Transitioning baby to eating

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Anna
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Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Anna »

We have reached the stage where our girl (she's 5 mds now) is supposed to start transitioning to eating solids. I had been planning on doing BLW (baby lead weaning) but today read perspectives from Magda Gerber (RIE approach) on how it is important to go with the child's developmental tempo and not introduce them to anything they aren't ready for. She also says that the body isn't ready for solids (like pieces of meat or certain vegetables) as it hasn't yet developed enzymes to digest the food. This is also in alignment with what Weston A. Price has suggested, where it is then suggested to instead start feeding the baby breast milk on a spoon and then from there to transition to purees before even considering solids. Our daughter's health care provider also explained that it takes up to 2 years before the child have mastered the eating process (meaning the actual physical process of pushing the food down their throat with their tongue).

What are your experiences and considerations in relation to this as parents - from a Destonian (respecting the child as an equal and doing what's best for the child/best for all in the situation) perspective?
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Leila
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Leila »

We started introducing solids once Cesar started showing interest in solids, through for instance, picking up small pieces of food from our plate and putting it into his mouth. This only happened around 9 months sparingly and more around 11 months old. What Weston Price explained made sense and so his first solids were egg yolk from soft boiled eggs (not the white as they can develop allergies if given too early) and later avo.

We’d make our own pureed foods, though not often (and I mostly ended up eating them for my dessert lol) as he preferred more chewing action for his teething. So we got him this little feeder with a net, where you can place in fruits or other foods, so he could chew on it and whatever was chewed would come out pureed through the net (which is also nice if you are concerned about choking). Here we mostly did banana, this seemed to be his preference and later I also found out that banana contains within itself already the enzymes to break down starches – which a baby only develops once his molars are through.

Then only recently I found out that it might be better to skip the purees all together, where it’s better for a child to go from breastfeeding to chewing due to tongue posture and how the jaw and so the whole face develops overtime. Pureed foods not requiring much action from the mouth and jaw would then lead to underdevelopment and could cause problems down the line in terms of teeth alignment and entire facial structure and development. I found out about this when I noticed my jaws were asymmetrical when reviewing some recent vlogs lol, and then stumbled on the field of orthotropics. It’s quite interesting, this channel as a lot of information on it: https://www.youtube.com/user/Orthotropics

Overall it seemed that his relationship with solids was very much about just exploring taste and texture, playing with it more than eating. In some countries they’re now advocating starting babies on solids from 3 months old. There seems to be quite the rush to start baby on solids as its then easier for other people to take care of them while the parents can go back to work. I mainly worked with Cesar and his body as indicators on how to move with solids, since there’s so much conflicting information about what one ‘should ‘ and ‘should not’ do. I decided that going back to simplicity and simply following his body’s development would be my best cue.
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Anna
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Anna »

Sounds good Leila. Lora has been into putting things in her mouth and chewing since several months back, and I've tested offering her water (which she really liked and got instantly how to drink (except she does it like a cat with her tongue) and sweet potato soup (tiny bit) which she also really enjoyed and some water melon.

What physical indicators within Cesar made you see that he was interested in wanting to eat? Because Lora reaches out for anything to put in her mouth, so its a little difficult to say if it is a specific interest towards food in particular.
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Antoaneta
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Antoaneta »

Here in the States it's recommended that a formula fed baby can start purred solids at 4 months and a breastfed baby can start purred solids at 6 months. I cannot recall the reason atm. Since Victor was formula fed from 3 weeks old I introduced the purred solids at 4 months. I started with green veggies like peas and zucchini. I would boil them and put them in the blender and feed with a baby spoon. I did peas one week, zucchini the next week. Then I did sweet potato the following week, then potato. Then I introduced purred fruits such as bananas (which he actually did not like at first), apples, pears, later strawberries. I also did organic baby cereal for grains mixed with formula. I actually started with the cereal and then veggies and then fruits. He started having meat pieces after he turned one. Although I've read that meat can also be purred. He also stated avocado and eggs after he turned one. However for a long time he did not have interest in eggs. I would have to hide it by mixing it with something else. He never liked rice and mash potatoes he likes only when he was little, but he loves sweet potato til this day. I also wish I had introduced chamiomille tea around 6 months along with water because he had a hard time transitioning from the formula to milk. Also for some reason he has a hard time moving from a bottle to a straw cup. At 18 months I did cow milk and almond milk however his favorite was apple juice. So with Daniel I plan on doing something similar when introducing solid food.
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Leila
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Leila »

With Cesar he was also picking up a lot of different things in his mouth, like toys, but only later started specifically picking up food. So only when that happened, we let him and offered him stuff - which he didn't necessarily ate but mostly played with
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Anna
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Anna »

Thank you. Lora has developed two (possibly three) teeth and I have for some time suspected that she would enjoy to start exploring food, despite it being recommended only to start at 6 months in Sweden. So we have been slowly offering her to play with a little cucumber, watermelon and such and she started eating it from the get go.

Michelle sent me a really great expansive and thorough book, more or less based on the Weston A. Price principles that also suggested that children's intestines are not ready for solids before the child is at least 4 months and it is generally suggested that babies only start when they are 6 months. I would definitely suggest to read it Antoaneta, as it gives you a very expansive perspective, beyond the official recommendations. If there are more sources you guys can recommend (books and articles) I'd be happy to read it.
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Anna
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Anna »

Sharing an update:

I wasn't planning on Lora starting eating this early as mentioned above, but she is fully into it and immediately learned how to chew and swallow. Her favorite at the moment is peach, so we are offering her pieces of peach, cucumber, banana and strawberry. I'll be giving her some sweet potato as well, but I will hold off with more starchy foods as I've also read that the receptors for this doesn't develop until later. I've been a bit weary of giving her meat and it is kind of scary to give her "real foods" but so far she's been handling it with grace - and she's been very interested in what we do in the kitchen in general (wants to participate) and she enjoys going to the supermarket lol. I got a lot of support from a book Michelle sent me called "BirstBitesAndBeyond". So if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll send it to you.
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Leila
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Re: Transitioning baby to eating

Post by Leila »

Cool Anna!
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