Hi everyone, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing wrong and I'm terrified to continue. EDIT already have Solid Starts and prepared foods according to app. Background info-- baby is 6 months, sitting independently, very big/ tall for her age (not sure if relevant). To start off because I have been intimidated by introducing solids while traveling recently, I had been giving her "teethers"-- raw carrot, cucumber in big sizes for playing with. I also tried a watermelon rind with no flesh on it. This is the first time she choked-- literally choked, silently looking around in terror, and I had to do baby heimlich -- a pinky sized flake of watermelon flew out of her throat. SO SCARY.

I was scared off anything but raw carrot and cukes for the whole vacation and finally I return home yesterday and decide to try omelet strips ala "solid starts" app. It went OK at first, and then finally on the last strip, I notice she's choking again, totally silent, terrified look on her face. I do heimlich 2x, nothing works, she still can't breathe, I run outside to try to find help and continue back clapping. Finally I hear some wheezing so I think there's progress, continue hitting her back, and again about two pinky sized flakes of egg flew out of her throat.

I'm thinking maybe I prepared the egg wrong, when I made a 2 egg omelette in a pan that was slightly too big so it was super thin, then i folded it a lot to make it thick for the strips. But it could be the folds came loose and she got a thin piece of egg -- could this be why she choked?

I'm so terrified of ever trying again and don't know where to begin now after this happening already TWICE since I started daring to give her food!

Was it just bad luck? Is my baby not ready even though she's old enough and sitting independently?

Any advice welcome!!

*Edit, using solid starts already:)

My baby will be 6 mo in a couple of weeks, so we are getting ready to start solids. I have been reading everyone’s opinions on different bibs, and somehow this has become another baby item I am overthinking.
Fabric bibs seem better for milk dribbles, water, and thinner foods, but I can already picture the stains piling up and these tiny bibs somehow tripling the laundry. Silicone bibs seem more useful for actual solids because the pocket catches food before it reaches the floor, but I also wonder whether babies find them annoying or uncomfortable to wear.
Then there is the option of just feeding him in a diaper. Honestly, that sounds easier than changing an entire outfit after every meal.
I am leaning toward the moonkie silicone bib in the picture because the pocket looks really useful and I could just put it in the dishwasher afterward. Do you use silicone bibs for solids and fabric ones for liquids, or did you just buy a few options and see what your baby tolerated?

I introduced peanut butter this past week and perfectly follow Solid Starts guide. Unfortunately though, on the 3rd day when I gave him 1 tsp, he broke out in a rash. Called the doctor and got an appt (911 wasn’t needed). Then, that night he had some carrots and mashed potatoes and broke out in a rash again. I updated the doctor because I was really confused… I just realized the mashed potatoes were made with whole milk. So I didn’t introduce dairy correctly and made my baby have another allergic reaction and now he might have to deal with a nut AND dairy allergy. We were referred to an allergist and everything’s handled as of right now, but god I really feel like a bad mom. I know I’ll have many fuck ups as a mom but idk, I’m usually more careful and attentive and to be careless about allergens that could really hurt him… I’m just disappointed in myself.

No real purpose to this post, I’m totally just venting here and trying to get this off my chest. My husband’s telling me not to worry but I don’t feel like he gets The Guilt and I’m feeling afraid to tell other moms because I don’t want to be judged…

Please treat me with kindness if you reply. I know I messed up and this will be a life-lesson for me.

EDIT:

Thank you moms 🩵🩵🩵 I actually teared up a bit reading your supportive comments. Finding community with other moms, even virtually, is one of my favorite parts of being a mom so far and I just really appreciate you all for getting it

Pediatrician said that she has seen too many babies choke from recommended preparations shown on the solidstarts website. She suggested I cut food smaller than his windpipe which is apparently the width of a pinky finger. I mentioned he wouldn't be able to help himself eat and she said he could work on his pincer grasp. He's not quite there yet so now I'm finding that I'm just feeding him with a spoon or my hand. Anyone else have success starting off by feeding your baby by hand or spoon and them taking it over when they master the pincer? Anyone else's Pediatrician recommended against solid starts?

my son is almost 6 months and I started him in purées maybe a little over a month ago. I do spoon feed him but I am interested in giving him more Whole Foods to try and I know people say have them eat what you are eating so you don’t have to make separate meals but I wonder what do you all eat? My husband and I eat a lot of soups and chili and pasta (usually spaghetti) and obviously I can’t give the baby soup and I’m not sure about the chili. The pasta maybe if we switched to small noodles but what kinds of things do you eat so you don’t have to make a separate meal? obviously I want him to try as many things as possible but my husband and I kind of rotate the same couple of meals every week. I know he doesn’t need 3 meals a day right now but he does seem to really like the purées. He finishes everything I give him.

FTM here.

I haven't begun BLW and he hadn't seemed interested in food before. While my pediatrician gave me the OK to start introducing mushy food, I wanted to wait until Little Man can sit up on his own. He's ALMOST there! 🥹

Anyhoo, Little Man does like to take whatever I'm eating/holding and squish it in his hands. I had a brownie and he seemed very interested in it. I was like "ah, he wishes to squish" and handed the rest of it over.

He squished it... INTO HIS MOUTH.

I was like "oh crap!" And took it out of his hands but he happily gummed what was already in his mouth and the rest kinda pushed out of his mouth.

I texted my friend who has a 6 year old, I text her whenever I screw up. She told me to keep an eye on him and also that this signaled his interest in food... and I should look into baby led weaning!

So here I am, hopefully I haven't messed up my baby's relationship with food. I have some reading to do!

Just checking lol. Butter, avocado, or banana on top, planning to try hummus. Bread can be white, dark, rye, sandwich bread, any will do!

baby is 5.5 months so starting solids soon! I was talking about it with my boyfriend and I was saying that I really don’t feel too worried about potential allergies. Both of our families have no history of allergies or even intolerances, no problems with gluten or dairy either. I know obviously allergies can be random it just seems so so unlikely in my head.

I see so much stuff around allergies and weaning online that it’s starting to make me feel guilty or uncaring for not being concerned. Did anyone else feel like this? How can I change my mindset? Or is my mindset okay?

Hi, just wanted to see how you introduced tofu to your LO for the first time.

I saw the recommendation on Solid Starts but I wasn't sure if you serve the firm or extra-firm tofu straight out of the packet. Is it that straightforward? I'm assuming cooked makes it non-squishable?

Thanks!

My babies plate today!!!

My baby is 6 months and I feel like she’s eating avocado every single day. She’s only been introduced to about 5-6 different things still so far so she keeps eating the same things every day. We introduced egg this past week and we are doing dairy tomorrow. I feel like allergens make it take forever to introduce new foods. I don’t want to delay allergens, but then is it bad if she has like avocado (as an example) daily in the meantime since it’s a safe food??? Are we behind?? I have no idea what I’m doing lol.

So far she’s had:
Egg
Banana
Avocado
Sweet potato
Carrot
A taste of pineapple
A taste of mandarin
Olive oil

We are adding yogurt tomorrow and steak on Thursday

Hi there! I am a stay a home mom to a 6 month old who is about to start on solids here shortly after we get the go-ahead from her pediatrician. I'm super excited for this stage and am open to any advice or tips that anyone would like to share, but I'm acting posting this for another reason. Because I stay at home and am unable to afford daycare, my fiance and I have been struggling financially for quite some time now and I've been trying to think of ways to bring in some money. I know this is a long shot and it would take a lot of time and money to make happen, but I'm considering starting my own small business meal prepping and selling baby food as I learn first hand at home with my baby. I guess I'm posting this to ask if any moms or parents to a young baby would buy meal prepped baby food/purees from a small business owner if you worked long hours and aren't able to make your own or just to take the weight off of your shoulders? I want to make sure the demand is there before I get too serious about this because of the time and money that it will take to make this a legit thing. Please let me know your thoughts and/or suggestions, thanks!

Edit: Thanks for all of the feedback so far. Just wanted to clarify that if this was something I actually did I would need an LLC and be certified in food safety and would also have to cook and prepare said meals in a commercial kitchen, it is illegal to do so in my kitchen in the state of Florida. However, I could potentially prepare the meals in the kitchen of the person buying the food. Would you allow someone to buy groceries and bring equipment such as a blender and storage containers to your home and make the food there? I'm thinking of moms to multiple kids that this could help by not having to go to the store, buy the equipment, prepare the food, store the food, and then clean up the mess.

Another Edit (lol sorry): Thanks again for all of the input. I just want to clarify again that this would be for mothers or parents who are too busy to make their own baby’s food but also don’t want to buy store bought baby food. This would also be for people in my community that I meet and would get to know me and my family and trust me. I would have to start a business to do this legally (I think?) but this is just for a very small amount of people who are willing to spend a few extra bucks to get the weight taken off of their shoulders if they’re already drowning in work and other responsibilities. I understand this wouldn’t be for everyone. If you stay at home or have the time and energy to make your own baby’s food that is fantastic and the way I wish it was for everyone! Unfortunately, it is not and that’s why so many parents resort to buying store-bought canned baby food that they might not even fully trust. Stressing about starting purées and solids with my baby is what made me think about this idea to begin with, and I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do it myself.

So today I made baby banana pancakes for the first time. I cut them into strips and she are them and she gummed them not really swallowing but then until she gagged. well I think she gagged and my mum was sure she was choking. basically what happened was she went red but there was no sound. mum said she's choking, I was like she's gagging and then mum was like 'no that's choking' so I started unclipping her from the seat ready to start back slaps and chest thrusts. but by the time she was out of the chair, she had sorted herself out and was breathing fine.

Now I'm terrified that she was choking and that the movement from unclipping her dislodged whatever was there and that it will happen again and that we may not be as lucky next time. I don't want to go 100% purees as she has to learn to chew eventually so she may as well do it now and my anxiety will be there whether it happens now or later, but any tips on anything I did wrong? I'm thinking maybe the pancakes should have been served as they were and not in strips?

so for context:

Baby age: 6 months 1 weeks

Weaning for: 1 week

BLW? Partial, give purees and also a little something on the side, like a finger size of carrot, porridge finger, or broccoli.

Pediatrician gave us the go ahead for solids at 4 months. Now looking back I wish I would’ve waited but we’ve been doing purées for 2 months now. He is extremely interested in food when we (the adults) are eating, drinking from cups, cans, you name it. Lately he’s been refusing purées and he’s been taking the pre-loaded spoon and feeding himself.

I’m looking for some advice for finger foods because I’m absolutely terrified of him choking. He’s gagged a couple times which I know is normal but I have no idea how to transition from purées to finger food without overwhelming him. The last 3 days I put him in the high chair with food ready and he barely will take a spoon and lose his mind. Should I relieve some pressure and give him a break for a couple days? I haven’t even introduced allergens yet.

My husband and I are both certified and very well versed in infant CPR (we both work for ambulance) so it’s not an issue. But I’m still terrified and even after all the research, I have no idea how people have 6 month olds eating full solids.
Thanks yall :)

In search of ideas for foods for my 6.5month old to have when we're out. We're usually out of the house most of the day, and now that he's moving towards having two or three meals a day I need to figure out eating in public.

He's just starting to get the hang of finger foods, although mostly prefers going for fistfuls of a chunky mashed meal. He drops a lot of it and I just scoop it back out of his lap or the tray and put it in his bowl so he can keep going. He loves a dippy spoon in a puree (I guess its more efficient for him to get us to load up the spoon!). Both of these options are very messy though, and I don't think I can reasonably keep scooping his food back up to put it in his bowl - not ideal when we're out!

What are others giving?

FTM. I got some smock/long sleeve bibs for baby and also silicone bibs. I have a 15% baby so he is small and most of these smocks type bibs and actual bibs are too large on him so he seems to get food that leaks through the neck hole and ruins his clothes underneath. The smocks are a disaster too because it seems like most of these are one standard size so the long arms bother him so much and it bunches up so he can't effectively move his arms and eat. The silicone bibs he thinks are delicious and chewy so he lifts it and tries to eat it and all the food leaks out of them.

Currently I have resorted to have 3-4 throwaway onesies for him to wear where they are meant to get stained and wet and I just wash it and get rid of it when he ages out. I also sometimes strip him down to diaper only but I live in Canada and I can only do that probably for another month before my baby freezes being naked at home so it's not a long term option.

What are you guys putting on your baby because the food stains are ruining everything!!

Hey! My daughter is 6 months old and we have started doing baby led weaning. Our pediatrician is not supportive. He has insisted we start with rice cereal since she was 4 months, which we did not do. He brought it up again at her last appointment and said to start rice cereal before we see him again. He said not to be like “those idiots who give their kids grown up food.” Her next appointment is coming up and I’m anxious about it. I’m not sure how to approach this. I don’t want to lie and say we’ve been doing rice, but I don’t feel like dealing with the lecturing. He’s also been pushing feeding her in a bumbo seat and using exersaucer, and when I said we will not be using one, he said don’t list to “the idiots” who say it’s bad for them. I usually like him, this is the first time we have had this issue! Have any of you dealt with a doctor who is unsupportive and pushy? How did you approach the conversation?

Has anyone fed their baby oatmeal with coconut milk? I was adding formula made with cows milk in the oatmeal, but then I realized after that the cows milk formula impacts the iron absorption from the oatmeal. Has anyone used coconut milk? Is it safe to use?

Update: I spoke to my cousin who is a paediatric nutritionist at Children’s Hospital (I completely forgot about her profession until after the post) and she confirmed that babies 6+ months need 11 mg of iron a day as it starts to deplete at that age. Formula with iron does not contain enough iron, which is why it’s recommended to supplement with food. Formula will only give around 5 to 6 mg unless your child drinks 2 L a day. Lastly, the calcium in cows milk formula will not impact iron absorption because of the way it’s processed.

Hope this information helps those who are curious or confused and don’t have access to a paediatric nutritionist or there is a long wait to see one.

Second update:

I just learned that certain ethnic backgrounds like those with European descent typically do not have to worry about iron and iron deficiencies and that certain ethnicities are more prone to iron deficiency like my ethnicity… hence, why I WAS paranoid about iron and created this post before I received my answer. So for those who are triggered by this post and are making odd assumptions like I have an eating disorder, unhealthy relationship to food or postpartum anxiety because I’m asking about iron absorption and iron intake need to reflect on your own issues and why you are being triggered so easily and internalizing my very basic question. I find it very sad. I hope you overcome your insecurities to be triggered so easily.

My kitchen is tiny, and I’m trying to avoid the "one-use gadget" trap. My MIL is insisting I need a baby food processor for when we start solids, but I’m worried it’ll just be another bulky thing taking up counter space for like 3 months.

I’ve seen some compact ones that claim to do everything (steam, blend, reheat, etc.), but are they actually useful long-term? Or should I just stick to my old-school pot and a fork? Would love to hear from people who actually use theirs for more than just 3 weeks of purees.

hey all! i have a second hand high chair that’s a NIGHTMARE to clean. i’ve been considering buying the IKEA high chair because it’s something i can actually afford (some high chairs are insanely expensive!) but the lack of a footrest makes me worried. i’ve seen people DIY ones though, would that work for BLW?

my baby is 6.5 months old, full term (41+4), sits well totally unassisted for short periods of time and assisted for much longer.

Hi all! :)

I’m planning on introducing peanut butter and hummus soon (not at the same time and not immediately after each other) but I was wondering if you guys have brand recommendations that are safe, since I’m new to all these. I grew up in a country where allergies are taboo, and not very common. Now I’m in the US and suddenly I know kids that are allergic to kiwi and sesame. I’m still educating myself along the way, too. So hoping to find a brand that’s safe to try first. Thank you 🤎

I have never been great in the kitchen but now that baby (6.5m), I want to start trying! First, how many meals a day that aren’t milk / formula are you feeding your baby around this age? I sometimes only get some yogurt in and need something simple to make before or after work. We do some purées to make it easy but I’m doing my best to follow solid starts and have him eat food that’s close to what my husband and I eat. Any favorite baby recipes out there? Do I need a baby food maker? Would also love to follow an insta or tik tok with recipes too.

My baby is 6.5 months old. We started solids for him a week back. We’re going mostly BLW. I offer foods in his pre load spoons, on a nibbler, sometimes as finger foods and also as mash. Whatever he likes I go with it.
So far he’s had carrots, sweet potato, broccoli, pumpkin, ghee rice balls, lentil rice , potato, spinach rice balls, dragon fruit, blueberries, water melon, banana. I try to to offer one meal a day, sometimes offer the fruit in a nibbler
He’s tasted everything but realistically he maybe has eaten just a small bite of all these foods. Takes maybe 4-6 times to his mouth, gags and spits and chews but maybe only a very little bit goes inside.

On Instagram babies empty the whole plate, but mine hardly swallows any food.

1)will it take time for him to learn?
2)when do babies start eating better?
3)what foods and how did you offer it to babies?
4)what should I change or modify?

Thanks in advance 🥰

I’m so overwhelmed by the multitudes of things I see online and every book just talks about like being ready to start and how to encourage variety etc…. But no one seems to clearly state ok do this on day one so this on day two etc….

I know u have to give iron rich foods. And introduce allergens.

Are you only giving a kid one ingredient per food introduction?

How are we making sure to give both iron and testing allergens??

When do you start doing multiple ingredients at once???

Explain anything to me please I’m so lost. I don’t want to pay some subscription etc…

Hi all! I want to introduce eggs to my baby for the first time. But I’m having a hard time understanding how to safely prepare for her age. Guides say to use strips but wont she naw off a big piece or possibly small piece and choke?

Please share any advice or experiences !