As an RD, I'm sorry it's taken me a couple of days to respond to
Judy Holtzer Knopf's nutrition questions.  It's hard getting
organized again after being on vacation!

With regard to when to introduce fruits, it is recommended that
cereals be introduced around 6 months, followed by vegetables,
fruits and protein foods, allowing at least 5 days between trying
new foods to check for sensitivities in the infant.  I usually
recommend cereal at 6 months, vegetables at 7 months, fruits at 8
months and protein foods at 9 months.

While it is true that citrus foods (oranges, pineapples,
grapefruit, lemons, limes) and tomatoes can cause allergic
responses, this is usually not a problem for the older infant.
The problem comes, at least in the US, when parents start feeding
infants too early, before their systems are mature.  Many allergies
can result from that practice.  If the older infant has only one new
food every 5 days, any problems
can be traced to the offending food.  For most infants, these can
be introduced without problems, in highly allergic families,
these should be saved for closer to the first year of age or
older, especially if parents and/or siblings have experienced
problems.

Juices should only be offered when the infant is willing to take
them from the cup in order to avoid dental problems as well as
filling up on these fluids.  All infant juices in the United
States are fortified with Vitamin C.  Other "adult" strength
juices can be given to infants.  Just make sure they are 100%
juice, unsweetened, and fortified with Vitamin C.  Avoid juice
combinations like apple-grape until you know the infant tolerates
plain apple juice and plain grape juice.

Other food sources of Vitamin C include these fruits and
vegetables:  cantaloupe, grapefruit, guava, honeydew melon, kiwi,
oranges, papaya, strawberries, tangerines, broccoli, brussel
sprouts, cabbage (raw), cauliflower, spinach and other dark green
leafy vegetables (not head lettuce), okra, potato (baked only),
tomato and green and red peppers (raw).  Cooking does destroy
Vitamin C and it is also lost in cooking water that is thrown
away.  Therefore, some vegetables are only a good source raw and
potatoes need to be baked in the skin to keep Vitamin C inside.

Other fruits and vegetables including apples, grapes, bananas,
pears, peaches, green beans, corn, peas (the common ones in the
US) are not good sources of vitamin C.

As far as the mother's diet, I think it is very important to keep
things as simple as possible.  Most foods, eaten in normal
quantities by the mother should cause no problems whatsoever for
the infant.  If we restrict the mother too much, it makes
breastfeeding seem very technical and complicated and makes
mothers worry too much.  I have had mothers tell me that they are
afraid they will "poison" their milk if they eat at a fast food
restaurant while breastfeeding!  Health professionals (yes, even
especially dietitians), in our zealousness to keep mom and baby
healthy have sometimes overdone the nutrition part.  Just think
of all the different foods in different cultures that babies
adjust to mother's milk.  Liking foods to medications in
breastmilk is just too technical and I feel, makes women trust
their bodies even less.  It also gives food compounds in
breastmilk more importance than they deserve.

Moms need to relax, enjoy their favorite foods in moderation,
including "junk" foods.  In most cases, a healthy diet is more
for the mother's well-being than for milk quality.  There should
be no list of foods to avoid.  Rather, if she over does it in a
food one day and notices problems in the infant soon thereafter,
she should go easy on that food and try again in a couple of
weeks.  While some babies are extra sensitive to even small
amounts of some compounds in their mother's milk, most babies
adjust beautifully.  If not, mom can experiment by avoiding
certain foods for a few days and reintroducing one at a time to
try to find the culprit.  Babies can outgrow these sensitivities,
too.  I worked with one mom, who through a few weeks of trial and
error, found newborn baby sensitive to lentils from mother's
diet.  Although mom was a vegetarian, it was something she could
do without for a while.  She tried again when baby was 6 months
old and the baby no longer reacted.  I think it's really
important to make it simple, allow moms to eat as they desire, in
moderation, with no lists of problems.  If she notices a problem,
THEN she can be instructed in how to do a little detective work.
Most moms will have no problems, so lets keep it as simple as
possible.  Foods are not medications