Hello all,
Right now I am giving Gerber Rice/Oatmeal cereal + Gerger jared food for my baby boy.
Wanted to introduce him to our regular food, but like to get some ideas.
1. I read lot about Ragi. How to make it? Is the Ragi powder we get in Indian grocessory stores are OK? Also heard somewhere that Ragi is easy to digest for Girl babies than Boy babies!. Is it true?! But the main question is how to make/prepare Ragi?

2. I gave him a few times (rice+thoor dal) pressure cooked and mashed nicely. Except for the first time, he took it ok the next 2 times. My MIL added little Ghee and rasam to that one day. Is this OK?! I mean can I give rasam for babies like this smaller. Also here my Ped. recommends not to give butter till baby completes one year. But ghee is nothing but purified butter. Any ideas?! Is it safe to give ghee and rasam?!

3. What other foods I can give him. My biggest concern is he hasn't cut even a single tooth yet. Is it ok if I give him some real solid foods?! I am scared/confused.

4. Are you all giving Yougurt to your babies who are of this age. ( 9 month).
My prd. says I can and also referred 'Yo Yo baby' to try. I didn't find it anywhere in the nearby stores. I live in USA, by the way.
If you know where I can get this brand please let me know. Also what other brands can I give him, if YO Yo is not available.

Any and all suggestions/ideas are welcomed!! thanks in advance. Girija replied. Hi Ritu and Sujatha,

Thanks for you both for replying and sorry I took a while to check the messages as I became little(?!!) busy off lately. Anyway, yes Sujatha I will try your idea of mixing it with his favorite food. (hope he doesn't stop eating fav. food itself!!) - kidding.
I will try this and let you know how it went.

Now, Ritu coming to my son's schedule, it goes some what similar to yours. But I think I kind of streotyped his schedule which might bore him atleast at some point on certain days.

6:30 - 7;00 am - breastfeed
8:30 am - 9:00 a.m. Oatmeal cereal + Fruit. I offer in that order. Most days he is OK, some days he will not finish the full jar. (stage 2 jar).
He either takes a nap or plays now.
11:00 - 11:15 am - 4 oz breast milk
12:30 - 1:00 pm - This is the time I just take him for Breastfeed. But he doesn't drink. Rarely on some days he drinks for 3-4 minutes. : ). Then the question why am I doing this. This is the time (lunch hour from my work) I get to spend with him during the day.

Then around 2:30 - 3:00 lunch - Rice cereal (1.5 table spoon) OR dal+rasam rice, 1 stage 2 jar of vegetable.
Eve: around 4:30-5:00 - 4 oz of Breast milk.
7:45- 8:15 p.m. - dinner - 1.5 tbl.spoon of Mixed cereal + 1 stage 2 jar of vegetable.
10:00 - breastfeed.
Whenever I say one stage 2 bottle of food, he fusses most of the days to complete it. So we stop it whenever he fusses since he vomits if I don't.


Here the problems are,
1. If he decides to take a nap between the 1'O clock milk and lunch, his lunch goes to 4:00 p.m. which makes him skip the milk and go to dinner straight. I am worrying already that he is not drinking enought milk and this eve. milk also gets cut because of the nap times.

2. Because of this streotyped schedule I am not finding time to give him Yogurt or try out 'Ragi'.
Don't know where to put that meaning which time to give them.
I usually say after I feed him (3 minutes feeding) during the lunch hour. My MIL thinks that right after milk, yogurt is not good to give. Is that right?!

Ritu, I have few question too.
From the schedule you have given it seems like he drinks only 1 time in bottle other than the early morning and bedtime feeding. Is that milk enough for him?! I am not sure how much milk a 10-11 month baby should drink?!
Also, the other doubt I got is about the Similac powder you mix with the Breast milk. why do you do that? Whenever I give the pumped breast milk I just give plainly that and don't mix the similac with that. Is it OK to do that? Is there any reason you do that? Did your Ped. ask you to do that?
And one other thing, 1 tsp butter. Why is that added to the menu? I put little, very little ghee whenever I give him dal+rasam rice which is every alternative day.

My other biggest question is, giving finger foods. You mentioned some cut fruits, cheerios at the breakfast time. My son is turing/completing 10 month this weekend. Since he doesn't have a teeth yet I am scared to give him anything other than the regular Gerber foods.
When I tried to give him the Teething biscuit the other day (I broke that into half size), he liked to make a mess with that. ha..ha. He licked that and made a mess by trying to eat it, then he put that whole hting into his mouth and I was scared that he might get choking with that. I immediately removed it from his hands.
I am afraid to try Cheerious to for the same above reason.
What's your opinion on this. Can I give him cheerious and cut fruits and stuff like that? Please advice. I know I have asked a LOT of questions.
But, Oh, I like this message board alot. What a good way to discuss out concerns and get answers.

Ritu replied. Girija,
My son's feeding schedule is like this:
5 am - breastfeed
8:30 am - cereal/fruit/yoghurt whatever he prefers that day. I offer in that order. Most days he's very fussy.
Oh, and also 1 tsp butter.
11:30 am - lunch : 1 Stage 2 jar or equivalent amount home cooked food + 1 tsp butter + bits of fruit, cheerios, mashed potato (equivalent to say half stage 2 jar of food)
2:30/ 3:00 pm - breastmilk in a bottle - 4oz mixed with 4 oz worth of similac powder
4:30/5 pm - 1 yo baby yoghurt 4oz
7:00/7:30 - dinner - about the same as lunch.
10:30 - breastfeed

On perfect days he eats all of this. On most days he fusses a lot with the breakfast. On bad days he skips the afternoon milk completely so he gets the yoghurt earlier and so the dinner comes earlier. That leaves some time for a bedtime snack of yoghurt or something.
What kind of schedule do you follow? Girija replied. Hi Sujatha,
I tried the avocados yesterday to my son and he didn't like it. After 2-3 spoons (his tiny gerber spoon) he had a throwing up sign and I stopped giving it after that as I was worried that he is going to throw up.
What can I do. can I mix that with something else like other veggies (gerber)? OR Can I mash it with some salt for taste?!
Ritu replied. Girija,
I too was looking for Yo baby and finally found it at a few places - Safeway, Whole Foods Market and Savemart. This is in Northern California. I don't know what stores you have where you live. The best way to find out (that's how I found out) is to go to the Stonyfield Farms website www(dot)stonyfield(dot)com and click on Store Locator among the options on top in the blue bar. You can choose the type of store and then the product and your zip code. My son loves Yo Baby yoghurt. But he also likes plain organic yoghurt. He likes any kind of yoghurt I suppose. Yo baby has less active cultures and some more calories than regular yoghurt. It is just a little sweet. My son doesn't drink much milk so I let him have yoghurt instead to make sure he gets enough calcium.

BTW, babies' teeth come out at very widely varying times. So there's nothing to worry about. Also, babies at this age who have cut teeth have only a few front teeth. They are hardly useful in chewing solid food. Babies do just fine using their gums to mash food although only to some extent. So you will have to pre-mash the food a bit or make to food soft enough for them to mash using their gums.

My son is 10.5 months old. He eats all kinds of solid food, but he isn't interested in milk. He eats the right amount of solid food, but not more than that to make up for the less milk. So he is very underweight (2nd or 3rd percentile). His pediatrician told me to give him 1 teaspoon of butter 3 times with his breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am worried that this might affect his digestive system in the long run. Also, with all this fad about Atkins diet, I hope his diet is not changing into a low carb, high fat one. He only breastfeeds twice at night and that too, only because he is sleeping. If he was awake he would probably refuse. During the day he is at daycare and he refuses to take milk. I send a bottle of breastmilk everyday and I have started concentrating it with similac powder so that whatever he takes will amount to double the amount. He loves to drink water - seems addicted to it! :-)
I try not to worry about his weight. His doctor says that the standard curves are based on American babies and also mostly formula fed babies so it is not a good indicator. But she must be worried too if she is asking me to feed him butter.
I make it a point not to force feed him and to not let him feel any of my stress or disappointment at mealtimes.
How often and what things do you guys feed your babies? How much milk do they drink?
Thanks for your support. Its great to have a place to discuss these things and share thoughts.
- Ritu Shital replied. Hi,

I have a 8 month old who eats the foll:
Veges: sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, spinach (all smashed and strained OR Gerber)
Fruits:Apples,Banana,Peach,Pears,Mango,
Kiwi,Strawberry,Plum,Prunes,Wildberry,Raspberry etc. (either smashed and strained homemade OR Gerber)
Cereal: Rice/Oatmeal/Berley with above fruits and breastmilk
Non-veg: Chicken, Turkey (boiled, smashed and strained OR Gerber)
Now that he is 8 months old I am starting him with Raagi, rice and all dals, avacados, plain yogurt (I will go for organic), cottage cheese, cheese etc.(told by my babies' doctor).

Here is how to prepare raagi:
Heat a pan, take 1-2 spoons of raagi in the pan, add enough water to cover the raagi, add little salt and cook. Add little ghee while serving.
There is no preparation required for Avacados. Just scrap the while material from the green cover, smash and serve the baby. It somewhat tastes like coconut and has good fats !!(Not the bad ones..)

Hope this helps..
Thanks
Shital

Tina replied. Hi Girija,

I am also mother of 9 months old baby boy. I gv him most of the things home made. Like dal & rice ( I make all kind of dal ) of cource less spicy. Also I have him rice with chicken & Lamb. If u are vegtarian. U can gv him rice with Lots of vegatable. or U can make veg for ur family and take out some of the vegetable out if it and wash it and then add it in ur baby's rice and gv it to him. He will like it. I gv him baby food too. Like custards and fruits salads.

Regarding yogurt. U can easily found baby and todlers yogurts in the supermarkets with added fruits in it. Infact u can gv him home made curd. Which u can even add in his rice too. Some time u can add sugar in it and some time little bit of salt.

Infact I make French toast and pan cakes for my baby for breakfast. he like it.

Best of luck and let me know if ur baby likes these.

bye
Sujatha replied. Hi Girija,
I have a 7 month old girl. I give her the Earth's best multi-grain cereal (in the organic section), Gerber Rice cereal and I make the veges & fruits myself at home (steam & puree them)

I don't know about ragi. I would like more info on that. I have heard mixed stories about ragi. So I am holding off until I get a better picture.

Secondly, rice with toor dal or moong dal is perfectly fine. You can even introduce a little bit of sambar(not much, just for taste). Ofcourse, rasam is great for him as long as you don't make it too spicy. If he likes it, then nothing like that. You can very well add ghee & butter. My ped says it is perfectly good for the babies to get some fat. Don't use butter too much. Use ghee but sparingly ofcourse. So the answer to your question is YES, you can go ahead and give rasam & ghee.
The best way to give the baby good fatty acids is to give them avocados. You can start them at a very young age(say 4months) Infact, they are also considered as one of the first foods. The recommended qty is 1/3 to 1/2 tbsp per day. They are very good for their brain development.

Don't worry about the teeth as babies this age have strong gums and they can very well chew with their gums. Only thing is they have to get used to the texture and learn how to chew. Give him some teething biscuits once he gets a tooth.

Finally, regarding the yogurt, you can buy just plain yogurt that have live cultures in it. Look for words like 'live and active cultures'. Don't buy the yogurt which says pasteurized, stabilized or heat treated after culturing. Buy whole milk yogurt. Babies need the fat and so don't go for 2% yogurt or fat-free ones. I give her the organic yogurt(I buy it plain and mix the fruit in it) I usually give her 1/2 tbsp - 1 tbsp depending on her appetite.

Right now, I give her sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, beans(her fav), squash, yam, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, avocados, mango, to name a few. I am planning to give her cauliflower, eggplant, strawberries, cantoloupe, kiwi fruit, egg yolk (not egg whites), celery, etc. soon. I tried giving her idli with yogurt. She takes in the yogurt and spits out the idli. Ofcourse, I flatten the idli and give her but doesn't like the taste I guess. I sometimes give her the taste of sambar, kootu(with moong dal), rasam (very very little). She seems to be opening her mouth wide for them. BTW, she got 2 lower teeth at 6 1/2 mos and now I give her the teething biscuits too.

The best book that you can get is \";Super baby food\"; by Ruth Yaron. It gives you all the details that you need.

Good luck. Let me know if any of you have any more suggestions.