My second child had a whole slew of food allergies which became apparent (through my milk) when he was only a week or so old. We finally had him skin tested at 12 weeks of age and found out he had many allergies. He has since outgrown them all (he’s four now), thank goodness! Anyway, because of this, he also didn’t begin solid foods until he was about a year old.
So, I feel for you!
It sounds like you already have a good sense of the foods that don’t agree with your baby, but I will say that doing the testing was extremely helpful to me because even though we were fairly certain dairy was a culprit, it helped us to narrow down what the others were. It’s nothing to be afriad of – so if you have insurance that will cover it, I’d say go for it!
My third baby also didn’t eat many solids until she was about a year old, but for her it was due to lack of interest more than anything else.
As far as solids go, with a baby that age, you obviously don’t have to start with the same purees that you would for a younger baby.
Typical easy and low-allergen first foods could be:
-bananas, just cut up into small pieces (you could try quartering the banana length-wise and then slicing those pieces)
-well-cooked sweet potato cut up into small pieces (think the size of a pea or just slightly larger, and make sure it’s well-cooked)
-ripe pear, cut up very small
-other very ripe/soft fruits, depending on their availability: peaches, plums, kiwi (a favorite of all my babies!), papaya
-small brown rice pasta that is very well-cooked (NOT al dente, lol!) (I would definitely look for a brown rice pasta if your baby has shown signs of food sensitivities because you definitely don’t want to go down the road of wheat or gluten insensitivity, which can happen if you give it too early)
-applesauce
-soft, thin oatmeal – again, overcooked (and watered down) so it isn’t hard to swallow
-beans (like black beans, pinto beans, lentils) are HUGE favorites of my 1-year-old, we started giving them to her when she had a little bit more experience eating, but she only has three teeth at almost 15 months, so we are super careful with anything that might be hard to chew.
-make a batch of vegetarian soup or chili and take the veggies and give small pieces to your baby. This way she can have what the family is having! Tomatoes and corn can sometimes be hard for little ones to digest (because of acidity), so that might be something to think about if you try this. Our whole family loves
this recipe – we have it often on Fridays.
If you are into books, I like
Whole Foods for Babies and Toddlers a lot!
Super Baby Food is also good, though very dense, and geared toward giving solids to baby beginning at 6 months. But it has good toddler ideas and recipes, helpful info on how to prepare a TON of different fruits and veggies for little eaters, and a great two-page spread on what age you can give various foods. (Note that this info is SLIGHTLY out of date because she does say it’s OK to give nut butters, which they now recommend not giving to children under two, and also recommends avocado which is actually a common allergen). She also has great tips on natural cleaning, homemade baby wipes, all kinds of handy household tips. It’s an odd, but helpful, book.
Good luck! I hope this helps!
We don’t do baby food (no jarred stuff, no blender, no “bland” food, no special “order” in which to “introduce” food), although I will slightly pre-chew things like steak if Baby wants to eat it.