Age appropriate foods??

[AMB1216]

My LO is turning 4 months on friday and I've decided to start introducing solid foods. He has been eating Oatmeal for the past 2-3 weeks (I tried it to see if he would even take to the spoon and he loves it) He was also a little constipated and the oatmeal has helped a lot.
My question is how do I know what age appropriate food is? Obviously it's the mushy stuff but are there foods within that category to stay away from? I don't have any allergies on my side of the family and I don't believe DH has any either.

I was also considering mixing fruit into his oatmeal, I've got some blackberries, apples, and watermelon at the moment and blackberries are the only one I can imagine putting into his oatmeal as they are easy to mush and stir into the food but I haven't found out anything on if he can eat them.
I also thought about picking up those pouches of food and using those to add in to his oatmeal.

I also got one of those meshfeeder things and tried some watermelon in it last night but he didn't take to it. Not sure if it was the watermelon or if he didn't know what to do with the mesh. x)

Any help would be awesome.

 

[SarahBear]

If looking at physiology, you're good to go on pretty much anything that's soft enough to gum, at 6 months. Even chicken sliced across the grain of the meat can be eaten without teeth. Food before 6 months isn't recommended, so not sure how to address "age appropriate foods" for a baby that young. In terms of a 6 month old, some of the best early foods are meat because it contains a good source of iron. Liver is excellent. Fish has a perfect texture and has vitamin D. Banana and avocado are excellent fruits. Cheese and egg are good foods. Inappropriate foods would be things high in salt or sugar or processed foods with additives. I think they changed their mind on honey, but they used to say it wasn't appropriate under a year. There's also the obvious such as things that can't be eaten without teeth like raw carrots, but even cooked veggies can be difficult to digest, particularly when not cooked enough. Lots of people feed veggies and grains, but I personally don't like to give them early on. Veggies and grains aren't really digested, so I feel like they're more like space fillers than real food. They say "food under one is just for fun," but I don't buy into that. Babies need iron and vitamin D, and probably other things. So, I prefer to offer easily digestible foods that are high in nutrients that they need.

 

[cookette]

If looking at physiology, you're good to go on pretty much anything that's soft enough to gum, at 6 months. Even chicken sliced across the grain of the meat can be eaten without teeth. Food before 6 months isn't recommended, so not sure how to address "age appropriate foods" for a baby that young. In terms of a 6 month old, some of the best early foods are meat because it contains a good source of iron. Liver is excellent. Fish has a perfect texture and has vitamin D. Banana and avocado are excellent fruits. Cheese and egg are good foods. Inappropriate foods would be things high in salt or sugar or processed. I think they changed their mind on honey, but they used to say it wasn't appropriate under a year. There's also the obvious such as things that can't be eaten without teeth like raw carrots, but even cooked veggies can be difficult to digest, particularly when not cooked enough. Lots of people feed veggies and grains, but I personally don't like to give them early on. Veggies and grains aren't really digested, so I feel like they're more like space fillers than real food. They say "food under one is just for fun," but I don't buy into that. Babies need iron and vitamin D, and probably other things. So, I prefer to offer easily digestible foods that are high in nutrients that they need.

^ I cannot offer anything else, she said it perfectly.

 

[LoveCakes]

At 6 months babies should be able to have anything except honey(due to the risk of botulism) and nuts until they are one. Dairy should only be after 6 months so oatmeal should be with baby's breast or formula milk.

The current guidance is to wait until six months due to their digestive system maturing but if you are starting earlier most people start with baby rice, risks and fruit purées. Have a look at the pouches and jars in shops for ideas, most brands will offer a meat and veg meal etc... As well as single ingredient purées. I find banana mashes into things quite well but it may be worth avoiding as they can cause constipation if your LO is already like this.

 

[MindUtopia]

If your baby is under 6 months, it should just be baby rice, rice-based porridge (no wheat or oats until they're six months, so I'm assuming this includes oatmeal if it's true adult style oatmeal), and then vegetable and fruit. No eggs or dairy or meat or anything basically than isn't rice, vegetables or fruit. After 6 months, you can make the oatmeal or whatever with cow's milk, but before it should just be breastmilk or formula, if you want to be strict about following the guidelines (well, which actually say to wait until 6 months, but if you're going to start before, to be extra careful about what you offer to avoid causing allergies or digestive issues). After 6 months, anything is fine except added salt and sugar, honey (until 1) or whole nuts (until they have all their molars and can chew them), but nut butters are fine from 6 months.

 

[mel28nicole]

I would just stick to the oatmeal and rice cereal for now. I started weaning at 4 months due to constipation issues but stuck to one meal (just oatmeal) once a day. Around 5 months I started introducing jarred fruits and veggies, still only once day until closer to 6 months she was have two meals a day

 

[noon_child]

They say "food under one is just for fun," but I don't buy into that. Babies need iron and vitamin D, and probably other things. So, I prefer to offer easily digestible foods that are high in nutrients that they need.

I think that mantra is to stop people thinking that babies need to be on 3 meals by 6months! It is actually around 9-10 months that babies start to need the extra calories that food plus milk will give, so between 6 and 9 months food is about exploring taste texture and developing the physical abilities needed to eat e.g holding food, pincer grip, biting, chewing, gagging, swallowing etc.

Obviously some babies take to food really well and eat proper meals before this age but it is important not to encourage babies to take food instead of milk (formula or breastmilk) because it has the right mix of nutrients for immature guts. The more food he fills up on the less room for milk and the risk is he's swapping nutrient rich milk for low nutrient foods like fruits (what we might eat on a diet - not if we were trying to grow new muscle bone and brain!).