I will be a first-time Papa in a week or two and I had a couple of questions for those who have already navigated these waters.

1. What raw foods did you introduce to you little ones initially?

2. Suggested reading materials on the topic?

3. Did you vaccinate?

4. If so, do you regret having had your little one vaccinated?

I have done some research on my own but wanted to supplament that with some real life experiences. We plan on the boy being breast fed exclusively for the first 6 months at least but I like to be prepared. We also plan on cloth diapering. I have also been toying with the idea of starting a vegan/vegetarian parenting group. If anyone has experience doing this, some input would be helpful. If anyone has time or the inclination I'd like to open some dialogue.

Here are some sites I've found about vaccinations. I haven't had kids yet, but I'll fight someone to the death if they ever try to stick me or my little ones with a needle, ever. =\ The more I learn, the more it seems to make no sense and I don't want them. Just my opinion!

[www.vran.org]

[www.vaclib.org]

[www.nccn.net]

[www.vaccination.inoz.com]

[www.mercola.com] (great articles and powerful community testimonies, you might want to talk to some of the parents there)

People have also found that delaying and staggering a vaccination schedule, should you choose to vaccinate, GREATLY reduces the risk of damage, because it's not a fatal 10-hit combo to the developing immune system.

Rhogam (for the mother) and Vitamin K (for the baby) you may have to explicitly state to the hospital that you do not want, possibly even with written notice beforehand (for Vitamin K), depending where you live.

Read the ingredients, read the side effects. A lot of vaccines contain human fetal cells, among other scary things.

I used to be a vet tech years before becoming a nurse. If they won't give a 10 lb dog more than a couple of vaccinations in one shot then why would they do it to babies. I may try and hold off on the vaccinations for the first two years. The number of vaccines suggested greatly reduces after that. At work, people always seem to pressure me about vaccines. They know that I am more alternative in my approaches.

Congratulations on becoming a papa! I don't know anything about what to feed a newborn, but I am happy for you, and happy that you're even thinking along these lines! Good luck, my friend!

Thanks! Very exciting stuff indeed. Lots of big decisions to make. lots of good times to be had.

Congrats bro. I'll be a papa in (probably) less than a month now too.

yay for babies! my little sweet girl is one year old today!

i did not vaccinate either child, i had them both at home unassisted (or, as i like to call it, un-interfered with), i breastfed the little man for 3.5 years and will do the same so long as the little girl wants it too. first foods were simple tastes of one thing at a time, the juice of a sweet fruit on my fingertips, small pieces of soft foods (berries, peaches, etc). i finely chop things or chew them up for her myself (this from the breast feeding mama only as we share antibodies etc) and she has done a fine job feeding herself. in fact, she won't and has never accepted mushy foods on a spoon, she likes to handle her own food, feel it, squeeze it, feed it to herself. though if you would like to give your small one veg as well as fruit a hand mill to puree it is a handy tool, you can get them at baby stores for about $20 or look for one second hand online. i used one a lot for my son but never for my daughter.

there is a good parenting forum on rawfoodtalk.com with recipes and advice.
take care and have fun!

Me and my whole family of husband and 2 kids is vaxed through and through. I didn't want it, but it has bureaucratic immigration reasons.
In fact, I have an aching arm from another tetanus shot on the left and minor aches from the MMR vaccine on the right as I type, but finally I am finished. I've had 9 shots within the past 6 months.
For kids, small babies, it sucks. You can't really tell how their reaction would be. And that autism issue is scary indeed.

As far as raw foods go, my bebes (well now they're older) have been really into avocado and banana as first foods. Not much variety but at that stage they don't know variety to put it that way...
My older son endured quite some experiments..I basically blended all sorts of things for him and found out what worked and what did not work.
It depends on their tastes, anyways so it's hard to say stuff.

Thanks for the input everyone!

I wonder how many others are expecting on the boards?

Bravo community builder!

i wonder about my brain and how it would function differently if it weren't for all those vaccinations

well... past is past

i don't have autism

feel lucky about that



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2008 05:15PM by la_veronique.

Peeling a refrigerated apple and giving it to a baby whole is a great teether. Definitely avos and bananas for first foods, too. If you vax, space them out, don't let them give the baby vax cocktails (combos), and skip the MMR, Chicken Pox (because these diseases aren't as bad -- I've had all those diseases), and postpone whatever ones you can. If you don't and end up worrying about school forms, claim religious preference; that's what I did. And obviously, breast feeding for as long as possible is optimal. Good luck -- parenting is the biggest and best thing you'll ever do.

Will be first time dad in mid-october.
And we plan on no vaccination, trying to find a physician willing to sign a certificate even if they don't do the vaccin.
And for food, first solid food will be fruits for sure. Banana, mangoes, persimmon...

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

I thought bananas and/or avocado. Some people have allergies to mango. My brother does not get along well with them. He puffs out and is miserable. Mangoes are related to poison ivy.

Congrats sgc on your coming little one!

We wrote our birth instructions yesterday. It did include a refusal to vaccinate.

Oh wow how exciting! Congratulations to you and your wife!



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

vaccines don't actually have mercury in them anymore, not for years. and apples are one of those things that you shouldn't give to babies at all, not even cut up. they are so hard that they don't soften in the throat and can be a serious choking hazard. same with carrot, hard pears, etc. i didn't give "real" food until well after 6 months and then it was just tastes of soft fruit or things i chewed up for her.

If I am not mistaken thimerosal (mercury) is only in flu vaccinations anymore. They do have things like intense loads of aluminium, loads so great that they don't give them to adults. Also they have nasty things like formaldehide.

They are still made with mercury but it is allegedly removed at the end of the process.

If someone told you "This fruit salad was made with ground beef to stabilize it but the beef was removed before we put the fruit salad in the bowl" would you eat it?

Anyway, mercury is the least objectionable thing about vaxes. My religion forbids it.

As for first foods, he loved banana and avo! My boy had teeth at 4 months old and dove after my banana to take a bite at 7 months, but I think he was just curious about the experience. He nursed exclusively until about a year old.

rawtastic, which religion? just curious. i feel a change in the wind with vaccine laws here in canada, it's been much in the news lately and i would like to have as many reasons not to submit my children to the trials of big pharma as possible.

yes, mercury in flu vaccines still. it is not high on my list of worries though, the rest of the ingredients as well as mucking about with a developing and vulnerable immune system top my list.

i tend to think that the starchy foods like banana and avo are best left until later on, closer to one year. juicy fruit and veg before then is what i see as best and only tastes for many months.

I don't know, but avo and banana are just the 2 things that mash so well...what kind of veg would work well raw for a baby that takes first steps whe eating?
Like I said I tried a lot...my first even ate blended raw broccoli sometimes, nowadays I don't think that was a great idea cause it is very hard by nature...so it would be not natural to blend it up.
My personal rule of thumb was my own idea...if it is soft enough to be mashed with a fork, it is good to eat for my babe. Melon, peach, sweet tangerine, nectarine and then avo and banana. Vegetables were difficult raw, any suggestions (<-- in case I should have another one ^^)

I think fruit and breast milk for the first year or so. I am still checking some stuff out. I eat blended green "soups". I would consider this as a trial food but I would want to wait until his digestion matured some.

As an aside, I have downloaded a bunch of rockabye baby music that cracks me up. I have The Ramones as lullabyes. It's funny that a two minute song becomes something like five minutes. Don't know how many people listen to The Ramones but if you ever have you know that they wouldn't really be described as soothing ... until now.

"they" say to introduce fruits after veg but you know what i think about "them". they are the same folk who give chocolate cake for birthday number one because it makes for such fun photo ops. gross.

coco is absolutely right about the choking thing, be very careful about anything that can't dissolve in the throat.

I wasn't raw when my kids were babies, but I had a little mini-processor that I liked to use to make quick food for them. I would puree bananas or lightly cooked apples or anything at all. People suggested to me back in those days to steer them away from fruits for some reason (I think to avoid a sweet tooth or some silly thing), so I would do that differently. I'd let them have all the fruit they want, although I would puree it until they can handle it whole.

I remember worrying a lot about timing things and all the details before the kids were born, and then once they arrived it all seemed much simpler than I expected it to. For example, so many arguments about when to introduce solid food - turned out the kids all let me know in no uncertain terms when the breast-milk wasn't enough, LOL!! It was pretty easy to figure out!

Becoming a parent is such a wonderful experience - all the best to you!

Sapphire

Congrats!!!

my new little one is three months now, i can't believe she's so big!!!

my first little one was breastfed exclusively until 7 1/2 or 8 months, he had six teeth by then and i couldn't keep him from grabbing the food. i used to drop greens on the floor- he'd shove them in his mouth and chew madly and spit out what he didn't want. he loves greens. he hated avocado- but very ripe bananas were a hit- i didn't mash anything up that much, he wanted to chew. berries, greens, anything i was eating that he really wanted to try i went ahead and gave him, and then nursed for nutrition.

i did give him large fat carrots to gnaw on when he was teething- he never broke off pieces, just shreds, but i was always right there hanging out.

i did do two vaccines, but this time around i don't think i'm doing any vaccines.
he would get a very hard red spot on his leg (Hib vaccine), and a fever for the next day or two of 102. this is a 'normal' side effect, but it was so hard for us both.

i don't have resources- i'm a fan on instinctive parenting- so the book is pretty short.

peace-

i didn't mash things for this girl either, she won't have it. i cut soft things up into small pieces for her and she is very happy to feed them to herself. now at one year old she is a fairly regular with at least two small meals a day though at times she just wants to keep eating and eating and eating so i keep giving her food until she just plays with it. she nurses lots still, few times at night, nap time and when she feels like it during the day.
i think carrot is harder to break chunks off than apple is. i still would watch very carefully if i gave carrot to a small one though, they are tricky little creatures!