Hi! My little one is 5 months and 1 week old.
She has so far tried rice cereal, carrots, blueberries and banana.
She eats fine. She is still mostly on formula and a bit of breast milk. (I have very low production and she has become disinterested in my breast)
So I was wondering what's the earliest that a baby can be eating with a diet mostly of food and supplement with some formula/breast milk?
I understand that she shouldn't try cow milk, honey, or citrus by age 1. And to wait a few more months for meat, eggs, and dairy like yogurt and cheese (pasteurized).
Assuming she eats the way she does solids now, she would take in all solids for nutrition if I would let her. But what's the risk too soon? Assuming I can provide all nutrition for her by the time she tries her variety to rule out allergies and make her way to meats and some dairy, I don't see any issue with her being full food with a bit of formula/breastmilk in a few months before 1 year old.
Any advice of any children who have gone through this?
I was always told that food is for fun, until 1. Just experiment a lot after 6 months they can pretty much have anything except honey and salty and sugary foods. The new guidelines over here are give them allergy foods like egg, peanut and shellfish before 12 months but not before 4 months.
Most formulas have a lot of synthetic ingredients and unnecessary harmful ingredients. But I don't produce enough breast milk. I feel bad that I am feeding my girl processed substandard partially toxic sh*t since her first months in life. But we can't really afford to buy breast milk from someone else. If anyone knows any breast milk sources for cheap or barter please let me know.
Thank you for the charts. I'm still confused though. If adding cow milk, honey, and heavy starch food is the only change in type of food at age 1. And anyone can be healthy without honey, heavy starch food, and cow milk ever, why use mostly formula before age one if they are eating a variety of food by say 8 months old? What nutritional deficiencies would be present??
I don’t know if you’ve ever watched a baby eat but there’s no way they could get all of their nutrition from solid food alone. Some babies won’t even touch food. Food before one is “mainly” for fun. They really don’t eat to get nutrition. They eat to learn how to chew and swallow. They eat to play with textures and have fun. Plus they don’t always have enough teeth to actually eat the food. So that’s where breastmilk and formula come in. It’s essentially a nutrition shake to make sure your baby is getting what they need. A baby needs a lot of nutrients so depriving them of that is extremely dangerous. Google iron deficiency. They go through the biggest growth spurt of their life in their first year and you don’t want to mess with that or it could have major consequences throughout the rest of their life. I’m not a doctor so I don’t have all the answers to your questions. All I know is that your child is depending on you to feed them properly and safely.
Basically I want some clarity on why breastmilk/formula would have to be the main source of nutrition before age one if the child eats food well and has access to a variety of foods to provide complete nutrition? I want her to have breast milk supplemented for as long as I produce. But I dont like how formula despite having all nutrition is so processed when there's real food out there. Do most doctors recommend wait until one because most babies don't enjoy food well at first/want to feed as much breast milk as possible/it's hard to provide full nutrition through food ?by the time she has tried a variety that can provide full well rounded nutrition, I'd rather her have real food and breast milk with some formula before age one than relying on mostly a processed nutrient shake(formula)
I think because the formula has the correct amount and all of the vitamins and minerals that are needed for them to thrive and grow properly.
Obviously breast milk is best however the next best thing for their age is formula.
Lol that must be blueberry. On a for real note though formula or breast milk should still be main source. My daughter still loves the bottle so idk what to say about her disinterest in it. I feed my daughter and give her a bottle. Best thing to do is talk about it with her pediatrician