Baby Food Starters: 6-9 Months

First, I need to caveat this post:  I am not a baby expert, please listen to the advice provided by your Pediatrician, GP or Lactation Nurse. I am only writing from my experiences with Madelyn, hoping to provide insight to other new moms.

Now, we can get down to business :)

It's been almost a month since we started solids and so far it's been SO much fun. I am very blessed with a baby who loves to eat, making the whole process enjoyable. We decided to wait until after Madelyn was 6 months as I wanted to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. One sign we also looked out for (under the advice of our Lactation Consultant) was Madelyn's heightened interest in the foods we were eating. On our trip to Cuba she was reaching for our food and was totally into drinking water from her sippy cup. We knew she was ready.

I compiled our 6-9 months food starters list by consulting our GP, Naturalpath doctor, Lactation Consultant,  Lila's mom and other moms I know. They all had different opinions (of course) and different good reasons for their items. I highly recommend doing your own research to see what is best for your baby. Every baby has different needs.

Baby Food Starters: 6-9 Months

* Listed in our trial order

• Squash
• Steamed Prunes (helps get things moving)
• Avocado
• Sweet Potato / Yams
• Banana
• Broccoli
• Peaches
• My Organic Baby Brown Rice Cereal (fortified with iron)
• Pear
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Pureed Dark Chicken Meat
• Apple
• Cherries
• Blackberries

Some notes:

• The Red Items are part of the Dirty Dozen. It's better if these foods are Organic.
• The Blue Items are some of the least contaminated foods. These do not need to be Organic.
• The order of food was based on what we had available in our kitchen, however, we purposefully started with veggies before fruits so our baby didn't develop a preference for sweeter tasting food.
• Wait 2-3 days between food introductions to look for allergic reactions, rashes, or changes in mood.
• All foods with the exception of bananas, peaches and avocado were steamed.
• All foods with the exception of bananas and avocado were pureed in a food processor before serving.
• Brown Rice cereal was recommended for it's Iron content. We mix it straight with warmed peaches or pears (rather than water) to boost it's flavor. (Try it on it's own, it tastes like glue - nasty).
• If you are debating between Brown Rice or White Rice cereal, read this article first.
• Pumped breast milk can be added to any food to make it taste super yummy for baby.
• It's a great time saver to make a big batch of one food and freeze it in ice cube trays (1 tbsp serving to start, 1/3 cup as baby progresses) and keep them in a zip lock bag in your freezer for daily serving.
• We serve 3 flavors per meal and often mix the foods together to create new flavors.
• We offer water in a sippy cup as a compliment to the meal.
• Baby Wise II says, "Begin as you mean to go". We say a prayer before our meal and keep baby's hands to her side while we eat. It's a cleaner way to do it and takes less time to clean up after! Honestly, by the second day she knew to keep her hands by her side - babies are amazing!

I'm looking forward to comments about your own food successes!