Starting to feed my son solid foods...?

Question

My son is almost 6 months old and we decided to start feeding him solid foods (well mashed up and pureed foods). We are starting him off feeding him solids once a day, and after trying a new food we won't have him try another one for 3 days and just feed him regular baby cereal (the doctor said this was best for allergy reasons). He eats the food really well and barely spits any out, so he seems ready to eat.

But I noticed since we started that his bowel movements have been slower (he normally goes every morning about 9) and when it comes out that it is a lot thicker and darker. Before this he was purely a breastfeed baby and it always thinner and a yellowish color. I am kinda figuring that is happening cause we started feeding him solids, but I wanted to know if anyone else has had this kind of experience?

Also if anyone makes/made their own baby food.. can you pass along any tips or recipes?

Thanks!

One more question.. do you have to cook/stream fruits also? Or can I just puree them since they are already rather soft?

Answer 1

Totally normal. I bet the smell worse now too!

You should be fine with the pruee fruit. I think you plan is right on track.

My child loves kidney beans. That might be good to pruee with rice? You can also try cream of wheat - once you are into a more diverse menu. Also check out Yobaby yogurt. That is a staple at our house. Just check on the one with strawberries. When I had my first kid they said no strawberries until 1 and now they do not say that. Who knows.

You should be fine! Enjoy the cuteness.

Answer 2

Yup, you'll definitely notice a difference in his bowel movements. If he gets constipated, make sure you cut back on the solids and nurse him a little more than normal because breastmilk has a natural laxative.

I also feed my children homemade food. I did the whole puree thing with my first but decided to allow my second to just feed himself from my plate instead of going to mashed/pureed foods.

I would just steam the same veggies we made for the rest of the family for dinner a little longer and mashed them with a fork. If it was a fresh fruit, banana or soft peach, I'd mash as well. Babies love sweet potatoes and mashed. Really, recipes after a month or two are just the same as your food! My friend bought a baby food recipe book and this is how they all went: steam, mash. Hahaha.

If you'd like more ideas, check out the book Super Baby Food by Yaron, it's an incredibly useful guide on making your own baby food. I didn't follow all her stuff exactly, hi, I'm working, I don't have all the time in the world, but she had some great ideas. For instance, babies love hummus, and it's a great way of feeding them protein.
Good luck!

Answer 3

I just started feeding my son avocados the other day. My pediatrician said that there might be a change in his bowel movements because his body is working to digest the food, so it will change in frequency, color, and consistency. He told us not to worry unless our baby became constipated and showed signs of discomfort while passing.
My son isn't bf, unfortunately, but my best friend bf with both of hers and when they started solids, the same thing you're describing happened with her children. Remember that with bm, they have less waste because they are using up nearly all the bm. With vegetables and fruits, there will be more waste as more things found in these foods are unnecessary for our bodies (ex. cellulose, etc. found in plants).

For tips and recipes, check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com. It's the best! I also have a Baby Bistro Box (full of baby recipes) arriving in the mail soon so if you'd like those recipes, email me and I'll gladly email you some. :)

**Added: For fruits, if it's already soft like bananas and avocados, there's no need to steam or cook them at all. Just mash them up and add some water/bm/formula if it's too thick. With harder fruits, you will need to cook them. The website I linked to you has great cooking/storage tips.

Answer 4

It's totally normal.
I make my own applesauce. I'll either boil or bake apples, and just mash them up, and add a dash of cinnamon. I don't add sugar, as my son doesn't need any added sugar, but it's very good. You can do this with peaches, strawberries, any fruit really. have fuN!

Answer 5

Solid food takes longer for your baby to digest then breast milk, therefore throwing off his bowel movements. Tell your doctor just to be sure he makes note of it, but this is normal. They tell you that breastfed babies have more frequent bowel movements than formula fed babies because breast milk is more easily digested and passes threw them faster, that is also why they eat more frequently then formula fed babies. Just continue to follow your doctors advice and slowly and gradually introduce more and more foods.

Answer 6

His BM's are perfectly normal... As for homemade babyfood you can puree just about anything... You can boil/steam carrots, peas, green beans, squash, potatoes... etc.. mash it up and give it to him... Same with fruits... good luck

Answer 7

you will definatly find a difference in his poop with solids coming into the picture. they will smell alot worse too and at times it may seem like he is having a harder time pooping but its because he is getting used to the harder poop inself. he should be fine, he is old enough for this now. gl

Answer 8

All mammals are protected by the same thing -they can't physically eat food until they are physiologically ready to digest it. For humans this means picking up the food, placing it in their mouth, gumming it, moving it back with their tongue, and swallowing it. The most obvious of course it the tongue thrust that newborns have -this reflex actively keeps food out of their body until they can digest it. But the other steps all have safeguards as well.

For healthy, full term infants the ability to eat food develops around 6-9 months. In recent years there have been numerous studies looking at the risks of certain things (allergies, asthma, anemia, etc) in relation to when solids are started and almost all have shown that the lowest risks are when solids are started between 6-9 months.

However it should also be noted that babies with allergies may refuse solids for up to a year, and that breastmilk is nutritionally complete for at least the first year of life despite earlier statements that it is not. An unpleasant feeling in the mouth is often a first sign of allergy and may cause babies to spit out rather than swallow allergenic foods. This is a very useful safeguard that should not be overridden.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

* World Health Organization
* UNICEF
* US Department of Health & Human Services
* American Academy of Pediatrics
* American Academy of Family Physicians
* American Dietetic Association
* Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
* Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
* Health Canada


http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html#choke
It appears that a baby's general development keeps pace with the development of his ability to manage food in his mouth, and to digest it. A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it.

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html#early
The babies who participated in the research were allowed to begin at four months. But they were not able to feed themselves before six months. Some of the younger babies picked food up and took it to their mouths; some even chewed it, but none swallowed it. Their own development decided for them when the time was right. Part of the reason for this study was to show (based on a theory of self-feeding) that babies are not ready for solid food before six months. It seems that we have spent all these years working out that six months is the right age and babies have known it all along!

It seems reasonable to predict that if parents choose to provide babies with the opportunity to pick up and eat solid food from birth they will still not be able to do it until around six months. The principle is the same as putting a newborn baby on the floor to play: he is being provided with the opportunity to walk but will not do so until about one year – because his own development stops him. But: everything depends on the baby being in control. Food must not be put into his mouth for him. Since it is very tempting to do this, it is probably safer to recommend that babies should not be given the opportunity to eat solid food before six months.

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html#choke
Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing the baby to gag. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking – and makes one wonder about the safety of giving lumpy foods off a spoon.

Why not cereal?

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html
Cereal is not at all necessary, particularly the baby cereals. Regular (whole grain) oatmeal is more nutritious for your baby.

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/ci2.asp
The truth is, there is nothing special about these foods that makes them better to start out with. Babies don't actually even need rice cereal

http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVDec99Jan00p130.html
Meat provides additional protein, zinc, B-vitamins, and other nutrients which may be in short supply when the decrease in breast milk occurs. A recent study from Sweden suggests that when infants are given substantial amounts of cereal, it may lead to low concentrations of zinc and reduced calcium absorption (Persson 1998). Dr. Nancy Krebs has shared preliminary results from a large infant growth study suggesting that breastfed infants who received pureed or strained meat as a primary weaning food beginning at four to five months, grow at a slightly faster rate. Dr. Krebs' premise is that inadequate protein or zinc from complementary foods may limit the growth of some breastfed infants during the weaning period. Both protein and zinc levels were consistently higher in the diets of the infants who received meat (Krebs 1998). Thus the custom of providing large amounts of cereal products and excluding meat products before seven months of age may not meet the nutritional needs of all breastfed infants.
Meat has also been recommended as an excellent source of iron in infancy. Heme iron (the form of iron found in meat) is better absorbed than iron from plant sources. In addition, the protein in meat helps the baby more easily absorb the iron from other foods. Two recent studies (Makrides 1998; Engelmann 1998) have examined iron status in breastfed infants who received meat earlier in the weaning period. These studies indicate that while there is not a measurable change in breastfed babies' iron stores when they receive an increased amount of meat (or iron), the levels of hemoglobin circulating in the blood stream do increase when babies receive meat as one of their first foods.


http://www.westonaprice.org/children/nourish-baby.html
Finally, respect the tiny, still-developing digestive system of your infant. Babies have limited enzyme production, which is necessary for the digestion of foods. In fact, it takes up to 28 months, just around the time when molar teeth are fully developed, for the big-gun carbohydrate enzymes (namely amylase) to fully kick into gear. Foods like cereals, grains and breads are very challenging for little ones to digest. Thus, these foods should be some of the last to be introduced. (One carbohydrate enzyme a baby's small intestine does produce is lactase, for the digestion of lactose in milk.1)

[...]

Babies do produce functional enzymes (pepsin and proteolytic enzymes) and digestive juices (hydrochloric acid in the stomach) that work on proteins and fats.12 This makes perfect sense since the milk from a healthy mother has 50-60 percent of its energy as fat, which is critical for growth, energy and development.13 In addition, the cholesterol in human milk supplies an infant with close to six times the amount most adults consume from food.13 In some cultures, a new mother is encouraged to eat six to ten eggs a day and almost ten ounces of chicken and pork for at least a month after birth. This fat-rich diet ensures her breast milk will contain adequate healthy fats.14
Thus, a baby's earliest solid foods should be mostly animal foods since his digestive system, although immature, is better equipped to supply enzymes for digestion of fats and proteins rather than carbohydrates.1 This explains why current research is pointing to meat (including nutrient-dense organ meat) as being a nourishing early weaning food.

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713793510~db=all
The results indicate that in a group of healthy, well growing 12-month-old Swedish infants one-quarter is iron-depleted, although iron deficiency anaemia is rare, and one-third may be zinc-depleted. The high cereal intake of Swedish infants from 6 months of age may have limited the bioavailability of both iron and zinc from the diet.

http://www.jpgn.org/pt/re/jpgn/abstract.00005176-200201000-00009.htm;jsessionid=HW2Ny1WpvFRtf9h3hRTlGQMdLxXhWm20yJYNjLFZJCF2wkfjvTRn!1071114923!181195629!8091!-1
Conclusions: These results confirm that meat as a complementary food for breast-fed infants can provide a rich source of dietary zinc that is well absorbed. The significant positive correlation between zinc intake and exchangeable zinc pool size suggests that increasing zinc intake positively affects metabolically available zinc.