Opinions on introducing meat

[Hangin_On_AGS]

I would like to make meat a more staple part of Mia's diet. We give her very small pieces of flaked fish and she loves it!! Her ped said wait till 9 months to give it to her regularly. But I found research from the nutrition department of pediatrics from the university of Colorado that states they found that giving meat as a first food boosted zinc and iron levels of exclusively breast fed children. My mom and I think they say no meat as it could be a choking hazard. And I would never give her cubes of meat or anything like that till she is a wonderful chewer with teeth. But I don't see why I can't give her pureed chicken and very small very soft pieces of flaked fish.

So when did you introduce meat? how did you do it?

If it helps we are doing a combo of tw and blw. she picks up and eats bits of food and we than top it off with chunky purees.

 

[Rachel_C]

My first was veggie until she was a bit older but my second LO had meat from the first week of weaning (26 weeks). If you're giving finger foods as part of TW, you can absolutely give pieces of meat from 26 weeks. There is no reason at all to wait. The gag reflex is a long way forward when they're young so it's actually safer to introduce bigger foods now than later on when the gag reflex has moved further back. You don't need teeth to eat meat either, plenty of old people manage and my kids did too. Maybe don't cook stuff till it's like leather but normally cooked chicken, beef, lamb etc are fine - if you don't find it too chewy, LO will be fine with it. If you want to stick with a more TW approach, you could try mince (personally I can't think of anything worse than pureed meat!). My youngest's first meal was spaghetti bolognese which she ate herself with her fingers. No reason you couldn't spoon feed it though, if that's what you're doing.

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

She gets very frustrated with blw alone. she does not get enough and throws a huge fit so we do spoon feed some things. But When we take her out to eat at restaurants, like the other night we went to red lobster and she had flaked grilled salmon and crushed broccoli and was the happiest little girl in the world! I really want to keep on this path but again.. dumb ped makes me question what I know Mia is ready for. and She is willing to eat anything right now and I want to keep that up.

 

[special_kala]

Mine all have meat from 6 months. BLW

 

[staralfur]

We gave her meat right away. They actually now recommend giving meats as a first food here in Canada.

We just gave her small bits of chicken to start. She was able to eat it with no teeth, it was no issue. I mean, don't give her chunks of rough steak or anything, but otherwise she should be able to break it down without teeth.

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

Well today I gave her her first meat that wasn't fish. She got some minced brisket... OMG you would think I gave her gold! I am very confident after seeing her enjoy meat, and hearing from you ladies that I'm going to continue to give her minced chicken and beef and flaked fish with more frequency. She is telling me her body is ready. I believe her and my gut. I love having you ladies to bounce thoughts and ideas off of!

 

[Indi84]

Mine had meat and fish from six months. I tw with lots of finger foods, and he'd sometimes have a mixture I'd make, apricot and chicken puree being a fav, or he'd pick up bits of soft beef, flakes of salmon, mince in sauce etc.
Lasagne (meat or spinach and ricotta ones) have always been a big hit!

 

[PepsiChic]

we gave both our boys meat from 6 monthss. we did strictly BLW.

Barry was picking up and chewing on chicken legs by the time he was 9 months old, Connor has just started to do the same.

 

[minties]

Both have had meat from 6 months. Thomas was TW so he had it in purees (beef, chicken and fish). Sophie had meatballs from 6 months and would just suck on them at first.

From about 8 months she's been very good at eating most soft meats. She can strip a chicken leg really well now!

Meat, especially red, is highly reccomended from 6 months here.

 

[Rachel_C]

They're not called chicken legs, they're "chicken with a handle" Ultimate BLW food really!

 

[ShelbyLC]

My girls have been having meat since around 7 months. So far, they've had chicken, fish, egg, beef and pork.