[*kyle*]

When do you introduce meat to your baby?

So far, I've had Dominic on about 2-3 oz of rice or oat cereal plus 1-2 oz of a pureed veggie or fruit, twice a day. Other than that he drinks a 6-8 oz bottle of milk (4 oz breast and 2-4 oz formula depending on how hungry he is), about twice a day, plus all the booby grazing he wants all evening and night. He's grown well on this although at his 6-month appointment he dropped from the 75th percentile to the 50th in weight. I'm not so worried about this because I feel he had a big growth spurt around 4 months that has slowed down some.

So last weekend Eric returned Dominic from his overnight with several jars of baby food in the diaper bag. All of these jars were pureed mixes of meat (turkey and rice, that kind of thing). They are "2nd stage foods" from Gerber. I called Eric to ask him about it and he said he has introduced meat to Dominic. My mother (a nurse) said that it is healthier to hold off on meats until age 10-12 months. When I told this to Eric, he isn't budging. So then I called our pediatrician, whose office told me that after 6 months meats are "allowed." Well... just because something is allowed doesn't mean it's best practice. Right? Eric is persisting because, well, he never takes my want or need into account... nothing new there... it's why we're divorcing.

I am worried about food sensitivities, allergies, too much/too little iron and protein... all of the info seems to be mixed. I'm sure it won't kill him, but I'm not trying to rush his little body too fast into new things, and it seems like Eric is (a battle I'm guessing I will be fighting for the next 17 1/2 years).

I guess I am just looking for experiences of BTDT mommies, our WTTC nurses, nutritionists and anyone else with an opinion lol.

[~*sierra*~]

hmm i know we've been giving payne a variety of foods both pureed and hand held stuff (he gnawed on a chunk of asparagus for like an hour last night), he has even had a whole sausage that he gnawed on and rubbed all over his face (ew). basically if he looks interested in what we are eating we generally give him some. we eat mostly healthy foods so it hasnt been an issue, i think meat is healthy and honestly at this point not much really goes down the hatch so i figure it can't hurt and he's learning about food as he goes so there are non-nutritional benefits too. that being said a lot more would go down the hatch if being fed a puree....so hmm, i guess i dont really have any true advice! lol what works for my family is simply if he is interested we let him partake

ETA...oh maybe you could just suggest eric feed him more balanced meals, like not all meat/rice purees. i think at least half the 'meal' should be veggies. (i'm minoring in nutrition so i somewhat know what i'm talking about lol)

ETA again...i'm just so irritated with eric on your behalf!!

[LisanAndy]

Around 6 or 7 months old I'd give a little meat to the girls and it increased from there. My girls LOVE chicken LoL

[Frozendesire]

Things changed from when I had Curtis too when I had Dustin. With Curtis I was adviced to wait until 9months+ to give him any meats. However with Dustin they had changed it to earlier. The reccomended any time around 6 months when you are starting solids. This way they are getting the iron they need. So with Dustin we just went with his flow. Whatever he felt like eating (to a certain point). He had chicken, beef etc when he finally showed interest.

I think there is alot of mixed information on nutrition in kids. Unfortunately you have a battle going on and all of this gets mixed up with that and so I guess you'll have to pick which battles are worth fighting for. Good luck

[Angelaosaurus-rex]

I started Landen on meats mixed with BM at 7 month. I didn't want to start until later but his doctor was concerned about his iron and told me to start him on meats. I would only feed him the plain meat jars... I know their was a reason why I would not feed him the mixed jars but I really do not remember. But I do remember it was a good reason hahaha!!! I would think just keep an eye on him to make sure its not upsetting his tummy.

I'm sorry Eric is being an annoying difficult butt head! I hope you can get him to listen to your concerns! ((HUGS)) I love your new siggy!

[**jessie**]

We started meats at 6 months.

Now the recommendation (I know, always changing!) is that meats should be one of baby's first foods. This is particularly important if you are bf'ing. Around 6 months, the baby's iron stores begin to be depleted and BM is naturally low in iron which can result in an iron deficiency anemia. Formulas and cereals in the US are iron fortified, but that form is not nearly as bioavailable as heme iron from meat.

Over here we have mixed 'menus'. The are like 8 or 9% meat and the rest is a combo of veggie and starch. I have tried them myself and I can't taste the meat in them at all (except the salmon one). He gets a jar of these every night as his dinner meal. I never tried the pure 100% meat purees. Seems kind of gross to me.

[SandKmommy]

WIC told me to start at 6mo when they gave us all the jarred foods, but Kieran wouldn't eat pureeds(I tried to give her a bite of the pureed meat and she wouldn't have it and it wanted to make me puke from seeing it). She started having small cubed ham at 9months, Seamus started meat around 9-10months also(I don't remember when our pedi said to give meats though)

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

I don't have a clue, but I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be making these big decisions with someone unwilling to act as a 'team' right now. I hope he comes around soon.

[Oriyan]

When we started J.J on solids more regularly (around 5 months) our ped told us to do fruits for breakfast, meat for lunch and veggies for dinner. He only eats the meats that are mixed -- he has never just eaten Turkey or Beef in the jar because he hates it. The good thing with Earth's Best food is the meat always comes mixed -- Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, or Turkey Split Pea.

Do you have any food allergies in our families? If so, make sure you give the same thing for 3 days in a row to make sure allergies are not a problem. I have some minor food allergies, but J.J seems fine -- he eats anything. Only thing he is allergic to that we know of so far is something in Axid.

You also have to remember -- every doctor, nurse, mom, dentist etc, is going to have their own opinion on the matter. YOU need to do what YOU feel is in the best interest of your child. What makes HIM happy and healthy.

We did chicken as a first meat probably around 6months or so. Then we progressed to other meats over time.

[midnight_starr]

I have no advice, but I'm sorry Eric is being a butt.. He should have atleast discussed this with you before just giving it to him!!

[Trannyfromtheuk]

We started giving meats when we started introduceing food.

[amazing_love]

We're obviously not at that stage yet so i have no idea what's best but i hope you and Eric can get on the same page. I can imagine how difficult that would be.

[..Christine..]

Lyla is the same age as Dominic. We saw the Pedi last week at her 6 mnth appt and she told me no meats and no combos yet......Lyla is still BFed with the occasional solid. She's only had rice/oatmeal cereals, some carrots, zucchini and sweet potatoes ( all that I made). She doesn't always get solids either some days she does and some days she doesn't. I'm kind of taking it really really slowly with them.......it's weird
how so many Peds say different things.

[Resi]

Oliver didn't start solids until he was 6 months old. I didn't try fish or chicken until he was closer maybe 10-11 months old. He never has eaten much of either. I'm sure Dominic will be just fine with it. A lot of people give meats early on with no problems. It doesn't sound like your going to get Eric to budge anyways. I guess you could always just let Eric feed him meats and skip them on your days.

[lauren in hi]

i think it was around 9 months w/ both my kids. my mil really fought w/ me about it for abby, which was dumb because she was mainly formula fed (w/ like 1 bm bottle a day) and that has iron. plus mil is a former nurse, and there's all this stuff that she should know abt. child development.

i think it's really up to you at this point...although it sounds like eric's giving you such a bad time. i hate when people give my kids new foods.

[Mars]

I introduced chicken around 9/10 months. I would puree it initially and mix it with he other foods. We tried other meats later on.

[*kyle*]

Thanks for all the feedback. It sounds like the majority of you and your medical people have been ok with trying out meats at 6 months, so I'm not going to stress over it. Stephenie made a great point about choosing battles. I can just choose to feed him what I am comfortable with while he is with me. I have a cupboard full of fruits and veggies that I will go through before moving on to any meats. Truthfully I will probably wait even longer to start meats now than I would have knowing he is already getting them in moderation at his father's home. I wouldn't want to overload him on it and he is getting some iron which is supplemented in the formula and the cereal mix he gets.

I realized there are 2 issues going on here simultaneously. One has to do with feeding and parenting decisions, and the other has to do with an ongoing dynamic between me and Eric that is left over from our marriage. I am SO OVER trying to control what Eric does. Our 10 year relationship was one long, slow, complicated power struggle and I just cannot do that anymore. I KNOW how stubborn he is, and I am in even less of a position now to make requests of him, so why bang my head against that wall. I am going to try a "parallel parenting" approach and see if that works for us any better.