Introducing Veggies

Hi A.: We made our own baby food in the food processor and mixed it with breastmilk for the first few months. (We didn't start until 5-6 months per the docs recommendation...you might be jumping the gun a little.)
We introduced veggies by mixing them with fruits. Babies will eat anything sweet and it's a guaranteed way to get veggies in their system. Some mixtures included...Apple/sweet potato. Banana/pumpkin. Even avacado/pineapple! As she got older, we reduced the fruit in the mixtures and before long, she was eating straight veggies. She's 20 months old now and she loves veggies! This week's favorite is broccoli. :) Have fun!

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I made the mistake of starting with the good stuff. Don't make that same mistake! I could never get her to eat green beans, peas etc. SHe still wont eat them

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The advice on this keeps changing, but I loved the book Super Baby Food. It tells you how to make your own food, which I tried with kid #1 and it got old quickly! But, it also has a really good schedule on when to start introducing foods. It just helped me make sense of everything.

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When I had my children, I always started them on sweet potatoes, then I introduce them to green beans. Try it, your daughter might really surprise. I use to have a little notebook, that I kept to keep track of their likes and dislikes, if there was something that they didn't like I didn't feed it to them for awhile. I would stop giving them their dislike food and wait a month or two then try it again.

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Back when my daughters were just starting on the baby food, the doctor said the "orange" veggies were the best for the baby, then go on to "green". We started out with squash and carrots and both of my girls really enjoyed them. Finally, the doctor said we could do "green". Neither one of my girls really liked the green ones because they are not as naturally sweet as the orange ones. Just be patient.

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My pediatrician suggested yellow and orange veggies before green ones, as they are easier to tolerate (digest). But there are many right ways to introduce foods, so while getting advice from others is great, it is important to follow what makes the most sense to you! My daughters really liked yams and butternut squash. They are both nutritious veggies, easy to mash and tasty. I really like this website for information on food:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Good Luck!

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Hi A.!

I actually started with carrots, sweet pototoes, squash, avacados, and bananas with my daughter over her first month of first foods. I read a couple of books about "first foods" and both suggested "sweet-ish" veggies (like carrots, etc.) because they are more palatable to young infants. I also waited 4-5 days in between each food to make sure she did not have a reaction. After finishing with these 5 foods, we moved on to apples and pears. Soon, we are venturing into green beans and peas. The books I utilized as resources are "Super Baby Foods" and "First Meals." Good luck!

A.

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I waited until my baby showed the signs of being ready for solids:

sitiing up on her own,
pincher grasp,
eruption of the first tooth,
etc.

Then I gave her "real" food, never yucky mashed up stuff in a little jar.

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Others have recommended this before, but we used it an loved it: Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. She's a little extreme, so know that you don't have to try everything she suggests. However, her feeding schedules and suggestions for sequenced introduction can't be beat. My personal reco is avocado. It's really healthy, babies love the taste/texture, and it's easy to mash yourself. I used to mash a couple whole ones at a time, mix with a bit of bmilk (or formula) to get the right consistency, and freeze in 1T servings in an ice tray. Also, if you plan on making more complicated stuff on your own, get a mini food processor. They work better than the "baby-food makers" out there and will be used in the kitchen long after baby.

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Hi A.,

When my 4 yr old was about to start baby food I talked to the doc... he said start them with apples or pears, they are easier on the tummy. Then work into "oranges" veggies (including bananas & peaches) and then "green" vegggies. Always leave about 3-5 days between switching to a new one that way you will know what the baby is reacting to if it does have any issues with food. Rice cereal is easier on baby's tummy then oatmeal, but I usually give oatmeal with fruits and rice or mixed cereal with veggies, but that is just my preference.

After the baby works its way through all the single foods (which will take you about 6-8 weeks) don't be afraid to start on some of the stage 2 food... they don't have any texture differneces - just more kinda of food in the jar. Like apples & pears, mixed veggies, banana, pears and apples, ect. - lol those are the ones I know off the top of my head cause they are my 9 mo olds favorites... he still likes his mixed with a little cereal.

Babies are just like us... they all have favorites. Oh, if baby doesn't seem to like a food don't fouce it... try it again in a few weeks. My 2 1/2 year old didn't like peaches and come to find out he would get little red bumps everytime he ate them as a baby, but loves them now - I can't figure that one out. And the baby doesn't like carrots... but we do try them about one a month to see if it changes.

Good luck... remember it a new skill she will be learning - it will take time, have fun with it :) But keep in mind... they say not to start spoon feeding till a baby is able to hold it's head up with out support and have doubled it's birth weight or is atleast 6 mo. old - with my 4 and 2 1/2 year olds we waited till they were 6 mo., but the baby (9 mo) was double his birth weight by 3 mo of age - so he started by about 4 mo w/ doc's approval. He was also really interested in what we were doing when we were eating - which is a sign they are ready to eat too.

I did read a few replies that say if you start them on fruits they might not eat the veggies... I have 3 kids (13, 4 and 2 1/2 - but I don't remember what we started the 13 yr old on)that love there veggies. And I haven't had any issues with the baby eating veggies except carrots & daddy hates carrots too... we keep saying he is his dad to a tee :) Like I said everyone has favorite and dislikes with it comes to food, I don't think it has any barring on what food you started with as a baby.

Once again Good luck - don't rush the eating thing!

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I started with sweet potatoes which she loved, and then introduced something new every 4-5 days. I added a fruit then a veggie and so on. I went to carrots next then green beans.

My 8 month old now eats sweet potatos, carrots, green beans, squash (zuchinni and yellow), spinach, applesauce, peaches, pears, pineapple, mango, bananas, cantalope, papaya, but didn't like peas (will have to try again). The latest is chick peas (garbanzo beans) for protein. The idea of pureed meat just seemed disgusting to me. You should wait until she 1 year old before feeding milk products, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, citrus and berries. These are the more common food allergies so don't be too hasty to give them to her (she has the rest of her life to eat food, so waiting a few months is OK).

All my foods I make by steaming fresh veggies and blending and blending fresh fruits. There's no need to buy and it really isn't that inconvenient. I just make her food when I put her to bed. If you puree one item a night, you never run out. just put in ice cube trays for easy portioning. My freezer's full of tuperware containers with little ice cube shped foods! If you can buy a stick blender, that works great with canned fruits (be sure to buy fruit in fruit juice only!).

I agree with the other mom, feed them whatever you are eating so that they get used to the taste and you don't have fights later on. Oh yeah, and have fun! If she doesn't like something right away, wait a while and try again later. Mixing veggies together is another good trick (I serve vegetable medley quite often now, mostly for fun).

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I started my daughter on peas first. They tend not to be as much of gassy tummy upsets. Green beans gave my daughter gas really bad. In fact I think I introduced carrots and sweet potatoes before green beans. If I noticed more gas with one than another I cut back on it for awhile. Sometimes after they get used to being fed food things change within their systems. I was told to keep track of when I started her on veggies so I would know if something didnt agree with her. There is nothing any worse than a baby with gas. Sometimes it takes some real creative ways to deal with. Good Luck. Hope it helps

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Carrots, while yummy, are hard to digest. I have heard introduce veggies first, then fruits. Really, just meal by meal. Feed the veggies when they are more hungry, wait until desert time for the fruit.

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Hi A.,
I introduced my son @ 4 months to smashed avocado, green peas,asparagas and some other greens with great success. Then went onto other vegetables like steamed mashed carrots and sweet potatos and yams. I used all fresh, instead of the canned and jar stuff, which I only used when we were traveling or dining out.
My son has a beautiful craving for things like guacamole, edamame and soups now, which are perfectly easy to make and to find in restaurants. He almost never asks for desserts or sweets of any kind. I also breatstfed him successfully. His palette for foods is very healthy and swings more towards salty stuff. Also try hummous and mild guacamole now. Make it fresh, I bet your babe will love it.
Enjoy this special time.
MJ

I delight in showing him new things and he enjoys fish and vegetarian sushi now, too.
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me with questions..

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Many pediatricians do recommend to introduce foods one at a time, so as to know which foods your little one may be allergic to. I was not one of these Moms. My second daughter almost off the bat was not interested in any food we gave her, except if we were eating it off our own plate. Green beans, carrots, squash, and brussel sprouts were some of her favorites. I simple prepared them the way I would for my husband and I, and cut them up in much smaller pieces for her. One thing I will say is, if your family is prone to food allergies I would only recommend feeding one veg. at a time for 1 week, that what my sister did whose husband has food allergies. Good Luck

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I introduced peas first with both of my kids. Peas are naturally sweet and today they both love them!! Wait 3 to 5 days before introducing a new food to watch for allergies

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I started with the green veggies first with both of my children. They don't taste as good as the sweet potatoes or squash, but babies don't know what they are missing at this point. I'd suggest getting her to like the green stuff first & then keeping a good rotation of colors after they are all introduced. I did the same thing with the fruits -- saving the sweeter ones for last. My kids are 4 & 2 and eat all kinds of fruits & veggies. It worked well for us!

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The order and 'when' to introduce different foods really doesn't matter. The most recent research shows that when you introduce a certain food, like eggs, has no relavance on whether or not that child develops an allergy to it. The only exception is for peanut products and, of course, no honey until after the first birthday. Babies prefer sweet things because breastmilk is sweet. Babies and young children tend to not like the more bitter veggies because most poisonous plants are bitter -- and therefore people learned to not like bitter stuff. It also doesn't matter if you wait a few days before introducing new foods becuase most allergies don't take effect until after a dozen or so exposures... long after you move on to something else. And if you do wait 10-12 days before trying something new your child will end up with like 20 foods before the 1st birthday and that's a big No-No. You want your child to be exposed to a wide variety of healthy foods before the first birthday. Once a child turns 1, he is, by nature, much more hesitant to try new foods... it goes back to instincts. A few hundred years ago, a child who ate an unknown plant in the woods might die.

Bottom line - there is no 'right way' to feed your child. Just feed him/her what you eat for meals. All our kids started on oatmeal (quick cook kind from canister - more nutritous than baby variety) and within a week were eating a variety of fruits and veggies. We basically just fork-smashed or cut into pea-size bits whatever the rest of the family was eating for meals. Babies can gum almost anything... none of children had teeth before their 1st birthday and were 100% self-feeding normal food by 8-9 months.

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With my first two children I used a book called "Mommy Made and Daddy too!" It is now out of print but you can still get it online or try your local library. It has an awesome food introduction chart. "Mommy and Daddy" were a nutritionist and a chef. For my last child I went by memory and used some websites for homemade baby food. Here is one that I have bookmarked. http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm
From what I have read, you should start with yellow fruits and vegetables first becuase they are milder than the greens, in taste and bulk. I always started with apples and banannas, then added squash and sweet potatoes. There are so many resources available out there to help you keep track of what you are trying. Just make sure that you use the 3 or 4 day rule. Only one new thing for either 3 or 4 days straight. Then wait a few days and try another new thing for 3 or 4 days straight to rule out food allergies. I found that when I started a new food, mixing it with something they alread knew made the taste more acceptable. For example, I mixed new fruits with cereal. When I got to meats, I would mix them with sweet potatoes or squash. Be careful with store bought baby food and read the labels. You'll be surprised what you find in them.

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We found that introducing the orange vegetables worked well, since they have a somewhat sweeter, more pleasant taste. That way, they get used to eating something healthy and relatively tasty before moving into the greens. My 6-month old took very well to this tactic and has eaten everything we tried. Just be patient. Ours hated squash the first time we gave it to her, but now she just eats it up!

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Did you know that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization reccommend waiting a full six months before starting solids? Digestive systems do not mature enough until then, plus an early introduction to solids may increase food allergies. You may want to do a little more research before making the transition to solids.

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I think every baby is just different and will like different things my son is now 6 months old and he hated carrots when I first gave them to him at about 4 months but i waited a while and tried again and he likes them. I started first with sweet potatoes and carrots then I did the greens like sweet peas, (he does not like regular peas) garden veggies and green beans but he still wont eat the green beans and I always waited a few days after giving him something new to make sure he didn't have a reaction to anything before going on to the next. Good luck.

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Hi A.!
My son(born 11/2/07) has been eating veggies for about 2 weeks now. I started with peas, then sweet potatoes, green beans and now we are on to carrots. The only thing my doctor suggested is to finish the veggie or new cereal(oatmeal, barley or mixed) you pick first before starting a new one. And he said to avoid corn, broccoli until stage 2 and beyond because it would be harsh on the digestion.
Good luck!

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I suggest going green first. My son LOVED peas and green beans and really didn't want anything to do with orange veggies for quite some time. :-) He still to this day prefers green veggies over other colors. Good luck.

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Sweet potatos and butternut squash worked well for me with both kiddos, then the green veges such as peas and the mixed veges. I made my own veges so they were even sweeter. There is a book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It was wonderful. She is a little extreme (for ex. making your own yogurt and bulger cereal) but the Making your own food sections and the month to month guide on what you can introduce to your child was wonderful. I still use it for the some of the recipes for my toddlers. Good luck.

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I'm in a similar situation and i have enjoyed reading the responses. My daughter who is 3 mo and 4 wks old and 16 lbs 7 oz (yes, she is a big girl) just went to her 4 mo appt and the doctor suggested beginning her on solids. We started yesterday with rice cereal and she wasn't a big fan...I think she ate 1/4 of a Tablespoon. I am hoping that over time she will begin to like it. My doctor said to start with 1T and over a 3 wk period to move up to 3T and then introduce veggies. Give the same veggie for 3 days to see if she has allergies and then move onto another veggie (all the while she is still eating rice cereal). He said to try 3-5 veggies before moving on to fruit. As I said I am in the same boat as you and this is just what my doctor suggested. Good Luck...I know I need it! :)

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I was always told, and have stuck to, going with greens first and then orange, etc. I did it this way #1 because with my first child that's what the doctor suggested and I tried to follow all of her advice, and #2 I soon realized...the greens don't taste as good as the orange ones. The orange ones tend to be sweeter, and honestly after I introduced them, my three kiddos wanted nothing to do with the greens...nothing. Now that they are older, two of them have NO problems with veggies or fruits, ever. Now my son on the other hand...

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First, I would definetly recommend waiting at least a few months! Waiting till at least 6mo has many health benefits--lower risk of allergies, better nutrition because breastmilk/formula is more nutrient rich at that age than table food--just to name a few. It's recommended to wait until baby shows signs that they are ready, such as sitting on their own, tongue thrust going away, being interested in other people eating (though they may be interested in what you have and still not be ready because they just want to look at and touch the food), doubling their birth weight, etc. It's best to watch your baby rather than the calendar so that you know they are ready.
When you do start solids, avocado, sweet potato and banana are the best first foods of an food group. They are the most nutrient-dense and since the baby will only be eating a tiny bi, it's best to make every bite count! Plus, they are so soft that you can just fork mash them well and they are good to go!

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I have 2 kids and both of my kids were put on baby food at 3 months. The only things that I can say is don't start fruits. If you do they won't want to eat their veggies. Kids love sugar. Sweet potates are great to start with. I think.
xo T. xo

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I don't think it matters. I started with rice cereal, then oatmeal cereal, then butternut squash and then whatever else after that. I've heard everyone do it differently, and it's all OK.

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We alternated. First sweet potatoes, then spinach, then butternut squash, then green beans. My son did well. And we started veggies before too much fruit. At that point he had only had applesauce. We tried to stick to the foods that we eat most before branching out into others. At 9 mo. he was eating spinach, squash, mushrooms, etc on a regular basis and even though he fights a little now that he is 2 and entered the picky stage he still loves spinach and will only eat pizza with mushrooms and spaghetti with chunks of tomato.

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I was very confused with my first one because of all the different ways I was told to start. Our doctor said that it doesn't really matter what you introduce first as long as you give about 3 days for each new food so you know if they have a reaction to it. I have heard from some people that sometimes if you introduce fruit first you child might not like veggies so much because they are not as sweet. Neither of my children had any trouble.

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Hello, both my kids loved sweet potatoes and sweet peas. The green beans weren't liked so much until a little later. So I would suggest sweet potatoes first but don't feed your baby all orange food because they will get a tint of orange in their skin tone by the nose. So kinda switch it up a bit. Hope this helps.

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you can start to introduce veggies in any order that you wish. I never started green then orange etc.. Just of course be sure to wait 2-4 days before introducing say green beans if you have already given her carrots. They suggest waiting sometimes up to a week for different foods to introduce because of allergic reactions. It is much easier to find out what she is allergic too if she is allergic to anything at all when you space the foods out. Start on any veggie you wish.
D.

I am 31 yrs. old and have been married for going on 12 yrs. this Nov.. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

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Hi, A. --

When we started introducing solids to our daughter, we started with the least sweet foods and gradually, much later, added the sweeter ones. We believed that this would help her develop a taste for foods, not just an affinity for sweet foods. We started with peas, I think, and then green beans, maybe spinach. Eventually, we added carrots, etc.

We introduced things very slowly, always at lunch, so that we could have hours before bedtime to determine if she had any allergic reactions.

We've rarely given her juices, and when we do, it's only pure juice, and mostly things that are more tangy than sweet, like pomegranate juice. I think these days, people are so prone to eating sweet and salty foods that they set kids up for eating problems later on in life.

I don't know that you can take our success as the rule, but I can tell you that my daughter would rather eat broccoli and raw carrots or spinach or asparagus than bread or pasta. We're not vegetarians, but she has that bent naturally, leaving her chicken or fish for last. And she drinks water like it's going out of style.

So, I wish you luck! I really think introducing kids to things with subtle tastes first will really help you as your child grows because she won't be conditioned to only eating foods with very strong salty or sweet flavors.

H.

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Start with squash. The yellow veggies are sweeter and easier for the babies to accept. Then go to the carrots. and then peas and then the beans because the beans seem to be the weirdest flavor for them to accept. IF you are also doing fruit with the veggies she'll enjoy it more!

HOpe this works! Also make sure you get this all on video! lol

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A.,
I used a book called The Super Baby Food Book by Ruth Yaron. She is strictly vegetarian and had lots of great advice on making homemade baby food. I had great success using her recipes and ideas, including the order in which to intro new foods and at what age. My child was hardly ever sick too! She reccommended sweet potatos or avacados? I started with sweet potatos. They are super healthy and easy to quickly fix in the microwave. Just soften with a little purified water and stir to make it a smooth consistency. Save the rest in icecube trays, cover and freeze overnight. You can keep the leftover cubes in a freezer tight bag and reheat as neccessary! Check out her book for more great tips.Hope this helps.

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I started my daughter with the green veggies not because that is what anyone told me to do but I figured they were blander. I was afraid if I started with something like sweet potatoes she would not want to have anything to do with peas!! It worked for us, she eats them all.

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