Solids

Tomorrow is our official four month checkup and last time we went in, the ped said that we would discuss introduction of solids at this appointment. For all you BTDT moms just want to know when you started solids. Also what did you start with? How many times a day? Any other solids advice would be great.

P.S.
I am not too excited to start now or anything. My boys are currently sleeping from 7:00-7:00, so I don't think they need any more food besides their formula at this point.

 

We started at 6 months. We saw no need to start any earlier. *I* feel it is a bit of a hassle. At that age they might still have the tongue thrust and won't accept the texture in their mouths. IF you say yours don't seem to need more, then why start now?
When you start, I'd start with just one meal about mid-day. That way you can see how it affects them.

 

QUOTE(JicJac @ Feb 4 2008, 03:52 PM) [snapback]605058[/snapback]
We started at 6 months. We saw no need to start any earlier. *I* feel it is a bit of a hassle. At that age they might still have the tongue thrust and won't accept the texture in their mouths. IF you say yours don't seem to need more, then why start now?
When you start, I'd start with just one meal about mid-day. That way you can see how it affects them.


Same here. B) My main suggestion would be that if you feel they don't need it, then start when they are 6 months. For the first year their main nutrition comes from breastmilk or formula, so this solid feeding is just for practice. Not for nothing, but it was just more I had to add onto my "work" schedule. No harm in waiting, IMO.

Good luck!

 

I started cereal at about 4 mo. in the evenings. My DS caught right on and could eat well after a week or so. My DD didn't so I stopped with her and waited and tried again.She is takeing a little now of fruits and veggies. My DS will eat tons if I let him. Also you should know that you don't have to start with rice cereal. I love this website that explains lots of things about baby food. Check it out. Baby food

 

3.5 months. DS had been getting rice in his bottle for spitting up since about 1.5 months

 

The AAP, WHO, CDC, etc all recommend waiting until 6 mo to start solids, so that's what I did. Starting earlier has no benefits and a lot of risks - higher risk of allergies and future obesity, plus the babies' digestive tracts are too immature to get any nutrition out of it anyway. Why bother?

We started with one meal per day, and gradually added in more when they got more appetite. Rice cereal is a common thing to start with. You'll want to be sure to only introduce one new thing at a time - that way, if they have a reaction, you'll know what caused it.

HTH

 

We started around 5 months with only 1 meal a day.. and not every day. It wasn't until 7 months that we added a second meal and have only started giving them a third meal last week. I'm taking solids really slow.

 

We started Aubrey and Avarey on cereal at 3 months. We started them on baby food at 5 months.

We started with the following foods.
Bananas 1x per day for a week
We added peas (swapping days (peas and bananas) for 1 week) 1x per day for a week
We added sweet potatoes (each food every 3 days) 1x per day for a week
We added green beans (each food every 4 days) 1 x per day for a week
By this time we started them on cheerios as well.

We then started 2 foods per day once we had a good base:
Cheerios in the morning around 8 am, bananas for lunch and peas for dinner, (this meal plan every 4 days, swapping foods)
Cheerios in morning sweet potatoes at lunch and green beans at dinner.
Third day was usually testing day for like apples or pears and other new foods.

Now we have them eating a breakfast formula bottle after 1/2 cup of Cheerios,
2 ounces of juice with peas or green beans, and 2 to 4 ounces of formula for lunch,
And 2 ounces of water with pears or sweet potatos and meat of choice with about 4 to 6 ounces of formula.

I hope I helped! I voted for OTHER. Lots of love!
Meshell

 

We started cereal at 4 months with our pedi. consent. They were so hungry, and formula alone was not doing it for them. They only had a little rice cereal each day for the first month, but we were all much happier with just a little cereal. They were really big twins - all the way around.

 

we started rice at 4 months at pedi's instruction due to reflux. we started fruits and veggies at 6 months.

 

I started one week before they turned 6 months and they really could have cared less. They are kind of still this way & they are 8 months old. I am thinking of adding another solid meal a day but not sure when.

 

The ped. started mine at 4 months old. She said to do two meals a day of rice cereal and I could mix in a few tablespoons of carrots or another fruit or vegetable. I did not listen and I only do one meal a day and that is around 4 pm. I dont force the food on my babies because some days they could care less. Also if we are out and about I dont stress if they miss their meal or anything b/c I know their formula/breastmilk will fill them just fine.

 

We just started b/c DS was drinking way too much formula (upwards of 40 ounces a day), and just not satisfied. We started with rice cereal, and then with the pedi's consent have added sweet potatoes and now peaches. They absolutely love it, for DD it's just more of a fun thing, but DS chows down, he has cut his formula intake to a more "normal" 30-34 ounces and his spitting up is much less, he also seems much more content, before he would want to eat every 90 minutes. I think he was just ready. We started with one meal a day, after their morning nap, and just introduced a second meal, around 5 p.m. (before their night time bottle at 6). Per the pedi we do rice cereal and a fruit in the a.m. and rice cereal and a veggie in the p.m. We dont' force it on them, they eat what they want and when they are done, they are done. I think for some babies it is best to wait and others are ready sooner.

 

We started with rice cereal at 6 months once a day and though sometimes I get "well X's kids are already eating XYZ and they're younger than ours are" from DH, I'm glad we waited. For one, J JUST started eating puffs this week- we've tried for two months and he's just now ok w/ some sort of solid/chewable food at almost 10 months old. So I really don't think he would've been ready had we started any earlier than we did. And my personal opinion is solids really aren't necessary at 4 months- Breastmilk and formula are perfectly sufficient. I think we weren't eating "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" until about 8.5-9 months, and that's still including 4 full bottles. Follow what your gut says- unless your ped has some really substantial reason why YOUR kids need to eat solids now and you agree, then I think it's ok to wait if that's what you think is best!

 

Following their lead is always the best policy. If they don't seem ready to you, there is no reason to feel pressure to start.

We waited until 6.5 months here and we started very slowly with just a bit of cereal once a day. They didn't seem to need anything more although they'd watch us eat and liked to play with a shiny, metal spoon (which people tried to tell me meant they were ready ). After two weeks of cereal (so at 7 months), we started in no particular order introducing a new fruit or veggie every 3 days. They never took more than a few spoonfuls until they were 9 months old and even then it was only when they tried something that they instantly LOVED like mango. We added a second meal at 8 months and a third after a few failed tries at 11 months.

All of those people we know who did the comparisons back then of their kids eating more at a younger age are envious of our boys' eating habits... so there :lol:

 

Based on ped's recommendation we started rice cereal right after they turned 4 months. Did it in the evening, every other day. Closer to 5 months, we started feeding it every evening and then at 5 months, started adding in fruits/veggies. Started with bananas, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, pears, etc. (waiting 3 days between starting something new).

At 6 months, added in breakfast. At 7.5 to 8 months, added in lunch.

 

We still haven't officially started. I wait until they are interested enough to reach for food off my plate. They only started doing this in the last couple of weeks. I let them try from my plate. So they have had a couple mouthfuls here and there from anything they actually managed to put in their mouths.

 

We started at 4 months, with all 3 children.

 

We started at 4 months for DS1. He was such a big baby. He needed something a little more. You could tell he was ready.

With the twins we waited until 6 months and for them that was a great time.

It varies from baby to baby.

 

QUOTE(TwinLove @ Feb 4 2008, 08:56 PM) [snapback]605069[/snapback]
Same here. B) My main suggestion would be that if you feel they don't need it, then start when they are 6 months. For the first year their main nutrition comes from breastmilk or formula, so this solid feeding is just for practice. Not for nothing, but it was just more I had to add onto my "work" schedule. No harm in waiting, IMO.

Good luck!



I agree with pp regarding tongue thrust. This is their body's way of refusing something that is foreign to them. They just don't need the cereal or food until at least 6 months. It's for practice, not nutrition, too.

The only people that I know that had to feed cereal sooner were those who had babies with reflux issues.

 

I found solids to be a hassle so I definitely didn't want to start them until 6 months old and that's what we did. Why add more mess to my already busy schedule?

Dax was very much ready for solids at 4 months old so we started him then. It was a very light introduction though and I didn't feed him on a schedule until he was over 6 months.