SOLIDS. 4 months or 6 months?

Do you recommend starting solids at 4 months or waiting until 6 months?
We are excited to start feeding them solids, but understand this makes for more work.
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Please let me know what you think?
If we start solids...please advise on the process you took to introduce them to solids.

 

I'm waiting. It just depends on your kiddos. Mine don't seem ready so I'm waiting. Yours might be ready by 4 months though. Mine hold their heads well but still stick out their tongues at any thing and don't seem interested in what we are eating.

 

This is by far one of those things that you have to decide for yourself and go with your gut on what you think is right for your babies. I had everyone in the world pushing solids on my kids, saying my milk wasn't enough, they needed food, dangit! We tried at 4 months and they just werent ready ... I tried again at 5 months and they were "more" ready, but then they got so constipated I had to give them mineral oil and stuff to help them, and said, forget this! They never got constipated with milk ... started again at 6 months and they are doing absolutely fantastic. We are on Stage 2 foods, plus I made homemade baby food, and they love it all and eat great, plus no constipation. I'm glad I waited.

 

I'm not sure about where you live, but here (BC) the push from pedis and health care nurses is to wait until babies are 6 months old. A couple years ago it was 4 months, but they found that babies who started solids at 4 months showed more food allergies than babies who started solids at 6 months. From my understanding, even at 6 months, solids are "for practice" as mommy's milk and/or formula continues to be the main source of nutrients.

 

Same here. I thought I should be doin it at 4 mo, but it just made them constipated and didnt fill them up any more than formula. The Dr said that it shouldnt be done until 6 mo, so I figured I would just wait until that appointment to try again.

 

We started at 4 months. I did the same with my oldest. All my kids were born full term and big ... instead of just staring at my food I decided to give it to them. At 7 1/2 months they're on stage 3, eating bread, regular banana, puffs, cheerios, etc. I plan to have all baby food (jar or pureed) gone at 9 months, like I did with my oldest.

 

Why not just try it and see how they do? I didn't think my guys were ready at 4 months, but I tried and they really took to it! It is hard to be consistant, we don't do it everyday (we try to, but don't always remember) but I think by six months we'll be at full force

 

We started at just before 4 months after over a month of them eating 40+ oz a day and wanting more. They took to the solids immediately. We'd been on solids for about a week before we discussed it with the pedi and he was totally supportive.

I have little piggies who eat mass quantities to this day. If I'd waited until 6 months to start solids, I'm pretty sure my bigger baby would have eaten the other. A guideline is just that - a guideline. Not a rule! Every baby is different, some will take to solids earlier, some later. All you can do is just use your best judgement based on your individual babies needs...

 

We started at 4 months with the dr's ok. They were not staying satisfied with just bottles so we began cereal and than adding new foods. They have done very well with it.

 

We did it at 6 months. I was in no hurry to start -- by 4 months I felt like I had just got my legs back under me again, and no way was I adding a new complication into the mix! Plus, they weren't showing any signs of readiness. And all the modern expert opinion is that it's better to wait -- less risk of allergies or digestive problems.

Even at 6 months, the first time I tried solids (rice cereal), they both gagged. I waited a couple of weeks and tried again. They went for it that time, but didn't eat much at all. I stayed with rice cereal for about a week and then started mixing it with baby food (sweet potatoes, apples, pears, peas -- I think those were the first 4). It doesn't really matter what order you go in, and you don't have to start with cereal at all. I gave up on the cereal after a few weeks because they seemed to prefer the other foods without it.

Take it slow -- you should start by 7 months or so, so you don't miss the window, but there is no hurry at all. And you can still take it slow after you start -- if you want to be off bottles or baby food by a certain time and your babies go along with it, that's fine, but you're not doing anything wrong if they're still on both those things at a year or even later.

 

With my first, I waited till 6.5 months. Worked great! With the twins, I tried around 5 months just 'cause they were having weight gain issues, but they weren't ready. Now, at 6 months, they're ready and doing pretty good with solids.

For me, I MUCH prefer waiting till 6 months. Solids are such a pain! I use the "Super Baby Food" book by Ruth Yaron. It's a huge book on baby food. It has recipes/instructions for making your own, but I think the book is worthwhile even if you're buying jarred baby foods. It really gives you a "map" for the whole process.

 

Our babies were big at 4 months, and not sleeping so much at night, so we started then. We kept them on cereal only for close to a month, mainly rice and then oatmeal, and then started fruits and veggies closer to 6 months. They say to wait if you have food allergies in your family history until 6 months, but we don't, and the girls weren't sleeping, so we went ahead. Everybody was much happier (messier, but happier) in our house once they got used to the whole spoon thing.

 

We started at four months, mostly because James had some reflux issues so the pedi. suggested we put rice cereal in their bottles. We have some chunky monkeys and I got the feeling they were ready to start solids around 4 1/2 months. I was making 12 oz. of formula for them at every other feeding (they eat every 4 hours)! So...we just started slowly in introducing the new foods, as I'd also read it was better to wait closer to six months.

We've been doing solids twice a day - morning and evening meals. We started with oatmeal then tried one new veggie a week, starting with the yellows, then greens. Then, onto fruits. We've got one more fruit to go and the pedi. said to start 3 meals a day and start introducing meats.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

It takes me an hour more a day, and we are just doing breakfast cereal and a vegetable! So I would say wait, unless you think they are super-hungry. I was traveling a lot with them between 3 and 5 months so it was easier for me to hold off. With my pedi's ok, I waited until 5 months, and then when I tried it the first time, they HATED it! so we waited two weeks, tried again, they were better with it, and we finally got rolling with cereal every day at 6 months. I am glad we waited, and they were drinking plenty of formula, so they were doing just fine. I have been reading lately that it is better to wait until 6 months. Go check out wholesomebabyfoods.com too, it's a great resource and explains some of the benefits of waiting.
I say give it a try (if you must) but they might tell you they are not ready. You are certainly not harming them by waiting until 6 months.

 

We started the day before 4 months and our were more than ready. They got the "hang of it" off of a spoon by their 4th bite or so. They had been giving us signals for several weeks. They can sit and hold their heads up very well, they open their mouths when they see the spoon and when they are watching us eat, they are very interested in meal time, we stuck a bite in and it didnt all come straight back out (give that one a few tries) it means that their toungue reflex is going away and they are able to eat off of a spoon. Babies are born w/ that reflex to push objects directly out of the mouth to prevent choking and suffocation in the early months. They DID NOT start sleeping better and this was never one of our objectives to start solids you have to remember that and dont start just because you think it will make them sleep better... it might actually make it worse for a few nights learning to digest all that new stuff. But it does help w/ our bed time routine and makes it easier to put them down at night now. We have been going strong for only a week and two days now. Let me know how it goes for you!!

 

we waited until 6 months & I'm glad I did. I was anxious to start because it seemed like fun, and it is very cute, but honestly it becomes a lot more work FAST! I went through a lull at 7 months and really it hasn't been until the last few weeks that I really enjoy it now because they can finally feed themselves (finger foods). I'd wait if I were you.

BTW, mine started sleeping through the night before starting solids (no formula, all breastmilk) so it's not going to help with that if that's one of the reasons you're thinking of starting early.

 

Our Pedi said begin at our 4 month visit which was actually 4 1/2 h months. I had read that it was better to wait til 6 months. DH would have no part of me not followong Pedi's instructions. But I had a week of stalling just because I wasn't ready...could't SEE it all so I procrastinated. THe at 4 3/4 months I tried ite. The babies took to the spoon well. Amy had no problem at all. Matthew began spitting up, which he hadn't done before so Pedi said stop ....so I stopped with both babies.....but I had also just switched to powdered formula that day and think I was making it wrong--the whole playtex dropin- ins measurement / water first or powder first issue.

Well, I think the formula being different and beig made wrong was the problem.

But I was in NO!!!!! hurry to get back to rice cereal...it is more work. And like a PP said I had just gotten to the point where feedings were easy with a system in place that let me go out almost anywhere with my bottles, powder and water.

Well, we have our 5 month visit this Friday( really 5 1/2 ) so I started back to rice well the spitting happened again so after 1 day I went to oatmeal. That was yesterday. Matthew did great.
Amy would not take it. she didn't get anything down. But I think shehad too much formula and was full. I will try again today but if she desn't care for it I will wait. They will be 6 months Aug. 2nd so we are close to that 6 month mark but I am not looking forward to moving on to solids---too much work--even thought it is so funto feed them.

I was advised to buy the rice and also the oatmeal just in case there was a problem> I was glad to have the oatmeal in the house. It made me feel prepared and in control even though I was procrastinating so.
good luck with whatever you decide.

 

It's totally up to you. There will be pressure from the older generation and perhaps even your pediatrician to start at 4 months. There are studies that suggest that waiting longer is beneficial and the AAP's current recommendation is 6 months.

I was under a great deal of pressure from parents, grandparents, and even DH who believed someone who told him the boys would be "delayed" if we didn't start at 4 months. In spite of all of that, we started solids very slowly at 6.5 months and they were self-feeding table foods by 10 months. The nice thing about waiting is that not only is there less mess, they'll still be getting most of their calories from milk when they want to start self-feeding and you don't have to stress out about them not eating much while they learn. Oh, and the stuff people will tell you about them not wanting to try new textures and flavors if you don't start at 4 months is bologna. Come watch mine at the Chinese buffet sometime...

 

I agree that it is totally up to you and what you think is best for your babies. With DS1 we knew that he was ready at four months to start solids and he did great. With the twins, they were six weeks early, we waited until they were 6 months to start.

If they are watching you eat and acting very interested in food then it wouldn't hurt to try.

What we did first was rice cereal. We made a very liquid mixture (we used EBM in the begining to mix it with) and we didn't do very much. In the first few feedings we just wanted them to get used to the texture and what not. Then each time we feed them we made the mixture thicker. After about 10 times of the variety of cereal we went on to actual solids. We did all of the vegetables first starting with squash and recently started on the fruit. HTH!