Solid Food Redux

In my last post on this subject, I had a list of questions I wanted to ask my pediatrician/naturopath/midwife about solid foods. Today we had our 6 month appointment and I finally got to ask her all these questions. Below are the answers.

#1: Is the 8 TBSP requirement alluding to dry cereal, or already made, wet cereal?
Answer: Dry cereal.

#2: When you give the baby a feeding of solid food, do you end up replacing a feeding, or do you first feed the baby milk, and then give the baby solids after the feeding?
Answer:In the beginning, you will feed them milk first, then a solid meal. Over time the baby will naturally begin to drop more feeds and you can start feeding them more solids to replace these meals. 


#3: How am I supposed to feed him all the cereal (with enough iron supplementation) he needs in a given day, plus introduce new foods into his diet, and still have him drinking an appropriate amount of breast milk? 

Answer: You don't have to feed him that much until one year old or older. If you are breastfeeding still at that time, that will provide a little iron, as well as other green veggies and fruit that is already in his diet. Altogether it is enough to keep him from being deficient and needing to eat tremendous amounts of cereal.


#4: How many solid meals are you supposed to feed baby per day at 6 months?
Answer: It depends on how much the baby wants to eat, but anywhere from 2-6 oz a day, over 2-3 meals. 

#5: Can you re-use baby food after dipping the spoon into it?
Answer: You are supposed to throw it out after 4 hours, but as long as you are not saving it for more than 24 hours, and it is kept in the refrigerator, it is probably fine. 

#6: When can I introduce meat (to increase iron intake)?
Answer: When he is around 9 months old. 

#7: When should I get William tested for iron levels in his blood?
Answer: I typically test babies in my practice at one year old, and very few of them are iron deficient. Only if the mother was deficient during pregnancy, do I find the baby is at increased risk of iron deficiency. If you would like to have him tested at 9 months, I can order the test.

#8: Is there something I can take to increase the iron levels in my milk?
Answer: Only if you are deficient. If you have normal levels in your blood already, any excess will just go into your waste and not be absorbed. 

#9: Do you need to watch for nitrates in carrots? Is there any special way to prepare them that lessens the nitrate risk?
Answer: I'm not that worried about it, but if you are, you can avoid giving them a lot of baby carrots, and if you boil or steam them, just throw out the water.