At the baby shower I attended recently I was amazed by how much feeding stuff the soon-to-be mommy received. Bottles aside, she now has a full collection of baby spoons, sippy cups and snack bowls. Of course I already have all this stuff for Doodle too, but that’s only because it’s left over from the girls but I don’t intend to even get any of it out and wash it for months yet.
I don’t start solids with my kids until after 6 months. Both girls were a few weeks past 6 months when I started them on baby rice cereal. I then did oatmeal, barley, veggies and finally fruit. I use the American approach of introducing one new food at a time in case they have a reaction to something I’ll know what to avoid in the future. I was surprised when I had Sugarplum in for a weight check at the baby clinic in Dublin at around 6 months and was informed that she should be eating solids and I should just blend up whatever the family is having (like EVERYTHING we were having) and spoon feed it to the baby. The nurse was concerned that I had only started cereal as the Irish do not worry about allergies and just introduce everything at once.
I am a bit more cautious than most parents probably are because hubby has some very severe food allergies in his family. I have specific foods which I avoid for long periods of time. I don’t do anything with eggs or dairy until after at least 10 months and no milk for drinking until after a year. I also do not do any wheat until after a year (this makes for interesting 1st birthday cakes, see “A Piece of Cake”). I do peanut butter around 18 months and also hold off sulfites (found in wine and balsamic vinegar) as this one of hubby’s family allergies until around a year and a half. I also wait on shellfish until after 2 years as it’s another family allergy.
Sometimes it seems like a lot of trouble to introduce one food at a time, but I know if we ever do have a severe (or even minor) reaction I’ll be glad I was so careful. It’s also come in very handy in learning food preferences. For example, Honeybun hated avocado for years and by introducing it by itself I knew right away that is what she disliked and not something else it was mixed in with. (Besides, what adult would want all their food blended together?)
