yum avacados...and other ?s

[ashopaholicmom]

are these a 1st time type food or later? 

just starting solids (yesterday) and plan one one type of food a week, going through the Gerber step 1. on this schedule we will make it to step 2 around 7.5 months. I intended to go real slow, but is this too slow? 

I'm a first time mom and all i really knew to do was check out the Gerber's at the supermarket and make an "itinerary" from there. Are there other things i can and should offer in the first few stages they don't. I don't think I'm confident enough to make everything myself, and then the storage...yikes. afraid i would do something wrong.

Do i offer a sippy cup with water or juice with a meal?  it seems so thin that i thought no, but I'm second guessing myself now.

any advice is greatly appreciated

i have many other questions, but they belong on other boards so i will go there and post, Thanks for all the help

[LLLena]

Hi!  I am sure you'll do fine with feeding your lo.  How old is he/she?  I started my ds at 4 mos and found that his belly wasn't ready for them yet.  When we tried again at about 5 1/2 mos, he was more than ready and we still have to be careful about getting constipated. 

Anyway... enough of that.  There are several different recommendations about the feeding schedule.  Anywhere from 3-7 days before starting another new food.  I have been doing about 4 days and it is working out fine for us.  There are books on the market that you might be interested in for making food if you are thinking about trying.  It is really easy and much, much cheaper than buying food.  The book that I use is Super Baby Foods and people talk about it all the time on this site.  All you really need is a hand blender and ice cube trays.  Depending on the food, you cook it, peel it and puree it, although not necessarily in that order. 

Remember that feeding your lo doesn't have to be done on a rigid schedule and that you can change it up as you feel necessary.  They say to start with rice cereal (and all new foods) only in the morning until you get past the magic number of days that you are introducing that food.  Then you can move that "old" food to the next feeding and start a new food in the morning, and so on.  Now, that being said... we don't do very much cereal if at all because my ds gets very constipated with rice and oatmeal.  I am going to try barley, but I fear we'll have the same result.

We offer water with a little bit of juice mixed in for flavor (ds hates straight water) in morning and afternoon.  You can also introduce a sippy cup at 6 months and it can take about a month of everyday use before your lo gets the hang of it.  I only give 2-2 1/2 oz per offering and never more than 6 oz of water/juice in the day.  I think it can fill them up too much.

So far, we have done apples, pears, bananas, prunes, plums, peaches, mangos, avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, acorn squash, as well as the aforementioned cereals.  If you want to try avocados at home, let me know and I will tell you how.  It is all really easy... I am not good in the kitchen either.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful.  Let me know if I can help you with anything else.  Don't be too hard on yourself.  I am a first time mom too and it'll all work out for us. 

[ashopaholicmom]

Thanks sooo much for the advice. I'm working on the whole confidence thing, so your advice really helps. my son is 5months old. we have been eating cereal for 4 wks and doing great. He sits up on his own and opens his mouth for the spoon ect...  We went to the dr for a check up on some other things and began talking about going forward with starting solids since he was doing so well. We started with squash, and boy does he love it. He actually started trying to grab the spoon out of my hand, which has started a whole new issue all in itself! lol  I would love to know how to try avacados.  Thanks for the idea on the book, i'm going to have to go search on that.  Once again thanks and any other advice is welcome

[LLLena]

I am happy to be able to help you.  It is comforting to know that we are not alone in this new baby thing.    My ds is just starting acorn squash with the second day this morning.  Oh my, he loves it!  It makes me so happy to be able to offer him so much variety. 

To do avocados:  wash the fruit (someone else mentioned that the bacteria, Listeria - can be deadly, is on about 80% of the avocados sold in the US.  Anyway once you wash it, cut it in half as you would a grapefruit.  At this point, you can remove the big seed and scoop out the fruit.  You can mash the fruit with a fork or use a hand mixer.  I prefer the mixer, but it is a personal choice.  I think it gets better consistency that way.  When you are done mashing, put them in an ice cube tray to freeze.  When its solid, you can put the cubes in a ziploc baggie and label it.  To prepare for eating, just throw it in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so.  I add a little water for smoother consistency, but it is all about how you want to do it.  If you make about 6-7 avocados, that should be enough to fill 2 trays. 

If you buy the Super Baby Foods book, you won't be sorry.  There is so much good information in there.  Even if you don't make all your food, you will have the information to help you decide how to integrate your adult meals and give him some of what your making (within reason, of course). 

Please let me know if I can help with anything else.  Good luck!

-Lena

[MDHmommy]

Hi there!!

My LO LOVES avacado pureed with a ripe bananna and a couple of tbs of plain, whole milk yogurt to thin it out.
He never much cared for the avacado all on it's own (until recently, and he's 10 mos now) but loved it when mixed with bananna.

You absolutely CAN freeze the avacado and bananna too - you just have to put it in ice cube trays and then cover it really tight with plastic wrap to keep the air out of it, and thus keep it from turning brown on the top.

[LLLena]

That is a good point about the saran wrap.  I forgot to mention that part too!  Thanks MDHMommy!

[cathbilson]

Re avocados: my Lo loves them. For one solid feed I give about 1/4 of a large ripe avocado. Put the rest (stone in) in a ziploc bag in the fridge, it will keep a good few days and you will get 4 meals from 1 fruit if you don't want to worry about freezing!
I mash with the back of a teaspoon (plastic baby one) and then add about 1/2 oz of formula milk to it and mix thoroughly until nice and soft.
As for water, I offer after the meal. Once he's done and cleaned up, playing happily on the floor, I offer his water bottle. He'll often drink about 1/2 oz, then another 1/2 oz a bit later.
BTW you can do banana in exactly the same way as avocado - the small ladyfinger bananas are good, makes 2 meals! Store half in skin in ziploc bag on kitchen counter for tomorrow!