whole grain brown rice? Broccoli?

[maestramommy]

I have recently discovered that Laurel loves to eat food as long as it's not pureed. Therefore she will not eat any cereals. She won't even eat steelcut oatmeal because it's too goopy. So I have been making rice soup. It's halfway to rice porridge, but the rice grains are still intact. I've added slivers of chicken, chopped broccoli, boiled it all in chicken broth. She's loved it. But I've noticed a couple of side effects.

1) At night when she pees it stinks of broccoli. The first night it happened I thought she had pooped, but when I changed her diaper, it was only wet.

2) When she poops it looks like all the rice has been expelled undigested. There's the regular yellowy pasty poop, but also a lot of grains.

Is this bad? She seems otherwise fine, and happy for a change.

[Katigre]

The smelly pee happened to DD when she would eat asparagus, I think it happens with cruciferous vegetables and isn't a concern unless she seems uncomfortable.

At her age, she probably is not able to digest grains well yet (that takes more advanced digestion) so I would focus on other soft, easy-to-eat foods such as fruits and vegetables and proteins such as ground meat and safe fish (which flakes easily and is soft).

Since she doesn't like purees, I would look into doing www.babyled.com with her. It is a different paradigm than pureed solids and sounds like it would be a good fit for her.

[maestramommy]

The smelly pee happened to DD when she would eat asparagus, I think it happens with cruciferous vegetables and isn't a concern unless she seems uncomfortable.

At her age, she probably is not able to digest grains well yet (that takes more advanced digestion) so I would focus on other soft, easy-to-eat foods such as fruits and vegetables and proteins such as ground meat and safe fish (which flakes easily and is soft).

Since she doesn't like purees, I would look into doing www.babyled.com (http://www.babyled.com) with her. It is a different paradigm than pureed solids and sounds like it would be a good fit for her.

I've been told about this website so I did check it out. Very cool. But I saw that broccoli was listed as a food for 8 months. Doh! 2 months too early!

I have been tearing off tiny pieces of bread for her in the morning, and she really likes that too. I used homemade bread because our store bought has too many grains in it.

I've never heard of giving fish before a year (in this country). What is considered a safe fish?

[Katigre]

I don't think broccoli is only for kids 8 months and up? At least there was nothing like that in the book or website when I looked at it. Are you confusing it with www.wholesomebabyfood.com? I gave DD broccoli to munch on when she was younger than 8 months - it's better steamed IMO b/c that makes it easier to gnaw and digest.

Safe fish for me means no shellfish, low mercury, sustainably fished. DD really likes tilapia and wild alaskan salmon along with some cod and haddock (or was it halibut? whichever is the low-mercury/low-toxins/sustainable fish that starts with an H).

[Pepper]

I gave DS cod and salmon before he was 1 year old, when he was ready for small chuncks of food. I gave him steamed broccoli, too; never noticed a smell but I think that's a genetic thing - you either get a smell or you don't :-)

As for the rice thing, I do remember that the grains seemed to pass through whole! I assume that some sort of digestion did occur, that just wasn't visible. Not sure when that stopped happening; DS is 3 years old now.

[maestramommy]

I don't think broccoli is only for kids 8 months and up? At least there was nothing like that in the book or website when I looked at it. Are you confusing it with www.wholesomebabyfood.com? (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com?) I gave DD broccoli to munch on when she was younger than 8 months - it's better steamed IMO b/c that makes it easier to gnaw and digest.

Safe fish for me means no shellfish, low mercury, sustainably fished. DD really likes tilapia and wild alaskan salmon along with some cod and haddock (or was it halibut? whichever is the low-mercury/low-toxins/sustainable fish that starts with an H).

Woops, sorry you're right. It was the wholesomebabyfood website. I went there after reading the thread on carrots, and for some reason thought it was the baby led weaning site. Anyway, good to know it's okay for now.

I will think about the fish. We love tilapia here! It's just the peds I've had say no fish or seafood before a year because of food allergies. But we have no fish allergies in our family so I guess we'd be okay!

[Katigre]

I think the fish allergy concern is with shellfish.

Honestly, I think the vast majority of the 'don't give it to a baby too soon b/c of allergy concern!' is unwarranted and newer studies are finding that delaying the introduction of potential allergens doesn't do anything to prevent them unless you have a family history of it.

When I looked into solids introduction in other Western countries msot of them don't follow the restrictions we do (and find them really odd) and their kids don't have higher rates of reactions.

Plus, by delaying solids until the baby is ready their gut is sealed and the risk of reactions is hugely decreased anyway.

[DrSally]

I wonder if the broccoli thing is the same as what happens when you eat asparagus?

[DrSally]

Another safe fish is sardines. They're extremely low mercury (b/c they're so small and low on the food chain, I think), and high in Omega 3's. We buy them canned in olive oil, no skin or bones. They're like little fish fillets. DS loves them. Canned wild salmon is easy and safe too.

ETA: have you tried cubed tofu? I used to coat it in cheerio dust when DS was younger for easier pickup.

[maestramommy]

Another safe fish is sardines. They're extremely low mercury (b/c they're so small and low on the food chain, I think), and high in Omega 3's. We buy them canned in olive oil, no skin or bones. They're like little fish fillets. DS loves them. Canned wild salmon is easy and safe too.

ETA: have you tried cubed tofu? I used to coat it in cheerio dust when DS was younger for easier pickup.

I haven't tried tofu, but I do have it. The girls love it in miso soup. I was going to feed that to her, but someone said miso is too salty. I looked at the ingredients and it has alcohol too:p Probably not much, but still. I can try giving it to her plain. The sardines sound good too. What kind do you buy that has no skin and bones? Dh loves sardines, but the kind he usually gets always has skin and bones.

I did take a look at the baby-led site, and it is soooo cool! Don't know if I can go whole hog though. It looks very messy, and I don't have time to cook such a wide variety to let Laurel choose from. But has anyone seen that Doidy cup?? Any, it did give me some ideas though.

[DrSally]

I get boneless/skinless sardines at TJ's, but they prob have them at any grocery. Once, I accidentally got the whole ones. I tried to take the bones/fins off, but DS still liked them :p