What kind of vegetables can I feed a six month old baby?

Besides blending carrots and sweet peas, I'm clueless.

What kind of vegetables can I feed a six month old baby?
I gave mine peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach (not too much of this one, as it will constipate), squash, avacados, and just about any other vegetable we would have. Incidentally, I would often steam an extra batch, puree it in the blender, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then transfer the cubes into a freezer bag. Then you can defrost single cubes, or a few cubes, as needed - and save yourself a bunch of time. As my babies grew I added pureed brown rice. If I'd introduce a new vegetable that they didn't like, mixing it with brown rice would tone the flavor down to get them used to it, and then I'd gradually wean out the rice. I didn't introduce salt or other seasonings until after 1 year, and both my boys (17 mos. and almost 3 yrs.) are wonderful vegetable eaters.
Reply:They say it's best to start with the orange veggies. Squash, sweet potatoes, carrots. Then move on to the green ones (especially peas). Don't try combinations until they've got the single foods down. You won't know if there's an allergy. But really it's up to you and your baby. He/she will tell you in their own way what they like and don't like.
Reply:i gave my son any of the stage 2 foods at 6 months. it really depends on how well of an eater the baby is and what foods they like. just go for it, theres only one way to find out.
Reply:avacados, green beans, spinache, asparagas, sweet potatoes, pretytmuch any of them, squash is good too!
Reply:squash, sweet potatoes, corn...anything like that.
Reply:sweet potatoes is one my enjoys!
Reply:Umm all of them?





http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/


Yet experts say children over 6 months can handle most anything, with a few caveats: Be cautious if you have a family history of allergies; introduce one food at a time and watch for any problems; and make sure the food isn't a choking hazard.





Parents elsewhere in the world certainly take a more freewheeling approach, often starting babies on heartier, more flavorful fare — from meats in African countries to fish and radishes in Japan and artichokes and tomatoes in France.





The difference is cultural, not scientific, says Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee who says the American approach suffers from a Western bias that fails to reflect the nation's ethnic diversity.





Bhatia says he hopes his group soon will address not only that, but also ways to better educate parents about which rules must be followed and which ones are only suggestions.





[...]





The lack of variety in the American approach also could be a problem. Exposing infants to more foods may help them adapt to different foods later, which Ludwig says may be key to getting older children to eat healthier.





Food allergy fears get some of the blame for the bland approach. For decades doctors have said the best way to prevent allergies is to limit infants to bland foods, avoiding seasonings, citrus, nuts and certain seafood.





But Butte's review found no evidence that children without family histories of food allergies benefit from this. Others suspect avoiding certain foods or eating bland diets actually could make allergies more likely. Some exposure might be a good thing.





And bring on the spices. Science is catching up with the folklore that babies in the womb and those who are breast-fed taste — and develop a taste for — whatever Mom eats. So experts say if Mom enjoys loads of oregano, baby might, too.














http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/676279...


Solids best





After six months, Mrs Rapley said babies were capable of taking food into their mouths and chewing it.





Therefore, feeding them pureed food at this time could delay the development of chewing skills.





Instead, she said, they should be given milk and solid pieces of food which they could chew.





Mrs Rapley argued that babies fed pureed food had little control over how much food they ate, thus rendering them vulnerable to constipation, and running a risk that they would react by becoming fussy eaters later in life.





She blamed the food industry for convincing parents that they should give children pureed food.





She said: "Sound scientific research and government advice now agree that there is no longer any window of a baby's development in which they need something more than milk and less than solids."











http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintro...


Ensuring good nutrition





Babies who are allowed to feed themselves tend to accept a wide range of food. This is probably because they have more than just the flavour of the food to focus on – they are experiencing texture, colour, size and shape as well. In addition, giving babies food separately, or in a way which enables them to separate them for themselves, enables them to learn about a range of different flavours and textures. And allowing them to leave anything they appear not to like will encourage them to be prepared to try new things.





The opposite appears to be true for a baby who is spoon fed, especially if food are presented as purees containing more than one flavour. In this situation the baby has no way of isolating any flavour he doesn’t like and will tend to reject the whole meal. Since his parents can only guess which food is causing the problem, they risk more food rejection until they track it down. In the meantime, the baby learns not to trust food and the range of food he will accept can become severely limited. This can lead to his overall nutrition being compromised. Offering food separately, but together on the same plate, allows the baby to make his own decisions about mixing flavours.





General principles of good nutrition for children apply equally to young babies who are managing their own introduction to solid food. Thus, 'fast food' and food with added sugar and salt should be avoided. However, once a baby is over six months old there is no need, unless there is a family history of allergy or a known or suspected digestive disorder, to otherwise restrict the food that the baby can be offered. Fruit and vegetables are ideal, with harder food cooked lightly so that they are soft enough to be chewed. At first, meat is best offered as a large piece, to be explored and sucked. Once the baby can manage to pick up and release fistfuls of food, minced meat works well. Note: babies do not need teeth to bite and chew – gums do very well!





There is no need to cut food into mouth-sized pieces. Indeed, this will make it difficult for a young baby to handle. A good guide to the size and shape needed is the size of the babies fist, with one important extra factor to bear in mind: Young babies cannot open their fist on purpose to release things. This means that they do best with food that is chip-shaped or has a built-in 'handle' (like the stalk of a piece of broccoli). They can then chew the bit that is sticking out of their fist and drop the rest later – usually while reaching for the next interesting-looking piece. As their skills improve, less food will be dropped.

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