Intro to Solid Foods
At 6 months of age solid food feedings will begin. All foods are introduced slowly starting in the early part of the morning so that if the child has a reaction, they have the rest of the day to improve and avoid a restless night. Introduce foods one at a time every 3-7 days. Signs and reactions may be constipation, diarrhea, increased gas, fussiness, more spit up, restless night and rash.
There are many schools of thought about food introduction for babies. Here are a few thoughts we would like to focus on:
First Foods
Stage Two Foods
Introduction of Cereals
Any food which the child has had for 5-7 days and has had no problems with may be given at any time in combination with a newly introduced food. For example: When introducing 2 tsp of chicken for lunch, the baby may have a whole jar of squash and ½ jar of applesauce to complete the meal. The child will then be getting increasing amounts of food as time progresses.
JUICE IS NOT NECESSARY
In fact it is preferable you train your child to drink water or coconut water.
If you are still inclined to give juice, juices or smoothies made at home are the best.
If giving store bought juices, make CERTAIN they do not contain artificial colors, corn syrup or fructose.
When possible, feed your child ORGANIC only. This is to minimize toxins, pesticides, and unnecessary added hormones. If not always possible, then at least stay away from those foods that that tend to have the most pesticides and hormones. See the blog titled "The Dirty Dozen" for this list.
THE DIRTY DOZEN AND CLEAN FIFTEEN
Excerpted from Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™
Dirty Dozen™ 2014
EWG's Dirty Dozen™ list of produce (2014) includes foods which contained a number of different pesticide residues and showed high concentrations of pesticides relative to other produce items.
Foods included in the Dirty Dozen list are: apples, strawberries, grapes, celery, peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, imported nectarines, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and potatoes.
In particular:
EWG recommends that people who eat a lot of leafy greens-kale and collard greens- and hot peppers buy organic instead because they contain trace levels of highly hazardous pesticides that are toxic to the human nervous system.
The Clean Fifteen™
EWG's Clean Fifteen™ for 2014 - the produce least likely to hold pesticide residues - are avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, eggplant, grapefruit, cantaloupe, cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Relatively few pesticides were detected on these foods, and tests found low total concentrations of pesticides.
Notable findings:
At 6 months of age solid food feedings will begin. All foods are introduced slowly starting in the early part of the morning so that if the child has a reaction, they have the rest of the day to improve and avoid a restless night. Introduce foods one at a time every 3-7 days. Signs and reactions may be constipation, diarrhea, increased gas, fussiness, more spit up, restless night and rash.
There are many schools of thought about food introduction for babies. Here are a few thoughts we would like to focus on:
First Foods
- FOCUS FIRST ON VEGETABLES MAINLY. This is to train child's palate to love their veggies. Also to train ourselves as parents to focus on feeding more foods from this food group. Start with 2 tsp and work up to a full jar of vegetables.
Stage Two Foods
- Introduce fruits and meats. Start with 2 tsp and work up to a full jar.
Introduction of Cereals
- Stage Two Foods Avoid or minimize wheat products like pasta, breads and cookies.
- I like to encourage parents to not focus initially on cereals. But once child is doing well on a variety of other food groups e.g. vegetables, fruits and meats, then introduce cereals. AVOID WHEAT PRODUCTS DURING FIRST YEAR. E.g. pasta, bread, cookies.
- Earth's Best rice cereal is soy-free and therefore a preferable brand for rice cereal.
- Oatmeal, millet and quinoa are extra nutritious cereals.
Any food which the child has had for 5-7 days and has had no problems with may be given at any time in combination with a newly introduced food. For example: When introducing 2 tsp of chicken for lunch, the baby may have a whole jar of squash and ½ jar of applesauce to complete the meal. The child will then be getting increasing amounts of food as time progresses.
JUICE IS NOT NECESSARY
In fact it is preferable you train your child to drink water or coconut water.
If you are still inclined to give juice, juices or smoothies made at home are the best.
If giving store bought juices, make CERTAIN they do not contain artificial colors, corn syrup or fructose.
When possible, feed your child ORGANIC only. This is to minimize toxins, pesticides, and unnecessary added hormones. If not always possible, then at least stay away from those foods that that tend to have the most pesticides and hormones. See the blog titled "The Dirty Dozen" for this list.
THE DIRTY DOZEN AND CLEAN FIFTEEN
Excerpted from Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™
Dirty Dozen™ 2014
EWG's Dirty Dozen™ list of produce (2014) includes foods which contained a number of different pesticide residues and showed high concentrations of pesticides relative to other produce items.
Foods included in the Dirty Dozen list are: apples, strawberries, grapes, celery, peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, imported nectarines, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and potatoes.
In particular:
- Every sample of imported nectarines and 99 percent of apple samples tested positive for at least one pesticide residue.
- The average potato had more pesticides by weight than any other food.
- A single grape sample contained 15 pesticides. Single samples of celery, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and strawberries showed 13 different pesticides apiece.
EWG recommends that people who eat a lot of leafy greens-kale and collard greens- and hot peppers buy organic instead because they contain trace levels of highly hazardous pesticides that are toxic to the human nervous system.
The Clean Fifteen™
EWG's Clean Fifteen™ for 2014 - the produce least likely to hold pesticide residues - are avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, cabbage, frozen sweet peas, onions, asparagus, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, eggplant, grapefruit, cantaloupe, cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Relatively few pesticides were detected on these foods, and tests found low total concentrations of pesticides.
Notable findings:
- Avocados were the cleanest: only 1 percent of avocado samples showed any detectable pesticides.
- Some 89 percent of pineapples, 82 percent of kiwi, 80 percent of papayas, 88 percent of mango and 61 percent of cantaloupe had no residues.
- No single fruit sample from the Clean Fifteen™ tested positive for more than 4 types of pesticides.
- Detecting multiple pesticide residues is extremely rare on Clean Fifteen™ vegetables. Only 5.5 percent of Clean Fifteen samples had two or more pesticides.