First Foods

[Guest Mari]

I was wondering what other moms have done. I am getting ready to start solids with my son. I will start with rice cereal, but where do I go from there. He has not been diagnosed, shows no symptoms, but I want to keep him gluten-free for as long as possible (i'm not sure how long that should be?). Any suggestions??

Mari

[Ursa Major]

My first suggestion is to stay away from all grains at first. It is not a good idea (despite what seems to be a common practice) to start with cereal of any kind. Grains are hard to digest, and rice is a grain. Besides, it is not the hypoallergenic food everybody thinks it is. It will give me pretty much the same symptoms as gluten (and I am not the only one).

The best first foods are things like mashed banana, sweet potato, carrots (one new one a week, to catch intolerances). Apples and oranges are not great first foods, either. Pears would be okay, though.

Are you breast feeding? At first, you give just a little bit of solid food each day (start with just a few spoonfuls), to give your baby's digestive system a chance of dealing with those foods slowly. The baby's most important source of nutrients should still be breast milk (or formula, if that is what you're feeding) until at least the age of one.

How old is your baby?

[buttonburger]

Hi Mari

My sons not been diagnosed with celiac disease as yet but does have multiple food allergies which we knew about before weaning onto solids as he'd reacted to pretty much everything in my diet while I nursed him.

We see a dietician pretty regularily & were told to start weaning with 'pure' baby rice (some brands have other things added believe it or not), then move onto what are considered the least likely allergenic foods - pear & carrot to start.

From there we moved onto apple, potato, apricot, parsnip, peach, cauliflower, plum & brocolli in that order. We lasted quite a while with these in various combinations (although DS reacted to apple, parsnip & potato unfortunately!) & then moved onto chicken, courgette & banana, followed by beef & butternut squash...

The next cereal we were advised to try was oats (unsuccessfully) @ about 10mths, then corn, then arrowroot, then millet (corn & millet both unsuccessfully) & thats as far as we have got - DS was a year old last week & the dietician isnt concerned at his rather limited diet - 5 fruit, 5 veg, rice (& rice pasta, rice milk & rice bread) & arrowroot, with chicken & beef so that should keep you going for a while!!

HTH

Julie

PS Should add that we were advised to introduce one new food every seven days & to stay away from citrus fruits & berries - or anything with lots of seeds initially... if there is a reaction to any food you withdraw it for seven days before trying anything else new to let the gut heal... even herbs/spices count as new foods... and nothing new should be given in times of illness or when baby is out of sorts as you wont get a true reaction...

[Guest Mari]

My first suggestion is to stay away from all grains at first. It is not a good idea (despite what seems to be a common practice) to start with cereal of any kind. Grains are hard to digest, and rice is a grain. Besides, it is not the hypoallergenic food everybody thinks it is. It will give me pretty much the same symptoms as gluten (and I am not the only one).

The best first foods are things like mashed banana, sweet potato, carrots (one new one a week, to catch intolerances). Apples and oranges are not great first foods, either. Pears would be okay, though.

Are you breast feeding? At first, you give just a little bit of solid food each day (start with just a few spoonfuls), to give your baby's digestive system a chance of dealing with those foods slowly. The baby's most important source of nutrients should still be breast milk (or formula, if that is what you're feeding) until at least the age of one.

How old is your baby?

I should clarify. This is my third child, but my second since diagnosed. He is five months old. I have in the past started with rice cereal, then oats, then wheat and multi-grain. With my first after begin diagnosed, I didn't really worry, and tell the truth, I'm not so worried with this one. My doc said to start with rice then do oats, but aren't the oats contaminated? What is a good brand, Earth's best?

Thanks for the advice!!

Mari

[Juliet]

It's my understanding that most oats are contaminated. The only ones that I know of that are supposedly safe to eat are not available for infant cereal, but maybe this has changed since I first started my youngest on infant cereal.

I personally like Earth's Best products myself, but maybe others here know something better?

[CarlaB]

There is no need to start cereals. I breastfed my kids and didn't give them solids until they were eating them off my plate. Then I just started mashing up what I was having and gave it to them, right off my plate. This usually happened at almost a year old. The doctor would tell me "Most moms want to start solids", but he couldn't tell me I had to because my kids were very healthy and were growing well.

I'm a real believer in starting them in real foods. It teaches them from the beginning to enjoy various textures of food. All my kids (six of them) have liked things other kids normally don't like (like salad) from the beginning when they were just toddlers. Plus it saves you from having to buy the expensive baby foods.

If you feel you must start something, I'd just mash up a banana and give it to baby before bedtime. Don't feel obligated to use the doctor's recommendations ... there are other ways, and it's only been in the past few generations that we've had baby food!

[shayesmom]

There is no need to start cereals. I breastfed my kids and didn't give them solids until they were eating them off my plate. Then I just started mashing up what I was having and gave it to them, right off my plate. This usually happened at almost a year old. The doctor would tell me "Most moms want to start solids", but he couldn't tell me I had to because my kids were very healthy and were growing well.

I'm a real believer in starting them in real foods. It teaches them from the beginning to enjoy various textures of food. All my kids (six of them) have liked things other kids normally don't like (like salad) from the beginning when they were just toddlers. Plus it saves you from having to buy the expensive baby foods.

If you feel you must start something, I'd just mash up a banana and give it to baby before bedtime. Don't feel obligated to use the doctor's recommendations ... there are other ways, and it's only been in the past few generations that we've had baby food!

I suppose this isn't adding much to the topic, but I was actually reading that infants do not produce amylase (the enzyme that helps break down grains) until they get their molars. Once they get their molars, they begin producing amylase (called pytalin?) in their saliva and that it's then "safer" to start grains.

I looked this up on wikipedia and found that there's been an ongoing argument about using cereals as a first food for over 200 years. I found that odd....because NEVER had I heard of this.

In any case, if you're going with cereal...rice first. You may be able to find some gluten-free oats and grind them up so that they make a better baby cereal. I got a coffee grinder to do that kind of stuff. It cooks very fast once it's ground and the texture would definitely work.

[Ursa Major]

You know, there are things I didn't find out I was doing wrong until I had my FIFTH child, so, it being your third child doesn't necessarily mean you know everything there is to know about raising children.

There is scientific evidence that giving babies grains sets them up for being more susceptible to getting diabetes. Since people with celiac disease are already more likely to have diabetes (and you can't know yet if this baby will have celiac disease or not), I would suggest to be extra careful with this little one.

I completely agree with Carla. 'Real' foods are definitely the way to go whenever possible. I had only one child (my son, who is the third of five) who HATED any kind of texture until he was about 15 months old, meaning that I had to feed him baby food (or food put through the blender), or he'd just spit it out. But he was the exception.

Also, I feel that five months is too early for starting any solids. Eight months to a year is much better.

[Michi8]

I should clarify. This is my third child, but my second since diagnosed. He is five months old. I have in the past started with rice cereal, then oats, then wheat and multi-grain. With my first after begin diagnosed, I didn't really worry, and tell the truth, I'm not so worried with this one. My doc said to start with rice then do oats, but aren't the oats contaminated? What is a good brand, Earth's best?

Thanks for the advice!!

Mari

Check out this info on feeding allergic infants (Jojena Food Allergy Scale):

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

There is a list of foods and their allergencity and what order to carefully introduce foods. You will notice that oats are not recommended until after 9 months and no wheat until 1-2 years of age. Of course, you can change the sequence to suit the needs of a celiac diet/avoiding triggering a celiac response. I recommend staying away from grains for a while and start with cooked fruits (including cooked banana) and veggies first. I also recommend not start solids until 6 months or beyond.

Michelle

[Michi8]

Oops! Double post.

[2boysmama]

My son is almost 7 months old, and this is what I'm doing: first off - NO cereals at all - they're not a necessary part of the diet. I started solids the day before he turned 6 months (which was a Sunday). His first foods were banana and avocado. I'm going by that list that somebody else posted (the Hall publications one). And I'm also waiting a full 7 days rather than the "usual" 4. I'm starting new foods in the mornings to watch for any reactions - I don't want to deal with a food reaction at 2 am if I can help it. Also, until a baby is about 6 months old their gut is still immature and "open" - which raises their risk of food allergies even more, as well as intestinal irritation. I'm just making my own foods so far too - it's really easy and I know for sure what's in it (the fruit/veggie and maybe a little water to thin it out if needed).

[Michi8]

My son is almost 7 months old, and this is what I'm doing: first off - NO cereals at all - they're not a necessary part of the diet. I started solids the day before he turned 6 months (which was a Sunday). His first foods were banana and avocado. I'm going by that list that somebody else posted (the Hall publications one). And I'm also waiting a full 7 days rather than the "usual" 4. I'm starting new foods in the mornings to watch for any reactions - I don't want to deal with a food reaction at 2 am if I can help it. Also, until a baby is about 6 months old their gut is still immature and "open" - which raises their risk of food allergies even more, as well as intestinal irritation. I'm just making my own foods so far too - it's really easy and I know for sure what's in it (the fruit/veggie and maybe a little water to thin it out if needed).

Making your own baby food is great...and easy. I used to cook food (using organic where I could), process them with my Moulinex food grinder and then freeze it in ice cube trays. It's the perfect serving size and quick to reheat. For the very first foods, I'd use breastmilk to thin them out.

For an older baby I had a book with some really good baby food recipes: The Baby Cookbook by Karin Knight, RN and Jeannie Lumley. There were a quite a few tasty combinations with bite sizes foods. One favourite for my eldest was green beans with carrot and apple.

Michelle

[2kids4me]

I agree with the posts about "real food" ...Matthew (and Kathryn) did great on breast milk alone, chubby happy and thriving til they were able to eat "real food", we started with mashed banana, then carrots, sweet potatoe, potatoe ,pears, peaches, applesauce (homemade).... I blended meat (chicken) in the blender, he loved it. I tried him on rice cereal at 10 months and he got a horrible butt rash...didnt offer anything else but breastmilk (after that) til he was 12 months old. I think the only "baby food" I ever offered was the blueberry stuff. The meat baby food is high in sodium and really looks gross (in my opinion).

I don't recall giving him cow's milk til he was over 2 years....we gave him pear juice and apple juice (diluted)...

As said in previous posts - different textures are important, they learn to enjoy food that way - or at least it seems.

To this day, Matt loves bananas and Kathryn loves apples and they both like canteloupe, grapes, strawberries, fresh veggies, and they prefer it without dips of any kind. They are keen on trying new foods...they love quinoa mixed with rice...

Sandy

[TinkerbellSwt]

My son is 21 months and lives a gluten free life. We did listen to the docs and started with cereal in his bottle. My son was also severly premature and they wanted him to gain weight as soon as possible. I know they say no cereal in bottles, but we were told to, and like first mothers I am sure, I listened. The rice cereal didnt bother him. We just used Gerber. Then we went on to pears, mashed bananas, things like that. And just like Carla said, she fed right from her plate to prevent the texture problem, sure enough, we had a major texture problem. The easy to digest foods I would go with first. If you dont want to make your own baby food, I didnt either, Gerber and Beech nut baby foods are gluten free. When you move up to their toddler foods, most are not gluten free. It sounds like you have a while for that.

It might just be easier to work like Carla did.. if you feel comfortable with it. I did the baby food thing, and nothing is wrong with Colin now, he got over the texture thing and is growing just fine, just he is gluten free.