Category: Feeding guidelines

First feeding!!!!

How exciting your child’s pediatrician finally recommends for you to start that very first feeding with your little one. Your first thought where’s the camera, where’s the videocamera, where’s daddy, where’s the grandparents and what am I going to give him/her. Depending on your child’s pediatrician, this can be anywhere from 3-6 months. A lot of pediatricians are advising parents to wait for reasons like allergies and immature gastrointestinal system but some old school docs start them early. For me, we started at 5 1/2 months.
Now what? You do what every new parent does, you look to your pediatrician and say “what do you recommend?” As you wait for this great response, your likely going to hear “start with some rice cereal mixed with formula or breast milk.” You think to yourself, “that doesn’t sound very appetizing”. Then your pediatrician adds and you can give Fruits and vegetables after the rice cereal is tolerated for 4 days. Then you want to introduce a single fruit or vegetable at a time for 3 to 4 days. You want to do this to make sure that there are no allergic reactions to the new food. Start with foods that are yellow or orange. Leave the greens for last and no citrus and tomato. Likely this is all the feeding advise your going to get. You won’t realize how many questions you are going to have until later. For now you just thinking wow this is great!
You run home and you get everything ready that brand-new shiny spoon, new plate and bowl. You heat up the rice cereal with the breast milk or formula perfectly and get daddy ready with the camera. Your little one may or may not accept that spoon and pretty much your guiding the spoon in and the cereal spills all over, which makes for great pictures and more laundry. No worries after practicing your little one should get the hang of it and gladly open his/her mouth. The movement of the tongue will eventually go from front to back instead of moving forward pushing the food out. If he/she needs a little help you can apply slight pressure onto the tongue with the spoon with one hand and use your other hand to make a “u” shape around the chin and cheeks. Just resist the temptation to squeeze those little cheeks! Good luck and bring on the baby food.

Check out http://www.healthychildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics for current guild lines and recommendations. http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/pages/Switching-To-Solid-Foods.aspx

DS

The above is the opinion of this writer. This should not take the place of your pediatrician. You should always consult your pediatrician for medical advise regarding introduction of feedings and related issues.

Food safety and stomach viruses!

With stomach virus’s going around this time of year like norovirus and rotovirus the last thing you need to worry about is food poisoning as well. Both can take its toll on your little one leading to dehydration and weight loss. When a child that is a picky eater gets a stomach bug or food poisoning the lasting effects can be worse then a child without picky feeding behaviors. Your child may reject previous foods that were their favorites, the last thing they ate before vomiting or the only food they were able to eat while sick. It can take weeks sometimes months to return back to previous eating habits where a child without picky feeding behaviors will bounce back in a few days to a week. When your little one catches a nasty bug or food poisoning be sure to contact your pediatrician. Food poisoning is quite serious because it can lead to a high fever and rapid dehydration sometimes warranting the dreaded ER visit. A tip I learned after a few cases of food poisoning from eggs is to wash the shell with an antibacterial dish soap that kills salmonella before cracking the egg.

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The above is the opinion of this writer. This should not take the place of your pediatrician. You should always consult your pediatrician for medical advise regarding introduction of feedings and related issues. Tinyseedsfeeding was not compensated for this post.

After purée but before table food

I found that this stage of feeding to be the most confusing for parents because its hard to really pin point exactly what is safe in terms of texture and size of finger food for each individual child. There is room for interpretation. The rule of thumb is sitting unsupported, crawling (belly off of ground) and using a pincer grasp (picking up objects with you thumb and forefinger).
Purées are easy because you just pulverize the food until its completed smooth (no lumps and not to thick). It is quite easy with low margin for error. There is a much less risk of choking and parents find purée foods easy to prepare and stress free. Some parents follow more of a baby led weaning approach and completely skip purées and jump to finger foods and then table foods. I like a mixed approach. I see a lot of parents who get stuck in the purée rut and can’t seem to move past it. Then introduction of finger foods are then delayed (other then puffs and cereals) thus resulting in a delay of table foods. Whatever your approach you have to take your babies led when starting finger foods. You child should be crawling and definitely sitting with good head, neck and trunk support prior to starting solid and finger foods. If you are concerned about your child’s head/neck and trunk support which impacts sitting and crawling please consult your pediatrician as intervention may be needed to assist with these physical developments. It is too difficult for a infant to attempt to feed when impaired head/neck and trunk support as they will be unable to safely manage the food intake. This can place your child at a choking risk.
For the most part finger feeding should begin with small pieces of foods that can be mashed between the gums. Some examples would be cut-up banana, cut-up avocado, pouched/steamed cut-up peaches, pouched/steamed cut-up pears, pouched/steamed cut-up apples, pieces of soft pancake, pieces of soft breads, skinned cut-up blueberries, small pieces of cubed tofu, small pieces of a muffin, small pieces of soft cheeses like mozzarella and cheddar, small pieces of broccoli florets.
If your unsure about the size of pieces then start really small and work your way up as tolerated. Its recommended to stay away from small foods like rice, peas and grapes in the beginning of finger food introduction. It’s important to remember to introduce each food individually for allergy concerns.
Ideally you want to have your LO pick up these small pieces and place them into his/her mouth. In the beginning he/she will need a little guidance and miss a lot but with practice he/she will be eating these pieces faster then you can place them on his/her feeding tray. If at any point your concerned about choking -stop and consult your pediatrician. This stage of feeding is risky because your child is learning how to chew and manage textures and solids. It’s very important for parents and caregivers to have training in choking and CPR of an infant because of these risks.

Check out some infant choking and CPR classes at the American Red Cross. http://www.redcross.org/

Some beginning finger foods. Banana, baby pancake, blueberries and cottage cheese with cherry sauce. Break-up soft solids into small mashable pieces and peel blueberries. Your LO is sure to enjoy! Some beginning finger foods. Banana, baby pancake, blueberries and cottage cheese with cherry sauce. Break-up soft solids into small mashable pieces and peel blueberries. Your LO is sure to enjoy!

DS

The above is the opinion of this writer. This should not take the place of your pediatrician. You should always consult your pediatrician for medical advise regarding introduction of feedings and related issues. Tinyseedsfeeding was not compensated for this post.

Beginning feeding schedule

How confusing can it be to feed your LO. In the beginning you just breastfed or give the bottle when they cry. Eventually you get into a schedule and then add in baby cereal and purées. This is where a lot of parents get confused. When do I give the baby food before or after? How much do I give? How many times a day? There are no real clear cut answers because as you’ve heard all babies are different. What is clear cut is that in the beginning baby food is really just an addition to the main form of nutrition/hydration which is breast milk or formula. The main reasons for the intake of baby food is to expose your infant to new tastes and textures, to prepare for table food, to develop more mature oral motor skills and to slowly introduce other sources of nutrition to the gut.
The main thing to remember is that the breast milk or formula is still number one. With that piece of information it only makes sense that you would give your baby the breast or bottle first and then give tastes of baby food in between. Take your babies cues if he/she is interested. Starting purées can be anywhere from 4-6 months. If you start on the earlier end and your baby isn’t into it then just wait until he/she is. Keep trying small tastes even if he/she only accepts a few bites, eventually this will increase. Try two feedings each day and increase to three as accepted. It’s important to never force feed your child especially at the this important milestone. You want to create a positive feeding experience for you and your child. Force feeding can only leave to the development of food aversions later on. It is also important not to over feed with baby food to early because you don’t want to transition off of breast milk or formula to early. Your baby should continue breast milk or formula until his/her first birthday. After that typically you would introduce milk in place of the breast milk or formula.

A typical feeding schedule for an infant just starting purée baby food would be.
8 am breast/bottle
8:30 am breakfast purée (rice or oatmeal cereal mixed with breast milk or formula)
11 am nap
12 pm breast/bottle
12:30 pm lunch puréed sweet potatoes
3 pm nap
4 pm breast/bottle
5 pm dinner puréed butternut squash
8pm breast/bottle
Sleep!!!
Most babies will still wake up for one or two night feedings depending on how much baby food is accepted throughout the day.

Check out the beaba babycook, a must have for the savvy mom. Also check out some great purée recipes in one of my favorite baby cook books.
http://www.beabausa.com/products-babycook.php
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cooking-for-baby-lisa-recipes-by-barnes/1105028020

DS

Love my Beaba, now making homemade babyfood is quick, easy and mess-free.
Love my Beaba babycook, now making homemade baby food is quick, easy and mess-free.

The above is the opinion of this writer. This should not take the place of your pediatrician. You should always consult your pediatrician for medical advise regarding introduction of feedings and related issues. Tinyseedsfeeding was not compensated for this post.