Feeding Baby White Fish

Could it be more for reasons of cross contamination with shellfish? Could it be because of her brother's food allergies/sensitivities?

Delaying the introduction of certain foods for babies run on theories of health that are changing all the time. Seafood allergies or mercury exposure are more of a concern than when I raised my daughter, and there is some good science behind those theories. But in practice, countries that introduce peanuts to babies earlier actually have fewer children who become allergic, so now earlier exposure is being considered by some nutritional and medical experts. For peanuts, at least.

There are no clear answers. Some kids will develop sensitivities or allergies no matter how early or late they are exposed to different foods, so always introduce new foods with care and delay a few days to watch for reactions. With seafood, particularly, google for varieties with low mercury.

Here's a concise, possibly helpful page on this: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/fishbabyfoodrecipe...

I think the concern is less about the fish and more about possible pollutants. The adult human is much better at filtering out certain chemicals that have entered into our water systems (think mercury and the like) than a baby can.

If you want to introduce fish, try farmed catfish. It is very ecologically sound, and renewable. They are fresh water fish, which limits the amount of ocean pollutants, and has a relatively short lifespan, which limits the amount of time the fish accumulates any trace pollutants it comes in contact with.

It wasn't all that long ago that anything mom chewed up or chop up would be given to baby. No special meals, just simply offering the kid whatever they were eating. Things have gotten so out of hand.

I've never really adhered to most of the eating rules when it comes to feeding my kids. I had my first son in Germany and babies start on solids MUCH earlier there. They also eat a much wider variety of foods and the baby foods they sell don't smell and taste awful like the ones sold here. I WISH they sold HiPP baby foods here in the USA.

My boys are now 11 and 12, are not picky, and have no food allergies.

So, based upon my personal opinions and experience, I would allow the fish. I'd probably wait on shellfish, since some of it can be difficult to chew, and it'd likely be gross pureed.

ETA: Why did my post show up twice? Odd.

Waiting on peanut butter until age 2 and fish until age 1 is not about allergies.

Peanut butter can be a choking hazard if too much is given to the child. This is one of the reasons (allergies is another) that daycare centers and preschools do not serve peanut butter until age 2. If they were to spread too much peanut butter on the cracker the child could choke on it.

With fish, it's more about the mercury levels. Some fish will have very high levels of mercury, and that's very dangerous for little ones. This is why pregnant women are cautioned about eating fish (especially tuna?). Do some research to find out which fish are more likely to have low levels of mercury. That way you know which fish you can serve her now.

It wasn't all that long ago that anything mom chewed up or chop up would be given to baby. No special meals, just simply offering the kid whatever they were eating. Things have gotten so out of hand.

I've never really adhered to most of the eating rules when it comes to feeding my kids. I had my first son in Germany and babies start on solids MUCH earlier there. They also eat a much wider variety of foods and the baby foods they sell don't smell and taste awful like the ones sold here. I WISH they sold HiPP baby foods here in the USA.

My boys are now 11 and 12, are not picky, and have no food allergies.

So, based upon my personal opinions and experience, I would allow the fish. I'd probably wait on shellfish, since some of it can be difficult to chew, and it'd likely be gross pureed.

my kids didn't like fish in any form, so can't help.
but when i read the title here, i was picturing you with a tank of baby white fish that were being picky eaters, and trying to figure out what kind of white fish were in your aquarium!
:D
khairete
S.

I've never heard of having to wait until 12 months for fish. Honey, seafood, whole milk and egg whites, yes, but not fish.

Then again, I know you're supposed to wait until age 2 to give peanut butter, but with no nut allergies in my family and none apparent in my kids, they've both had PB since around 6-7 months old.

I think you know your child best, so do what you think is best. Give in a small portion and see how she does :) Follow your gut.

If she ate it and had no reaction, I would keep feeding it to her. Since your son has issues, your doc probably wants you to be cautious.

It's about mercury.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_should-your-kids-eat-fish-how...

Whitefish seems low in mercury according to O. website.
There are websites where you can check your area for specific fish.

Bones would also be a concern.

Tastes of white fish after she's already eaten her full meal of formula or breastmilk are fine. It's not like you're giving her shell fish.

I didn't let the infants eat stuff like that when they were under 1 year old. They are still needing the nutrition from their formula first so we always let them have a bottle first then offered some food afterwards. The reason most kiddo's that are eating a lot of foods at this age is because their bodies are not getting the nutrients they need from the food they're getting. There formula is complete nutrition. If they are doing the formula first then eating I would think if you're eating it she could try a tiny bit with only one ingredient at a time so you could make sure she's not allergic to anything you gave her. When combining foods it's hard to rule out a specific ingredient if it's all mixed together.