Which one of us is nuts?

We just left DD's ped appt. She is 5 1/2 mos. Her ped just told us to introduce meat, dairy, and start to give her teething biscuits. I walked out, telling DH that there is no way I am giving her any of those things. Then, I took a breath and began to wonder if I am the crazy one. It just feels odd to me to think about introducing any of those foods at such an early age.

So which one of us is the crazy one?

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

there are so many different ways on how early is too early on starting foods.

JMO, but both my boys came out with huge appetites and we started rice cereal and around 10-12 weeks. Then baby food around 4 mos. At around 5-7mos they were eating the "meal" baby foods which included meats and such. Started trying table food around 9 mos and both boys didn't eat baby food after that.

As far as "snacks" both had puffs around 6 mos.

I also have to add that both my boys (especially my older one) had great neck control and were sitting up when I started the actual foods.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

dd is also 5.5 months....i dont plan on introducing that to her for a while.
we are on stage 1 foods. i will probably switch her to stage two in a month or so. but not the meats/chicken or yogurt

im curious what her ped will say when we see her in a few weeks

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

I believe it is now suggested you wait till 6 months to start solids, previously was 4 months.

I waited till 6mos and then started my baby on tiny bits of avocado, banana - both thinned w breast milk. And then started w the "orange" veggies. Butternut squash, yams, sweet potato, carrots...

She is 11months old and still hasn't had meat. I think meat is too oily and greasy and heavy for a small baby!

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

My pediatric doctors office has multiple doctors. some were telling us to start food at 4 months and some were telling us to wait until 8 months. Huge different in my opinion. We ended up doing what felt right to us. Around 6 months we wanted to try and DD was eager and took well to it so we continued. (and that wasnt meat or biscuits or dairy. we started with basic oatmeal for two weeks and then moved on to fruit purees, vegetable purees and puffs). I personally don't like the idea of introducing food earlier than 6 months but at the same time everyone has different opinions about it and i think its up to your child and you to decide when and what to start feeding your kids. We started food around 6 months but didn't introduce dairy until 9 months and still haven't given her meat.

Message edited 8/5/2013 12:37:14 PM.

Which one of us is nuts?

I tried orange veggies with my dd around 4.5 months as per peds recommendation. she was fully sitting up and had good neck control at that point. She wasn't really interested and had issues digesting so I waited another 3 weeks and tried again.

This is just my non clinical opinion, I think that's too young to introduce meat and dairy. Dairy they say never until 12 months at least. And im sorry feeding your child anytime before that is unnecessary and increases their chances for being overweight and obese as they age. Plus puts them at higher risks for food allergies and diabetes. Please do some of your own research from reputable sites but its very important to feed your children nutrious healthy and organic food. Especially with all the hormones and antibiotics they are putting in the meat these days. Their little bodies cannot digest it or properly break that down and can do harm to those growing little organs.

Cereal has no nutritional value that's why my peds started with the orange veggies they are also very easy to digest. They must be very watered down at first. There is a website where I got all my recipes wholesomefoods.com I also gave my daughter the plum organics pouches but waited until about 6-7 months to introduce those.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

different peds recommend different things. if you saw another dr you may have heard completely different advice. not that one is wrong or better than the other, but my little opinion is that YOU know your kid best. go with your gut.

Which one of us is nuts?

I would have no issues with it and probably started those around that time.

Which one of us is nuts?

you have to do what you feel comfortable with.
for us we started cereals at 5m and fruits and veggies at 6m. dairy and table foods around 7-8m if i remember correctly.
personally i dont like the idea of pureed meats and since DD didn't get teeth until 9m i didnt start meat until she could handle chewing bits of it. i also made all of her baby food and i really didn't have interest in starting meats any earlier, i didn't see the benefit personally.

Which one of us is nuts?

I think I started DS on meats around 6 months adjusted - and yogurt might have been the same. By 9/10 months, DS was on all table food, except for nuts, honey and shellfish. Do what you are comfortable with! If your DC seems hungry and your ped is ok with it, I would see no issues with starting to introduce these things.

DS is now 16 months and at a healthy weight and eats almost everything I offer him.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

Every ped will have a different theory. Heck different peds in my practice have different theories and some go against the written handout they have.

One ped told me 9 mo for eggs and when I went to a different dr there he said 1 yr but I had already given and they were fine. Same with strawberries.


We started fruits and veg at 5.5 mo. I think puffs around oatmeal and 6.5. Meat maybe 7/7.5. I was against it b/c its gross but I gave them chicken noodle and it smelled like chicken noodle soup and they loved it. chicken and apples is their fave. I think the single meats smell gross so I don't give them.

It's really up to you. I probably wouldn't give teething biscuits yet. I think they have the walker icon on them. Maybe puffs after they have mastered pureed food. I wet them and broke them up at first. I also gave the yogurt melts and they were easier for them.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

My mother started us on cereal the day we came home from the hospital lol. She had us sleeping through the night and we have never had any type of digestive problems.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

as everyone has said, each ped is different (even in the same practic) and each parent/child is different. People use to make comments when they saw my 9m old eating hot dogs (cut and skinned) and pasta salad at a bbq, while their 11m old was eating baby yogurt and pureed foods.

We did try teething biscuts around 7m but honestly i found them to be too messy! I skipped meats all together bc I thought they smelled gross both DSs started meats when they started the combo food stage 3 i think so that was round 6/7m.

I have walked out of my peds office and said "yeah right I am not doing that" My though is you take their advice but as the parent you need to do what you are comfortable with as you know your child best.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

Every ped is different with when to introduce solids so I would just say that is up to you. The dairy is what throws me off? Did they mean like giving your LO milk for cultured dairy like yogurt? If it's just yogurt or cheese then that is fine to decide for yourself but milk should be 12 months.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

Don't start till 6 months, skip the cereal. But they are saying to add meat earlier than originally thought.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

we started DS at 4mo with rice cereal...then fruits...then veggies. We did not have an issue with it.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

We started meat and dairy(yogurt and cheese) at 7/8ish months. So, I don't think it is completely unreasonable for your ped to give you the go ahead to start soon. You definitely dont have to start either right away. Idk what your schedule is as far as how often you have drs appts, but we had a well visit at 6 months, and then not another one until 9 so we received advice on what to start during that 3 month stretch.

Message edited 8/5/2013 9:23:06 PM.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

I can only speak about my experience but at 6 months my DD was eating a ton of table food.............puffs, cheese, pancakes, meatballs, scrambled eggs, yogurt, pasta, bread, etc. (and she had no teeth until age 1). She did great with all of it. She started baby food and cereal at 4 months so by 6 months she was more than ready for table food.

Do what you're comfortable with, there is no one right answer.

ETA - She's almost 5 and is thin, healthy, and has ZERO food allergies. Considering there is so much varied opinion on when to start table foods I didn't put a ton of stock into the whole idea of waiting a looooong time because of an increased risk of obesity, allergies, diabetes, etc. I don't think anyone knows for sure if there is a definitive correlation between the two so I did what felt right for my kid.

Message edited 8/5/2013 9:22:01 PM.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

Posted by smooney

different peds recommend different things. if you saw another dr you may have heard completely different advice. not that one is wrong or better than the other, but my little opinion is that YOU know your kid best. go with your gut.

Re: Which one of us is nuts?

DS is 6 months old and we started him on yogurt already. He loves it. He's been on fruits and veggies since about 4.5 months old.

Our ped told us we can introduce basically any foods that we eat (obviously not nuts, honey, etc), as long as they are in puree form. So basically, that meant we got the OK for meats. I plan on starting him on that in the next few days, so he'll be about 6.5 months old. I don't see any reason to wait. Might as well let him enjoy new tastes and textures.