Introducing Meats - Buffalo Grove,IL

I started introducing meat at 1yr I never tried the stage 2 baby food meats. At 1yr I just started giving my son little bits of the meat I cooked for dinner. I only give him chicken or fish and he loves it! I am holding off the red meat for quite sometime but thats just a personal choice. Good Luck

With our first son (who is only 2 now) our dr recommened waiting until 9 months before starting meats. He said that before then babies have a hard time breaking down the proteins.

This time around (our son is 7.5 months) the dr said we could start at 6 months. Something about the iron in meat.

IDK, I have no idea what could've changed in the short amount of time between my two boys! I'm sticking to the 9 month rule. Mostly because I make the baby food and pureeing meat makes me gag! So, when he is ready to start gumming food is when I will give meat! With our first son that was right around the 9 month mark.

I skip jarred meat...eww. Sorry, but if I think they look a little yucky I can't feed it to me kiddos! I just give my son (and my daughter when she was little) whatever meat we're having for dinner. At 8 months, your daughter can have some seasonings as long as it isn't super spicy or super salty. I just cut it up really small and they feed it to themselves. Neither of my kids really have/had teeth at this age, so teeth are definitely not a requirement! Also, if you want to prepare ahead of time you can do crumbled beef or turkey or shredded chicken breasts and just keep them on hand in the fridge or freezer. At 8 months my daughter refused anything from a spoon so I had to just start giving her anything and everything and it worked out perfectly fine...now if only I could get my son to do it! ;)

I ditto FS on her answer. Both my kids started about a year old.

All my baby food was homemade.

Just out of curiosity what does "nancy" comments mean? Never heard that term before =-)

I personally didn't give my daughter jarred food...especially meat...it just grossed me out. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about introducing meat at 8mo old unless you want to. My daughter is almost 13mo and she doesn't eat much 'meat' protein at all. I talked to the nurse and she said it's probably a texture issue, but i do try to give her beans of some sort, green bean, peas, soy, lima...whatever, at least once a day so she's getting her protein that way. Good luck and do what works for you.

My pediatrician had me start both of my children on meats at 6 months of age but from what I have heard, the age recommendation can vary from doctor to doctor. I fed Gerber meats as I found them to be a much smoother texture than the Beech Nut which was drier/more crumbly. (Both of my boys gagged when I fed them Beech Nut meats.) When I first introduced it, I would give a little bite of the strained meat and then follow it with something like a bite of sweet potato to make it more palatable. The 2nd foods chicken& apple dinner was a big hit too. I was told to think about their meals like I would prepare my own so I usually did some meat and veg, then a little fruit and maybe some puffs or zwieback toast. I think how much you do really depends on your own intuition for what your daughter is ready for. Best wishes! :)

I am another one that did not do jarred meats, I just think it is gross. Slow cooking meats is a really good way to make it soft enough for a baby so you can put chicken, pork, beef into the slow cooker and cut it up small for the baby to eat. Fish (low in mercury) is a great meat for babies. I just give my 10 month old different versions of what we are eating for dinner. If it is pasta I give him the plain noodles, if it is a meat with a sauce I just grab some for him before I put the sauce on it.

i never did baby food ( mushy food) so not sure what stage 2 meats are. I just took chicken thighs and cooked in a crock pot until tender and gave my daughter pieces to eat. her sharp gums would chew them and she would eat them right up....remember there was a time, not so long ago where Gerber didnt exist, or food processors, or baby food books....and people gave their kids the food they were eating! imagine that!

I never bought the meat only jars.. but the mixed dinners.. chicken rice and veggis.. probalby by 8 months is fine..

remember baby food is practice for eating after age 1 .. all nutritionf before e ny food before 1 is a

Stage 1, two and three are marketing tools made up by Gerber. That's all.
You can start introducing foods in whichever order you want to. If you want to skip cereal... do so, it's nutrionally empty.
Your baby doesn't like puree, do soft chunks or vice versa.
Don't fall for the marketing trap. Introduce new foods when your baby seems ready (less gagging, eating more than one serving of puree at a time...) or skip commercially prepared food altogether and make your own.
Good luck!

my daughter is 10 months and I just started her on the jar food with meat mixed into it. She also chews well, so I can give her tiny bites of meat from meals and she'll eat that too. Every baby moves at her own pace, so just keep an eye on any signals, and try- try- try- try- try =D

Good luck!

She's probably ready now for meats. I agree with some of the other mom's who have not given their kids the jarred processed meats - it really does look, taste and feel disgusting. Just bake some mild tasting chicken or whatever and cut it up super small (I agree with the slow-cooker idea - the meat comes out so tender). I've mixed the chicken with applesauce if they are having a hard time getting used to the taste. Good luck!

We tried the jarred meats with our first child but they just smelled badly and he turned his nose up at them. I think we wound up skipping the single meats altogether until we got to the stage 3 foods where they have meats/veggies/pasta all in the same jar. He really liked those. Now at age 3, he is pretty adventurous and tries lots of different foods, including meats and fish.

With our current baby who is nearly 8 months old, we just skipped the meats and stuck with the veggies/fruits and have recently started stage 3. We figured the first boy turned out okay so this one probably would too.

Give the stage 2 meats a try if you'd like and follow her lead. She may love them or she may hate them but if you want to introduce them, there would likely be no harm. I will warn though; in my personal opinion they smelled just absolutely awful! Not trying to be negative, just sharing my experience. I really couldn't deal with the smell!

I use the stage 2 foods that have a combo w/ meat. Like Turkey Apple Cranberry - I've never done the meat only but whatever you choose is fine. Our doctor expects that our baby will have tried a variety of stage 2 foods by his 9 month check up and for us it does include meat. I just tried a Plum Foods Turkey combo which was a little more thick and my 8 month old wouldn't take it but probably because he's been sick - I was bummed that we were at a restaurant so I couldn't water it down by mixing it w/ an apple sauce or something but I'll try it again in a week or so once his cold has cleared up. You can also start giving your baby tiny little pieces of your food including meat to see how s/he takes to it. It's definitely ok to start giving meat at this age.

I gave my daughter meat by 8 months. I gave her the chicken we were having for supper because she had plenty of teeth and she was interested in what we were eating. I didn't give her the stage 2 jarred meats because I was kind of grossed out by them, but I find many things gross. I think she's at a good age to introduce them as long as you have introduced other foods already.