sigh. 

 

She's just 5 months and I usually wait until 6, but since she didn't choke on the paper she managed to steal I figured she might be ready. She's been able to sit up in a highchair or in your lap for a while now, and no tongue thrust with the postcard, lol. So yesterday I gave her a few little chunks of banana and she liked them! Again, no spitting it out/tongue thrust at all, so yeah, she was ready. I also tried some mushed up on a spoon but she didn't like that. Just me hand feeding her tiny bits/chunks. About the size of my pinky fingernail. I don't see me adding food on a regular basis yet, but will give her bits and drabs of it as she seems interested. 

[Carrie12345]

Just for comparison, there are a million pictures of me, my sisters, and my cousins, with stale bagels tied to our strollers.  I actually remember the slimy grossness with some of the younger siblings/cousins.  That's how my family did babies in the late 70s/early 80s, lol.

[medawyn]

Usually sliced avocado here.

[barnwife]

We always started with rice cereal, then fruits. But no meats until they were ready to gum small pieces of the real thing -- those canned baby food meats make me gag! :ack2:

 

I agree about the meats!

 

It didn't make a difference to us though. We, like a pp, BLW. So we just start handing baby some of our food. including meat, whenever baby seems ready. This one was ready right around 6 months.  In fact, he is the most demanding about food. If we are eating, he will yell until he gets food too.

 

As we just give them table foods, I don't have a clue what their first foods are. Things they generally like include cheese, fruits, meat (we give them small pieces, slices, or large chicken bones), noodles, and our homemade bread.

 

[Elizabeth86]

I always start with fruits and veggies. Or I did with firsr ds. My 2nd 2 literally refused every single bite of baby food I offered. They preferred living on breastmilk. Also, they refused table food until they were toddlers. Ds 1 may have been the same , but I was pregnant when he started solids, so my milk alone wasnt enough.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Elizabeth86

[mykidsrmyjoy]

We have always done Baby Led Weaning, so we start them straight on manageable table foods between 5 and 6 months. Audrey's first solid foods were meatloaf and roasted sweet potato fries. My priority was always feeding them plenty of protein, fat, calcium, and iron, and exposing them to a wide variety of fruits and veggies. I never bothered with baby cereals or purees.

 

Wendy

This is basically what I've done with the last 2 or 3 kids. I also like keeping bananas, avocado, applesauce and full fat yogurt on hand for the times when the table food isn't suitable for them.

[DesertBlossom]

With #1 and #2 I cooked, pureed and froze lots and lots of kinds of baby foods in ice cube trays and defrosted as needed. I do that less and less with each baby. Adding people food to a breastfed baby's diet turns their poop toxic so I avoid it as long as possible. 😆

 

I do absolutely love this baby mill though. At dinner if we ever have cooked vegetables or stew or something easy to puree, this thing is fantastic.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000GB0NZA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1503669561&sr=8-1&keywords=food+mill+baby

[maize]

Mine start right from the beginning with little bits of whatever I am eating. I figure they are ready for solids when they start grabbing for my plate.

[Petrichor]

I feed from off my plate. 

 

I feed food when baby starts seeming to be asking for food. 

 

I start with soft stuff, like rice or bread, or slightly mashed or soft veggies. We move to small pieces of slightly pulled apart meat pretty quickly once I know baby is cool with swallowing non-milk food. 

[carriede]

Banana and sweet potato!

 

I didn't use the baby cereals. The added iron really messed them up, and most of my kids had a gluten/wheat sensitivity that they all out grew by 12 months.

[Emba]

Mine loved avocado. Also I remember mashing up ripe pears.

[Guest]

Is baby neurotypical? Soft mashed table food is a good way to go. With a kid with some neuro or sensory issues it can be trickier. For reference Benjamin is eight months old and has gagged on the two solitary bites of purée he has ever had, even at the consistency of breastmilk.

 

*sigh*

[ktgrok]

Just for comparison, there are a million pictures of me, my sisters, and my cousins, with stale bagels tied to our strollers. I actually remember the slimy grossness with some of the younger siblings/cousins. That's how my family did babies in the late 70s/early 80s, lol.

My Jewish friend taught me about frozen bagels as the perfect heating food for a teething baby.

[fralala]

Two of my babies, true omnivores, decided to get started with baby-led weaning early by sampling various members of our local insect population. We then moved on to sprouted millet porridge (traditional first food in our family).

[medawyn]

Two of my babies, true omnivores, decided to get started with baby-led weaning early by sampling various members of our local insect population. We then moved on to sprouted millet porridge (traditional first food in our family).

This sounds about right. I have no idea what #3's first foods were. I mean, I know what I fed him, but between older siblings and backyard finds, there really is no telling.