Dd 26 weeks today - is this ok to give her for her first 'meal'?

[coochicoo]

I've just put some sweet potato and parsnip 'chips' in the oven. Are these reasonable to offer dd as her first experience of food? I'm aware she probably won't actually eat any of them.

I'm also confused about the wheat issue; is it ok to give her bread from here on in or should I wait until she's 9 months? I read a thread on here recently stating that wheat based foods shouldn't be introduced until 9 months. I was under the impression that pretty much anything (bar honey and peanuts) was fair game from 6 months?

I'm a bit nervous about the gagging thing that I've read so much about. I didn't do blw with ds but I do recall some cough cough cough vomit moments with his puree so I know it's not just a blw thing. Still a bit scared though!

Sounds like a great first meal! As far as I understand wheat and dairy are fine from six months unless there are allergy issues.

Try not to be scared about the gagging thing, it's really not that bad! DD always remained really calm when she was gagging, it didn't bother her at all which helped me keep my cool! IME it's a phase that passes very quickly.

I hope you both enjoy your first meal together

My son's first food was actual chips. From the chip shop . So your meal sounds fine.

I did some reading about the wheat/gluten issue as DH is coeliac. There are some studies to suggest that too early or too late (7 months IIRC) introduction of wheat can cause intolerance. So I'd go for it.

The gagging thing is nerve-wracking, best tip I heard was to count to ten, by 6 they've usually dislodged it!

Have fun

Thanks I feel stupidly excited about it, but am preparing myself for a huge anti climax!

Lovely first meal. DH, DS and I all still love parsnip and sweet potato chips.

Wheat fine from 6 months

That's exactly what I'd do for a first meal! Best thing to do is make them really tasty e.g. olive oil & rosemary so they are drawn in to the idea that eating food is fun! It is incredibly exciting starting adventures in food - good luck & return to tell us how it went!

It is recommended that oats and other cereal grains are introduced before wheat because they are easier on the baby's tummy. Wheat isn't the easiest thing to digest really and it is considered an allergy food so I would hold off for a while - there are plenty of other things to try first! The veggie chips sound lovely!

Thanks for all the advice.

As predicted dd was quite underwhelmed by the whole thing! She grabbed a couple of the chips and gummed them, but the rest were thrown on the floor. No gagging though so our first attempt was fun and stress-free!

I'm glad to hear it went well It sounds like a great start.

My very top BLW tip (other than relax and enjoy, obviously) would be to not be precious about food having been on the floor, just pick it up and give it straight back. It'll end up costing you a fortune otherwise!

We introduced wheat at 7 months. Parsnips are a huuuge favourite in this house too.

Glad it went well Great first meal - even though my DS eats loads of stuff now, sweet potato and parsnips are still some of his favourite things.

On wheat, we were a bit concerned as my dad is coeliac, but I checked with the coeliac society and they say wheat is fine from 6 mo, and indeed good not to avoid it because you only know if they have a wheat intolerance through them eating it in normal quantities (i.e. pretty much a daily basis). I figured they probably knew much better than I did what was appropriate. So we took it slowly but surely - wheat one meal per day from around 6mo until we got to a stage at about 8mo where I no longer worried how much wheat he had. Now at 9mo some days he has it at all 3 meals (weetabix, pasta, toast) some days he has none.

It's good to have that advice straight from the horse's mouth HolidaysQueen. There's so much differing advice; it's hard to know what to follow. I imagine the coeliac society know what they're talking about though so I'll go with that As far as we know there aren't any allergies in our families (although despite that I still haven't dared to give ds1 [3] peanuts!).

Here's their page on the subject: www.coeliac.org.uk/for_families/98.asp

I was nervous about DD having peanuts even though we have no allergies either. I'd decided that we'd do the Nigella thing and park up in the hospital car park with a peanut putter sandwich.

DP put pay to that by mindlessly handing her a bit of his peanut butter sandwich two days after her first birthday Luckily all was well!

Lol at having a peanut butter sandwich in the hospital car park! Maybe that's how we should introduce peanuts!