Mom's help! Baby food question!?

Question

I have a six month old baby that started on solid food about 3-4 weeks ago. We did the regular transition from rice cereal (which he wouldn't touch) to oatmeal to veggies/fruits and now starting meats. I've been using the Gerber babyfood line. My son was exclusively breastfed up until we started foods and we're going to continue supplementing with breastmilk till at least a year old. Here's my question: He HATES baby food...especially the meats. I asked dr if he really needed them (I'm a vegetarian) and dr said yes. I fed him a mushed up meatball from a can of spaghettios the other day and he thought that was the greatest thing ever. Would it be terrible to puree spaghettios and stuff like that for him to eat? I'm at a loss and basically every meal is becoming such a battle that we end up with a little oatmeal and back on the breast. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Our Dr. calls solids at this age "playing with food". It is not nutritionally vital, nor should it be a battle. The fact that your Dr insists that he 'needs' meat at 6 months is strange, even Gerber doesn't recommend it yet. Breast milk is meatier then meat at this stage, and should continue to be your son's main source of food for many months. You could give iron suppliments if that's the concern. If you battle and then give in, your son is learning to fight solids so that he will get nursed, or given spaghettios. Look at the ingredients on the can, they are barely a food. So full of preservatives, chemicals and sodium, that we could barely digest them, much less a 6 month old.
Get an inexpensive food grinder and put some plain cooked chicken in it with some cooked dark green veggies from the family's dinner, and he will get plenty of iron, and it will taste like real food to him. Give it at a time of day when he is usually cheerful and not overly hungry, sometimes nursing a little first helps. But try not to worry about his intake of solids too much just yet, he may really take to it in a month or so.
If you must give more then mere tastes of solids right now, and need the convenience of jars, try the 2nd foods with parsley, thyme or onion powder added, which might satisfy his taste for seasonings and still be a healthy choice. take a whiff of the Gerber meats, they smell like cat food, I don't blame him for not wanting it.

Answer 2

A little more oatmeal and back on the breast is MUCH better than the canned spaghettios. That stuff has so many nitrates and nitrites and additives and preservatives that it's not a good choice for him until he's over two (and even then it's not that advisable) His little body is too delicate for these chemicals. Also there are the mix dinners that have some meat in them, but they're not the straight meat. He doesn't really need THAT much meat especially since you're breastfeeding (great choice), he's getting most of his protein from the BEST source.

Sounds like you're doing great. All babies have their faves and ones they don't like. If you want a child who''l eat anything and is not picky, this is what you do:
When you introduce something (even a fruit or veggie) and he's not receptive after a few bites (like 6 or 7), then don't insist. Stop the feeding and don't substitute. Then about a half hour later, try it again. If he eats great, if not a half hour later, try yet again. By this time, he'll be hungry enough that he'll eat it and the repeated tries have now made him more familiar with the taste. It seems like a bit of work, but actually it's not, because you're stopping the feeding and not sitting there insisting. Kids who are forced, will rebel even more and make up their mind that they will NOT have that food. You don't want that. Just do the half hour trick (of course refridgerating the meal in between feedings), and he'll eat anything and everything. I have two kids who eat eveything we eat. And they love their fruits and veggies.

Answer 3

The only stage 3 baby foods I bought were the veggies and fruits. This was only if we were on the run too and I needed to pack something for my son to eat while we were out. Other than that, I skipped the meats and such because there is so much sodium in them. What I was cooking at home was much healthier, so I gave that to him instead. He was off jar baby food completely by 9-10 months and onto table food. Obviously, he still had his formula until he turned 1 though. I didn't take the baby food away cold turkey. He would get finger foods and I'd gradually switch, like I stopped giving him carrots from the jar and instead gave him steamed carrots. The first finger food I gave him though were those Gerber puffs and Cheerios though.

Answer 4

Try cubes of extra firm tofu.
He DOES NOT need meat this early.
His diet should still be about 75% breastmilk. The solids are mostly for fun and practice.
Try buying fresh bananas and mashing them up....maybe add a bit of expressed breastmilk to thin it if necessary. Same with avocados. Breastfed babies tend to really like both of those and they are very healthy choices.

Don't let meals become a battle. You want it to be enjoyable for him. Maybe he's not all that interested yet? If so, that's FINE! Most breastfed babies are just getting started with solids around this age. For some, it can take weeks, even months more, before they are eating much solid foods. NORMAL.

Answer 5

Baby food meat is horrible. My rule when my son was doing baby food was: If it tastes nasty to me, I won't make him eat it.
Have you tried pureed beans? My son won't eat meat at all, even now at 17 months. He never has, and he is perfectly healthy. He looooves beans, and I let him eat all he wants instead of meat.
Good sources of protein are:
Beans, whole milk yogurt, wheat germ, peas.

At 6mo. he's still getting more than half of his nutrition from breastmilk. Breastmilk is the most complete food in the world.
Right now just slowly introduce him to foods so he can experience tastes and textures. It can take 15 tries with a new food for a baby to accept it.

About the spaghetti-os, my honest advice/opinion would be to not give those to him. They have a ton of salt, corn syrup, and sometimes hydrogenated oils. He'll get used to the taste of processed foods and reject the natural ones.
Just look at mealtime as a sensory experience for him. Don't get stressed or anxious if he rejects some foods, just move on and try again the next day. Starting solids is a big thing for babies- for months all he knew was your milk, now he's learning tastes and textures- it's a big thing in a baby's world! Sometimes it can be overwhelming, so let him take the lead, and don't get too frustrated.
Also, it's a little strange that his doc said that the meats are important. Right now the most important caloric intake is breastmilk. There are alternatives to the meats, maybe you could talk to the doc about that?

Best of luck!

Answer 6

You may not like my answer but here goes. Baby food is for baby's. spaghettio's are food for kids it has increased sodium and artificial flavors look at the can. I would not fed my son that when he was growing up. I don't believe in can foods they take out all the good things and fill it with a lot of junk. It is that junk that is making all our kids today to be heavy. Being a vegetarian you must be very well informed about nutrition and it importance. Try mixing the meat with his favorite food and alternate , meat .mixture, plain favorite keep trying until you find one he likes.as far as buying other baby food save that for busy days use a food mill and give your child fresh cooked veggies and fruits

Answer 7

The meatball from the spaghettio's would be okay every now and then as long as you don't over do it so he doesn't get an upset tummy!! I have never heard of a doctor saying a kid that young needs meat though. I would still try other kinds of baby food though, my nephew flat out would not eat anything from the Gerber food line they went to a different kind and he would eat away.

Answer 8

I think your doctor is full of crap. Babies do not NEED meat until theyre a year old and can handle some table foods. Ive never EVER EVER EVER in all my years working with kids EVER had a doctor tell me a 6 month old MUST have meat.

Get a different doctor.

And yeah, i'd say if he'll eat some mashed up spagettio meat balls, let him have it. He might take better to having some flavored (not salted) meats from the dinner table pureed to eat.

You can also try mixing the gerber baby food meats with some sweet potato, that works well to mask the icky meat flavor.

But again, when it all comes down to it, at this age, he gets an excellent amount of protien and nutrients from the other baby foods and most importantly the breast.

I would serioulsy consider a new doctor. Thats just wrong.

Answer 9

Veggies are the first step to starting solids.....and you alternate between the green and yello/orange...letting him try each one a few days at a time to watch for any kind of reaction.....then you move onto the next one.....
after all that.....it's the meats.....and do the same as above..
and then the fruits........

Here's another food guideline from Baby Center
as well as Foods to avoid

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyfeeding/1400680.html

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyfeeding/9195.html

Start with vegetables; after you have gone through vegetables, start on meats. Leave fruits until last.
The theory behind this rule is that if you start fruits first, your baby may acquire a sweet tooth -- and then he won't want anything that's not sweet. (I haven't seen studies to confirm this one -- but it does make sense, kind of...)
You can feed a baby vegetables, meats, and fruits that you have cooked and mashed (by hand or in a blender or food processor).
There is nothing sacred about jars of baby food -- in fact, about the only thing a jar of baby food has that home-cooked-and-mashed food doesn't have is extra salt (which your baby doesn't need anyway...).
Avoid corn, citrus fruits, and nuts.
Like corn, citrus fruits and nuts tend to induce allergies if given too early. (I usually recommend waiting until age 1 year to give wheat cereal, corn or corn cereal, or citrus fruits; many pediatricians I know suggest waiting until age 2 years before giving peanuts (including peanut butter) or other nuts.)
If you give clear fruit juices, don't give a lot -- and make sure that your baby isn't taking so much juice that she isn't drinking enough breast milk or formula.
Clear fruit juices are usually no more than flavoured sugar water -- sometimes with a vitamin or two, but they haven't nearly the nutritional content of breast milk or formula. Although a baby older than about 6-9 months has kidneys capable of getting rid of the excess water and keeping minerals balanced in the body, if she fills herself up with juices she won't want to eat and drink things with more and better-balanced nutritional content.

Answer 10

Have you tried just baking chicken yourself with little seasoning and pureeing that? I bet he would like it.
The only thing with prepared foods is you have to look at all the ingredients and see if he has encountered all of them. The only problem is if he has a reaction, you really don't know what ingredient caused it.
I can't believe that you are already on meats after starting out only a month ago. I did only about 2 new foods a week. I have lots of allergies and wanted to go really slowly with my daughter. I think it took me 2 1/2 months to get to meats.
Lots of babies don't like the meats.
I'm just starting down the path to solid food with my 5 month old. We've done rice cereal since he's 2 months and just added oatmeal, which he doesn't really care for.
Fun, fun.