Confused?!?!?

[idunno]

My wife and I are about to stat weaning our 5 month old baby girl Lilly.

A lot of friends have started their babies on baby rice, but many reports say this is bland and tasteless. Our nanny suggested Heinz breakfast, but this contains sugar and low salt, which when you read everywhere says is a definite no-no! It's the same with Rusks, the over-cautious NHS says these are not good for babies, yet no-doubt everyone on this forum grew up eating!

What is right and what is wrong, we are very confused!

 

[faille]

Sugar is never a good thing to get into the habbit of eating a lot of, especially for babies! You shouldn't give too much sugar because of tooth decay (yes this can affect teeth before they even get them) and you don't wanna wean LO onto sugar full foods and end up giving them a sweet tooth when they grow up. And that's not to mention the other effects of too much sugar.

As for salt, they shouldn't have more than 1g a day up until a year old because their kidneys simply cant handle it.

Things dont have to be bland but they should be healthy. Neither sugar or salt are healthy.

 

[idunno]

I think it just comes down to common sense. Obviously feeding LO solely on such foods is not good but maybe once or twice a week so that they get different flavours is better. Denying children of any sugar will affect their growth and development, so providing in the right proportion seems best.

We will probably start with fruit and vegetables and see how she takes to it (fingers crossed!!).

Cheers

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I agree with Faille, but would also add that there is no need to put LO onto a sugar free diet. Fruit has naturally occuring sugar and there is no need to avoid fruit for this reason. What I really do avoid is refined sugar, found in things like rusks which I've never given and don't intend to.

 

[Lu28]

Agree with Claire, there's plenty of naturally occurring sugar they can have instead of the processed stuff

 

[Lisa1302]

Have you considered starting with porridge?
There are ones made for 4+ months which do not contain gluten - they come in flavours like banana so are not too bad taste wise...its what Izzy had early on and she has always enjoyed them.
I get the C&G ones, they do 4mth+, they are good as they have a high level of nutrients in, and when mixed with formula is even better!

 

[Connah'sMommy]

We started on veggie purees at 5months 1 week. HV said there was no need to give baby rice etc if we didnt want to and that veg purees were just fine. We gave carrot,sweet potato,cauliflower to start but also added porridge for breakfast a few weeks later.

Its totally upto you what you give though,baby rice/cereals are just fine