Starting Solids: Why My Son Eats Weird Food & Never Touched Rice Cereal

I’m accustomed to being considered “unconventional.”  I mean, I had a home birth for goodness’ sake.  So, why should it be any different for things like “starting solids?”  Of course, I was going to do something very different, but not just to be different.  (That whole idea is kinda’ a pet peeve of mine…)

I decided to do something different because I didn’t like the results I saw in babies that were eating the usual “baby foods.”  Why should diaper rash, eczema, constipation, waking up hungry in the middle of the night, etc. be considered so normal?  These are all diet issues, and I just didn’t want any of them.  So, I naturally dug deep into some research and made a different plan.

I should note, that my milk supply seriously tanked when Landon was about four months old.  I experienced the worst flare up of my hashimoto’s I have ever, ever had between three months and about five months postpartum.  (I’ve got a plan in place to try to avoid this the next time around, but more on that later.)  Anyway, you need your thyroid working well in order to have a solid, fully functioning milk supply, and, while I waited for some medication to kick in and help regulate things, I nursed as much as I could and supplemented my supply with some help from some very gracious and wonderful nursing moms.  (I will be forever grateful for their help!  We never had to use formula and ended up nursing for fourteen months!)

All that to say, due to the whole milk rations thing at our house, I opted to start Landon on some solids when he was somewhere around 4 1/2 or 5 months old.  I know that’s a bit on the early side, but it was necessary for us.  (Super big awesome bonus to starting solids: Landon went back to sleeping about eleven hours at night which he has done since he was twelve weeks old.  When my milk supply was low, he would wake up hungry in the night and need to eat.  I went with it, of course, but I was certainly happy to get back to a full night’s sleep once we started him on a little food!)

So…why did I refuse to reach for that rice cereal that everyone seems to be so fond of as a first food for baby?  

Babies are born with sterile guts.  That means, they don’t have any of their own bacteria, good or bad.  (You want plenty of good bacteria in there!)  Babies also do not have all of the same digestive enzymes as adults upon birth, particularly the enzyme, amylase, which is used to break down grains.  They develop that enzyme right around the age of one.  So, why would I want to give my baby a food that he doesn’t have the capacity to break down particularly well as his very first food other than breast milk?

I know that literally millions of babies have started with rice cereal.  (I was one of them!)  However, I have known so many moms that mention that, now that their babies are on solids, the baby experiences constipation.  This is your very first signal that your baby is not digesting his food well!  Additionally, reactions like eczema are also the body’s way of signaling distress in the gut!  (There is a very consistent link between skin/complexion and the health of the gut!  For teenagers and adults it is often seen in acne, and in babies and small children, it is often expressed in eczema.)  Distress in the gut can play out in disease down the road (things like autoimmune conditions!).  So, even if you don’t care about a little constipation, you probably care about diseases like rhummatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s and Grave’s disease (preaching to the choir here), Chrohn’s disease, etc.!

So, if rice cereal is out, what do you feed your baby?  Here are my suggestions for starting solids…

 1.  Fermented Cod Liver Oil.  

Yep, you read that right.  It was Landon’s first food.  I loved that he was getting good, fat soluble vitamins (like A and D) as well as lots of good, brain boosting Omega 3s!  Babies absolutely need a high fat diet (not high carb!).  I’ve heard some people say that their children talk sooner because of all the brain development they are receiving from a high fat diet.  I am absolutely not saying that if your child is not an early talker he or she is malnourished (there are so many factors that contribute to when children reach certain milestones)!  However, I did find this to be the case with Landon.  At nearly eighteen months, he talks all the time (at least fifty different words, I’d say) and will at least attempt to say any word.  I have found that we don’t have too many moments where he is frustrated by not being able to communicate with me.

I give him 1/4 teaspoon using an oral syringe.  Sometimes he wasn’t a big fan, and sometimes he didn’t mind at all.  Before too long, he liked it!  (Before too long, I became quite an expert with an oral syringe as well.  Useful skill for…um, not much else.)  Here’s the only oil that I use.  Personally, I use the cinnamon flavor, but I give Landon the unflavored kind because I thought the cinnamon would burn his throat a little bit, and he wouldn’t like it. 

2.  Egg yolk with raw beef liver and himalayan pink salt.  Yep, you read that one right, too.  This was a big one for us!  Landon absolutely loved his egg every morning for breakfast!  I mean, I felt bad for him to be eating liver for breakfast, but he really did love it!  He usually finished it in about a minute tops.  Here’s a video of exactly what I did.  It was not as weird or scary as I thought it might be, I promise!

3.  Avocado!  Seeing a theme here?  Fat, fat, and more fat!!  I really, really do think this is why Landon sleeps so great.  All those fat calories kept his blood sugar levels stable and kept him feeling full (which means he doesn’t wake up prematurely due to hunger).  I pureed avocado in the blender with a little water to thin it out and added some himalayan pink salt again (Don’t be afraid of real salt!  It’s full of minerals which you and your baby really need!  And also, it’s delicious, so there’s that.)  I think Landon was going through 3 or 4 avocados per week for a while.  I know that it’s not the least expensive baby food, but for me it was worth it to cut costs elsewhere if necessary.

4.  Pureed fruits (with added spinach) and veggies.  This one came later on.  I didn’t start the fruits and vegetables right away.  These are hard for a little baby to digest as well because they are carbohydrates, but as we moved past six months, we started adding in a variety of fruit and vegetable purees.  I loved adding spinach to any fruit purees to boost his greens intake, and I also added some grass-fed butter and pink salt to many of his vegetable purees for increased vitamins, minerals, and more healthy fats!

So, what do you think?  Am I crazy or what?  Here’s what I know–Landon has a very regular digestive system, the softest skin on the planet, a fantastic sleep schedule, and a sunny little personality.  And you know what else?  He loves his food and is really not picky!  I’ll take that for the win!

Have you tried any of these things with your baby?  What’s winning for you?

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