What Can I Feed My Child?

Get a copy of the Super Baby Food book--It's great and simple/quick to follow. Healthy foods for my children are important to me. To this day (may kids are 5 and 2) would rather have a piece of fruit rather than candy or sweets. I know that book is a big reason--they started eating right from the beginning:)

Try hard-boiled egg yolks mashed up w/ a little milk. I think the whites are not recommended until after 1 year old. It provides a lot of really important fats.

I used to make a beef stew with potatoes and carrots. I would take some and blend in a food processor and my daughter loved it. The carrot gives it a little sweetness, and the potatoes are soft to make it easier to chew.

My 17 month old still doesn't care for meat much...we can get some soft sausage and ground meat in, but I just don't see much need to push it, since she gets plenty of protein elsewhere. We tried to puree meat once and it was just gross. I wouldn't eat it either.

I really didn't want to do anything premade, so we started with soft "real" food....avocado, banana, egg yolk (hard boiled and separated from the white, in a tasty broth was the first solid she really got excited about), beans and rice smooshed up. I believe cooked honey is fine (I think others have said this already....it's the raw honey that is an issue for botulism), however there is also the school of thought that the GLUTEN in wheat products may be a potential allergen, so you may want to hold off until closer to 1 year.

If you know the site "wholesomebabyfood.com" there are great suggestions there and guidelines for when to introduce things.

I have an 11 month old. She has been eating since she was 6 months old, she only has 4 teeth! I give her avocados, and whole milk yogurt which both give her "good fat", also whole milk cottage cheese, sweet potatoes, home made applesauce, bananas, mac and cheese, egg yolk ( scrambled) soft breads (usually home made) or store bought crossaints, I don't give her anything with honey, although I think if it was baked into bread it would be ok. However, I personally wouldn't feed it to her, as I am very strict with not giving her things she shouldn't have til she's 1. Hope this helps.

My son had a full set of teeth by the time he was a year old. When he was 7-8 months, we started trying to just grind up whatever we were eating. (leaving out honey... that's the only one that my doctor was actually picky on.) He hated (and still hates) meat (he's just over 2 now.) For protein, we try to push yogurt, peanut butter, cheese, veggies like broccoli. We started making smoothies for him really early on. You can put anything in a smoothie. He is the pickiest eater on the planet, and it's difficult to get him to even sample something new... so, I am happy to read suggestions here. Oh--- yogurt and peanut butter aren't supposed to be tried until one year either... but, honestly... yogurt was the only thing he'd eat early on. We have no food allergies in the family... so we went for it. There wasn't a problem.
After reading these responses... my husband got me a mini-food-processor/chopper for mom's day, it works amazingly well at pureeing the food down to babyfood consistency. My son hated the baby mill food grinder texture. so picky.

HI-------my little guy at 15 months doesn't like baby food. Oh sure we have the rice cereal in our pantry in case of emergency but, he pretty much eats what we eat. He isn't a big meat eater......he does do chicken and occasionally a hot dog and sometimes I can sneak in some bratwurst if we have grilled it up. Riley has 13 teeth and getting three more in........he also was an early teeth guy.
Hang in there..........as long as your little girl gets her protein from other sources I think she will be fine. I read somewhere that babies aren't really into meat. It is one of the last foods they like or something.

Hi B.,

I have a just one year old who while liking the taste of meat, hates the texture. It is really hit or miss if she will eat it. Generally what happens is that she sucks on it until all of the flavor is gone and then spits it out or hands it to me (often right after I put a spoonful of something else in her mouth....it's great!).

She does LOVE soup. The only thing I would say about soup is that you are far better with homemade soup than with canned. Canned soup has tremendously high sodium levels.

In regard to the honey, I freaked out one day when my daughter was about 7 months old because one of my older girls had given her Trader Joe's Honey Nut O's instead of the organic plain o's I had in the cupboard for her so I did a bunch of reading about the honey thing. Personally I wouldn't worry about putting honey in bread, but that is just me. Here is some info on botulism....and the reason I stopped worrying about honey on its own.

Infant botulism
Infant botulism (first recognized in 1976) is the most common form of the ailment in the United States, but is rarely diagnosed in other countries. It affects about 100 infants per year in the United States, with the majority in the state of California (40–50%).[citation needed] Infants less than 12 months of age are susceptible, with almost 90% of cases occurring between the ages of 3 weeks and 6 months of age at presentation. The mode of action of this form is through colonization by germinating spores in the gut of an infant. The first symptom is usually constipation, followed by generalized weakness, loss of head control and difficulty feeding. Like the other forms of botulism, the symptoms are caused by the absorption of botulinum toxin, and typically progress to a symmetric descending flaccid paralysis. Death is often the eventual outcome unless the infant receives artificial ventilation.

Honey, corn syrup, and other sweeteners are potentially dangerous for infants. This is partly because the digestive juices of an infant are less acidic than older children and adults, and may be less likely to destroy ingested spores. In addition, young infants do not yet have sufficient numbers of resident microbiota in their intestines to competitively exclude C. botulinum. Unopposed in the small intestine, the warm body temperature creates a medium for botulinum spores to germinate, divide and produce toxin. Thus, C. botulinum is able to colonize the gut of an infant with relative ease, whereas older children and adults are not typically susceptible to ingested spores. C. botulinum spores are widely present in the environment, including honey. For this reason, it is advised that neither honey, nor any other sweetener, be given to children until after 12 months. Nevertheless, the majority of infants with botulism have no history of ingestion of honey, and the exact source of the offending spores is unclear about 85% of the time. Spores present in the soil are a leading candidate for most cases, and often a history of construction near the home of an affected infant may be obtained.

And here is the Mayo Clinic's website with info on botulism:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/botulism/DS00657

Personally I would still hold off on honey until 1 yr old.
As far as meats we gave our daughter what we were eating. Hamburger works great. Chicken cut into small pieces. The main thing is size. Some foods like roast may be chewier but you can get small pieces/strings of meat.

She can eat whatever you eat. My 9mo old has been on solids since 6mo. We started baby cereal with breastmilk or formula around 5mo. I make most of his food. We use fresh or frozen veggies. I cook them like I would for myself, sometimes with less seasonings, and then run it through the food processor. Often its mixed with baby cereal to bulk it up and get the extra vitamins. If we have leftover cassarole or something, I throw that in the food processor so its easier for him to handle. Its very similar to the jars of "chicken dinner", expect I know exactly whats in it. Its a lot easier to make my baby's food than I originally anticipated. He's almost 10mo old, but has only two teeth. He chomps on waffles and pancakes and toast. He eats cheese and avacado. Bananas are a favorite, as well as the ever popular cheerio. Anyway, feed baby what you eat, only mashed or cut small so she doesn't choke. You want her to enjoy the good things in life, and you certainly don't want to get yourself into the habit of making two meal every time. Or maybe you do, I don't know. I have chosen to stay away from all honey products until 1 year simply because I don't know the science behind whether cooked is still harmful or not. I hope this helps. good luck!

Honey baked into products is fine before 1 year...she can eat anything, especially with all those teeth...just cut things up small enough or cook them long enough. We don't eat meat, but my son has always loved tofu. You can make a chicken breast (boil it or bake it) until really tender and just giver her pieces of that. Cheese, yogurt, tofu products, pasta, any fruit that is soft (pears, bananas, peaches, berries), hot dogs with skin removed (get organic turkey hot dogs probably), we used Morning Star Farms veggie products, any veggie...

I fed mu daughter ground chicken that was sauteed and well seasoned with salt and pepper, a little soy sauce. I usually did a tiny bit of ginger and garlic and maybe an onion. You can make a huge batch of this and freeze it then serve it with rice and peas... This is a great family recipe you can make it in to quesadillas for your self and feed it to the baby and not have to cook 2 meals. My daughter is 3 now and I still make this, its so yummy. As she gets older toy can alter what you serve it with but the flavors will still be familiar.
I would skip the honey and peanut butter until she is 1. I would not worry about her not eating meat my daughter still rarely eats red meat.
If you are worried about protein you can give her full fat yogurt and soft beans like kidney beans with a little dressing ( ranch?)..
You can contact me if you need a "recipe" for the chicken ____@____.com

R.

I wouldn't give her honey, they say you should what until 24 months for that, and wait until 12 for peanuts and eggs. I would ask your Ped. for suggestions.

I was going to suggest the food grinder as well. You're able to grind up whatever you are eating (meat, veggies, whatever!) and the baby doesn't have to get that yucky taste.

:)

It's been awhile since I've had to worry about that. I remember cooking up tofu because it was soft and protein. We also fed our boys eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt. I did buy a small food processor and ground up whatever meat we were having but didn't force it. With teeth you can try finely ground, not mushy and see if that makes a difference. Texture is everything with kids.

Honey is not recommended for children under age 1 because of botulism. I held off longer just in case with mine.

I'd recommend the same as some others did - just grind up your meal (once the baby has had all the ingredients separately to make sure she isn't allergic). I would freeze the food in ice cube trays. My little guy loved beef cooked with some italian herbs and mixed with pasta or brown rice. He eventually stopped eating meat for a while, but I just gave him cheese, non-gmo tofu (try it baked with a little soy sauce and olive oil- it's a great finger food!), almond butter (once he turned 12 months old) etc, for protein. Now that he's 18 months old, he's decided he likes meat again.

FYI - the Super Baby Food book is interesting but won't help you if you are looking for ideas about meat... it seemed pretty much anti-meat when I read it. If you are a reader, check out Michael Pollan's most recent book, In Defense of Food- http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php - he offers an interesting perspective on diet, nutrition and food.

Hi B.,
Once it is sterilized by the heat of baking, the honey should not be a problem.
As for the meat, have you tried using a hand-held blender? The chopping blade (standard) will puree things really well, so it can be a texture she can handle. That way she can continue growing into eating adult food, without fighting about the baby food she doesn't like. These little gizmos cost ~$20; I've seen them at BiMart and K-Mart.
L.

A very helpful book is "Super Baby Food" which you can find at most bookstores & online. it has month by month charts of what to feed babies & toddlers and tons of great recipe suggestions, etc.
Hope it helps!

S.
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All natural, organic, handmade hazelwood necklaces for the relief of eczema, acid reflux, & teething pain for babies and their families.

I recommend fresh fruit and vegetables, mostly mashed and pureed. It is easy to cook a batch and freeze portions to use through the week. Carrot, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, peas, banana, apple (raw scooped out into a spoon) or cooked, tomato are some of the ones we did and it worked great. Good luck.

As far as the meat goes...are you thinking she needs it for the protein? Because you can just feed her things like mashed beans and cottage cheese for protein. And then I would think most everything else would be easy to mash or food process. And I wouldn't take any chances with the honey. Just go with regular bread until she is 1! Good luck to you!

I agree with the other posts about meat...the grinders are easy to use, and you know exactly what's going into it! My daughter really didn't like meat until a year, and then we just gave her cut up pieces of whatever I was eating. She still prefers veggies and fruit over most meat.

You might also want to do some more research on canned veggies--I was surprised to learn that canned carrots/cooked carrots have more nutrients that we are able to digest than raw carrots. There are lots of organic canned veggies out there that are softer and easier for a little one to eat. My daughter still LOVES canned green beans, and she really struggles with fresh ones due to their "chewiness"--she's almost two. The one thing to watch out for in canned veggies is sodium, but at her age, it's not something I'd stress about.

One of my daughter's favorite first meats was ground up Italian sausage--like the kind you get on pizza. She really enjoyed it, and it was easy to prepare.

A great book that I used when my daughter started eating regular foods was Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. You can probably check it out from the library. Lots of great information about nutrition, what to eat when, choking hazards, etc.

Good luck! That is such a fun age! Make sure to get a picture/video of her eating her first lemon slice when she's ready! ;)

You find a mayo jar, or something that will screw on the to the bottom of your blender. You put the meat in the blender with a little juice/broth/water and you blend it.
You can do that with any food you eat. You want to stay away from the allergy foods until your little one is a little older.
I bought all my baby food with my older children, but once I was taught how to do this with number 3, I did home made baby food for 4 and 5 also.
Good luck.
B.

I would keep it fresh veges and fruit, eggs if she can tolerate them, and maybe pureed fish. Meat at this time seems really risky for young children. My daughter loved green peas because she loved to pick them up. Same way with cut carrots. Avocados are supposed to be a perfect food. Home made french fries thoroughly drained with the skin left on were a big hit with my son. Soft and easy to hold. I make them round rather than long.

One of our lifesavers when our kids got to that point was soup. We drained out most of the liquid, but left enough in to blend up the soup in a blender, and if it was still too runny we added potato flakes (for making instant mashed potatoes). Warm that up a little, and there ya go, meat, veggies, noodles, and great flavor! Both my kids loved chicken noodle the best, by we tried Beef Stew, Minestrone, all your general varieties.

As for the honey in the bread, I would use your judgment, you should look up online why babies aren't supposed to have honey. I did this after I realized my baby was chowing down on some graham crackers that my son was having for a snack. I saw that they can get botulism (sp?) from honey that isn't processed right. I didn't worry too much because I figured any honey in the cracker was minimal and had gone through enough processing. But if your talking about homemade honey for homemade bread, I would probably wait.

Good Luck!

Try sandwich meat (from the deli). My daughter didn't eat baby food at all... she didn't like it. I've always just given her soft food or small bites. One thing she loved is tofu (you'll hear good and bad about it) and whole wheat pasta noodles. Good luck!

Hi B.,
I can tell you from my experience, what my baby liked back then. You can try to give her avocado, either small cubes or feed her straight from the spoon if it's softer, or mashed potatoes, sprinkle with cheese or without cheese. My baby loves cheese, so I can put grated cheese on everything. Bread with butter and cheese. You can try to make a soup, just cook a small piece of chicken breast, some carrots, celery, zuchini all cut up in cubes or you can grate the carrots, you can try to put some noodles in it. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Our son didn't really eat meat until he was aboout two, mainly b/c there was nothing to give him but those gross 'weiner things'. For protein, we used lentils, soybeans, chick peas, egg yolks scrambled (you can give these before age one, but I was told to wait until one for the egg whites b/c of allergy risk), and soft cheeses like ricotta and fresh mozzarella. Also, you could try soft, flaky white fish. We never did, but I bet it would be pretty easy to eat. As for the honey, the reason they can't have it is the risk of botulism, which is likely eliminated when you cook it.

She can eat the same meat you eat, just cut into very small peices. You can buy a $10 baby food grinder, add a little water to the meat and grind it. I did that with my daughter and she loved it. I don't know about the honey, so I wouldn't take a chance until you know for sure.