when to start meats

We ar using Goodstart formula which has more protein than other formulas..so I am wondering about the meats.

I was told to work through the level 1s and then moreon to level 2s. We are not through all the fruits and vegeeies yet...it takes time when you can only do 1 new thing for 4 days. SHould I be getting a meat in there while I am trying new fruits and veggies. I am using gerber.

 

I didn't give meats until they were able to eat some little crumbles/small pieces of meat. Which was around 9 months or so. My kids never took to the catfood like texture/appearance of the jarred meats! :bad:

 

My Dr said 8 mo. I also feel it is taking forever to get through the level 1 and level 2 foods! Youre not alone!! :FIFblush:

 

Just gave my girls chicken for the first time today They didn't seem to mind it.

I did start off with the stage 2 chicken and rice dinner....cat food texture as pp mentioned is right :bad: I think that's why I held off as long as I did, I couldn't get over the looks of it, blech!

 

we just started a little meat last week (11 months), and they've done ok with it. i was just so nervous about the thickness/toughness of it and so held off. we tried chopped up hotdogs and some chicken nuggets, and my sitter suggested meatballs, so i just got some frozen ones we will try this week.
if you want more protein in their diet but don't think they can quite handle the meat texture yet, you can also do things like add pureed beans (black, garbanzo go over well), cubed tofu (it is nice and soft-c an mash it with banana or wheat germ or avocado- it basically takes on the taste of whatever it is with!), and yogurt. some pedis want you to hold off on dairy, but i think we started it around 8 months or so. our kids have done well with all those, and they are nice healthy alternatives to meat.
good luck! we finally made our way through most things now, but are hitting the point that they are starting to get picky about what and when to eat. little buggers..... just when you think you've got them down, they will do something else!!!

 

We started meats about 8 months, they didn't have any chunks in them at all. They smelled gross to me, but Emilie and Trevor loved them.

 

We never did any of the jarred ("catfood") meats either. Our pedi was not concerned with them getting more protein than what's in formula. Up to 12mo they're most likely getting enough from their bottles. We did what a pp suggested and started adding pureed beans, yogurt etc. We did the one food at a time thing for about a month, covered the basics and then just started feeding them new foods without worrying too much.

We started meats around 8 months with some pureed chicken stew that I made. Then we moved on to cubed pieces of chicken breast once I was sure they could chew it properly. They LOVE picking up those little pieces of chicken. Just gave them some tiny, tender pieces of steak for the first time yesterday. I really don't give them meat that often. I don't think they *need* it necessarily, but they do like it and it makes for good finger food.