Even though my youngest little munchkin is now a sturdy eight year old, I can still remember the thrill and excitement of each new pregnancy declaration.

I was always thrilled…even if by number 3 and 4, my happiness was mixed with a dose of “shiiiista, what have I gotten myself into?”

I only wish I had known, for all of my kiddos, what I know now, about giving babies the healthiest start possible.

Note from Cara: This is a guest post by Melanie of Honest Body. We love her guest posts here!  She is a knowledgeable mother who has incorporated the GAPS diet in her own family.  She is a wealth of information and an all-around lovely lady.

I wish I had known how to:

• Not mess up their little digestive systems (SO important!) by introducing dead and commercially prepared “baby” foods, and hard-to-digest “baby” cereals.
• Feed them very-easy-to-digest foods, and brain building foods like fats and egg yolks.

The ever practical and generous, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, has laid out a systematic and healthy way to introduce solids to your baby, in a way that listens to their individual signs and bio-individuality, and gives them high levels of nutrients and little-body-building foods.

Let’s tuck into this project of introducing solids to your little one.

Considerations for bottle-fed and breastfed

Before we get into the details of the solids progression, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends two different introduction starting points, depending on whether baby is bottle-fed, or breastfed.

• Bottle-fed = start at 4 months
• Breastfed = start at 6 months (unless you have a super hungry little one!)

The 10 week guide to adding solids

FIRST – Do the Skin Sensitivity Test!

For older clients I often consider food sensitivity testing, like the MRT Leap 150, but for the little folks I recommend to use Dr. Natasha’s method for skin sensitivity testing.

Dr. Natasha recommends doing the skin test before each new food.

So what does the skin test look like?

1. Before bedtime, take a drop of the food to test & put on baby’s wrist (if food being tested is solid, mash & mix with a little water)
2. Let the drop of food dry, & put baby to bed
3. In the morning check to see if there is any angry redness on the skin
4. If skin is red, avoid that food for a few weeks then try Steps 1 – 3 again

*Note: Test the food in the intended form of eating…if testing raw egg yolk, make sure you put raw egg yolk on baby’s wrist, not the whole egg, or cooked egg.

*Another indication that a food is “too much, too fast” for your baby, is if the stool changes to either diarrhea or constipation…or if a new skin rash or eczema flares up.

Week One

(to start at 6 months of age, or as baby is ready- not at one week old)

*sensitivity test each new food, starting with the meat stock

The main emphasis of week one is introducing meat stock & fresh pressed carrot juice.

+ GIVE 1-2 TSP MEAT STOCK BEFORE EACH BREASTFEED (breast as reward!)

+ GIVE 1-2 TSP A DAY OF FRESH PRESSED CARROT JUICE (mix w/ warm water & use within 30 min.)

 

Week Two

*sensitivity test each new food

This is a big week :) The main emphasis of week two is increasing veggies in the fresh pressed juice, introducing probiotic vegetable juices to the meat stock, and then adding cooked vegetables and more fats.

+ INCREASE WEEK 1 FOODS

+ ADD OTHER VEGGIE JUICES – cabbage, celery, lettuce – TO CARROT JUICE

+ ADD PROBIOTIC FOOD TO MEAT STOCK (start with 1/2 tsp a day)

1. homemade whey (goat is best) OR
2. homemade sauerkraut juice/fermented veggie juice

If whey is well tolerated:

+ TRY 1/2 TSP HOMEMADE YOGURT (cultured 24 hours)

If increased yogurt tolerated:

+ TRY HOMEMADE SOUR CREAM (1/2 tsp, cultured w/ the yogurt)

+ ADD PUREED VEGETABLE SOUPS (cook veggies in the meat stock until very soft, puree, and add a little fat…see below)

+ FATS TO CHOOSE FROM, in rotation:

• pork
• beef
• lamb
• duck
• goose
• chicken
• a tsp. of organic coconut oil
• a tsp. of ghee (homemade, organic, unsalted)
• a tsp. of olive oil (cold pressed)
• a tsp. of butter (raw, organic, unsalted)
• 5 drops of cod liver oil

+ ADDITIONAL ADDITIONS/NOTES

• Use non-starchy, peeled, seeded vegetables such as — carrots, squashes, leeks, onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, & zucchini.
• When veggie puree has cooled down, add 1 tsp. of homemade, organic yogurt.
• Start with 2 – 4 tsp. of veggie soup/puree a day.
• Gradually increase thickness from “soupy” to “puree”.

 

Week Three

*sensitivity test each new food

The main emphasis of week three is adding solid meats & fish, and mashed avocado.

+ CONTINUE AND INCREASE PREVIOUS FOODS

+ START ADDING BOILED MEATS AND FISH (& FISH SKIN) to the vegetable soups/purees

Start with a small amount of chicken and include the soft bits, the fatty parts, the dark meat, & the skin. Then try other meats as well as fish. Fish is important and it is incredibly nutritious to add the de-scaled fish skin to the solid fish meat.

+ BUMP HOMEMADE YOGURT AND SOUR CREAM UP to 1 – 2 tsp. with every meal

Continue adding 1 tsp of fermented veggie juice to soups/purees.

+ INTRODUCE RIPE AVOCADO, beginning with 1 tsp. added to the veggie soups/purees

 

 

Week Four & Five

*sensitivity test each new food

The main emphasis of these two weeks is adding raw, organic egg yolk and cooked, ripe apple.

+ CONTINUE AND INCREASE PREVIOUS FOODS

+ START ADDING RAW, ORGANIC EGG YOLK to the veggie soups/purees

Give this step a little time and watch for any reactions beyond the skin sensitivity test…such as stool changes or skin rashes.

If all these additions and previous foods are okay, then you can move on to the next step, which is:

+ ADD COOKED, PUREED, RIPE APPLE and serve with plenty of ghee, coconut oil, or butter

Simply stew peeled, cored apples (that are ripe) in water until soft. This puree can be refrigerated for a week, or frozen, but should be warmed to body temperature for feeding to your baby.

+ ADDITIONAL ADDITIONS/NOTES

• Start with a few tsp. of apple puree a day, and watch carefully for stool changes or skin reactions.
• Don’t warm up in the microwave!

 

Week Six & Seven

*sensitivity test each new food

The main emphasis of these two weeks is increasing previous foods, and to discontinue formula if baby is formula fed.

+ CONTINUE AND INCREASE PREVIOUS FOODS

+ BUMP UP HOMEMADE YOGURT OR SOUR CREAM to 3 tsp. with every meal

You can also add the yogurt or sour cream to the fresh pressed juices or water in a bottle.

+ BUMP UP EGG YOLKS to 2 per day, added to soup or meat stock

+ INCREASE THE WELL-COOKED, GELATINOUS MEATS

+ STOP FORMULA FEEDING (if breastfeeding, continue topping up after eating)

 

Week Eight & Nine

*sensitivity test each new food

The main emphasis of these two weeks is adding nutbutter pancakes and raw vegetables. This is a fun week!

+ CONTINUE AND INCREASE PREVIOUS FOODS

+ ADD NUTBUTTER PANCAKES (almond or hazelnut nutbutter, squash, and eggs)

Here is my recipe for nutbutter pancakes that can be adapted for baby (no salt, etc.) 

+ INCREASE FRESH JUICES and try adding apple to the juicing mix

+ ADD RAW LETTUCE & PEELED CUCUMBER (blended & added to veggie soups/purees)

After these two veggies are tolerated well you can slowly add other veggies, prepared in the same way — carrot, celery, cabbage, bell pepper, kohlrabi, etc.

 

Week Ten

*sensitivity test each new food

The main emphasis of this week is adding scrambled eggs, raw apple, and raw, ripe banana.

+ CONTINUE AND INCREASE PREVIOUS FOODS

+ TRY EGG SCRAMBLED in plenty of good fat (see list above)

Cook the egg gently, serving just a tiny bit, and serving with avocado or veggies.

+ ADD PEELED, RAW APPLE

+ ADD RIPE BANANA (make sure there are brown spots on the skin!)

*Feed your baby fruit between meals as a snack.

Beyond Week 10

+ ADD HOMEMADE COTTAGE CHEESE made with your homemade yogurt

To make cottage cheese you can gently heat a bowl of yogurt in a larger bowl of hot water, until it separates into curds & whey. Then put the curds & whey into cheese cloth (tying the ends up) and let it drip for 8 hours over a bowl. The cheesecloth can be tied to a wooden spoon and suspended over the bowl that way.

+ ADD GAPS FRIENDLY BREAD

This is my recipe that you can adapt for your baby

+ ADD SMALL AMOUNTS OF NATURAL SALT

No more separate cooking for baby at this point!

 

 

Important Notes For Introducing Solids

In this section I will bullet point key points to remember while doing this 10 week progression.

• Always do the sensitivity test before each new food! This will eliminate a lot of guesswork later.
• It is important to introduce and increase foods gradually over time.
• Carry on with previous safe foods, as you add new foods.
• You don’t have to do every food if there is a sensitivity. Some foods can be retried later.
• Give the breast only as a reward, after baby has eaten their meat stock.
• DO NOT use commercial stock or bouillon cubes/paste!
• Keep the fat in your homemade stocks.
• DO NOT use commercial vegetable or fruit juices…they must be fresh pressed at home.
• Dr. Natasha says “be confident and relaxed” as babies are smart and can sense our anxiety :)
• Work with two spoons, one for your baby to practice or play with, and one for you to feed them.
• This is all over soooo quickly…enjoy it!

I hope this information helps with your own feeding and care of our baby. Take time to soak up these days and weeks…they are over too quickly, and what you do now will have a big impact on your little munchkin’s health for a long time to come.