almost 6 months old & not eating solids

I haven't tried Kelsey but have tried Ryley. He has cereal added to his bottle for reflux so I know he can tolerate that. I tried feeding him carrots today and he would only spit it out. Is this normal for a first feeding? Will he get the hand of it. I do have to keep in mind that their adjusted age is only 4 months.

Also, do u feed solids first than give a bottle? What time a day do u do solids?

Do u give ur babies Juice?

 

I haven't tried Kelsey but have tried Ryley. He has cereal added to his bottle for reflux so I know he can tolerate that. I tried feeding him carrots today and he would only spit it out. Is this normal for a first feeding? Will he get the hand of it. I do have to keep in mind that their adjusted age is only 4 months.

Also, do u feed solids first than give a bottle? What time a day do u do solids?

Do u give ur babies Juice?

 

My girls are almost 6 months and are 5 months adjusted and I JUST today gave them their first taste of rice cereal... they were okay with it, it was very thin and milky. I don't think you really have to worry about feeding them solids too much at this age because they don't really need it, they get all of their nutritional needs from formula or breastmilk and at this point it's just practice to feed them cereal, etc... A book I own reccommends really mild foods in the beginning since (at 6 months) their digestive sytems are so new. Foods like: rice, sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, cooked apples & pears, avocado, banana (all very runny - more liquid than solid). It also says to try feeding just once a day in the beginning.
I don't think they should drink juice at this age, that comes later, in fact I've heard that many moms don't give juice at all until they are over 2 years because it's so sugary.
Have fun, I hear we're in for a messy journey!!

 

QUOTE(Korey @ May 17 2009, 11:23 PM) [snapback]1317598[/snapback]
I haven't tried Kelsey but have tried Ryley. He has cereal added to his bottle for reflux so I know he can tolerate that. I tried feeding him carrots today and he would only spit it out. Is this normal for a first feeding? Will he get the hand of it. I do have to keep in mind that their adjusted age is only 4 months.

Also, do u feed solids first than give a bottle? What time a day do u do solids?

Do u give ur babies Juice?

I think it's perfectly normal for that to happen the first time. I know I started feeding my boys a little early 4.5 months, and Mark didn't figure out how to swallow until 6.5 months old.

I'm not a fan of giving solids in a bottle. In fact, I personally won't put anything but breastmilk, formula, or cow milk in a bottle. Well, I'm lying I did put water in a bottle for constipation issues.

I've never given my guys juice..I feel it's a little too much sugar, which they'll get plenty of in due time.

 

I haven't tried Kelsey but have tried Ryley. He has cereal added to his bottle for reflux so I know he can tolerate that. I tried feeding him carrots today and he would only spit it out. Is this normal for a first feeding? Will he get the hand of it. I do have to keep in mind that their adjusted age is only 4 months. sounds normal to me - although, if you're really concerned, there's no harm in leaving it for another week or two & then trying again. when my girls started on rice cereal, Danika got it right away (wide open mouth, whinning if i wasn't spooning fast enough) but it took Riley a couple of weeks to really come around. she got there eventually though.

Also, do u feed solids first than give a bottle? What time a day do u do solids? the generally rule of thumb is to give the bottle/nurse first & then offer solids 30 - 60 minutes later. formula should remain the primary source of nutrition until baby is a year old - solids are supplementary & for practice. as they get closer to a year, they'll start to drink less formula & eat more solids. you can always check with your pedi too - they'll likely be able to give some guidelines as to how much formula they should be taking in a day.

we started with lunch. then added breakfast at around 7 months. and dinner at around 8.5 months. we picked a time when we knew the girls would be well rested & in a good mood. it's not a bad idea to pick one of the ealier meal times (breakfast or lunch) so that you have most of the day to watch for allergic reactions to any new foods they eat.

Do u give ur babies Juice? we haven't given our girls any juice yet. you certainly can if you want to (it won't harm them), although there isn't much point to it. at this point in their lives, it just takes up tummy space that they could be using to eat something healthier, with more calories & useful nutrients (like formula). and frankly, why give them apple juice if you can give them pureed apples (for example)? the fresh apples will have more nutrients & good things than the juice, plus they can practice moving food to the back of their mouth & swallowing.

ETA: we didn't start our girls on solids until they were 6.5 months old & they're doing fine. remember, you can take it slow - there's no rush. nobody goes off to kindergarten still drinking formula.

 

We didn't even try solids until 6 months, and even then, neither of them were into it. We waited another couple of weeks and tried again. 4 months is really the earliest, but not the "norm," for babies to be ready to try solids. There's no reason to do it earlier unless the babies seem really eager (watching you eat, reaching for your food, etc.) Mine showed no signs of readiness even at 6 months, but we just tried because it seemed like it was time. When they were really ready, we could tell. The first few bites, they still spit out, but then they were like "Hey! Awesome!" and just kept eating.

They didn't get juice until they were at least 12 months, and even now we do it rarely (a few times a week, on request only). Juice is mostly just sugar water, nutritionally speaking -- it's bad for their teeth and there's no benefit to it, except to ease constipation.

 

Yes it's normal for them to spit the food out at a first feeding. Unlike sucking to drink milk, which is a reflex babies are born with, using their tounge to move food to the back of their mouths is something babies have to learn. So many babies are not spitting the food out as such, just using the wrong tounge motion. You could try mixing a little of his milk into the carrot so that it is more runny and has a more familier taste. Try putting a tiny bit on the spoon and leaving the spoon just in the front of his mouth so he can suck the food off.

The way I've always introduced solids is to feed them about 1/2 of their bottle and then try the solids. That way they are hungry but not so hungry that they become upset if they can't get the food off the spoon. After you've had a good go at the solids they can have the rest of the bottle. I'd start solids at the late morning/mid-day feed with the idea that it will become lunch when they are more established eaters. The second solids I introduce is the afternoon one to become tea/dinner and then the third one would be the morning one to become breakfast. I don't think that really matters though, if you're more relaxed/have more time at the afternoon feed instead of the lunch feed then start off introducing solids at that one.

I don't think it's neccessary to give babies juice as a regular thing (can be useful if they're constipated). They can't miss what they don't know about and water is healthier and cheeper. Also if you often give juice from a young age it's easy to get to a point where they refuse to drink anything else.

 

We didn't start solids until 6 months (4.5 adjusted) and the first week was like that. Our doctor recommended starting with rice cereal (which was great b/c we already had it as we also added it to bottles). This helps them with the texture and you are able to make it more liquidy for the first tries. After a week of rice cereal we went to oatmeal. Then we started orange foods (a new one every week, but most people only wait 3 days). We followed with green and yellow then meats and around 8 months we introduced fruits. Keep in mind our dr. was very cautious with the boys b/c they were preemies so we took things VERY slow.

I still don't give my kids juice as I'd rather have them eat fruit and get more nutrition from it.

Oh yeah, give bottle first! They are getting their nutrition from that still and you don't want them to fill up on solids and miss out on the calories they need.

 

Just keep offering them and he will get it. Or you can stop for a couple of weeks and try again. It's up to you. They are getting all of their nutrition from bottles right now.

When I was doing one solids meal a day, I did it in the evening about an hour after their afternoon bottle and just before bath time. That way they were hungry, but not too hungry to be able to focus on learning how to eat.

ETA: About juice. We did give Derek some pear juice on occasion to help with constipation but not as a regular "drink." To me it's just empty calories and sugar and at that age, they dont need it. However, now they do get the occasional juice box.

 

Caleb's 8.5 months and still not eating baby food. He just doesn't seem to like the texture. He does eat some finger foods though. I didn't start him until 6.5 months. The girls I started right at 6 months. Yes, it's normal to spit it out at first. If the feeding doesn't go well and becomes a battle, I just let it go and try again another day.
No, I don't give babies juice except for constipation.

 

QUOTE(Korey @ May 18 2009, 05:23 AM) [snapback]1317598[/snapback]
I haven't tried Kelsey but have tried Ryley. He has cereal added to his bottle for reflux so I know he can tolerate that. I tried feeding him carrots today and he would only spit it out. Is this normal for a first feeding? Will he get the hand of it. I do have to keep in mind that their adjusted age is only 4 months.

Also, do u feed solids first than give a bottle? What time a day do u do solids?

Do u give ur babies Juice?


I started giving mine cereal in their bottles at around 4.5 months, fruit puree at 5.5 months then savoury puree at around 6 months. It´s normal for your LOs to reject the food at first but keep offering it as they will one day take it. My DD refused the savoury puree until she was 7.5 months old but I still offered it every day.

I live in Spain, so the system of doing bottles nad solids is totally different. Here, the solids substitute the bottle so mine dropped bottles pretty quickly.

I havent yet offered my LOs juice but may do soon as DD doesnt seem to want water or milk. I buy juice that is made for babies and the sugar content is natural, i.e. from the fruit.

GL!