Introducing solids at 6 months

Hi girls

I need your advice, tips and experiences!

My two started with fruit puree a month ago. DS eats the whole lot (half an apple, half a banana, half a pear and the juice of a fresh orange). DD has eaten all of it a few times but will take half most days. I offer them both their bottle too just incase. Today we changed the fruit and offered melon and banana with some cereal in it. DS almost finished but DD screamed. (We discovered it was because she wasnt hungry as she also refused the bottle).

Now the afternoon feed is vegetable puree. They started off with carrot and pumpkin. Neither of them were big fans but DS would eat some and quite well. DD would scream till she got her bottle. Now they´re on swiss chard, potato, carrot and leek puree (all of this is what the pedi recommended). Neither are big fans but its new so we take it slowly. The problem is that they are so hungry as the fruit fills them but leaves them very hungry. DD refuses to eat the veg puree and gets herself into quite a state. I dont like to force the issue, after all this is all new to them and I want them to enjoy exploring new foods- not hate it! However, am I wrong to give in to DD? I mean she is a sensitive baby but also a clever one. I have to offer the veg puree post-bottle (the mix of tastes from sweet to savoury must be icky!) so that she at least gets the experience of some solids. I do try before the bottle but she practically melts down.

Has anyone been through this and have any advice?

Thanks!

 

Maybe mix the fruit and veg to make the veggie more sweet.

Dianna

 

I'd give them the bottle first. If mine are hungry at feeding time, they will scream too. The only time mine get solids before the bottle is at nighttime, as I know they're unlikely to be starving then, with our schedule. Once they have their bottle they're much more likely to eat the solids and be willing to experiment new tastes.

Another thing might be the orange juice? I heard citrus was not recommended until 1 year because the acidity can upset their stomach.

Otherwise, you're doing great I think! I'd try to vary the tastes as much as possible (sweet, non sweet, mix etc) so they get used to different things. Even if they don't like something, I keep offering it, and so far there isn't anything they totally refused to eat (except my homemade stuff...).

 

When are you feeding them??

I do solids about 1 to 1.5 hrs after they nurse. So they're not hungry per se, but will eat. If they're really hungry, they are complete crabs and won't do the solids. Plus, I want to make sure most of their calories come from milk (at 5 mos).

 

Aww, ours are just about the same age
We've also been doing solids for about a month. For the first few weeks, I gave them their solids directly after a bottle, but by doing this they were too full and not all that interested after the first few mouthfuls.

The last couple of weeks they've both been doing really well. They have their first bottle at 7, followed by rice cereal mixed with one fruit at around 8.15. Their next bottle is between 10 and 10.30am. Their second solid meal is at 5.30, right between the 4pm and 7pm bottles. They have a meat and vege puree (chicken and one or two veges etc). Just the spacing of the solid feedings seems to give them more time to be able to enjoy their food without being overly hungry or too full.

I agree with the PP who mentioned avoiding the orange juice just yet. I would probably go further and say to be really careful of offering juices until they are much older, as it can cause teeth rot (I know a 5 year old who had to have every one of his teeth removed thanks to drinking fruit juices, even though he looked perfectly healthy, his teeth were decaying inside).

Maybe offer only a couple things mixed together at once to give their tummies time to adjust. I know that some of the fruits I've given mine have caused large amounts of gas and sore tummies.

No real advice though! Seems to be a real hit and miss as far as babies and solids are concerned. The array of disgusted faces we've had here is incredible, but after a couple mouthfuls, everything usually goes down

 

She might just not like solids a whole lot. I have 2 very picky eaters too - I'm hoping that will change as they get older. I have to offer a new food to them at least 5 times before they will accept it. Even good tasting things like ice cream and cookies and birthday cake they reject.

 

QUOTE(lucky123 @ Dec 3 2008, 07:06 PM) [snapback]1095500[/snapback]
When are you feeding them??

I do solids about 1 to 1.5 hrs after they nurse. So they're not hungry per se, but will eat. If they're really hungry, they are complete crabs and won't do the solids. Plus, I want to make sure most of their calories come from milk (at 5 mos).


We feed them every 4 hours. They start the day around 7am and the last feed is around 7pm. They have fruit at 11am then the veg at 3pm. I doubt mine will eat solids an hour after their bottles. They are FF and have a spoon of cereal in their milk so it´s filling.

As for the orange juice, it is juice from a fresh orange and we were told to give them it by our pedi. Is it not advised in the US then? We started off by giving them the juice on its own - just a few drops to start with then gradually increasing the quantity over a few days. We then gave them the fruit puree with it in.

There are days when DD will eat all the fruit. I think she´s just a fussy baby who will take time to adapt. The Baby Whisperer would call her a touchy baby so it stands to reason!

Thank you for all your advice

 

Despite having five kids, I still haven't got this solids thing figured out. I did read in a baby cookbook written by Annabel Karmel (here's a link to her website: http://www.annabelkarmel.com/club/annabel-...el_meet_annabel) that citrus in any quantity shouldn't be given to babies until they are 9 to 12 months old. She's British, so I don't think it's necessarily just an American thing. But if they seem to handle it well in small quantities, I guess it couldn't hurt!

Again, the more children I have, the more I realize I don't know what I'm doing!