My Vegetarian Baby is a Carnivore Now; Fundamentals on Feeding Your Baby
My baby is 10 months old and over the past few weeks, I have introduced fish, chicken & beef into her diet (free range, no hormones or antibiotics). And just like that my little vegetarian is a carnivore now. As a Naturopathic Doctor I often advise my patients on appropriate feeding schedules for their babes. However, when it came to feeding my baby, especially with all of this recent peanut allergy research, I just didn’t know what exactly I was going to do. So, I did what felt right – it’s always good to follow your intuition. On her 6 month birthday, for her first solid food, I gave her kale, which she seemed to like. She really didn’t know what to do with the beautiful green puree, since it was her first time eating solid food, but she eventually figured it out. I gradually introduced a variety of fruit & veggies over the next 3 months, always looking for allergic type reactions. The reason that I waited until 6 months of age to introduce solid food is because she is exclusively breast-fed and gaining more than an adequate amount of weight. I am a firm believer that as long as your baby is satisfied and gaining weight – it is best to wait until 6 months to introduce solids. A new born’s digestive tract is immature and introducing food too early can potentially cause problems like food allergies & eczema. People were constantly telling me to give her ‘baby cereal’ – even when she was a couple of months old and I was struggling with my milk production. I never did give her store-bought ‘baby cereal’ as she didn’t need food before […]